GPS World articles from May 2006

GPS World archives from May 2006

Leaders made, not born.
May 1, 2006... Or is it the other way around? I can never remember. But I continually wondered, as I sifted through photos and goal statements of the 50-plus individuals tapped for the leadership overview in this issue: when did these people become leaders?...

Two years inside the beltway.(global positioning system usage by United States government)(Column)
May 1, 2006... I recently had the opportunity to spend two years in Washington, D.C., observing and participating in high-level meetings concerning satellite navigation. As Government Executive Fellow for Institute of Navigation and the American Association...

Two views of user plane, control plane.(location based services)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... In the article "Wireless Choices for LBS" (March 2006), I was somewhat disappointed by the limited view of choices (CDMA and GSM). That the authors were both engineers from QUALCOMM could affect their viewpoint. I can appreciate their...

GIOVE-A L1 signal analyzed and decoded.(Column)
May 1, 2006... After a successful launch on December 28, 2005, the first Galileo test satellite, GIOVE-A, began transmitting navigation signals in early January 2006. Septentrio Satellite Navigation reports having acquired and tracked the GIOVE-A signals...

Galileo, GLONASS crosstalk; More money troubles.(system interoperability between Galileo and GLONASS satellite project)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... A cooperative agreement signed in early March by the European Commission (EC) and Russia's Federal Space Agency (FSA) has led to the creation of a steering committee for discussions between the EC, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the FSA....

Alcatel Galileo stake to Thales.(THE SYSTEM)
May 1, 2006... A merger between Alcatel of Paris, France, and Lucent Technologies of Murray Hill, New Jersey, will send Alcatel's satellite and security programs--including Galileo activities--to French defense and aerospace electronics group Thales,...

Pushing E911, locating VoIP.
May 1, 2006... Cell phone users will make an estimated 82 million wireless 911 calls this year. In many cases, emergency responders will not know how to reach them unless the callers are conscious, cogent, and capable of precisely communicating their...

Oregon road tests GPS mileage tax.(Global Positioning System)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Oregon is investigating a GPS-based system of assessing highway taxes on miles driven. This month, Portland-area volunteers had GPS units installed in their cars in a one-year pilot program. The GPS system keeps tabs on how many miles...

Lionel Garin joins NemeriX with new initiatives.(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Lionel Garin, former director of systems architecture and technology for SiRFTechnologies, has joined NemeriX as chief technology officer. Based in Santa Clara, California, Garin will lead a number of development initiatives, including opening...

CSI, ComNav pair on GPS compass.(CSI Wireless Inc. contracts with ComNav Marine Ltd.)(global positioning system)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... CSI's Hemisphere GPS division (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) signed a multi-million dollar original equipment manufacturer agreement with ComNav Marine Ltd. of Vancouver. Under the agreement, CSI will manufacture its Vector GPS compass-heading...

SkyScout shines light on night sky.(TRACKING & WIRELESS)
May 1, 2006... Users of the SkyScout Personal Planetarium by Celestron (Torrance, California) point the device at any object in the night sky, then the SkyScout identifies the object in its 6,000-object database and provides educational information about it....

General Dynamics takes on GIANT simulation tool.(US Air Force. Space and Missile Systems Center contracts with General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems)(GPS Interference And Navigation Tool)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics Corp. of Arlington, Virginia, has been awarded an $8.3 million contract to provide development, analysis, operations, and support of the GPS Interference And...

Spirent, Saab land Galileo deals.(Saab Ericsson Space Group, Galileo Industries)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Spirent of Paignton, United Kingdom, has been selected by Alcatel Alenia Space and Thales, overseeing Galileo's Ground Mission Segment (GMS) and Test User Segment (TUS) elements, respectively, to provide Radio Frequency Constellation Simulators...

Inventec to pummel TomTom.(Inventec Appliances planning to launch global positioning system enabled competing with TomTom)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Taiwan-based handset vendor Inventec Appliances plans to launch its own brand of GPS-enabled devices in the Taiwan market, positioning itself to compete with its major original-equipment-manufacturer client TomTom, which plans to market its GPS...

WorkSpace Locator wins LBS Challenge.(announced by Navteq, Tierravision, location-based services )(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Digital map provider Navteq announced the North American winners in the company's third Global LBS Challenge at the CTIA Wireless tradeshow in Las Vegas in April. The annual contest aims to stimulate innovative wireless LBS applications. ...

SiRF acquires TrueSpan for digital broadcasting.(SiRF Technology Inc. (San Jose, California) )(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... SiRF Technology has acquired TrueSpan, a communications systems company founded in September 2004. TrueSpan is developing a silicon and software platform designed to bring high-quality digital audio and video to mobile phone, automotive, and...

NovAtel ships OEMV; Leica still partner.(Leica Geosystems AG)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... NovAtel of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has begun shipping the first production runs of OEMV receivers, its next-generation GPS product, meeting delivery commitments. The first shipments include a custom variant to Leica Geosys-tems of Heerbrugg,...

Timing receiver checks itself.(Chronos Technology Ltd. distributing NavSync's CW25 OEM GPS receiver)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Chronos Technology offers the CW12 GPS timing receiver from NavSync. Based on NavSync's CW25 OEM GPS receiver, the CW12-TIM delivers reported position accuracy of 5 meters, timing (less than 25 nanoseconds to UTC), and tracking sensitivity...

Pendulum introduces frequency standard.(Pendulum Instruments's GPS-12R)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... GPS-12R, a GPS controlled rubidium frequency standard from Pendulum Instruments of Stockholm, Sweden, receives its frequency stability from the GPS satellite system, and is suited for applications such as a portable and battery-operated 2.048...

Galileo market context update: phones and cars.(TRACKING & WIRELESS)
May 1, 2006... This analysis is based on market data collected during 2005 and provides an update to a study undertaken three years ago. Although market characteristics have changed significantly, the underlying drivers and issues have remained fairly...

An eye for landscapes: rapid aerial mapping with handheld sensors.(SURVEY & MAPPING)
May 1, 2006... This portable system offers fast deployment with no recalibration and maps both vertical and horizontal features while maintaining optimal flight parameters. The geo-referenced image and 3D point-cloud data can be processed into digital terrain...

50+ leaders to watch: people who will move the GNSS industry and technology forward in 2006 and 2007--their goals and stratetgies.(GPS WORLD EXCLUSIVE)(Industry overview)
May 1, 2006... Researchers, program managers, industry executives, and innovative product developers must chart a path to success through a challenging landscape of change in global navigation capabilities and expansion in markets. Who are the leaders...

GPS buoys nautical measurement.(Global Positioning System)
May 1, 2006... Knowing exact sea depths along the shoreline is critical to the U.S. Navy and other maritime efforts, but traditional measurement methods aren't always feasible. A new positioning and telemetry buoy equipped with GPS monitors critical...

GNSS radio: a system analysis and algorithm development research tool for PCs.(INNOVATION)(global navigation satellite system )
May 1, 2006... The Global Positioning System has become the backbone of navigation systems worldwide. GPS currently transmits a civil signal on the LI frequency. Since December 16, 2005, a GPS modernized civil signal on the L2 frequency (L2C) has also been...

Module for mobile GIS applications.(GPS-RELATED SOFTWARE)
May 1, 2006... The GPSDifferential Module by Thales is a software extension that fully integrates into third-party mobile GIS and mapping software applications such as MobileMapper CE to add post-processing power. With the module, up to sub-foot mapping can...

Embedded software receiver for mobile positioning.(TRACKING & WIRELESS)
May 1, 2006... The NordNav E5000 embedded software receiver for GPS positioning will enable manufacturers of mobile phones and PDAs to include GPS in any device with a 75 percent cost reduction compared to conventional hardware solutions, says NordNav. The...

Software-based GPS circuit.(GPS-RELATED SOFTWARE)(RF Micro Devices Inc.)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... RFMD has designed the GPS RF8110, a software-based GPS circuit, for integration of GPS applications in smartphones, wireless PDAs, digital cameras, gaming devices, and other cost-sensitive, battery-operated mobile devices. The GPS RF8110...

Receiver for Ultra-Mobile PCs.(TRACKING & WIRELESS)(Pharos Science and Applications Inc.'s iGPS-500)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Pharos has introduced the iGPS-500, a GPS receiver designed to work with the new class of Ultra-Mobile PCs running Windows XP software. The modular design allows users to add GPS positioning and navigation capability via serial, USB,...

"The Shroud" calls for adventure.(GNSS technologies in the popular media)(role-playing cell phone games and GPS navigation)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... "The Shroud," a role-playing game (RPG) where players use GPS-enabled cell phones to navigate in the real world, is set for release this spring by Your World Games. Patterned after traditional games like The Legend of Zelda and Harvest...

Drivers led off-road.(encountering problem with global positioning system)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Cars are getting stuck on a nearly impassable road in a hamlet named Crackpot in Yorkshire, England, while navigating with GPS. Locals who drive the road only with four-wheeled vehicles are worried an auto might plunge from a 100-foot drop,...

Endangered deer outfitted.(GNSS technologies in the popular media)(GPS collars used for red deer in Kashmir, India)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Wildlife authorities in Kashmir, India, are fitting red deer with GPS collars to discourage poachers, who kill the animals for meat and antlers. Only 150 of the animals remain in the state's mountains, down from 800 in 1989, reports Indiatimes....

Philly cabbies protest.(GNSS technologies in the popular media)(Philadelphia taxi drivers protesting against GPS devices installation)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... About 100 of the 1,600 taxi drivers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, staged a demonstration April 10, in part protesting a new requirement that they install GPS devices in their cabs by mid-October. The drivers say the rules will cost them more...