Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The United Arab Emirates will launch a navigation satellite in 2021, according to the Emirates News Agency. “The first satellite will be launched in 2021 and the second — a technologically enhanced one — the following year,” said Dr. Khaled Al Hashmi, Director of the National Space Science and Technology Centre (NSSTC) at UAE University in Al Ain.
By Inside GNSS
The third next-generation GLONASS-K navigation satellite, postponed several times, will now take place in late August or early September, according to reported statements by Russian space industry sources. This marks a long-delayed step along a road towards interoperability with other GNSS. The first GLONASS-K satellite was launched in 2011 and a second one in 2014.
By Inside GNSS
As the final BeiDou satellite reaches geostationary orbit, experts in the satnav community worry about security implications of the now officially operational Chinese system. As a two-way rather than a one-way communication system, BeiDou differs in two key aspects from other GNSS:
By Inside GNSS
In a feelgood two-and-a-half minute video cartoon aimed well below its audience’s head, the XinhuaNet.com news service explains BeiDou advantages over GPS and other GNSS. Principally, the script stresses the satnav system’s two-way short message service (SMS) texting capability that can stand in for cellular communications in remote areas and in case of natural disasters that may disable cellular base stations.
Set to a loping synthesized country rock soundtrack, the entertainment-with-a-message follows a passenger bus through a remote desert. When Buzz the Driver, spooked by a snake, deviates from his planned course, a BeiDou monitoring station quickly detects the error, generates an alarm and sends a message: “Hey, keep yourself focused!”
The animation gives a nod to other GNSS by stating that “Me and other family members are compatible and interoperable at the user level, which allows us to work together.”
The European Space Agency (ESA) has recently launched an internal initiative to cull ideas for supporting its member states in the study and analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under this initiative ESAC’s Galileo Navigation Science Office has managed to get one of its ideas taken up under the name of the “COVID-19 Space Hunting Platform”.
By Inside GNSS
The European GNSS Agency (GSA), the operational agency of the European Commission for Galileo and EGNOS, is launching its MyGalileoDrone competition on July 17. This contest is targeting the design and development of drone-based applications or services, using a Galileo-enabled receiver, that address the EU’s key priorities such as the Green Deal, and support the EU Recovery Plan for Europe.
By Inside GNSS
The Institute of Navigation (ION) announced that its annual ION GNSS+ 2020 conference, scheduled to take place September 21-25, will now be held entirely virtual. InterGeo, the large international trade show held each fall in Germany, has made a similar announcement for its conference, scheduled for October 13–15.
By Inside GNSS
Silicon Sensing Systems’ high performance DMU30 micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) inertial measurement unit (IMU) has been selected by the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (iQPS) of Fukuoka, Japan, for the control system of Japan’s first X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) small satellite.
By Inside GNSS
The China Satellite Navigation Office (CSNO) announced completion of two years of testing of BeiDou inter-satellite links, an innovative feature of the GNSS that will reportedly produce greater accuracy for users on Earth. The test campaign encompassed 29 satellites of the third generation (BDS-3) of the now global system.
By Inside GNSS
The Institute of Navigation premier conference, ION GNSS+ 2020, held annually in September, will this year have a virtual option for attendance. It will mirror the technical program presented live, September 21-25 in St. Louis, Missouri, and will give global attendees access to the latest GNSS developments and content. Virtual meeting attendance will be free for all first-time ION GNSS+ attendees.
By Inside GNSS
A group of Stanford Ph.D. and Masters graduates, with work experience among them at SpaceX, Ford Motor Systems, Blue Origin, Booz Allen Hamilton and other firms, has launched a start-up to start up a low-Earth orbit successor to GPS and other GNSS. The existing services, they say, are not up to the challenges of autonomy. They founded Xona Space Systems to supplant the venerable satnav systems.
By Inside GNSS
A great man has left us, left the international GNSS community. Dr. Javad Ashjaee passed away in Moscow on May 30 from the corona virus illness, a family member reported on social media.
By Alan Cameron
Just like the kids valiantly doing their homework during this strange, removed time, PNT enthusiasts young and old around the world can put their isolation to good use by honing skills at home. “GPS: An Introduction to Satellite Navigation,” the massive online open course created by Frank van Diggelen and the late Per Enge, is available on YouTube.
By Inside GNSS
Britain’s own satellite navigation system, envisioned to fill the country’s Galileo void created by Brexit, may never see the light of day. Government officials don’t want to spend tax revenues to meet projected increasing costs.
By Inside GNSS
Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai’s step this week toward approving Ligado Networks’ request to use its satellite frequencies for a terrestrial 5G service comes after nearly a decade of testing that showed both versions of their proposal would interfere with GPS users.
By Dee Ann Divis
