September 15, 2012
Genene Fisher’s Compass Points
Areas of Expertise
Space weather, policy
Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Areas of Expertise
Space weather, policy
Back in television’s halcyon days I should have been watching Donald Herbert explain science and technology on his Mr. Wizard programs.
But I was probably laughing my way through the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show instead, especially one of its mainstays, Fractured Fairy Tales — irreverent, yet revealing retellings of the Grimm Brothers’ homilies to human foibles.
And so I became a journalist instead of an engineer, hoping to fracture fallacies and received truths rather than oil shale.
By Inside GNSS
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has told those awaiting their slice of the GPS civil program budget that the funds are on the way.
The money, which is supposed to support that portion of the GPS program springing from the needs of civilian users, has been held up for months. In fact, as of late August — with less than 40 days left to go in the fiscal year — the money had not been transferred to either the military’s GPS Directorate or the National Coordination Office (NCO) for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT).
By Dee Ann Divis
Working Papers explore the technical and scientific themes that underpin GNSS programs and applications. This regular column is coordinated by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Günter Hein, head of Europe’s Galileo Operations and Evolution.
By Inside GNSS
SIDEBAR: Genene Fisher’s Compass Points
As Solar Cycle 24 rolls around toward its maximum peak next May, when a hundred or more sunspots may appear during the course of a single day, no single navigator stands at the helm to guide the hundreds of companies, research groups, users, and policy workers through the uncharted realm of spiking solar activity and its inevitable effects on GNSS.
By Inside GNSS
1. PAPER CUTS
Washington, Oklahoma, Ohio, Georgia, Pennsylvania
√ State transportation departments in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Ohio are printing fewer state highway maps, says the Associated Press. Washington did away with them entirely. Blame it on the double whammy of public sector budget cuts and smartphone, handheld, and in-car GPS. But there are lots of holdouts. As one Indiana man said, without a paper map, “You’re beholden to the GPS lady, you know?”
Return to main Working Papers article: "Peer-to-Peer Cooperative Positioning, Part II"
By Inside GNSS
Return to main Working Papers article: "Peer-to-Peer Cooperative Positioning, Part II"
By Inside GNSS
Return to main Working Papers article: "Peer-to-Peer Cooperative Positioning, Part II"
By Inside GNSS
Return to main Working Papers article: "Peer-to-Peer Cooperative Positioning: Part II"
By Inside GNSS
In 2003, China committed to investing €200 million (US$270 million) for the privilege of participating in the development of Europe’s Galileo program. But by 2007 it had been forced out of major decision-making because of security concerns and the collapse of the original financing plan for the program, which was to include public and private money.
By Peter Gutierrez
In the 1974 Mel Brooks’ movie, Blazing Saddles, one of the characters — surrounded by his enemies — points a gun at his head and tries to escape by taking himself hostage.
As I recall, he gets away with the absurd move and survives to fight another day. That’s Hollywood!
By Dee Ann Divis
