There's something I've been wanting to write about since the ION-GNSS conference a few weeks ago. However, a nasty cold, a 10-day trip to Europe (INTERGEO conference), and some jet lag have kept me from it until now. read more
This week, I’ve been attending the INTERGEO 2010 conference in Cologne, Germany. It’s a gathering of ~16,500 people interested in geodesy, geoinformation, and land management. It’s the largest event of its kind in the world. read more
Testing GNSS Receivers with Record and Playback TechniquesIs there a way to perform repeatable tests on GNSS receivers using real signals? This month’s column looks at how to use an RF vector signal analyzer to digitize and record live signals, and then play them back to a GNSS receiver with an RF vector signal generator. read more
I was relieved to see that the facts related to the conception of GPS were clearly laid out in the two-part article “GPS Heroes” (May and June issues). During the past few years, erroneous information about the early years of GPS development has circulated in some military, engineering, and scientific circles.These stories centered on some version of the idea that GPS’ design originated with the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and within the patent submitted for Timation by the NRL’s Roger Easton; the U.S. Air Force and The Aerospace Corporation were conspicuously missing from the various scenarios that credited Roger Easton with “inventing” GPS. read more
Hi, my name is Alan, and I’m an accuracy addict. I got my first taste of accuracy back in 2000 when I started at GPS World, and discovered the vast range of very advanced things that people were doing with the signals of the Global Positioning System. This filled me with a great feeling of elation, expansiveness, and effectiveness. I can position anything. I can track anything. I can go anywhere, and know where I am. I can direct something else to go somewhere, and have it hit exactly on target. I can examine the minute movements of the earth, the swaying of skyscrapers, the moisture content of the atmosphere, and I can know all. I began to feel the illusion of omnipotence — of power over all. The more I found out about accuracy, the more I used it, the more addicted I became. read more
The new European Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Industry Council (EPIC) will be a forum for organizations with an interest in all PNT systems including Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). EPIC shall serve as an information and distribution portal between all stakeholders in the PNT community. Its mandate includes all GNSS constellations and related augmentation systems worldwide, both operational and in development/modernization. read more
At the Civil GPS Service Interface Committee meeting in Portland, Oregon, on September 20, Sergey Revnivykh, Deputy Director General of Roscosmos’s Central Research Institute of Machine Building, reported on the status and future of GLONASS. He provided a number of details on the present constellation and how it will be augmented in the future, stressing that GLONASS is doing well... read more
Follow Us