On a dare, Texas college researchers hacked into and hijacked a drone of the US Homeland Security before the eyes of the offi cials operating it. Using a technique called ‘spoofi ng’ where a signal from hackers imitates the one sent to the drone’s on-board GPS, the researchers managed to take control of a small but powerful drone in mid-air. And the hijacking was just for a $1,000 wager.

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) has published a contract notice in the Offi cial Journal of the European Union inviting operators to bid for the provision of EGNOS services over the 2014-2021period. This contract will consist in operating, maintaining and upgrading the EGNOS system infrastructure, and ensuring the continuous and safe provision of the three services offered by EGNOS.
The new EGNOS service provision contract is planned to be awarded in 2013 and is aimed at guaranteeing the provision of EGNOS services for 8 years starting on the 1st of January 2014, without service interruption.

Spectracom has announced its new L1+L2 dual frequency 32-channel multi-GNSS simulator, the GSG-62. It offers multiple frequency band operation, multiple GNSS constellation simulation, and expansion capability for more frequency bands and channels.

VisionMap Ltd has announced that its A3 digital aerial camera imagery is now supported by Intergraph’s LPS photogrammetry software. This new compatibility provides LPS users the ability to perform stereo compilation with A3 imagery for mapping applications.

China successfully launched the remotesensing satellite Yaogan XIIII recently from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the northern province of Shanxi. The satellite was carried into space aboard a Long March 4B carrier rocket which blasted off at 3:06 p.m. Beijing time, according to the center.

Nigeria is to switch to the satellite based navigation system also known as the Performance Based Navigation (PBN) soon. This is coming as airline operators and pilots have been urged to key into the satellite based navigation system.

The latest Apple iPhone will be the first among cellphone manufacturers outside Russia to use both the global navigation satellite systems – American GPS and Russian GLONASS. Russia is working on promoting the use of the GLONASS, an in order to do so it is planning to levy heavy import duties in the country on the Phones not using GLONASS.

Since its certification for use in managing air traffic and other securitycritical applications in 2011, EGNOS – Europe’s augmentation system for GPS – now enables new applications for precise and reliable satellite navigation. To promote EGNOS, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is offering a special prize for the most promising idea using the system.

Spectra Precision new ProFlex™ 800 is a powerful GNSS solution with revolutionary Z-Blade™ GNSS-centric technology. It delivers fast and reliable RTK positioning, even in environments where GNSS signals may be difficult to acquire. Rugged and IP67 rated, it is built to withstand harsh operating conditions for a variety of positioning applications.

The U.S. Army Geospatial Center (AGC) and Engineer Research and Development Center recently released the Hydrologic Data Resources Application (HyDRA) – a Web-based data survey and analysis tool created to provide the Dept. of Defense (DoD) logistics and geospatial intelligencerelated water communities with information on water resources data collection, visualization and dissemination in a mobile, enterprise-enabled environment. HyDRA allows users to view, collect and edit unclassified water resources features via Android 2.2+ OS smart devices using Google MapsTM and Google EarthTM applications.