Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
WASHINGTON – The GPS Innovation Alliance (GPSIA), an organization dedicated to furthering GPS innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, commends NASA on its momentous 60th anniversary. GPSIA celebrates the occasion by recognizing the vital role NASA has played in furthering and facilitating the growth of GPS around the world.
By Inside GNSS
The announcement of the White House’s new strategy to speed development of next-generation wireless networks is likely to create a new front in the years-long fight over a proposed project that could interfere with GPS spectrum.
By Dee Ann Divis
More than 40 drones performing in a professionally organized light show fell from the sky in Hong Kong Saturday after the GPS signal they were using was jammed. The incident, which caused some HK$1 million in damage (U.S. $127,500), is now under criminal investigation.
The firm Sky Magic, which uses a customized fleet of performance dronesto do indoor and outdoor light shows, confirmed the incident but declined to discuss details of what happened because the investigation was still underway. The company, which has offices in the UK and Singapore, said it would provide more information once the investigation was concluded.
The unmanned aircraft were part of a 100-drone show that was cancelled after an outside party interfered with their operation, Asian news outlets reported. The light show was being performed in conjunction with the annual Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival.The planned seven-minute show featured 100 rotorcraft with LED lights honoring the 10th anniversary of the festival by forming the outline of a birthday cake and the number 10.
The drones were lost during a show Saturday, October 27. Shows already had been done Thursday and Friday.
“After initial checks, the GPS signals for the drones were found to be interfered [with] by external parties and the board reported the issue to police immediately,” organizers said in a press release, according to the South China Morning Post.
“These are professional drones, which are already built with technologies that would direct them back to the takeoff origin,” Hong Kong Tourism Board’s Executive Director Anthony Lau told the Morning Post, “but the signals were so strong that many of them just dropped from the air.”
Lau said an initial police investigation ruled out the possibility that the machines had been hacked.
“They [the police] were here all night working with us, and our vendor, and looking into all sorts of possibilities, and have come to the conclusion that it is not computer hacking,” Lau said. “It is because someone jammed the GPS signal.”
By Inside GNSS
Imagination Technologies today announced the offering of the Ensigma Location GNSS IP core that supports GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou as well as several Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) including WAAS and EGNOS. Designed for ultra-low power consumption, the IP is designed to optimize battery powered remote IoT sensors and edge devices, wearables, health monitors, consumer mobile products, automotive after-sales products such as insurance boxes and road tolling equipment, and asset tracking devices.
By Stan Goff
The International Technical Symposium on Navigation and Timing (ITSNT) is an annual event organized by CNES (Centre national d’études spatiales) and ENAC (Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile) for professionals and researchers working with or interested in navigation and timing technologies and their use. This year’s event will take place Nov. 13-16 in Toulouse, France, on the campus of ENAC.
By Inside GNSS
With the aim to actively support and to accelerate the most widespread adoption of Galileo, Spaceopal today announces the launch of NAVCAST, its GNSS Precise Point Positioning (PPP) service featuring high accuracy positioning enhancement for end users worldwide.
By Inside GNSS
The Galileo satellite navigation system has been in the news a lot this week, and now comes word from the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) that Galileo Satellites GSAT0215, GSAT0216, GSAT0217, and GSAT0218, launched in December 2017, have been commissioned for operational use.
By Inside GNSS
After a four-year delay the Federal Communications Commission is set to vote on whether signals from Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system can officially be used in the United States.
By Dee Ann Divis
A proposed frequency change that could create interference with GPS receivers has picked up a new and powerful group of opponents. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents the country’s largest automobile makers and 70 percent of all the car and light truck sales in the U.S., filed a letter opposing a request by Ligado Networks (formerly LightSquared) to allow satellite-only frequencies near the satellite navigation band to also be used for terrestrial broadband services.
By Dee Ann Divis
Nominations for officers were submitted by the 2019-2021 Nominating Committee of The Institute of Navigation. The ION’s Nominating Committee was chaired by Dr. Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska and included three representatives from each region.
Additional Nominees. Pursuant to Article V of The Institute of Navigation’s bylaws, “additional nominations may be made by petition, signed by at least 25 members entitled to vote for the office for which the candidate is nominated.” All additional nominees must fulfill nomination requirements as indicated in the ION bylaws and the nomination must be received at the ION National Office by November 7.
By Inside GNSS
By allowing the customer’s own equipment to power the RF over fiber receiver, ViaLite Communications’ new RF Connector is designed to further simplify the installation of ViaLiteHDRF over fiber links. Available on the Blue OEM for applications in the Broadcast and GPS/GNSS sectors, the connector removes the need to use a separate power supply unit (PSU).
By Inside GNSS
Skydel Solutions’ SDX 18.10, a new version of the company’s GNSS simulator that features improvements to receiver antenna management and a new advanced jammer type, is now available.
Starting with this SDX update is an upgraded paradigm for managing receiver antennas: SDX now supports the management of multiple vehicle antennas within a single scenario. Antennas can now be defined, named, and exported as antenna files that can be re-imported back into other scenarios. This handy feature will speed up antenna reuse and multi-scenario workflows for users managing numerous antenna models in GNSS simulation scenarios.
By Inside GNSS
The International Navigation Conference (INC), sponsored by the Royal Institute of Navigation, is a premier forum for the presentation of research and advances in navigation. INC2018, the 4th in this annual series, brings together industry, academia and governments from around the world and will take place Nov. 12-15, 2018 in Bristol, England, United Kingdom.
By Inside GNSS
A recent General Accountability Office (GAO) report is highly critical of the cyber security, or lack thereof, in U.S. weapons systems. One of the examples of cyber-attacks it lists is GPS spoofing.
The report, published this month, goes on to say:
“…weapon systems are dependent on external systems, such as positioning and navigation systems and command and control systems in order to carry out their missions—and their missions can be compromised by attacks on those other systems. A successful attack on one of the systems the weapon depends on can potentially limit the weapon’s effectiveness, prevent it from achieving its mission, or even cause physical damage and loss of life.”
By Inside GNSS
In the framework of GNSS cooperation between the European Union (EU) and Japan, a test was recently conducted of a GNSS-based global Emergency Warning Service using Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), which delivered impressive results.
By Inside GNSS
