GPS World

Tag: federal budget

  • Australia invests in GPS/SBAS technology for national positioning

    The Australian government is investing in GPS technology that will create jobs and support Australian industry.

    Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Senator Matt Canavan, said the government is investing more than $260 million to develop the satellite technology.

    “We rely on satellite and GPS technology for just about every aspect of our lives — from Google Maps on our individual phones, through to air traffic control at the busiest airports,” Canavan said. “More precise technology will make Australian businesses more productive, safer and more efficient.

    Specifically, Canavan said, “More accurate GPS will improve productivity by allowing new technology to be created and used across the economy. Growing Australia’s digital economy will also benefit developed sectors such as mining, transport, construction, aviation and agriculture. “This investment will improve competitiveness and secure jobs across the Australian economy.”

    Image: Geoscience Australia
    (Image: © Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2018)

    SBAS Testbed. Under the package, $160.9 million will deliver a Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) to improve the reliability and the accuracy of positioning data from five meters to 10 centimeters­­ across Australia and its maritime zone.

    The $160.9 million includes funding over four years from 2018-19 and $39.2 million in ongoing funding from 2022-23. It will realize the SBAS testbed, which is currently running across Australia-New Zealand.

    CRCSI is an international research and development centre set up in 2003 under the Australian Government Business Cooperative Research Centres Programme. The CRCSI is managing the industry-based demonstrator projects of the SBAS testbed and the economic benefits study. The infrastructure management is being led by Geoscience Australia in partnership with Land Information New Zealand and the global technology companies GMV, Inmarsat and Lockheed Martin.

    “We have been coordinating multiple trials of first and second generation SBAS and Precise Point Positioning correction signals since mid-2017,” said Graeme Kernich, CRCSI CEO. “Our industry partners are crying out for this technology because a more precise positioning capability brings far-reaching and lasting impacts.

    SBAS Testbed. (Image: © Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2018)

    “Data analysis results and the economic benefits reported from the testbed are very promising and will translate across agriculture, aviation, consumer, construction, maritime, mining, rail, road, spatial and utilities.

    “This is a formidable technology story and a practical demonstration of downstream space applications. We are looking forward to continuing the testbed over the coming nine months and assessing the economic and social benefits the operational system will bring to Australia, and possibly New Zealand,” Kernich said.

    “The CRCSI has a strong track record of bringing the best people together from the private sector, government and academia to solve the most complex spatial problems; the SBAS testbed is one of the finest examples of this,” Kernich said.

    “More accurate and reliable satellite positioning technology will improve the safety and efficiency of many sectors across Australia and New Zealand,” he said. “There are 28 projects across 10 sectors, with over 150 collaborating organizations currently involved in the testbed, making the footprint of this world-first trial truly trans-Tasman.”

    National Positioning Infrastructure. A $64 million investment in the National Positioning Infrastructure Capability (NPIC) will complement SBAS to improve GPS to an accuracy as precise as 3 centimeters in areas of Australia with access to mobile coverage.

    The national positioning infrastructure project will establish additional ground stations and augment GNSS signals to deliver high accuracy positioning. This will ensure nationally consistent and accurate positioning of 3 centimeters can be provided across Australia in areas with mobile coverage. The project will achieve this by:

    • building new GNSS ground stations and integrating existing stations to enable multiple GNSS signals to be received for precise positioning across Australia.
    • establishing a GNSS data analytics capability to verify and correct the positioning signals for the user. This will ensure Australian industry has access to world-leading software tools for positioning.
    • engaging existing and new industries and service providers to raise awareness of the opportunities positioning opens up for businesses through increased productivity, safety and innovation.
    The NPI consists of the ground infrastructure to enhance accuracy to 3 centimetres by utilising signals from global navigation satellites and the mobile phone network across Australia. (Image: © Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2018)

    “Our investment in this world-standard technology will have direct benefits including virtual fencing for farms and better management of cattle and livestock over vast distances,” Canavan said.

    “It also has applications for regional aviation such as improved access to regional areas by enabling planes to land on smaller airstrips and navigate difficult terrain such as canyons.

    “The increased reliability provided by better GPS will improve safety for aircraft flying into regional and remote aerodromes, such as the Royal Flying Doctor Service fleet. It will reduce the impact of weather on flight cancellations and diversions, and improve the safety of landings.

    “The resource sector will also benefit through better control of mine infrastructure, safety and more precise data for environmental rehabilitation.

    “This is a practical investment to improve the lives of Australians and make businesses more productive. This technology provides instant, reliable and accurate positioning information, anytime and anywhere around Australia.”

    Digital Earth Australia. A further $36.9 million is for Digital Earth Australia, a  technology that will give Australian businesses greater access to reliable, standardized satellite data that identifies physical changes to the Australian environment.

    “The practical benefits of this investment will extend across our economy. This data will help researchers, governments and business better understand environmental changes, such as coastal erosion, crop growth and water quality,” Canavan said. “For example, information drawn from satellites is vital to help graziers increase the capacity of paddocks and make their farms more viable and sustainable.

    “Our investment in satellite imagery will ensure a range of Australian industries have access to data that can help them tailor their investments, create jobs in target regions and increase their competitiveness.”

  • Money doesn’t buy progress for GPS

    Alan Cameron

    While it sounded like good news at first, once the real results were plucked from the slurry, they resemble nothing so much as the same old uncertainties.

    About the future of GPS III, I mean.

    Additional money allocated by Congress to the Department of Defense budget — $80 billion on top of $549 billion for FY18 and $85 billion added to the $562 billion previously set for FY19 — alleviated longstanding worries about sufficient funding for GPS. The satnav system has always been at the mercy of raiding by other military programs, over budget and cash-strapped. At least that pressure will be off, we thought.

    But money on paper does not always lead, expeditiously or at all, to boots on the ground or birds in the sky. The funds come with an enthusiasm for reorganizing everything. To streamline it, effectivize it, make it more…businesslike.

    In the case of the Space and Missile Defense Command, this means eliminating three top-level decision-making positions, and designating someone other than the secretary of the Air Force as responsible for space budget prioritization.

    Congress stopped short of its initial idea, which was to establish a whole new department for military space activities, separate from and equal to the Air Force. But there’s no doubt that the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act strongly rebukes the current way of doing space things in the Pentagon and the Air Force — while proffering more money to do them.

    Like many announced initiatives to drain the swamp elsewhere, this one has just drawn in more murky water. It may take four or five years, according to some with Pentagon insight, to figure out new procedures, lines of command and the actual fulcrums of decision-making. In the meantime, matters will — you guessed it — slow down.

    All this as the GPS III launch schedule and OCX next-generation ground-control readiness slide rightward, and military GPS user equipment can count on at least a decade to even partially update. Mind you, Increment I of the new M-code cards is not yet complete. Once it is, the three major contractors who have developed them will compete to sell their varying versions to the different branches of the military, the different arms of those branches, and the different weapon systems (716, by GAO’s count) operated by those arms.

    The pursuit of increased resilience in space, clearly destined to be a contested domain in the event of large-scale international conflict, may actually inhibit itself in the near term.

    As noted below, the previous wielder of this space has relinquished satnav matters to take up, as he says, “some unfinished business with life.” I owe him a great debt. He gave me my start here.

    Glen Gibbons Retires

    Glen Gibbons announced his retirement from active leadership of Inside GNSS magazine at the end of last year, when he wrote he was “promoting myself to Editor Emeritus.” Gibbons was editor of GPS World from 1989 to 2005, and editor and publisher of Inside GNSS from 2006 through 2017.

    In 2003, he received the U.S. Institute of Navigation’s Norman P. Hays Award for inspiration and support contributing to the advancement of navigation. GPS World joins all those around the industry and the international GNSS community in recognizing and thanking him for his many years of coverage of and service to the field of positioning, navigation and timing.

  • Trump administration proposes slashing NOAA funding

    Hurricane Fran at peak intensity on Sept.4, 1996. (Image: NOAA)
    Hurricane Fran at peak intensity on Sept.4, 1996. (Image: NOAA)

    The Washington Post reported March 3 that the Trump administration proposes slashing the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by 17 percent, cutting steeply into climate change research funding and satellite programs.

    The Post cited a four-page budget memo it obtained. In the memo, NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research would lose $126 million, or 26 percent, of its funding, while NOAA’s satellite data division would lose $513 million, or 22 percent, of its funding.

    The proposed cuts to NOAA would also eliminate funding for f smaller programs, including external research, coastal management, estuary reserves and “coastal resilience,” which seeks to bolster the ability of coastal areas to withstand major storms and rising seas.

    NOAA is part of the Commerce Department, which would be hit by an overall 18 percent budget reduction from its current funding level.