GPS World articles from October 2006

GPS World archives from October 2006

Skies cloudy all day.(global positioning systems in satellite communications)
October 1, 2006... Just fresh back from Texas, my former home on the range, with ears full of grumbling around the ION campfire. Seems more than just surveyors are upset about satellite availability in today's GPS constellation. Pilots and air traffic controllers...

Everywhere, without waiting.(satellite navigations )
October 1, 2006... As new and renovated satellite navigation systems arrive and applications and innovative commercial ideas increase, the general expectation of GNSS navigation performance will soon conflict with system limitations. Some decades ago, a GPS...

Constellation viability.(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... We recently discovered that in a 5-day period three GPS satellites were taken off line indefinitely with no explanation as to possible return to service. This is significant in that the constellation that remains is "non-optimal" in terms of...

NDGPS budget.(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... Eric Gakstatter's on line article on NDGPS (Nationwide Differential GPS) is a very poor framing of the issues. I have two main problems with GPS World's on-line and hardcopy reporting of this issue. One, the print article relegates an...

Air traffic.(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... It was gratifying to read about the result of so many years of hard work to make the vision of GBAS a reality. As Honeywell's former partner [Pelorus Navigation Systems] in the development of the current systems at SEA-TAC and Moses Lake...

Race FX.(Letter to the editor)
October 1, 2006... Just wondered why your article "IndyCar Series Supplements Broadcast with GPS Data" concerns an open wheel racing series, but your photos are from the NASCAR Nextel Cup series. Probably both series use the same technology, but Dale Jarrett,...

M-Code tested.(Air Force using global positioning syste,s)
October 1, 2006... In a notice advisory to NavStar users (NANU) numbered 2006089 on September 11, GPS ground control at Schriever Air Force base stated: "On 12 Sept 06 between 1615z and 0015 Dataless M-Code will be turned on. The following conditions of use...

GPS III moves up, IIF back.(Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. bidding United States. Air Force contract)(global positioning system)
October 1, 2006... In late-breaking news, on September 19 the U.S. Air Force announced plans to offer a "healthy incentive" to the prime GPS III contractor for launching the first III satellite in 2011, instead of the current projected 2013 date. Lieutenant...

Birds with clipped wings.(PRN 15, 3, 29)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... During the latter part of August and much of September, three GPS satellites were out of service. PRN 15 was taken off line on August 21, PRN 3 off on August 24, and PRN 29 off on August 26. All three reportedly underwent clock swaps and the...

Galileo funded, filled out, held off.(THE SYSTEM)
October 1, 2006... All 17 participating European Union member states provided their extra share of money in time for the European Space Agency's August 24 deadline, even though Galileo's [euro]1.1 billion in-orbit validation phase went [euro]400 million over...

Scientists seek swan song for bird influenza.(global positioning system transmitter)
October 1, 2006... A 70-gram solar-powered GPS transmitter is helping scientists shed light on how wild birds spread avian influenza. In August, a team of international scientists captured wild whooper swans on the grassland steppe of far eastern Mongolia,...

USAF awards balloon contract.(United States. Air Force. Space Command contract with Orbital Sciences Corp. Orbital Space Data Div.)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... The U.S. Air Force Space Command has awarded a $49 million contract to Space Data Corporation to provide a near space communications system. The Space Data system uses a balloon-borne platform that takes advantage of predictable winds in...

Leica and Locata sign cooperation agreement.(Leica Geosystems AG, Locata Corp.)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Leica Geosystems of Switzerland and Locata Corporation of Australia have signed a cooperation agreement for the distribution and support of Locata positioning technology in mutually agreed markets. The first steps in this agreement will see...

Benefon named Karputer supplier.(LOCATION-BASED SERVICES)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Benefon of Salo, Finland, has entered into a licensing agreement with Karputer of Derbyshire, United Kingdom, which manufactures in-car computing systems. Under the agreement Benefon will develop and supply high-performance navigation systems...

Topcon honors geodetic students.(The Ohio State University's Tae-Suk Bae and Chang-Ki Hong awarded by Topcon Positioning Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Ohio State University (OSU) doctoral students Tae-Suk Bae and Chang-Ki Hong have been granted the 2006 Topcon Positioning Systems Student Award, a new $2,000 annual award. The awards were established to recognize research achievements of OSU...

Destinator upgrades nav software for PDA market.(LOCATION-BASED SERVICES)
October 1, 2006... Destinator Technologies has launched Destinator 6, its latest navigation platform for PDAs. Desinator 6 allows users and manufacturers of PDAs and PDA phones to take advantage of the latest navigation software. The new platform features a...

Navteq awarded homeland defense contract.(MILITARY & GOVERNMENT)
October 1, 2006... Digital map company Navteq of Chicago, Illinois, has been selected to provide map data to the U.S. government. Navteq will provide road network and point-of-interest data under a government-wide enterprise license to numerous government...

Consumers can pocket latest all-in-one navigator.(TomTom introduced TomTom ONE)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... TomTom has launched a new all-in-one navigator in North America, theTomTom ONE. Designed with a lightweight, slim profile, the ONE works with TomTom software, accessible through a touchscreen. The ONE weighs 5.6 ounces and measures 3.8 x...

Wherify offers family service, kid-friendly GPS phone.(Wherify Family Locator Service and Wherifone GPS Locator Phone )(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Wherify Wireless, Inc. of Redwood Shores, California, planned to launch Wherify Family Locator Service and companion Wherifone GPS Locator Phone on October 1 across the U.S. The product is to be sold at Toys R Us stores and other retailers, and...

Risks and opportunities in HazMat tracking.(hazardous materials transportation)
October 1, 2006... The rising risk of terrorism attacks in the transportation industry has increased governments' concern worldwide regarding the security of hazardous materials (HazMat). HazMat shipments through intermodal connectors, modes, and facilities can...

The more GPS, the merrier.(Magellan Corp. (Santa Clara, California)'s Stig Pedersen interviewed about global positioning system)(Interview)
October 1, 2006... Stig Pedersen (SP) is senior director of strategic marketing for Magellan. GPSW: Where do you see value-based GIS solutions taking businesses and industrial customers? SP: The value of a GIS increases exponentially with the number of...

Dam stability: assessing the performance of a GPS monitoring system.(INNOVATION)
October 1, 2006... A precise and modernized monitoring program is an important component of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' long-term risk-management plan for hydroelectric structures. Recent work at Libby Dam in Montana demonstrates that GPS deformation...

On-Grid goal: seeking support for high-precision networks.(SURVEY & CONSTRUCTION)(real-time networks)(Global Navigation Satellite System)
October 1, 2006... Already adopted by many countries, real-time networks (RTNs) can be a boon to the public and private sectors. In the U.S., the On-Grid initiative seeks to bring together local and regional RTN developers to pool resources so that high-precision...

Safe in traffic: GPS drives Vehicle Infrastructure Integration.(TRANSPORTATION)
October 1, 2006... Integration of GPS and wireless high-speed communications in vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-roadside links can reduce accident rates and injuries. A sophisticated processor, GPS receiver, and dedicated short-range communications (DSRC)...

One-person RTK System.(SURVEY & CONSTRUCTION)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Leica Geosystems's GPS900 RTK System is an entry-level surveying system for one-person operation. The base and rover systems are packaged in a single ruggedized case, enabling a single surveyor to handle fieldwork, such as foundation layouts...

Laptop navigator.(LOCATION-BASED SERVICES)
October 1, 2006... The Garmin Mobile 10 turns Bluetooth enabled devices such as laptops, smartphones, Pocket PCs, and PDAs into GPS navigators. The Mobile 10 system includes either Garmin Mobile XT or nRoute navigation software and a GPS 10x sensor that comes...

Low-noise amplifier.(AVIONICS & TRANSPORTATION)
October 1, 2006... Hittite Microwave Corporation has introduced a 1200-3000 MHz low-noise amplifier that comprises two internally matched SiGe HBT MMIC LNA stages housed in a single 3 x 3 millimeter leadless surface-mount-technology package, and optimized for GPS...

Author's code crack casts doubt on Galileo.(GNSS technologies in the popular media)
October 1, 2006... After GPS World's June 2006 Innovation article "Searching for Galileo" by Mark Psiaki and colleagues showed how the Cornell University researchers cracked the code broadcast by Galileo's GIOVE-A satellite, European media quickly weighed in. ...

Hot property.(global positioning system)(Brief article)
October 1, 2006... Interested in the asking price of that house for sale on the corner? Pull out your GPS-enabled Sprint phone and look it up. The new service from Smarter Agent, named Recently Sold Homes, retrieves sales data on 10 closest homes sold within...