GPS World articles from September 2004

GPS World archives from September 2004

Time of the season for GNSS?(The View from here)(evolution of Global Navigation Satellite System )
September 1, 2004... Though we grow ever further from our agrarian roots, the sentiments of Ecclesiastes--or Pete Seeger and The Byrds, if your memory travels no further back than the Sixties--still resonate in the collective consciousness: "For everything there is...

GPS guides supply parachutes to Iraq combat zone.(Global View)
September 1, 2004... U.S. Marines used GPS-guided parachutes to carry supplies to soldiers in an Iraq combat zone for the first time on August 9. Programmed with the drop zone's coordinates and maneuvered by motor-tugged lines, the Sherpa Autonomous Parafoil...

Navy, Coast Guard to test radar EMI effects on GPS receivers.(Global View)(electromagnetic interference tested on Global Positioning Systems)
September 1, 2004... An on-going investigation by the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard (USCG) has determined that many commercially available marine GPS receivers employing active antenna electronics are susceptible to high-power radar emissions....

Census Bureau eyes GPS for 2010 U.S. effort.(Global View)(Illustration)
September 1, 2004... The U.S. Bureau of Census plans to equip half a million temporary field workers with GPS-capable handheld computers that will underpin the agency's efforts to re-engineer its data collection and processing operations for the 2010 effort. The...

Just keep rolling a lawn ION's autonomous mowers: you might not know it from your own backyard performance, but mowing a lawn accurately and precisely constitutes a difficult systems problem, requiring centimeter-level accuracy and precision control for straight lines and smooth turns. Three student teams answered the Institute of Navigation's call to produce a smarter-than-the-average lawnmower.(Application Challenge)
September 1, 2004... As industry and society continue to make GPS navigation systems part of daily life, some frontiers remain unexplored. Take lawn mowing, for example. Who has not, while sweating behind a lumbering mower on a hot day, wished that a robot would do...

Inside the GPS JPO.(System Challenge)(Joint Program Office, Col. Wesley "Al" Ballenger, Jr.)(Interview)
September 1, 2004... The Navstar GPS Joint Program Office (JPO) plays a unique and crucial role in the operation of the Global Positioning System. Indeed, the founding of the GPS program itself is often dated from the JPO's establishment in late summer 1973. ...

Revolution in GPS: Advanced Spinning-Vehicle Navigation.(Innovation)(Global Positioning System)
September 1, 2004... GPS-aided weapons such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) family of bombs have revolutionized warfare, dramatically improving accuracy and cost effectiveness, while significantly reducing collateral damage. Augmenting artillery rounds...

GPS companies smash records.(earnings)
September 1, 2004... GPS technology providers Trimble, Garmin, CSI Wireless, and NovAtel all rewrote their record books with best-ever financial performances in second fiscal quarters of 2004. Trimble of Sunnyvale, California, recorded second quarter (Q2)...

Honeywell tests organic air vehicle.(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Honeywell of Plymouth, Minnesota, has completed flight testing of a new GPS-enabled organic air vehicle (OAV) designed to gather and transmit battlefield surveillance. Developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the OAV...

Laipac expands LBS product lines.(Laipac Technology Inc., location-based services)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Laipac Technology Inc., a Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada-based company established in 1999, has released several new products for location-based services (LBS). Its Starfinder automatic vehicle location products connect over GSM/GPRS/CDMA and...

XEMICS unveils SlimGPS module.(Launches)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... XEMICS of Neuchatel, Switzerland, released SlimGPS drop-in modules enabling manufacturers of consumer products to add location information capabilities with low impact on overall device size and power consumption. The SlimGPS RGPSM202...

eRide aboard new Fujitsu chipset.(Launches)(Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc. of Sunnyvale, California, has developed a high-sensitivity GPS/AGPS chipset with a footprint less than 100 square millimeters for telematics and navigation applications. The chipset consists of the...

Global Locate Stingray AGPS.(Launches)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... San Jose, California-based Global Locate has introduced Stingray, an assisted GPS (AGPS) system-in-package (SIP) incorporating the company's IndoorGPS baseband and RF technology with passive components in a small form factor. Stingray...

AGI Nav Tool Kit.(Analytical Graphics Inc, Navigation Tool Kit)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... AGI of Exton, Pennsylvania, has introduced its Navigation Tool Kit, a software analysis tool that predicts the performance of navigation equipment by analyzing and modeling inaccuracies within systems, including variations in hardware,...

ESRI, Trimble partner on Grants, extension.(Deals)(Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc., Trimble Navigation Ltd.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... ESRI and Trimble have created a Mobile Government Grant Series for U.S. government agencies working with GIS and GPS technologies. Two programs offer hardware, software and training, with 10 planning grant packages for state or local...

RHS orders Outback devices.(Deals)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Hiawatha, Kansas-based RHS Inc. recently ordered $15 million of Outback precision guidance products from CSI Wireless Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, CSI Wireless custom manufactures the Outback S, 360 and eDrive GPS-enabled units exclusively...

GNSS 2004 down under.(Events)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
September 1, 2004... The GNSS 2004 conference in Sydney, Australia, December 6-8, features a technical program and trade exhibition drawing researchers and industry leaders from the Asia Pacific region and beyond. Glen Gibbons, Editor of GPS World is scheduled to...

CERGAL 2005: Galileo Certification.(Events)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
September 1, 2004... The German Institute of Navigation will also host an international symposium on Certification of Galileo Systems and Services (CERGAL) in Braunschweig, Germany, April 12-14, 2005. A call for papers carries an October 8, 2004, deadline. Topics...

ENC date change, call for papers.(Events)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
September 1, 2004... The European Navigation Conference (ENC) GNSS 2005 has changed its previously announced dates to July 19-22. The conference and technical exhibition in Munich, Germany, invites submission of abstracts by January 14, 2005. See...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2004... The GPS Buyers Guide in the June, 2004 issue inadvertently omitted BAE Systems Rokar International, Ltd. of Jerusalem, Isreal. The company produces real-time DGPS, aviation, military, and space GPS receivers, as well as OEM modules, engines,...

DoD, contractors and civil agencies stage 2nd GPS JAMFEST.(GPS Inside)
September 1, 2004... Department of Defense (DoD) organizations and contractors, and civil agencies, are preparing to jam November 1-5 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico's Tularosa Basin. The groups plan to hold the 2nd GPS JAMFEST at the...

OEM receiver module.(Receiver Technology)
September 1, 2004... FastraX iTrax03 OEM GPS receiver modules are L1, 12-channel OEM GPS receivers with sensitivity as low as -152 dBm for demanding applications and environments, and include an MMC-card interface for integrated PDA applications such as maps for...

GPS Reference Station.(Receiver Technology)
September 1, 2004... Trimble's 24-channel NetRS GPS receiver is designed for use with scalable infrastructure solutions and as a Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) for geodetic, survey, high-accuracy GIS, and monitoring applications. It features L2C...

Multifunctional GPS engine board.(Receiver Technology)
September 1, 2004... San Jose Navigation introduces its FV-21 multifinctional GPS engine board incorporating an L1 GPS receiver with C/A code and 16 channels. FV-21 supports carrier phase, A-GPS and WAAS, and delivers an update rate of up to 4 Hz. The device's...

Mobile GIS software.(GPS-Related Software)
September 1, 2004... ESRI's ArcPad software for mobile GIS and field mapping applications supports a multilayer environment with an industry-standard vector map and raster image display that includes aerial photographs and satellite imagery. The software provides...

Calendar 2004.(Calendar)
September 1, 2004... SEPTEMBER 21-24 ION GNSS 2004 Long Beach, California. Technical sessions on GPS modernization; Galileo status, plans, standards and institutional issues; and much more. Industry exhibition. See www.ion.org. OCTOBER 13-15 ...