Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
As LEO PNT matures, the discussion is shifting from: “can LEO produce a PNT solution?” to “what must happen before users trust it?”
By Zak M. Kassas
“Saying today’s eLoran is what we had in WWII is like saying your 8K Ultra HD television is the same as the 1955 tube set that only got BBC One and ITV. Some fundamentals are the same, but the technology has evolved dramatically.” – U.K. PNT expert.
By Inside GNSS
First-of-its-kind FCC authorization clears Xona to broadcast Pulsar alongside GPS from its planned constellation of more than 250 satellites.
By Inside GNSS
After detailing the highs and lows of Galileo’s development in the first Inside Galileo column, the second installment looks back on negotiations between the U.S. and the EC, with the two resulting agreements helping to shape Galileo while also leaving a lasting imprint on the global GNSS landscape.
By Günter W. Hein
Boeing has developed a three phased strategy to address the GNSS RFI impacting its aircraft, leveraging the GPS Event Monitor (GEM) to log details about RFI symptoms and where aircraft were located when the symptoms occurred.
By Inside GNSS
The European Space Agency (ESA) HydroGNSS Scout mission has officially completed its eight-month commissioning phase, now entering full scientific operations. The two-satellite constellation represents a significant leap forward in utilizing GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R) for remote sensing. By leveraging passive bistatic radar principles, the mission captures and analyzes L-band signals originally transmitted by GPS and Galileo navigation satellites.
By Peter Gutierrez
The European Space Agency (ESA)-funded project ‘A White Rabbit based implementation of Coherent Clock’ has successfully completed its validation phase. The project demonstrated a highly resilient, ground-based time distribution system designed to safeguard critical infrastructures against GNSS vulnerabilities. Funded under ESA’s NAVISP program, the initiative was led by Safran Electronics and Defense Spain.
By Peter Gutierrez
The European Space Forum held annually in Brussels reflects Europe’s high-level priorities in space. This year’s edition revealed how fundamentally those priorities have changed in the face of evolving geopolitical realities.
By Peter Gutierrez
Previous administrations have put PNT investment on layaway. That bill has come due.
By Dana A. Goward
Frequency Electronics, Inc. has been awarded a follow-on production contract worth approximately $8 million to supply compact, high-precision atomic clocks supporting position, navigation and timing (PNT) for lunar missions, the Mitchel Field, N.Y.-based company announced July 27.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. Army, Navy and Space Force put a maritime version of an electronic warfare system called Hammer of the Gods to sea for the first time in mid-July 2026, during Project Convergence Capstone 6 (PC-C6), the Army’s large-scale joint experimentation event.
By Inside GNSS
The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) has signed the Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE) Transition Support Plan, formally accepting the MGUE Increment 1 and 2 programs from the U.S. Space Force. The agreement finalizes the Air Force’s full ownership of the two navigation modernization efforts, centralizing their development and fielding under the M-Code Aviation Receivers (MAR) Joint Program Office.
By Inside GNSS
NautelNav has announced its participation in a new concept for a field-deployable eLoran station. This application, when realized, could result in the procurement of a number of operational systems for multiple defence organizations worldwide.
By Inside GNSS
The European Space Agency (ESA)-funded PARTICLE project has demonstrated a multi-layered approach to assured positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), combining authenticated Galileo signals, receiver-based anti-spoofing and security enhancements for 5G positioning. Funded under ESA’s NAVISP program, the activity was led by Qascom, with partners Loctio and the University of Patras.
By Peter Gutierrez
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has introduced HYPNOSIS, a high-power navigation warfare (NAVWAR) system designed to defend fixed, high-value sites against GNSS-guided aerial threats — chiefly the large drone swarms that have become a defining feature of recent conflicts — by attacking their satellite navigation link rather than shooting them down.
By Inside GNSS
FocalPoint has entered into a commercial agreement with STMicroelectronics to bring the companies’ joint GNSS positioning solution to market for automotive applications, the UK-based GNSS software firm announced July 14. The agreement builds on a collaboration first announced in May 2025 and combines FocalPoint’s S-GNSS Auto software with STMicroelectronics’ Teseo GNSS hardware.
By Inside GNSS
The Department of Defense has issued its final FY26 round of awards under the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program, pushing total program funding past $2 billion since its inception. The July 14 announcement marks the first cycle to include software-only capability awards alongside the program’s traditional hardware selections.
By Inside GNSS
Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM), a leading provider of global voice, data, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellite services, today announced the commercial availability of the Iridium PNT ASIC, a first-to-market chip designed to help protect GPS- and GNSS-dependent devices from jamming, spoofing, and other growing threats.
By Inside GNSS
SBG Systems has released a second-generation Pulse-40 OEM, a miniature tactical-grade IMU aimed at guidance, stabilization, and navigation applications in space- and power-constrained platforms.
By Inside GNSS
“Saying today’s eLoran is what we had in WWII is like saying your 8K Ultra HD television is the same as the 1955 tube set that only got BBC One and ITV. Some fundamentals are the same, but the technology has evolved dramatically.” – U.K. PNT expert.
By Inside GNSS
First-of-its-kind FCC authorization clears Xona to broadcast Pulsar alongside GPS from its planned constellation of more than 250 satellites.
By Inside GNSS
The European Space Agency (ESA) HydroGNSS Scout mission has officially completed its eight-month commissioning phase, now entering full scientific operations. The two-satellite constellation represents a significant leap forward in utilizing GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R) for remote sensing. By leveraging passive bistatic radar principles, the mission captures and analyzes L-band signals originally transmitted by GPS and Galileo navigation satellites.
By Peter Gutierrez
The European Space Agency (ESA)-funded project ‘A White Rabbit based implementation of Coherent Clock’ has successfully completed its validation phase. The project demonstrated a highly resilient, ground-based time distribution system designed to safeguard critical infrastructures against GNSS vulnerabilities. Funded under ESA’s NAVISP program, the initiative was led by Safran Electronics and Defense Spain.
By Peter Gutierrez
Frequency Electronics, Inc. has been awarded a follow-on production contract worth approximately $8 million to supply compact, high-precision atomic clocks supporting position, navigation and timing (PNT) for lunar missions, the Mitchel Field, N.Y.-based company announced July 27.
By Inside GNSS
The U.S. Army, Navy and Space Force put a maritime version of an electronic warfare system called Hammer of the Gods to sea for the first time in mid-July 2026, during Project Convergence Capstone 6 (PC-C6), the Army’s large-scale joint experimentation event.
By Inside GNSS
NautelNav has announced its participation in a new concept for a field-deployable eLoran station. This application, when realized, could result in the procurement of a number of operational systems for multiple defence organizations worldwide.
By Inside GNSS
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has introduced HYPNOSIS, a high-power navigation warfare (NAVWAR) system designed to defend fixed, high-value sites against GNSS-guided aerial threats — chiefly the large drone swarms that have become a defining feature of recent conflicts — by attacking their satellite navigation link rather than shooting them down.
By Inside GNSS
SBG Systems has released a second-generation Pulse-40 OEM, a miniature tactical-grade IMU aimed at guidance, stabilization, and navigation applications in space- and power-constrained platforms.
By Inside GNSS
Xona Space Systems has introduced Pulsar Verified, a partnership program that certifies receivers, chipsets, and test equipment for interoperability with the company’s Pulsar low Earth orbit positioning, navigation, and timing signal, said Tyler Reid, co-founder and CTO at Xona.
By Inside GNSS
Jericho Receivers, a subsidiary of All 6G, has announced commercial availability of its Software-Defined Atomic Clock (SDAC), a timing device designed to maintain atomic-clock-grade accuracy by fusing multiple independent references rather than relying on a single source.
By Inside GNSS
Readers will not be surprised to learn resilience was a major focus at Eurosatory 2026. Across giant exhibit halls packed with the latest military gear, companies and customers were discussing how autonomous systems, sensors and communications networks can continue operating in increasingly contested environments.
By Peter Gutierrez
Pacific Defense has received a contract from the U.S. Army Program Manager Positioning, Navigation and Timing to develop a Block 2 Assured Position, Navigation and Timing plug-in card under the CMOSS Mounted Form Factor program — extending the company’s role in one of the Army’s key C5ISR modernization initiatives.
By Inside GNSS
Taoglas has introduced the GVLB208 series, a dual-band L1/L5 GNSS stacked patch antenna family in a 20 mm x 20 mm x 8 mm footprint. The series is available in passive (GVLB208.A) and active (AGVLB208.A) configurations, both using a single-feed architecture that supports concurrent L1 and L5 reception without the complexity of multi-feed designs.
By Inside GNSS
Honeywell Aerospace has introduced Kestrel, an Embedded GNSS/INS navigation solution designed to maintain continuous position, velocity and attitude estimates independent of external signals — a capability the company is positioning directly against the GNSS-degraded environments that have come to define modern contested operations.
By Inside GNSS
At Eurosatory 2026, one of the themes echoing across exhibition halls packed with armored vehicles, autonomous systems, and electronic warfare technologies was that the era of uncontested satellite navigation is over. Growing threats include jamming, spoofing, and signal obstruction, and companies throughout the PNT ecosystem are searching for new ways to deliver resilience.
By Peter Gutierrez
German defense electronics firm HENSOLDT unveiled SkyBarrier at Eurosatory 2026 in Paris on June 16, positioning the system as a mobile broadband jammer for satellite-based navigation signals. The company describes the system as an electronic countermeasure intended for armed forces and government agencies seeking to deny adversaries the use of navigation-dependent systems.
By Inside GNSS
A u-blox high-precision GNSS timing receiver is providing the synchronization backbone for PANOSETI, a distributed optical telescope array designed to scan the entire sky for potential signatures of extraterrestrial intelligence.
By Inside GNSS
GlobalFoundries (GF) and Qualinx have completed what they describe as the first fully European, end-to-end semiconductor manufacturing flow for a GNSS system-on-chip, marking a concrete step toward supply chain sovereignty for PNT-dependent aerospace, defense, and critical infrastructure applications.
By Inside GNSS
Speaking at the recent Munich Satellite Navigation Summit, Mark Brammer, Positioning Program Lead for the UK’s National PNT Office, outlined the United Kingdom’s bold vision for the future of positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), a system built not on a single pillar, but on international cooperation, multi-technology fusion, and a clear-eyed view of GNSS resilience.
By Peter Gutierrez
At the 2025 Munich Satellite Navigation Summit, Ramsey Faragher, Director and CEO of the UK Royal Institute of Navigation, delivered a sobering assessment of satellite navigation vulnerabilities based on findings of the ‘Operational Performance of Satellite Navigation Systems’ (OPS) report.
By Peter Gutierrez
Airbus is leading the development of the next generation of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), Europe’s satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS). EGNOS version three (V3) will provide a completely new DFMC service – dual frequency, multi-constellation – augmenting both GPS and Galileo signals.
By Peter Gutierrez
The impact Ignacio Fernández Hernández, Galileo Authentication and High Accuracy Manager for the European Commission, has had on the EGNOS and Galileo programs, as he does his part to advance GNSS.
By Peter Gutierrez
The Institute of Navigation recognizes Dr. John Raquet with prestigious Johannes Kepler Award at the ION GNSS+ 2024 Conference.
By Inside GNSS
Steve Woolven’s early experience running his family’s resort coupled with his ambitious academic pursuits helped lay the groundwork for a successful career in the PNT industry and his current role as President of Trimble Applanix.
By Peter Gutierrez
Topcon Positioning Systems has announced that Ray O’Connor, president and chief executive officer, will retire in September 2025 after over three decades of exceptional leadership. O’Connor will transition to the role of Chairman of the Topcon Positioning Systems Board of Directors effective September 1, 2024, providing guidance and support to the executive leadership team during this important year of transition.
By Inside GNSS
Silicon Sensing is to open its first US office, with a dedicated in-country team lead by the new head of sales – Americas, Kevin Swain. This new facility will help ensure the company efficiently supports the growing demand for their rugged, high performance inertial products across North and South America.
By Inside GNSS
At Xponential 2024 in San Diego, Inside GNSS sat down with Jamie Marraccini, CEO of Inertial Labs, to discuss the company’s advanced solutions for GNSS vulnerability and their role in enhancing navigation for UAS operations in GNSS-denied environments.
By Inside GNSS
Speaking to Inside GNSS at the recent InterGEO conference in Berlin, Olivier Casabianca, Vice President of Trimble Positioning Services, said “If you look at the way we work today, GNSS is still the key component, serving all of what we would consider the central geospatial industries, meaning construction, agriculture, transportation, etcetera. People talk about making a digital version of the world, and we understand that starts with knowing where you are, before, during and after, whatever job you’re doing. Precise positioning is fundamental.”
By Peter Gutierrez
Industry veteran Mariam Sorond has taken over as the CEO of NextNav.
By Inside GNSS
Dr Mark Marshall takes on role as emerging inertial sensing technologies open new market opportunities.
Dr Mark Marshall has been appointed as Chief Engineer of Silicon Sensing Systems Ltd. Dr Marshall joined Silicon Sensing in 2017 as the lead engineer on numerous inertial programmes. Immediately prior to commencing as Chief Engineer he was the company’s Consultant Engineer and Electronics Discipline Manager. In this role he was responsible for the electronics and mechanical design of the company’s latest generation, tactical grade inertial measurement unit (IMU) – the DMU41.
By Inside GNSS
Cheryl Gramling knew early on what she wanted to do in life. Today, she is assistant chief for technology, mission engineering and systems analysis division, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and she’s playing a key role in getting us back to the Moon.
By Peter Gutierrez
Helix is pleased to announce the appointment of Tom Beese as Chairman of its Board of Directors.
By Inside GNSS
Rx Networks announced today that Michael Longinotti, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, will retire from the company at the end of 2022, then continue to serve as a board member. John Carley, VP of Sales and Marketing, has been appointed by the Board of Directors to succeed Longinotti as Chief Executive Officer on January 1, 2023.
By Inside GNSS
The Institute of Navigation’s (ION) Satellite Division presented Dr. Boris Pervan with its Johannes Kepler Award September 23, 2022 during the ION GNSS+ Conference held September 19-23, at the Hyatt Regency Denver At Colorado Convention Center.
By Inside GNSS
The Institute of Navigation (ION) announced the recipients of the 2022 Fellow membership during the ION International Technical Meeting (ITM) and Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications (PTTI) meeting held January 25- 27, 2022 at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach in Long Beach, California.
By Inside GNSS
FocalPoint Positioning, founded in 2015, is, as they say, very happening. Its Supercorrelation is a chipset-level software product for mobiles, wearables and vehicles that is changing the positioning game in urban environments. Interesting and energetic, FocalPoint founder Ramsey Faragher came out of the defense industry and has a risen rapidly in the GNSS firmament.
By Peter Gutierrez
As CEO Jean-Yves Courtois puts it, Orolia is focused on solving the hard problems. To do that, the France-based company, a global provider of resilient positioning, navigation and timing (RPNT) solutions, has become a technology integrator.
By Inside GNSS
First-of-its-kind FCC authorization clears Xona to broadcast Pulsar alongside GPS from its planned constellation of more than 250 satellites.
By Inside GNSS
The European Space Agency (ESA) HydroGNSS Scout mission has officially completed its eight-month commissioning phase, now entering full scientific operations. The two-satellite constellation represents a significant leap forward in utilizing GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R) for remote sensing. By leveraging passive bistatic radar principles, the mission captures and analyzes L-band signals originally transmitted by GPS and Galileo navigation satellites.
By Peter Gutierrez
The European Space Agency (ESA)-funded project ‘A White Rabbit based implementation of Coherent Clock’ has successfully completed its validation phase. The project demonstrated a highly resilient, ground-based time distribution system designed to safeguard critical infrastructures against GNSS vulnerabilities. Funded under ESA’s NAVISP program, the initiative was led by Safran Electronics and Defense Spain.
By Peter Gutierrez
Frequency Electronics, Inc. has been awarded a follow-on production contract worth approximately $8 million to supply compact, high-precision atomic clocks supporting position, navigation and timing (PNT) for lunar missions, the Mitchel Field, N.Y.-based company announced July 27.
By Inside GNSS
The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) has signed the Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE) Transition Support Plan, formally accepting the MGUE Increment 1 and 2 programs from the U.S. Space Force. The agreement finalizes the Air Force’s full ownership of the two navigation modernization efforts, centralizing their development and fielding under the M-Code Aviation Receivers (MAR) Joint Program Office.
By Inside GNSS
NautelNav has announced its participation in a new concept for a field-deployable eLoran station. This application, when realized, could result in the procurement of a number of operational systems for multiple defence organizations worldwide.
By Inside GNSS
The European Space Agency (ESA)-funded PARTICLE project has demonstrated a multi-layered approach to assured positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), combining authenticated Galileo signals, receiver-based anti-spoofing and security enhancements for 5G positioning. Funded under ESA’s NAVISP program, the activity was led by Qascom, with partners Loctio and the University of Patras.
By Peter Gutierrez
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has introduced HYPNOSIS, a high-power navigation warfare (NAVWAR) system designed to defend fixed, high-value sites against GNSS-guided aerial threats — chiefly the large drone swarms that have become a defining feature of recent conflicts — by attacking their satellite navigation link rather than shooting them down.
By Inside GNSS
FocalPoint has entered into a commercial agreement with STMicroelectronics to bring the companies’ joint GNSS positioning solution to market for automotive applications, the UK-based GNSS software firm announced July 14. The agreement builds on a collaboration first announced in May 2025 and combines FocalPoint’s S-GNSS Auto software with STMicroelectronics’ Teseo GNSS hardware.
By Inside GNSS
The Department of Defense has issued its final FY26 round of awards under the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program, pushing total program funding past $2 billion since its inception. The July 14 announcement marks the first cycle to include software-only capability awards alongside the program’s traditional hardware selections.
By Inside GNSS
Xona Space Systems has introduced Pulsar Verified, a partnership program that certifies receivers, chipsets, and test equipment for interoperability with the company’s Pulsar low Earth orbit positioning, navigation, and timing signal, said Tyler Reid, co-founder and CTO at Xona.
By Inside GNSS
Jericho Receivers, a subsidiary of All 6G, has announced commercial availability of its Software-Defined Atomic Clock (SDAC), a timing device designed to maintain atomic-clock-grade accuracy by fusing multiple independent references rather than relying on a single source.
By Inside GNSS
Readers will not be surprised to learn resilience was a major focus at Eurosatory 2026. Across giant exhibit halls packed with the latest military gear, companies and customers were discussing how autonomous systems, sensors and communications networks can continue operating in increasingly contested environments.
By Peter Gutierrez
Iridium Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: IRDM) announced July 6 that it has completed its acquisition of Aireon LLC, operator of the space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) air traffic surveillance system.
By Inside GNSS
Pacific Defense has received a contract from the U.S. Army Program Manager Positioning, Navigation and Timing to develop a Block 2 Assured Position, Navigation and Timing plug-in card under the CMOSS Mounted Form Factor program — extending the company’s role in one of the Army’s key C5ISR modernization initiatives.
By Inside GNSS
Rocket Lab Corporation and Iridium Communications Inc. announced today a definitive agreement under which Rocket Lab will acquire all outstanding shares of Iridium common stock for $54 per share in a cash and stock transaction, implying an enterprise value for Iridium of approximately $8.0 billion.
By Inside GNSS
Taoglas has introduced the GVLB208 series, a dual-band L1/L5 GNSS stacked patch antenna family in a 20 mm x 20 mm x 8 mm footprint. The series is available in passive (GVLB208.A) and active (AGVLB208.A) configurations, both using a single-feed architecture that supports concurrent L1 and L5 reception without the complexity of multi-feed designs.
By Inside GNSS
NASA has awarded PlanetiQ an expanded contract through its Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) program, adding high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) GNSS polarimetric radio occultation (PRO) data to the company’s existing CSDA portfolio.
By Inside GNSS
Honeywell Aerospace has introduced Kestrel, an Embedded GNSS/INS navigation solution designed to maintain continuous position, velocity and attitude estimates independent of external signals — a capability the company is positioning directly against the GNSS-degraded environments that have come to define modern contested operations.
By Inside GNSS
As LEO PNT matures, the discussion is shifting from: “can LEO produce a PNT solution?” to “what must happen before users trust it?”
By Zak M. Kassas
After detailing the highs and lows of Galileo’s development in the first Inside Galileo column, the second installment looks back on negotiations between the U.S. and the EC, with the two resulting agreements helping to shape Galileo while also leaving a lasting imprint on the global GNSS landscape.
By Günter W. Hein
The European Space Forum held annually in Brussels reflects Europe’s high-level priorities in space. This year’s edition revealed how fundamentally those priorities have changed in the face of evolving geopolitical realities.
By Peter Gutierrez
