GNSS

India’s GAGAN to be operationalized for aviation in the coming months

GAGAN certification programme crossed yet another milestone on 13th August 2013 when. K.N.Srivastava, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation released the GAGAN Certification documents to Arun Mishra, Director General of Civil Aviation in the presence of V.P. Agrawal, Chairman AAI.

According to Mr. V. Somasundaram, member (Air Navigational Services), AAI, the development of documents have been the collective effort of ISRO, AAI and DGCA for the past four years and is a milestone for Certification process of GAGAN. The GAGAN certification process is the first unique exercise where the regulator, DGCA officials have worked in tandem with service providers and system developers to reach the current milestone.

Russian Aerospace industry needs State help

The Russian space industry is plagued by such a great number of problems that the government cannot afford to leave it to its own devices, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said. “Constant [government] assistance is needed to ultimately break the vicious circle of accidents and failures,” Rogozin, who oversees the defense and aerospace sectors, said in a recent interview.

On July 2, a Proton-M rocket, carrying three satellites for the Glonass positioning system, fell to the ground in flames shortly after blasting off. The incident was the latest in a series of setbacks for Russia’s space program. www.spacedaily.com

DGCA India to hire 100 airworthiness officers ahead of safety audits

The civil aviation regulator in India is scurrying to increase its technical workforce by a third as it prepares to face crucial safety audits by two global aviation bodies, which could potentially downgrade India’s air safety rating. A senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official said the regulator is hiring 100 airworthiness officers to comply with the assessments of its safety oversight capabilities by the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Aug and Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in September. 320 such officers, who oversee the flying conditions and maintenance of aircraft, against a sanctioned limit of 586. ICAO and FAA have in the past criticised DGCA’s persistent manpower deficit, which affects the oversight of airline operations in India. An ICAO safety downgrade will restrict foreign airlines from flying into India and vice versa. http://articles. economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Using GPS for construction violations

The Jeddah Municipality in Saudi Arabia is planning to introduce electronic services, including GPS, to improve its working. The Municipality will now accept only electronic copies of land locations and proposed designs for buildings. Jeddah officials adopted the new strategy to achieve electronic governance and to update regulations relevant to building permits for the benefit of engineers and architects, who in turn deal with landlords on matters pertaining to building design. www.arabnews.com

NAVAIR tests GPS antijam antenna on UAVs

Engineers at the Naval Air Systems Command facility in Maryland, USA have found encouraging results while testing GPS anti-jam antennas on small UAVs. The team of engineers at the Communications and GPS Navigation Program Office mounted small antenna system and antenna electronics along with a Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR), representing a Selective Availability Anti-spoofing Module (SAASM)-capable GPS receiver on the UAV. The UAV was then placed in a room, lined with signal-absorbent material, where it was subjected to GPS jamming signals. These signals simulated both the GPS satellite constellation signals as well as multiple GPS jammers. Engineers believe that the tests have shown encouraging results. These initial tests were done while the UAV was in a fixed position. navair.navy.mil

GPS with Beidou satellites combined by Curtin University researchers

The Curtin University and the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information have tried to link GPS with Chinese satellites. Skyscrapers can block GPS signals because the satellites used to find the user’s location are positioned at a low angle in the sky, according to Curtin University professor Peter Teunissen. The same problem occurs in open pit mines, he said. Teunissen and the CRCSI believe they can eliminate that problem by mixing GPS with Beidou. www.techworld.com.au/

GPS companies sued for $1.9 billion by Harbinger

Philip Falcone’s Harbinger Capital sued agricultural equipment maker Deere & Co and GPS companies and groups for damages of $1.9 billion as it looks to recoup its investment in bankrupt wireless company LightSquared. The lawsuit’s defendants, who include GPS companies Garmin International and Trimble Navigation, had opposed LightSquared’s plans to build a wireless network because of concerns it would interfere with GPS systems, which are used in everything from farming to airline navigation. Other defendants include industry groups the US GPS Industry Council and the Coalition to Save Our GPS.

Harbinger, which has spent billions of dollars on LightSquared, said in a complaint filed that it never would have made the investments if the GPS industry had disclosed potential interference problems between the LightSquared spectrum and GPS equipment between 2002 and 2009.

The hedge fund accused the defendants of fraud and negligent misrepresentation among other allegations, saying the defendants “knew years ago” all the material facts on which they based their opposition to the LightSquared network. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatime