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May 2008
Alan Cameron

Perspectives

BY ALAN CAMERON     eic@gpsworld.com

It doesn't seem all that long ago that Block II GPS satellites were big news. But these days Block II is all but passé, as the U.S. Air Force and its contractors gear up for the next generation of GPS, Block III, both on the ground and in orbit.

Grandkids! Growing 3rd Generation GPS

With the award of the satellite contract for GPS Block IIIA and a delay on launch of the L5 signal (more on both these in a bit), attention for the modernization of GPS shifts to the ground segment, with a contract award for the next-generation operations control expected in the second quarter of next year.

Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are currently working – in competition – to develop versions of the control system (OCX) for the GPS Block III. The companies received a $160 million, 18-month program award in November 2007 for the development of systems requirements, system design, and an engineering model for the ground control portion of GPS Block III. GPS World contributor Joe Averkamp attended a May 15 Washington, D.C. briefing by Northrop Grumman upon completion of its system requirements review for the U.S. Air Force, and filed the following report. read more>>

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News

Institute of Navigation Names 2008 Fellows
The Institute of Navigation (ION) announced the recipients of the 2008 fellow membership during the IEEE/ION Position Location and Navigation Symposium (PLANS) 2008 Conference in Monterey, Calif., May 6 through May 8, 2008. Those elected include James Doherty, Marvin May, and Mikel Miller. read more>>

Boeing Satellite Division to Lay Off 750
 The Boeing Company announced May 21 that it plans to lay off approximately 750 employees in Southern California because of a downturn in its satellite assembly and integration business. It didn't specifically cite the loss of the latest GPS contract, but the announcement came just one week after the GPS III contract went to rival Lockheed Martin. read more>>  

Lockheed Gets the Nod for GPS III
The U.S. Air Force finally made it official and confirmed the rumor mill: Lockheed Martin has beat out rival satellite contractor Boeing for the contract to build the first eight GPS III satellites. read more>>

GIOVE-B to Ground Control: Do You Read?
Yes we do, says the European Space Agency (ESA). Following its April 27 launch, GIOVE- B, the second Galileo satellite, began transmitting navigation data on May 7, the ESA reported. read more>>

U.S. DOT Plans to Continue Inland NDGPS Ops — For Now
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved a decision to continue the inland component of the Nationwide Differential GPS (NDGPS), based on the results of a user assessment conducted by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA). read more>>

European Parliament Gives Galileo a Green Light
On the eve of the launch of Galileo's GIOVE-B satellite, the European Parliament has backed plans developed by other branches of the European Union for the beleaguered European GNSS. read more>>

   
TECH TALK BLOG

Exploiting phase difference between LOS and multipath signals: Early late phase (ELP) for multipath detection

By Omer Mohsin Mubarak

GPS, being a CDMA-based system, is severely affected by the reflections of transmitted signal, known as multipath effect. Initially GPS was proposed for aircraft, ship and vehicle navigation. In such situations, receiving a reflected signal is much less probable because of the absence of surroundings from where the signal can reflect, and ground reflections are easily blocked by the antenna. read more>>


   
EVENTS

NavtechGPS Seminar Course 356: GPS Operation for Engineers & Technical Professionals
June 2, 2008 - June 6, 2008
Annapolis, MD

Navtech GPS Seminar 447: Applied Kalman Filtering
June 2, 2008 - June 6, 2008
Annapolis, MD




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