GNSS

U.S. warns EU against making Galileo mandatory

The U.S. government has alerted the European Union that any preferential treatment the EU gives to its Galileo positioning, navigation and timing network will likely violate World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements signed by the United States and the 28-nation EU.

In particular, U.S. government offcials voiced concerns that the EU is weighing equipment mandates for aviation, caraccident reporting and emergency-call regulations that could unfairly tip the scales in favor of Galileo to the detriment of U.S. GPS-enabled hardware.

A senior GPS offcial recently said the US and the EU have signed a wide body of satellite navigation agreements designed to promote open market access and interoperability.

These protocols include the WTO’s Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, which prohibits discrimination among goods based on nontariff measures including regulations and certifcation procedures. www.spacenews.com

Innovative hail suppression project awarded

The University Challenge is one of the highlights of the annual European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC). In 2014, the University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim (Germany) won over the international expert jury with its hail suppression project RO-BERTA.

Hail Navigator is a novel system designed to reduce damage caused by hail. Based on the premise of suppressing the formation of hail by injecting silver iodide into clouds, Hail Navigator combines navigation with a precipitation reporting system that can guide pilots to optimal locations for hail suppression missions. The system is complemented by weather observations (including precise times and locations) reported by local citizens via a smartphone app, which aids the validation of weather prediction models. These models constitute an important factor in deciding whether a hail suppression fight is necessary. www.uni.esnc.eu

Ehancing search & rescue service using GNSS

Cospas–Sarsat’s extension to MEOSAR (Medium Earth Orbit Search and Rescue) will extend its search and rescue coverage on the ground the Galileo programme is contributing a Toulouse-based test bench, and a networked trio of MEOSAR ground stations – known as Local User Terminals (LUTs) – to cover Europe, based in Svalbard in the Norwegian Arctic, Cyprus and the Canary Islands. Existing LUTs are distributed on a per country basis, but it is an advantage of MEOSAR that fewer ground stations will be needed for greater coverage.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced completion of tests that indicate the readiness of the European component of a modernized, GNSS satellite–aided search and rescue service known as Cospas-Sarsat.

Cospas–Sarsat is a global satellite system for rapidly detecting distress calls to be forwarded to local search and rescue authorities.

Topcon engineers track new GLONASS signal

Topcon Positioning Groups latest GNSS reference receiver has tracked a new signal from the GLONASS constellation. The GLONASS-M 55 satellite was launched in June and is equipped with an experimental payload capable of transmitting CDMA signals in the Russian GNSS system’s L3 frequency band centered at 1202.025 MHz. Topcon engineers successfully tracked the signal using the NET-G5 receiver during a series of recent tests at the Topcon Technology Center in Moscow, Russia.

Russia to place GLONASS monitoring stations in China

The Russian Space Systems company shall deploy several GLONASS satellite navigation system monitoring stations in China for use in transport, farming, rescue operations, environment monitoring and law enforcement. The facilities may be placed in Urumqi (the administrative center of the Xinjiang-Uygur Autonomous Area) and Changchun, the capital of Jilin province. RSS and Chinese partners would cooperate in the mutual placement of positioning ground stations in Russia and China for GLONASS and China’s Beidou. http://itar-tass.com/en/

UK eLoran now in operation to back up GPS

Technology to counter the threat of GNSS jamming is now available at Dover and along the east coast of the United Kingdom as the island nation continues to implement an enhanced Loran (eLoran) system that is setting an example for the world.

The General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs) of the UK and Ireland has announced on October 31, 2014 the initial operational capability of UK maritime eLoran. Seven differential reference stations are now in operation to provide additional position, navigation, and timing (PNT) information to ships ftted with eLoran receivers, ensuring their safe navigate in the event of GPS failure in one of the busiest shipping regions in the world, which 200,000 vessels are expected to cross every year by 2020, according to the GLAs.

8th GPS IIF satellite launches successfully

The eighth GPS Block IIF navigation satellite launched successfully on October 29, 2014 at 1:21 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on board United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket.

Once its reaches orbit — slot 1 in the constellation’s E plane — GPS IIF-8 (designated PRN03 for its pseudorandom noise code 03 will take the place of a 14-year-old GPS IIR the GPS IIR-4 satellite, which will go into reserve status in the A plane.

China’s Antarctica satellite base plans spark concerns

China has disclosed plans to install a satellite facility in Antarctica, heightening concerns about militarisation of the “peaceful” continent. The Chinese Antarctic Research Expedition will build a base for the BeiDou satellite navigation system this summer, the offcial Xinhua news agency said. This comes as China escalates its Antarctic involvement, building its ffth station, planning an airstrip, and recently blocking marine reserves that could affect fisheries.

The Chinese icebreaker Xue Long is due to arrive in Hobart, Australia, coinciding with a post-G20 visit next week by President Xi Jinping, as Tasmania pitches for Antarctic business. www.stuff.co.nz/

GNSS market in Asia region exhibiting tremendous growth

According to the report “GNSS Market Outlook 2020”, global GNSS market is exhibiting a tremendous growth on the back of ongoing technological advances and rising number of potential commercial and consumer applications. Moreover, with increasing availability of GNSS enabled devices and their continuously declining prices, the GNSS market growth is likely to be on fast track. With this, the GNSS market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of more than 9% during 2014-2020.

Latest trends in Global and Chinese GNSS system industry

A new market research report by WhaTech examines the global and Chinese GNSS industry, covering the decade 2009-2019. The report “Discover latest trends in Global and Chinese GNSS system industry, 2009- 2019” analyzes quantitatively the global and Chinese GNSS market of 2009-2014 by calculating the main economic parameters of each company. The data is broken down by company, country, and application. The report also estimates future market development in the coming period of 2014-2019.