GPS World articles from September 2008

GPS World archives from September 2008

User Conference explores JAVAD receivers.(NEWSLETTER EXCERPT)(Conference news)
September 1, 2008... I attended the First Annual JAVAD GNSS User Conference in Moscow in late July. The company is putting together a serious effort in order to compete in the survey/construction/engineering industries. Although Javad's companies have a proven...

Missing X chromosome.(OUT IN FRONT)
September 1, 2008... When young women make career choices, they are very interested in contributions to make the world a better place," says Elizabeth Cannon, dean of University of Calgary's Schulich School of Engineering, and past chair of ION's Satellite...

Reference frame for Africa.(EXPERT ADVICE)
September 1, 2008... Aunique meeting took place in June in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the University of Witwatersrand: a joint meeting between AFREF (geodesy), AfricaArray (geophysics), IHY (space weather), and AMMA-GPS (meterology). The Africa Reference...

The promise of OCX.(THE SYSTEM)
September 1, 2008... The Next Generation GPS Control Segment (OCX) will provide significant benefits to military and civilian users around the world, as well as to GPS operators, maintainers, and analysts. With a planned initial operational date in 2012, OCX will...

NASA's vision for space.(THE SYSTEM)
September 1, 2008... The U.S. Space Exploration Policy, unveiled in 2004, seeks to extend human exploration beyond the low-Earth orbit (LEO) environment of the International Space Station (ISS) and Space Shuttle towards a new generation of missions to the moon,...

Contractors chafe at Galileo process, chided to comply.(SYSTEM DESIGN & TEST)
September 1, 2008... Two of Galileo's prime contractors urged the European Commission (EC) to accelerate procurement of the satellite navigation system or face what might become politically unacceptable delays in starting the service. Chief executives of...

Timing right for Brilliant agreement with NovAtel.(UTILITIES & COMMUNICATIONS)
September 1, 2008... Network timing startup Brilliant Telecommunications Inc. has completed its second round of financing with investment lead by NovAtel Inc., raising $11 million in capital. The companies announced their partnership agreement in August, under...

Iridium to enhance GPS Signals for high integrity.(MILITARY & GOVERNMENT)
September 1, 2008... The Boeing Company received a $153.5 million U.S. Naval Research Laboratory contract, expected to run through 2010, to demonstrate High Integrity GPS technology concepts. The High Integrity GPS effort combines satellite signals from the...

Symmetricom unveils GPS-synced PCI time module.(UTILITIES & COMMUNICATIONS)
September 1, 2008... Symmetricom Inc.'s latest PCI time and frequency processor modules, the bc635PCI-V2 and the GPS referenced bc637PCI-V2, are accurate to 50 nanoseconds, according to the company. PCI-based timing modules integrate into host computers to...

U.K. troops use mini UAV.(MILITARY & GOVERNMENT)
September 1, 2008... U.K. troops are using a new GPS-guided tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to patrol the skies of the Upper Sangin Valley in southern Afghanistan, according to the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence. The Desert Hawk III is one of the newest UAVs...

NXP.
September 1, 2008... NXP--the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips--and STMicroelectronics, provider of advanced silicon solutions for mobile products, announced July 28 the closing of a deal bringing together key wireless operations of both...

Topcon positioning.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Topcon Positioning has announced four OEM (original equipment manufacturer) boards for navigation applications. Incorporating Topcon's G3 chip, the G3 160T OEM board tracks signals from GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo. Based on the standard 160...

Trimble.(SECO Manufacturing Co.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Trimble has acquired privately-held survey equipment maker SECO Manufacturing Co. of Redding, Calif., in an all-cash transaction, the company announced July 30. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. SECO makes accessories for...

u-blox endorses publishing of schematics by Openmoko.(MASS MARKET OEM)
September 1, 2008... Open-source mobile maker Openmoko has taken another step in opening its mobile platform to the development community by announcing it will publish the schematics for the Neo 1973 and Neo FreeRunner mobile phones. u-blox AG, Switzerland,...

Indra leads team tasked with updating EGNOS.(SYSTEM DESIGN & TEST)
September 1, 2008... Spanish company Indra is heading the group in charge of studying the potential evolution of the current EGNOS satellite navigation system with an eye towards a future multi-constellation regional system (MRS) for the European Space Agency. ...

The case for GPS, FM, Bluetooth integration.(BUSINESS OUTLOOK)
September 1, 2008... With close to 1.18 billion in 2012, the attach rate metrics for GPS technology in cellphones take on increasing importance for both industries. FIGURE 1 shows the attach rates and expected growth associated with the commonly used...

Monocular SLAM: alternative navigation for GPS-denied areas.(MILITARY & GOVERNMENT)
September 1, 2008... GPS-denied navigation indoors, underground, on moving reference frames, and in urban canyons can be achieved in a practical approach suitable for use by the warfighter or emergency responder, using robotic vision algorithms and coupled...

Self-Assisted GPS: no server, no connection requirement.(COMMUNICATIONS/TRANSPORTATION)
September 1, 2008... Introducing a new method of generating an extended ephemeris where the entire algorithm runs on the PND itself, requiring no access to the Internet, ever. As a reference, the algorithm uses a recent, but expired, ephemeris for the satellites in...

Students launch sensor into space.(EDUCATION)
September 1, 2008... Who says space exploration is only for nations or corporations? This summer, students from Oklahoma State University's Radiation Physics Laboratory built and launched a cosmic radiation detector with GPS, which touched the edge of outer space....

Online precise point positioning: a new, timely service from Natural Resources Canada.(INNOVATION)
September 1, 2008... Online precise point positioning (PPP) tools are an increasingly important means for GPS users to obtain position information in national or global reference frames. The Geodetic Survey Division (GSD) of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)...

Trackers are a cop's best friend.(SEEN+HEARD)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Around the country, police are using GPS trackers to catch thieves, drug dealers, sexual predators and killers, often without a warrant or court order, an issue raised by the Washington Post in an August 13 feature. On one side, privacy...

Windshield woes.(SEEN+HEARD)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Windshield Woes. In California and Minnesota, a driver can be fined for mounting a GPS device on their car windshield, because state law prohibits mounting anything on the windshield that can block a driver's view, reports the Los Angeles...

Swim sidetracked.(SEEN+HEARD)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Swim Sidetracked. Marathon swimmer Jen Alexander, being tracked online with GPS, appeared to have completed a challenging 32-kilometer swim across Northumberland Strait, reported the Canadian Press. The Halifax woman began her swim at 2:30 a.m....