This week, TerraGo Technologies announced that it has entered into a strategic agreement with In-Q-Tel – an independent venture capital fund tasked with identifying new technologies for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the larger intelligence community (IC) – to spark the development of...
Read More →Constellation Viability We recently discovered that in a 5-day period three GPS satellites were taken off line indefinitely with no explanation as to possible return to service. This is significant in that the constellation that remains is “non-optimal” in terms of providing more than fo...
Read More →In a recent editorial in GPS World’s Survey & Construction e-newsletter entitled “No Joy in Surveyville,” Eric Gakstatter lamented the performance of the GPS constellation for surveying. He is not alone. In June, the Australian Broadcasting Company reported that farmers in Aust...
Read More →Nationwide Differential GPS (NDGPS) heads toward the budget chop block. Its 2007 allocation has been scaled back to zero. As in aught, nought, zot. NDGPS, also referred to as the Coast Guard differential system, made its first NDGPS broadcast in the early-to-mid-90s. After years of industry talk a...
Read More →I have something to say about our mainstay — GPS — and its troubles of late. So many people in the survey/mapping community have asked me when this problem is going to be resolved. The problem is there aren’t enough healthy satellites for surveying community to use. I think the GPS decision ma...
Read More →Flex Power See “Potential Problems for Users of Modernized GPS Signals in Mixed-Mode Operations” by Eric Gakstatter in The System news section, page 15, June issue. Dear Mr. Gakstatter, The Navstar GPS Joint Program Office (JPO) appreciates receiving inquiries regarding GPS signals, bec...
Read More →PRN 17, the first IIR-M satellite launched in September 2005, began broadcasting the second GPS civil signal, L2C, in December 2005. PRN 17 is the first in the new generation of GPS satellites with a new feature called flex power. According to the U.S. Air Force, flex power adds the capability for t...
Read More →When the new flex power feature aboard PRN 17, the first IIR-M GPS satellite, was enabled for testing (for a very short period of time), a problem was observed by certain GPS users. PRN 17, the first IIR-M satellite launched in September 2005, began broadcasting the second GPS civil signal, L2C, in ...
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