GPS SVN49 and L5 Signal: A Success with Problems

Signal anomalies characterized by the U.S. Air Force as “out of family” transmissions will keep the latest GPS satellite from being declared healthy for months, if ever.

The report on space vehicle number (SVN) 49 by the GPS Wing’s chief engineer, Lt. Col. David Goldstein to the European Navigation Conference in Naples, Italy, on May 4 mixed bad news with glad.

Also known as Block IIR-20(M), the spacecraft carries the demonstration payload for the new civil GPS L5 signal. The March 24 launch probably represented the last chance to meet an International Telecommunications Union (ITU) deadline for securing primary rights to use of the RF band by GPS.

GPS Wing Calls for Proposals for OCX Phase B

Officials from Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center’s GPS Wing have announced the release of a request for proposal (RFP) for Phase B of the Next Generation GPS Control Segment (OCX) contracts.

Obama Lifts Up GPS in Speech to U.S. Scientists

In his April 27 speech to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) annual meeting, President Barack Obama twice singled out the Global Positioning System as an example of the need for renewing the U.S. commitment to basic scientific research and education.

“The calculations of today’s GPS satellites are based on the equations that Einstein put to paper more than a century ago,” Obama said, having noted that “no one can predict what new applications will be born of basic research. . . .”

Companies Announce GPS/Wi-Fi Collaboration

Ekahau Inc. has announced that its Wi-Fi location tracking software is being integrated into GPS receivers designed by NavSync Ltd. to enable customers to continuously track asset in indoor and outdoor environments.

Wi-Fi–enabled GPS tag combines NavSync’s NavTrac GPS module with Ekahau's location protocol. The NavTrac module incorporates the CW85 16-channel GPS receiver/802.11b/g transmitter combination.

Loctronix Gains Patent for Its Spectral Compression Positioning, Tracks CDMA, GNSS

[Updated 4/26/09] On March 31, the U.S. Patent Office granted Loctronix Corporation its first patent, which will provide the foundation for its Spectral Compression Positioning (SCP) technology that enables multi-source positioning capability in a single sensor. Subsequently, the company announced that it had successfully achieved meter-level ranging performance using CDMA cellular signals.

Modernization Milestone

At 5 a.m. PDT (Pacific Daylight Time) on April 10, 2009, GNSS reached a new milestone as the first GPS L5 signal was turned on and transmitted from a GPS satellite. Eagerly anticipated, this is the first broadcast of a GPS signal in a frequency band dedicated solely for civilian use.

Synthetic Aperture GPS Signal Processing

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Synthetic aperture techniques combine data obtained from multiple sensors — or one sensor moving among multiple locations, or both — to construct a single image. These techniques have been widely researched, developed, and applied in the area of radar systems.

Septentrio Receivers Track L5, Other SVN49 Signals

Septentrio reports success in tracking five signals being transmitted from the modernized GPS Block IIR satellite with the L5 demonstration payload launched on March 24.

Now designated space vehicle number 49 (SVN49), the satellite began broadcasting in the L1 and L2 band on March 28, shortly after the spacecraft reached its quasi-circular middle earth sorbit.

Congress, U.S. Trade Rep Seek Public Comment on Access to Galileo Markets

Prompted by a congressional footnote in the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act signed into law last month, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is soliciting public comment on American industry’s access to the Galileo program and related markets.

ATK Hires Former GPS JPO Director Jim Armor

Alliant Techsystems has named Major General U.S. Air Force (Ret.) James B. Armor Jr., a former director of the NAVSTAR GPS Joint Program Office (GPS JPO, now the GPS Wing), as vice-president of strategy and business development for spacecraft systems and engineering services for the company’s Space Systems unit.