China's Compass/Beidou: Back-Track or Dual Track?

A recent presentation on Compass/Beidou that appeared to reflect a step back from China’s GNSS program more likely represented a step sideways — and an implicit acknowledgment of the complex political and technical elements involved in such an enterprise.

In February 20 remarks at the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit in Germany, Jing Guifei, a project manager at the National Remote Sensing Center of China (NRSCC), seemed to play down the global aspects of Compass — or Beidou 2 — while underlining near-term efforts to implement a regional capability for the system.

Call for Papers: International Symposium on GPS/GNSS 2008

Abstracts for the 2008 International Symposium on GPS/GNSS are due on Monday, June 16.

This year, the conference, which rotates throughout the Asia-Pacific region, will take place in Tokyo, Japan from November 11 through November 14.

Presenters who choose to have their papers refereed and published in the proceedings must submit their full papers with payment by July 15. Non-refereed papers must be submitted by September 15.

Authors will be notified of acceptance by July 31.

MEMS and Platform Orientation & Deep Integration of GNSS/Inertial Systems

Q: How can a GPS receiver or MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) inertial sensor assembly sense a host platform’s orientation? How can these sensor technologies be combined together?

China GNSS 101

Late last year, I attended China’s only government-sanctioned international conference on GNSS and visited a number of local companies. I came to one conclusion: The world of GNSS is about to change, and China will have a lot to do with that.

Consider this: China has launched its own GNSS system, Compass/Beidou. It has liberalized policies on GNSS receivers and navigable digital maps. It is already one of the world’s largest economies with enormous capital reserves and steadily-growing disposable income in the hands of millions of citizens.

China to Reveal Compass Plans ‘Soon’

China will release details of its Compass (or Beidou 2) program “soon,” including an Interface Control Document (ICD) for the GNSS system’s open civil service and a launch schedule for additional satellites, according to representatives of the China Satellite Navigation Engineering Center speaking at the Shanghai Navigation Forum (NaviForum) in Shanghai on Thursday and Friday (December 6-7).

GNSS, the Book

SpringerGeosciences has announced release of the latest book by Bernhard Hofmann-Wellenhof: GNSS — Global Navigation Satellite Systems: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo & More. Coauthors are Herbert Lichtenegger and Elmar Wasle.

GNSS Believer

Technology-agnostic. Now there’s an interesting term.

I first heard it from engineering staff at the Federal Communications Commission as they backpedaled away from a premature assumption that network-based solutions would meet the agency’s E911 mandate for wireless phones. After, that is, their assumption was confronted with a more accurate, more far-reaching GPS technology.

GNSS Interoperability

Hexagon Launches Acquisition of NovAtel Shares

Hexagon AB has launched a tender offer to acquire all the issued and outstanding common shares of NovAtel Inc., a Calgary, Alberta, Canada–based developer and manufacturer of OEM GNSS and related products, at a price per share of US$50 cash. Acting through its wholly owned subsidiary, Hexagon Canada Acquisition Inc., the Swedish technology company will keep its offer, which began October 19, open through November 27.