Boeing Awards Retransmitter Contract to GPS Source

Boeing Integrated Defense Systems has awarded GPS Source, Inc., of Pueblo West, Colorado, a multimillion dollar contract for the development of GPS retransmission equipment for the C-17 Globemaster III.

NovAtel, KVH Partner on GNSS/FOG-IMU Sensor

NovAtel, Inc., and KVH Industries took advantage of the auspicious occasion of the PLANS 2008 conference to launch their separately labeled but common-design versions of a GNSS/fiberoptic gyro (FOG) inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor.

May 16: Deadline Extended for abstracts for NAVITEC 2008 - ESA workshop on satellite navigation user equipment technologies

The European Space Agency has extended until May 16 the deadline for paper abstracts for oral and poster presentations for NAVITEC 2008, ESA's fourth workshop on satellite navigation user equipment technologies.

This year's theme is "GNSS User Technologies in the Sensor Fusion Era." Galileo receiver technologies and experimentation are a special focus of this year's event.

The workshop will take place from December 10-12 at the European Space and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

Applanix Launches POS AV with Integrated Trimble GNSS, Upgraded DSS RapidOrtho

Applanix has announced the availability of a high altitude tactical mapping option for its DSS RapidOrtho system as well as the integration of the Trimble BD960 GNSS receiver module for its POS AV airborne position and orientation system.

With the GNSS module, POS AV products now support GPS L1/L2 and GLONASS L1/L2 processing, both in real-time and post-mission. The BD960 will also be able to receive and process the next-generation GPS L2C and L5 signals.

Hemisphere GPS Reports Record Revenues, Profits in First Quarter

Hemisphere GPS has reported US$25.9 million in revenues for the first quarter of 2008, an increase of 56 percent from the year-earlier period (US$16.7 million) and a record for the company.

The company also reported record first quarter net income of $5.8 million, or $0.11, an increase of 169 percent compared to $2.2 million, or $0.05 per share, in the first quarter of 2007.

Spirent Location Test System Adds W-CDMA, GSM Certification

Spirent Communications plc has announced that the Spirent UMTS Location Test System (ULTS) now supports full certification testing of 3G Partnership Project’s (3GPP) Assisted GPS (A-GPS) RF Minimum Performance test cases for both W-CDMA and GSM devices. With this latest capability, Spirent test equipment can support all A-GPS testing standards including RF performance, signaling conformance, and Secure User Plane (SUPL) Application Enabler, according to the company.

Atheros Introduces GPS Hardware/Software Combination

Santa Clara, California–based wireless/wired communications semiconductor manufacturer Atheros Communications, Inc., which acquired u-Nav Microelectronics last December, has announced its second-generation, single-chip GPS receiver, the AR1511, and companion ORION 3.0 software suite.

Lockheed Joins Northrop Grumman OCX Team

As speculated might occur, Lockheed Martin has joined the Northrop Grumman Corporation team competing for the GPS Next Generation Control Segment (OCX) Phase B contract. Lockheed had led its own team in the first round of competition that ended last November.

With Boeing as part of the other prospective OCX team headed by Raytheon Corporation, both companies with experience operating the GPS ground-based infrastructure are playing supporting roles for the contest to build the new control system.

Spectrum Control Offers Dual-Frequency Patch Antenna

Spectrum Control, Inc., of Fairview, Pennsylvania, has designed a new single-element patch antenna that can receive and/or transmit two frequency bands — GPS and satellite communications — in one package.

The new antennas were developed for GPS applications using either Globalstar, for telephone and low-speed data communications, or Iridium’s voice and data communications. The frequencies cover 1575MHz (GPS) to 1615MHz (Globalstar) and 1575MHz (GPS) to 1621MHz (Iridium).

May 1: First day to enter your idea in the 2008 European Satellite Navigation Competition

The European Satellite Navigation Competition (Galileo Masters), now in its fifth year, is seeking the best ideas for satellite navigation applications from companies, entrepreneurs, research institutes, universities, and individuals.

This year's contest will culminate with an awards ceremony in the Munich Residenz, Munich, Germany on Tuesday, October 21, 2008.