GPS technologies

It is well known that ionospheric refraction is the one of the dominant variables in GPS signal range estimation. Fortunately, it is frequency dependent and the first-order ionosphere error can be eliminated through the use of dual frequency measurements. The dual frequency receiver solution, however, still contains 72% of the second-order error. For GPS applications requiring cm-level positioning accuracy, the second-order ionosphere error becomes a concern in the range measurement error budget. Some basic questions are: How large is the second-order range error? What is the range of variation? What is the basic time-frequency structure of the error? (more…)

The Batteries for Laptop

Southwest Airlines says it will invest $175 million over the next six years to implement Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedures at all 64 airports it serves. It made the announcement at the Eco-Aviation Conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, June 19.

This article presents selective passages from the just-published minutes of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board, Third Meeting, Washington, D.C., March 27-28, 2008. Most presentations have been abridged, and many of the ensuing discussions among the Board members have been shortened or eliminated in this rundown. Thus, many items of critical interest have been passed over in the name of brevity. Interested readers are encouraged to peruse the full meeting minutes posted at www.pnt.gov.

Europe is ready to begin spending that ?3.4 billion set aside for its own GNSS. The European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have begun the procurement process for Galileo, the organizations said today.

Air Semiconductor says it has proven the GPS technology for its first product, Airwave1, in development tests involving geotagging images on commercial digital cameras.

The recent emergence of location-based mobile social networking services is revolutionizing social networking, and related revenues will reach $3.3 billion by 2013, says market research firm ABI Research.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has announced the formation of a discussion group to weigh interest in establishing industry technical standards for portable and handheld devices, such as MP3 players, GPS devices, video displays, and cameras. The trade association will hold a Discovery Group meeting to consider the issue at its Industry Forum on October 21 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas.

Navman Wireless OEM Solutions announced that its low-power, small form factor Jupiter 32 xLP GPS module, based on the 65 nanometer SiRFstarIII GSC3e(f)/LPx chipset, is now available in production quantities.

NASA has issued a request for information, or RFI, to determine interest and solicit ideas from private companies on providing communications and navigation services that would support the development of exploration, scientific, and commercial capabilities on the moon for the next 25 years.

SAVANNAH, Ga. – GPS chip maker u-blox says it has created the smallest standalone GPS receiver module on the market at 6.5 x 8 x 1.2 millimeters.