GNSS

FCC approves use of Galileo GNSS in the US

The FCC has granted in part the European Commission’s request for a waiver of Commission rules so that nonfederal devices in the US may access specific signals transmitted from the Galileo. While private users were free to use the European GNSS, with this ruling entity such as telecommunications companies can now also use Galileo.

The Order approved finds that the Galileo GNSS is uniquely situated with respect to the US GPS, since the two systems are interoperable and RF compatible pursuant to the 2004 European Union/ United States Galileo-GPS Agreement.

Specifically, the Order permits access to two of the Galileo system’s satellite signals — the E1 signal transmitted in the 1,559 – 1,591 MHz portion of the 1,559 – 1,610 MHz Radionavigation- Satellite Service (RNSS) band, and the E5 signal transmitted in the 1,164 – 1,219 MHz portion of the 1,164 – 1,215 MHz and 1,215 – 1,240 MHz RNSS bands. The order does not grant access to the Galileo E6 signal, which is transmitted over the 1,260 – 1,300 MHz frequency band, since this band is not allocated for RNSS in the US or used by the US GPS to provide position/ navigation/timing (PNT) services. The FCC pointed out that granting access to the Galileo E6 signal could constrain US spectrum management in the future in spectrum above 1,300 MHz, where potential allocation changes are under consideration.

The omission of the E6 signal also means that radio amateurs would not have to protect Galileo receivers from interference on 23 centimeters, which has been a significant issue in Europe.

Russian ambassador to Finland summoned over GPS disruption

Russia’s Ambassador to Finland Pavel Kuznetsov has been summoned to a meeting on with Finnish state secretary Matti Anttonen over the disruption of Finland’s GPS signal during recent NATO war games.

The Finnish foreign ministry said that the disruption of Finland’s GPS signal during recent NATO war games came from Russian territory. The Kremlin dismissed an earlier allegation from Finland that Russia may have intentionally disrupted the signal during the war games. Earlier in November, Finland’s air navigation services issued a warning for air traffic due to a large-scale GPS interruption in the north of the country. Russia was also recently accused by Norway, which had posted a similar warning in its own airspace. www.channelnewsasia.com

Russia to develop Glonass orbital navigation system with six new satellites

Russia will continue developing its Glonass orbital navigation system with the launch of six new satellites, First Deputy CEO of State Space Corporation Roscosmos forRo Orbital Grouping Development and Priority Projects Yuri Urlichich said.

“We will have new satellites in other orbits that will help us solve the tasks of improving accessibility on the territory of Russia. We are planning to launch six space vehicles that will qualitatively improve the Glonass system. This will improve the accuracy, accessibility and integrity of the system,” Urlichich said.http://tass.com

New ESA facility puts satnav at the service of science

Global satellite navigation systems are continuously bathing Earth in satnav signals. As well as helping in our daily lives, these signals are also tools for cutting-edge science. A new ESA facility, based at ESA’s astronomy centre near Madrid, is championing their use for everything from Earth monitoring to fundamental physics.

The new ESA Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) Science Support Centre is based at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre, ESAC, near Madrid. Run by ESA’s Galileo Science Office, the GSSC integrates IT and satnav infrastructure to deliver advanced data processing services to the scientific community.

Precisely timed to a few billionths of a second and highly stable, satnav signals can be used as a point of reference for many scientific sectors, including Earth and atmospheric sciences, astronomy, highly precise timing metrology as well as the study of relativity and other fundamental physics topics.

Current satnav infrastructure plans worldwide should see more than 120 satnav satellites in orbit in coming years. This number includes Europe’s own Galileo constellation.

Among the activities to be supported by the new GSSC are big data processing of large amounts of satnav data, crowdsourcing as a means of weather monitoring and a scientific assessment of satnav performance in Antarctica.

Two new Beidou-3 satellites launched

Two new Beidou-3 satellites launched. The launch means that a total of 19 Beidou-3 satellites are now in orbit – enough to start providing basic navigation services when testing is complete. By 2020 the system will be expanded to a network of 35 satellites – enough to provide a global navigation and communications system, which industry insiders said could rival the dominance of GPS. www.scmp.com

Tunisia to host second China- Arab Forum on BeiDou GNSS Use

Tunisia will host the second forum on Chinese and Arab country cooperation on the use and adoption of BeiDou, in the first half of 2019.

The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) will provide services to countries and regions involved in the China-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by the end of 2018; by around 2020, BDS will have “gone global” said Ma Jiaqing, deputy director of the China Satellite Navigation Office, in an article posted on Xinhuanet, based on a report from sources at the 13th Meeting of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG).

Tunisia is home to a regional BDS centre, located in Tunis. The China-Arab States BDS/GNSS Centre was created in 2016 as a pilot programme between China and the Arab Information and Communication Technology Organization (AICTO).

Telit announces the First NavICenabled GNSS Module

Telit has announced the SL869T3-I. The new positioning module combines GPS, NavIC, and GAGAN, which enables the creation of high-performance position reporting and navigation solutions.

The SL869T3-I complies with Automotive Industry Standard 140 (AIS-140). An Indian government mandate that requires the use of NavIC for vehicle location tracking devices in all public transportation vehicles, effective April 2019. https://iotbusinessnews.com

SOYUZ 2.1B launches new Glonass-M navigation satellite

Russia has continued the expansion of its GLONASS constellation on Nov 3, 2018 launch of a Soyuz 2.1b rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome located in northern Russia.

With the failure of a Soyuz-FG rocket to send two crew members to the International Space Station on Oct.11, it was feared the GLONASS-M launch might slip further. With the cause of that accident determined to be a faulty sensor, pre-launch activities for the GLONASS-M mission got back on track. www.spaceflightinsider.com