I am an avid outdoor enthusiast and as such got a very simple GPS handset as a gift from a friend visiting me from abroad. This GPS can simply tell me my location in terms of latitude and longitude anywhere on earth. It can also help me trace back my route if I am lost in say a jungle or desert etc. The device is intended for use outdoors just for fun.
A few friends told me that apparently I need a license to use this device in India. I did some internet based research to find out the truth behind the matter and came across your magazine where you had printed an interview of Mr P K Garg, Wireless Adviser to Government of India, Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) Wing, Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India. Although I was surprised to read that yes indeed I needed a license to operate the device in India, as confirmed by Mr Garg, being a law abiding citizen I decided I must acquire the license before operating it or at least apply for it. This started off a very frustrating process for me of trying to crack the bureaucracy which I am relating below in the hope that it will be read by someone who is authoritative enough to help me out.

The U.S. National Space Policy (NSP) was authorised by President Bush on August 31, 2006. This NSP establishes an overarching national policy that governs the conduct of U.S. space activities and supersedes the 1996 NSP.
The unclassified ten-page summary of the NSP consists of 13 self-contained sections including the principles, goals, guidelines (both general and specific to national security space, civil space and commercial space), international space cooperation, space nuclear power, radio frequency spectrum, orbital debris, effective export policies and space-related security classification.

January 2007

National Technical Meeting “GNSS Benefiting Mankind”

January 22-24, 2007, San Diego, CA

www.ion.org

Recent trends in infrastructure …

Location based services (LBS) are a rapidly growing field of wireless data services that can be accessed through a mobile phone equipped with a GNSS receiver. Some of the services are intended for outdoor use while others are suited for use in urban and indoor areas. It is therefore likely that subscribers will expect these services to be available throughout the coverage area of the mobile telephone network…

In 1900, the International Latitude Service started to monitor the wobbling and wandering of the North Pole. Since that year, the North Pole has been moving south. In everyday terminology, it has moved secularly on the Earth’s surface in the only direction it knows, i.e., south. The total motion has been about 13.5 meter over the past 100+ years, which in other words amounts to an amazing rate of 13 cm per year or about 1 cm per month…

This paper is an update of the GAGAN status presented at NSP meeting on May 8-19, 2006 held at Brussels, Belgium and also provides the future roadmap of the project. GAGAN will provide augmented information for satellite navigation to the aircraft flying within Indian Flight Information Regions (FIRs), which consists of seven boundaries. India is situated inthe vicinity of equator. In the equatorial region the ionospheric variations are very predominant…

Professor Laboratory of Communication Engineering, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Tokyo, Japan QZSS is a Japanese Satellite System to augment the performance of GPS positioning. It was expected to provide the services of positioning, communication, and broadcasting…

Positioning and navigating: 2007
AKIO YASUDA, DICK SMITH, GERARD LACHAPELLE, IAN DOWMAN, JOHN W
LAVRAKAS, SANG JEONG LEE, VANESSA LAWRENCE
Gagan update ARJUN SINGH, S K SARASWATI AND K RAMALINGAM
North pole keeps moving south MUNEENDRA KUMAR
Acquisition sensitivity limits of new civil
GNSS signals SEPPO TURUNEN
US National Space Policy GEORGE CHO
Can use of GPS be legal in India?
SUDIPTO ROY
Galileo Technology Centre H SU, W EHRET, H BLOMENHOFER, E BLOMENHOFER

EU, Morocco seal deal on Galileo
The European Union (EU) and Morocco signed an agreement in Brussels for cooperation on the European satellite radio navigation program Galileo. The two sides will join hands in a wide range of activities, including scientific research and training, industrial cooperation, trade and market development, standards, certification and regulatory measures. Morocco is the seventh international partner of the EU on the Galileo global positioning system. The 25- nation bloc has signed cooperation agreements with the United States, China, Israel, Ukraine, India and South Korea.

£2 million printing press for paper maps
Ordnance Survey Director General and Chief Executive Vanessa Lawrence officially pushed the on button of a massive new £2 million printing press at the mapping agency’s Southampton head office recently. The six-colour printing press is one of the largest in the country and will be used to produce Ordnance Survey’s paper maps, including the 650 different recreational and leisure maps that together cover every corner of Britain. www.OrdnanceSurvey.co.uk