Compass ICD Rumored Again

A GNSS industry representative stationed in Shanghai, China sent this message recently to a U.S. colleague: “Latest unofficial news said that the Compass Interface Control Document (ICD) will be released on 27th this month,  and will be available on the internet on 28th.”

Such rumors have floated before, in late 2010, and again in late 2011.  As the U.S. colleague noted in passing on this light intelligence, “There was a lot of hand-wringing at ICG [Seventh Meeting of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG), organized by the Government of China, Beijing, China, 5 – 9 November 2012] around the Chinese keeping their promise for 2012 release of the ICD.  Maybe they are just going to slip it under the wire.”

In an October, 2011 newsletter column, the GPS World editor wrote: “The long-awaited signal interface control document (ICD) for China’s growing GNSS will appear this month, according to representatives of the system who spoke in a “Compass: Progress, Status, and Future Outlook” workshop as part of ION GNSS and the CGSIC meetings in Portland in September [2011].

“The ICD has been rumored to be available previously to receiver manufacturers within China, creating some disgruntlement among companies outside the country. One of the workshop panelists affirmed that GPS/Compass chips and receivers are being actively developed by many Chinese manufacturers and research institutes.”