NavCom Technology, Inc has announced a new feature for its GNSS receivers, StarFire Over IP. It allows users to access StarFire corrections over the Internet, giving them access to the same reliable five centimeter globalpositioning accuracy without the need for a base station.

A Soyuz ST-B launcher carrying two Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites took off as scheduled at 18:15 GMT (20:15 CEST; 2:15 p.m. EDT) on October 12 from the European Spaceport in French Guiana. All the stages of the Soyuz vehicle performed as planned and the Fregat-MT upper stage released the Galileo satellites into their targeted orbit close to 23,200 kilometer altitude, three hours 45 minutes after liftoff.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to launch 58 space missions, including sending spacecraft to moon and Mars, an exclusive satellite to keep a round-the-clock watch on the country and deploy 500 transponders in the next fi ve years. The space agency also aims to deploy its own version of the GPS by putting into orbit a constellation of seven satellites which would form the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS).

According to Microsoft, some products sold by Google-owned Motorola Mobility infringe on a patent that describes a method of obtaining the map from one database, resource information such as Starbucks locations from a second database, and overlaying the two sets of data.

The latest satellite in China’s Beidou-2 navigation system has been launched in Xichang. The system is expected to start providing positioning and navigation services for China and neighboring areas by the end of this year. And once the system is fully established by 2020, it will play a major role in the country’s economic development and national security.

The new Outback MAX integrated display terminal from Hemisphere GPS offers section and variable rate control, GPS and GLONASS guidance, video support for up to four cameras, plus wireless data transfer capabilities to automatically import and export prescription application maps, as-applied fi les and other critical precision agriculture data.

China will promote the use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to strengthen the nation’s marine surveillance, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said. The SOA verified and accepted a pilot program of using drones to undertake remote-sensing marine surveillance in Lianyungang, a costal city in eastern Jiangsu Province.

The British Geological Survey is to use a state of the art laser scanner to map volcanoes, glaciers and other natural phenomena. The RIEGL VZ-1000 purchased from 3D Laser Mapping will be used around the world to collect data that will be used to create photorealistic fl y-throughs, 3D height models and highly accurate area and volume calculations.

Spirent 8100 Location Technology solution was used by Signals Research Group (SRG) in the industry’s fi rst independent benchmark study of the performance of location technologies in chipset platforms and leading smartphone models.

The Japanese Cabinet Office issued an official announcement recently approving plans to procure and finance construction of the ground control system and the operation of the next phase of the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS). Procurement is going to be carried out using PFi(private finance initiative) scheme.