GPS World

Tag: GPS III payload

  • L3Harris joins advocacy group GPS Innovation Alliance

    L3Harris joins advocacy group GPS Innovation Alliance

    Logo: GPS Innovation AllianceAlliance membership has tripled in past 13 months as the organization grows advocacy for ever-increasing importance of GPS technologies to the global economy.

    The GPS Innovation Alliance (GPSIA) has announced L3Harris Technologies as the newest member of the organization.

    L3Harris Technologies, a global aerospace and defense technology innovator, joins a core of companies committed to furthering GPS innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.

    As the newest member, L3Harris Technologies will work with GPSIA to promote the modernization of GPS and its impact on military operations, economic growth and technological innovation.

    J. David Grossman
    J. David Grossman

    “With the addition of L3Harris, the alliance welcomes a company recognized globally for developing and advancing innovative uses of GPS to protect our nation’s national security,” said GPSIA Executive Director J. David Grossman. “Having now tripled membership over the last 13 months, GPSIA is in a position of strength to continue leading advocacy for the promotion, protection and enhancement of GPS, both in the U.S. and around the globe. L3Harris Technologies is an integral part of the deployment of next-generation GPS III satellites and we look forward to working with them to ensure this technology remains the gold standard for delivering positioning, navigation and timing functions to our military as well as a wide range of other sectors, including transportation, agriculture, electricity and finance.”

    L3Harris Technologies has played an integral part in the story of GPS, as it has provided navigation technology for every U.S. GPS satellite ever launched. L3Harris Technologies is developing 10 GPS III satellite navigation payloads for the U.S. Air Force’s GPS III satellite program, four of which are already operational.

    The company will also provide navigation payloads with fully digital Mission Data Units (MDU) for the U.S. Air Force’s GPS III Follow-On, known as GPS IIIF, satellites. The MDU will provide even more powerful signals and ensure flawless atomic clock operations.

    “GPS technology is an important part of the modern world and critical for the warfighter,” said Joseph Rolli, L3Harris Technologies Positioning, Navigation and Timing.

    “With more than 40 years of experience developing GPS technologies, L3Harris aims to continue to improve the system with a more powerful, reliable, and flexible signal. We look forward to joining GPSIA and its other industry leading members as we advocate for continued support of this incredible system,” Rolli said.

  • L3Harris discusses GPS III payloads at ION GNSS+ 2019

    L3Harris’ Jason Hendrix discusses the company’s latest developments, including the delivery of its GPS III payloads, at ION GNSS+ 2019, which took place Sept. 16-20 in Miami.

  • Harris Corporation delivers fifth GPS III satellite navigation payload

    Harris Corporation delivers fifth GPS III satellite navigation payload

    Harris Corporation has provided Lockheed Martin with its fifth of 10 advanced navigation payloads contracted for the U.S. Air Force GPS III satellite program.

    The GPS III navigation payload features a Mission Data Unit (MDU) with a 70-percent digital design that links atomic clocks, radiation-hardened computers and powerful transmitters — enabling signals three times more accurate than those on current GPS satellites, the company said.

    The payload also boosts satellite signal power, increases jamming resistance by eight times and helps extend the satellite’s lifespan.

    Lockheed Martin successfully integrated the navigation payload into the fifth GPS III space vehicle (GPS III SV05). Harris is committed to delivering three more payloads by the first quarter of calendar year 2019 for GPS III SVs 06-08.

    Four navigation payloads have already been fully integrated on GPS III SV01-SV04. In September 2017, the Air Force declared the first GPS III satellite Available for Launch (AFL) with launch expected later in 2018.

    In December 2017, GPS III SV02 completed rigorous thermal vacuum testing and is expected to be declared AFL this summer. GPS III SV03 and SV04 are expected to undergo environmental testing this year.

    In November 2017, Harris announced that it completed development of an even more-powerful, fully digital MDU for the Air Force’s GPS III Follow On (GPS IIIF) program. The new GPS IIIF payload design will further enhance the satellite’s capabilities and performance for the Air Force.

    Harris’ expertise in creating and sending GPS signals extends back to the mid-1970s — providing navigation technology for every U.S. GPS satellite ever launched. While the Air Force originally developed GPS for warfighters, millions of people around the world and billions of dollars of commerce now depend on the accurate, reliable signal created and sent by Harris navigation technology.

  • GPS III Payload Arrives, Platform Acceptance Tests Next

    Enter GPS III. The long-awaited navigation payload for the next-generation satellite pulled into its new temporary home over the September 13 weekend, the Lockheed Martin Space Systems facility in Littleton, Colorado. Lockheed is the U.S. Air Force’s  prime contractor for the first batch of eight GPS III satellites.

    Exelis Geospatial Systems has committed to delivering the payloads for the second, third, and fourth GPS III satellites “right on the heels” of the first, according to Gen. John Hyten, commander of Air Force Space Command. “If that’s the case, in the not-too-distant future GPS III will be in good shape,” he added. The first GPS III launch is now scheduled for 2016.

    Exelis has built GPS payloads since the beginning of the program, but found new challenges over the last two years posed by advanced features of the modernized version. “First-time development and integration issues, including design changes to eliminate signal crosstalk” have set back the schedule.

    According to reports, Lockheed Martin has a group of initial platforms readied on its production line to take the incoming payloads.

    Still ahead, completion of acceptance testing following integration with the first satellite platform.

    Earlier this year, Lockheed Martin issued a request for information on alternate payload providers, and received responses from five companies. In June, the Air Force issued a call for contractors interested in building the next batch of GPS IIIs. Northrop Grumman and Boeing have responded.

  • GPS III Alternative Payloads Canvassed

    GPS III prime contractor Lockheed Martin has heard from six companies concerning alternate designs for the GPS III satellite payload, according to reports. A company spokesperson said “constantly canvassing the industrial base to see what’s out there” is merely part of Lockheed’s standard business practice.

    Lockheed Martin partner Exelis Geospatial Systems currently supplies the payload, as it has for all previous GPS generations. Earlier this year, Gen. William Shelton, Air Force Space Command, said the first GPS III launch date had slipped from late 2015 into 2016, and confessed to “patience wearing thin” at a press breakfast.

    Part of the delay may have been due to signal crosstalk in the new, as yet unlaunched, payload. Crosstalk occurs when a signal broadcast on one circuit creates an undesired effect on another circuit.

    The Story So Far. In December 2013, Lockheed Martin turned on power to the bus and network communications payload of the second GPS III satellite, SV-02, at its test facility in Denver. This demonstrated the satellite’s mechanical integration, validated its interfaces, and opened the way for electrical and integrated hardware-software testing. The first GPS III satellite (SV-01) was powered on in February 2013.

    In October, the Lockheed Martin GPS III Nonflight Satellite Testbed (GNST), a full-sized, functional satellite prototype at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, successfully communicated via cross-links to Air Force simulators of the current GPS constellation in orbit. Testing also demonstrated the ability of an Air Force receiver to track navigation signals transmitted by the GNST.

    Exelis Advances. In mid-March, Exelis announced successful completion and full testing of six transmitter assemblies, which are integral payload components for the GPS III satellites. The test program includes random vibration, pyroshock, and thermal vacuum testing, replicating space-like conditions through deployment and on-orbit environments. In January, Exelis received three rubidium atomic frequency standard clocks from Excelitas Technologies specifically designed for GPS III.