Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
In a somewhat surprising development, the U. S. Air Force turned to two new vendors — Northrop Grumman Corporation and Raytheon — in a November 21 announcement of contracts for the Next Generation GPS Control Segment (OCX).
By Glen Gibbons
Nokia’s new A-GPS-assisted N82 phoneThwarted in its latter-day attempt to buy digital mapmaker Tele Atlas out from under TomTom, GPS manufacturer Garmin International has signed an long-term deal with rival map provider Navteq.
Under the agreement announced today (November 16) Garmin will extend its current six-year agreement with Chicago, Illinois–based NAVTEQ to access to map data through 2015 with an option to continue through 2019.
By Glen Gibbons
Three new market studies — from Berg Insight, ABI Research, and Markets and Research — focus on GPS chipsets and the high-volume consumer device markets that drive them, all predicting continued rapid growth.
By Glen Gibbons
“Growing Galileo” is the theme of a conference and exhibition taking place November 14–15 in Brussels, Belgium, that will highlight the work under way and planned for developing applications of Europe’s GNSS system.
By Glen Gibbons
At the premiere Location 2.0 Summit on October 23, SiRF Technology will roll out its “ecosystem” strategy for the location-based services (LBS) community, enabled by a set of SiRF-designed development tools, a test environment, and marketing support from the GNSS chip and software manufacturer.
By Glen Gibbons
STMicroelectronics has introduced Cartesio, its new automotive-grade application processor with embedded GPS for navigation and telematics. The processor couples with ST’s GPS RF chip (STA5620) to provide a core receiver unit.
Cartesio (STA2062) integrates a 32-bit ARM CPU core with a high-sensitivity 32-channel GPS subsystem and a large set of connectivity peripherals, including CAN, USB, UARTs, and SPI. It also provides on-chip high-speed RAM and real-time clock functionality, according to the company.
By Glen Gibbons
ESA/CNES launcher at Toulouse Space CenterNext April’s Toulouse Space Show will provide a good deal of company for the European Navigation Conference (ENC-GNSS 2008).
In addition to the annual European Frequency and Time Forum (EFTF 08), which joined ENC-GNSS 2007 this year at TimeNav ’07 in Geneva, Switzerland, events include a Space Applications symposium sponsored by the French space agency CNES, a commercial exhibition, and associated events for the general public, students, and young people, to promote the value of space applications in daily life.
By Glen Gibbons
Ten-year-old u-blox AG has launched its initial public offering (IPO) of stock, which will begin trading October 26 on the Swiss Exchange. Price range for the offered shares is between 42 and 54 Swiss francs (CHF: US$35.53 and $45.68).
By Glen Gibbons
CAST Navigation VIP simulatorSimulators from CAST Navigation, Billerica, Massachusetts USA, that are being used in government and military labs around the world will now be made available to commercial markets, the company has announced.
By Glen Gibbons
Launch of GPS Block IIR-M satellite, October 17, 2007A Block IIR-M GPS satellite was launched successfully today (October 17, 2007) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Expected to be set healthy for use in early November 2007, the spacecraft will be designated as PRN15/SVN55, referring to its pseudorandom noise code and space vehicle number, respectively.
By Glen Gibbons
The University of Nottingham and the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) have signed a formal agreement that will create a £9 million (US$18.3 million) state-of-the-art GNSS facility built in Nottingham, United Kingdom.
By Glen Gibbons
GIOVE-A satellite with Fregat moduleUnavailability of an upper stage of the Soyuz launcher will delay launch of the second Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element satellite (GIOVE-B) until at least March 2008. The most recent schedule had called for a late-December launch from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan.
Already behind schedule as the result of an electrical short that caused widespread damage to the spacecraft during laboratory tests in summer 2006, the Galileo program’s latest postponement reportedly stems from the lack of a Fregat module. Fregat is the portion of the Russian rocket that releases the spacecraft into its final orbit (shown with GIOVE-A in accompanying ESA photo).
By Glen Gibbons
The European Transport Council generally reaffirmed its commitment to the Galileo program in an October 2 meeting without resolving some underlying differences of how to finance the system following abandonment of the public-private partnership (PPP) approach earlier this year.
In its first look at the European Commission (EC) plan to complete the system by 2013 under a more traditional public procurement process, the council confirmed its intention “to take an integrated decision on the European GNSS before the end of the year.”
By Glen Gibbons
