50+ Leaders to Watch

May 1, 2007 By: GPS World Staff GPS World

GPS World Exclusive

Diego Lai

President and CEO | Laipac Technology, Inc.
"We will continue our focus on personal locator products with high-sensitivity GPS and AGPS capability. We have a complete roadmap to build location devices inside smart clothes, shoes, and cosmetic products. Compact and bracelet-type emergency locator devices will be ready by Q4 2007. Built-in sensors will help parole system and health care professionals collect information and react immediately in real time. Other products for the transportation industry include multi-mode AVL systems combined with RFID for asset monitoring and container applications."

Ralph Braibanti

Director, Office of Space and Advanced Technology | U.S. Department of State
"We are moving toward a truly global space-based navigation system consisting of satellite constellations and regional augmentation systems from at least six nations, with GPS still the key component. This system-of-systems will offer markedly improved positioning, navigation, and timing information to users around the world. My job is to lead the U.S. diplomacy behind this international effort. Priorities for the months ahead include solidifying GNSS cooperation with Europe and Japan, completing an agreement with Russia to make GLONASS more interoperable with GPS, and promoting the newly created U.N. International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG)."

Elliott D. Kaplan

The Center for Integrated Intelligence Systems | The MITRE Corporation
Kaplan has served multiple notable roles in GPS government programs for more than two decades. His significant contributions touch the GPS community in a variety of ways. Presently supporting the GPS Wing Systems Engineering Branch, Kaplan is excited about the advent of the next generation Control Segment as well as the forthcoming GPS III satellites. These new entities will provide enhanced performance to both the civil and military user communities. Kaplan is co-author and editor of Understanding GPS: Principles and Applications, first published in 1996, and coeditor and co-author of the Second Edition, published in 2006.

Miguel M. Romay Merino

GNSS Director | GMV Aerospace and Defence
Miguel leads the GMV unit closely involved in GPS, EGNOS and Galileo. This group is currently in charge of the development of the most demanding Galileo and EGNOS navigation and integrity algorithms. He has been a pioneer in the Galileo program, collaborating on constellation design, precise orbit determination, integrity, performance evaluation, and system definition. He is involved today in GMV research activities in the definition of novel GNSS applications and the design of new-generation GNSS that combine high performance with affordable costs.

Ken Hudnut

Manager | GPS L1C Modernization Project; Geodesy Coordinator | U.S. Dept. of Interior
"The GPS L1C signal design will be finalized and approved this year, on schedule to be included onboard the first launch of GPS Block III. Intriguing new opportunities exist for further enhancing GPS in later segments of Block III, and I hope to be able to contribute in the years ahead. Applications of real-time GPS to earthquake, volcano, and tsunami early warning, and to rapid detection of damage to engineered structures, remain my special interests, since these are ways in which GPS can directly benefit society."