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Japanese Cabinet outlines plans for procurement of QZSS Ground Segment

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. The construction of the space segment itself is excluded from the operational control segment PFi, but a description of the overall QZSS system design and current implementation schedule is included in a requirements and standards document that accompanied the announcement. The requirements document specifies that check-out of the on-orbit QZSS SVs and the ground system must be finished by March 2018.

Geomatics Engineering Department links SaudiArabia to Global Satellites Network

Department of Geomatics Engineering of Yanbu Industrial College has linked Yanbu and SaudiArabia to the Multi- Global Navigation Satellites System Network (MGM-Net) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. (JAXA). The Agency has accepted the application of the Yanbu Industrial College to host one of the !4 Multi-Global Navigation Satellite Receivers in the world. The site can be a key station for the MGM-Net. The establishment of MGM-Net by JAXA is under international collaboration as part of “Multi-GNSS Demonstration Campaign”. The installation of the Multi-GNSS Monitoring receiver in Yanbu, will enhance the applications of GNSS within the region.

GPS devices help check illegal waste dumping in Abu Dhabi

Increased awareness and installing GPS devices in waste collection trucks to track them have minimized number of illegal waste dumping in the emirate, according to the Centre of Waste Management – Abu Dhabi. Out of more than 4,300 waste collection trucks in the emirate 4,200 have been installed with GPS device.
http://gulfnews.com

US, Canadian GPS differences lead to pipe break

Authorities say differences between GPS systems in the U.S. and Canada were behind the international bridge construction error this summer that severed a wastewater discharge pipe. A spokeswoman for the New Brunswick Department of Transportation tells the Bangor Daily News ( http://bit.ly/Spyivw) the GPS coordinate system upon which surveys typically are based is different in the U.S. than in Canada.
http://www.boston.com/news/

FAA responds to users on future navigation system

As the FAA begins to detail plans to take the National Airspace System from ground-based navigation systems to satellite technology, the agency has committed to creating an advisory group urged by AOPA and others to help set key guidelines for the transition.
The FAA said it had accepted the recommendation to set up the advisory group in published responses to stakeholder comments on its proposed provision of navigation services. In December 2011 the FAA invited comments on its plans to transition from ground-based navaids to satellite-based navigationin particular the details of its planned technological departure from VOR and other legacy navigation aids.
http://www.aviationpros.com/news/

India’s heaviest satellite GSAT-10 launched India’s advanced communication satellite GSAT-10 was successfully launched early Saturday on board Ariane-5 rocket from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana. GSAT-10, with a design life of 15 years is expected to be operational by November and will augment telecommunication, Direct-To-Home and radio navigation services. At 3,400 kg at lift-off, GSAT- 10 is the heaviest built by Bangaloreheadquartered Indian Space Research Organisation. It was ISRO’s 101st space mission. GSAT-10 is fitted with 30 transponders (12 Ku-band, 12 C-band and six Extended C-Band), which will provide vital augmentation to INSAT/GSAT transponder capacity. It also has a navigation payload — GAGAN (GPS aided Geo Augmented Navigation) — that would provide improved accuracy of GPS signals (of better than seven metres) to be used by Airports Authority of India for civil aviation requirements. This is the second satellite in INSAT/GSAT constellation with GAGAN payload after GSAT-8, launched in May 2011. http://www.thehindu.com/news/

Mumbaiairport to get satellitebased navigation system

Aircraft coming into Mumbaiwill soon be able to use a satellite-based navigation aid for landing. The Airports Authority of India (AAi) is planning to introduce a satellite-based landing procedure across the country in a phased manner. Currently, aircraft land with the help of ground-based navigation systems.
http:// articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

In-Store navigation is finally here

In-Store navigation is finally here The retail drug store Walgreen’s in USA has been working with a company called aisle411 to develop an in-store navigation system customers can use on their smart phones. The app, which will work on all smart phones, will provide a more convenient shopping experience for customers. Essentially, customers will be able to use their smart phones to see a type of birds-eye view of the store and the aisles to see where they are and easily zoom in and find what they’re looking for.
http://www.business2community.com/

China launches another 2 navigation system satellites

China successfully launched another two satellites into space for its indigenous global navigation and positioning network. They were the 14th and 15th satellites for the Beidou, or Compass, system.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/

India could lease satellitebased system to neighbours

With India moving ahead to implement satellite-based navigation system from next year, an industry expert has suggested this futuristic facility could be leased to neighboring countries to help them navigate their air traffic.

GAGAN – a joint project by Airports Authority of India and ISRO conducted the Final Acceptance Test in July, paving the way for its scheduled commissioning in mid-2013.
“The technology can be leased by India to neighbouring countries to manage their air traffic as well as overfl ights. Leasing will generate substantial funds for India,” William Blair, President, Raytheon India, said.

In July’12, a team of AAi, ISRO and Raytheon completed the Final System Acceptance Test of GAGAN in Bangalore. The certification by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is scheduled soon after completion of the Operational Testing performed by AAiin 2013.

“GAGAN will be the world’s most advanced air navigation system and further reinforces India’s leadership in the forefront of air navigation,” Raytheon Network Centric Systems Vice President Andy Zogg said in a statement.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/

Apple Maps: On a road to nowhere

Mapping and navigation is at the heart of how we use smartphones today. By extension, the Apple Maps app is at the heart of iOS 6. And so Apple’s decision to swap Google Maps for Apple Maps in its new operating system was bound to attract some attention. Unfortunately, imperfection is unavoidable and inherent in any map, indeed in any geographic data. Imperfection begins with the map data. In Apple’s case, the underlying map data are supplied by TomTom.
Using a process called map matching, today’s navigation systems can reliably identify which road a vehicle is driving on and which intersection comes next (high topological accuracy). This is even the case when the coordinate positions encoded in the underlying map data and generated by GPS contain quite substantial errors (low positional accuracy). Another facet of imperfection is the currency of map data. In a constantly changing world (new roads, new buildings, moving businesses, renamed stadiums) map data needs to be maintained. So imperfections are unavoidable in our maps, our map data, and the procedures we rely on to organise and search that data. Merely making maps digital does not make them correct.
http://theconversation.edu.au/

JAVAD GNSS improves GNSS filter designs, components In a recently issued a letter to the FCC and NTIA, JAVAD GNSS informed them of the current status of technical possibilities in GNSS filter designs and components, in the hope that the information presented be used to establish the performance guidelines and requirements for all GNSS receivers used in critical applications. In the letter, JAVAD mentioned the improvements made to their previous L1 filter and the changes made to the design to include all commercial GNSS bands. Figure 1 depicts the filter that protects GPS L1 and GLONASS L1 bands, and brings in only the useful signals with the slope of 12 dB/Mhz. Similarly, Figure 1 is the filter designed to protect GPS L2, GPS L5, GLONASS L2 and Galileo L5 and has slope of about 9 dB/Mhz. These filters, extensively tested with five different innovative tests, are massproduced today and every user can test their receivers in all environments. Even a novice can test these filters by clicking the right buttons. The filters allow better usage of these precious bands, in particular for broadband wireless communication. The letter states, “These filters not only protect GNSS signals against all LightSquared signals (10L, 10H and 10R handsets) but also from all similar signals that may appear near all commercial GNSS bands in the future.” The filters apply to wideband high precision GNSS receivers and are cheaper than earlier conventional filters. “The low precision receivers (L1 C/A code only) require filter slopes 10 times less steep than those presented here and do not necessitate additional costs,” the letter adds.

GNSS threat mitigation technologies by Septentrio

With threats to GNSS increasing daily, Septentrio has responded with a whole suite of defensive technologies which enable reliable positioning when Septentrio receivers encounter interference. These counter-measures include adaptive notch filtering, pulse blanking and GLONASS L2 band remapping. Working in concert, these and other analog and digital countermeasures, form Septentrio’s AIM+ (Advanced Interference Mitigation) technology.