Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
Another milestone has been reached in efforts to showcase the many benefits improved satellite positioning can have on industries as the Australian Government launched a trial of Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) for the Australasian region at an event at CQUniversity Australia’s Rockhampton campus.
By Inside GNSS
Photo courtesy of GPS.gov. House and Senate authorizers are forcing a reorganization of the Pentagon’s management of military space programs, giving authority to a soon-to-be-named official to prioritize space budgets across services and setting planning in motion for a possible new department. They also approved spending the full amounts requested for the military GPS programs and mandated that defense officials both test a backup to GPS and look at incorporating European and Japanese GNSS signals into military user equipment.
By Inside GNSS
The advanced MDU on navigation payloads being delivered for GPS III Space Vehicles 1-10. Photo courtesy of Harris Corp.Harris Corporation has completed development of the company’s fully digital Mission Data Unit (MDU), which is at the heart of its navigation payload for Lockheed Martin’s GPS III satellites 11 and beyond.
By Inside GNSS
The Space and Missile Systems Center (AFSPC) announced today that the United States Air Force has accepted delivery of the Global Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System (GPS OCX) Launch and Checkout System (LCS) baseline from Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems.
By Inside GNSS
The long-running, high stakes battle between the GPS community and Ligado Networks may enter a new phase next month when the firm presents to the nation’s leading GPS experts its plan to develop a combined terrestrial/satellite network using its spectrum neighboring the GPS band.
By Inside GNSS
Key details are emerging about how Air Force managers are working to pull into line the substantially delayed and over budget program to build a new GPS ground system.
By Inside GNSS
The nation’s leading satellite navigation experts have invited Ligado Networks, a firm whose plans are widely viewed by many as a threat to satnav, to present at their November 15 meeting. If the company accepts, it could illuminate the structure of the terrestrial service it has in mind and either ease, or add fuel to, the ongoing dispute between Ligado and the GPS community.
By Dee Ann Divis
General John (Jay) Raymond The ground was already shifting when Gen. John (Jay) Raymond took charge of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) in October 2016. Just six months before, his predecessor Gen. John Hyten had announced the Space Enterprise Vision, a new way of approaching space asset development, management and protection now that space had become both contested and far more crowded. There were issues across the space, ground and user segments of the GPS program; sequestration was still looming and Congress was looking closely at how to reorganize the way the Air Force managed its space programs.
By Inside GNSS
One of 12 magnetograms recorded at Greenwich Observatory during the Great Geomagnetic Storm of 1859
1996 soccer game in the Midwest, (Rick Dikeman image)
Nouméa ground station after the flood
A pencil and a coffee cup show the size of NASA’s teeny tiny PhoneSat
Bonus Hotspot: Naro Tartaruga AUV
Pacific lamprey spawning (photo by Jeremy Monroe, Fresh Waters Illustrated)
“Return of the Bucentaurn to the Molo on Ascension Day”, by (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Canaletto
The U.S. Naval Observatory Alternate Master Clock at 2nd Space Operations Squadron, Schriever AFB in Colorado. This photo was taken in January, 2006 during the addition of a leap second. The USNO master clocks control GPS timing. They are accurate to within one second every 20 million years (Satellites are so picky! Humans, on the other hand, just want to know if we’re too late for lunch) USAF photo by A1C Jason Ridder. 
Detail of Compass/ BeiDou2 system diagram
Hotspot 6: Beluga A300 600ST
1. Mangrove Tree-Planting Drones
Myanmar (Southeast Asia)
Lockheed Martin announced that its second-generation satellite-based augmentation system (2nd Gen SBAS) testbed started broadcasting in dual frequency, multi-constellation (DFMC) during testing this week that was moved up from originally scheduled dates.
By Inside GNSS
Denver, Colorado-based Lockheed Martin announced that the U.S. Air Force awarded the company a $45.5 million contract to provide Military Code (M-Code) Early Use (MCEU) capability to the Global Positioning System (GPS). Part of the Air Force’s overall modernization plan for the GPS, M-Code is an advanced, new signal designed to improve anti-jamming and protection from spoofing, as well as to increase secure access, to military GPS signals for U.S. and allied armed forces.
By Inside GNSS
Improvements to the nation’s air traffic control system, including a shift to more efficient GPS-based routing and GPS-enabled aircraft surveillance, are largely on track and within budget, according to a recent watchdog report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
By Dee Ann Divis
