GNSS World

Interoperability. How do we turn fiercely independent GNSSes into a system of systems that is more than the sum of its parts? Unilateral? Bilateral? Multilateral? And where do we make it happen — out in space, on the ground, in the receiver?

Despite the best efforts of a Munich conference’s organizers to characterize the four programs as a competitive race, representatives of the world’s GNSS operators insist the it’s all about compatibility and interoperability — well, almost all . . . .

Clashing trajectories pressure GNSS providers - but growing commercial markets inspire a search for compatibility at the third plenary meeting of the International Committee on GNSS.

Replacement of the Galileo public-private partnership (PPP) approach to building and implementing the system infrastructure, authorization of a final budget to complete a constellation with fully operational capability, and passage of a new regulation on Galileo have resolved most of the roadblocks and removed much of the doubt surrounding the program.

Russia has an ambitious program in store for its GNSS system: more signals–including CDMA, a larger constellation, expanded augmentation system,and modernized ground control and integrity monitoring.

From a distance, it might look easy: the running of a GNSS system by a single country. But in the complex world of U.S. politics, it’s a wonder that anything gets worked out at all. And yet the National Space-Based Positioning,Navigation, and Timing initiative seems to be gaining some traction.

As they shape a new acquisition plan, leaders of the Galileo project will soon discover if a public partnership will lead to success.

In December,  details of the Compass program and plans were discussed for the first time at the only GNSS conference authorized by China’s government, the Shanghai Navigation Forum. Editor Glen Gibbons brings back a report on the current state of satellite navigation in China.

Tour China with a GPS receiver and no street-level map? No problem!

Europe's Galileo program continues to struggle through a difficult passage as it looks ahead to crucial meetings of the European Union (EU) transport, economic, and heads of state meeting November and December. The lingering death last spring of the public-private partnership (PPP) threw the program back into the political crucible that has always proved more arduous than the technical challenges.  The political discussion revolves around three different issues: financing, deployment, and governance of the system. Somewhat surprisingly, the third may prove the most substantive.

New boss in town? The GNSS Supervisory Authority and Galileo.

Russia on the Prowl for Consumer Markets

Successful launch of three modernized GLONASS-M late last year continues the replenishment of Russia’s second-generation navigation satellite system. This article provides as overview of the satellite deployment procedures and plans to accelerate the completion of a modernized GLONASS system.

Transforming policy into programs and progress challenges the leadership of any organization. But when the effort involves a global infrastructure, international relations, national interagency cooperation, and multiple civil/commercial/military users—as GNSS systems do–the task becomes even more complex. The director of the U.S. agency charged with implementing a new presidential directive affecting GPS describes how that's being done.

After six years of deliberations and regional workshops, the United Nations has fostered the creation of an International Committee on GNSS to promote the benefits of space-based positioning, navigation, and timing — particularly in developing nations.