According to tracking data from NORAD/JSpOC, GLONASS 743 experienced a delta-V maneuver on or about February 12 as it approached its new orbital position at Slot 8 in Plane 1.
Note that GLONASS 743 is not currently in service but will likely rejoin the active constellation once the move is completed, replacing GLONASS 701K in the broadcast almanac.
Although GLONASS 701K, the test GLONASS K1 satellite, is currently transmitting on frequency channel -5, it continues to be set unhealthy in the almanac.
Symmetricom, Inc. today announced two new capabilities for its SSU 2000 Synchronization Supply Unit: a GLONASS timing reference that uses signals from the satellite navigation system operated by the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces, and Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE), an ITU-T synchronization standard that delivers frequency synchronization over the Ethernet physical layer.
This enhanced version of the SSU 2000 will be the first in a series of forthcoming Symmetricom products that include GLONASS capabilities.
Available as an integrated card for the Symmetricom SSU 2000, the GLONASS referencing feature will allow customers to support both GPS and GLONASS simultaneously, providing added protection should signals from one navigation system become unavailable. GPS has long served as the primary reference signal for timing and synchronization in telecommunications and other networks. Operators in some regions prefer to use the GLONASS system, either as the primary time reference or in conjunction with GPS signals. Symmetricom has enhanced the SSU 2000 satellite receiver functionality to meet this demand.
“GLONASS signals have become an important primary reference for timing and synchronization systems,” said Laura Finkelstein, vice president of product management for Symmetricom. “The SSU 2000 is well-established as the synchronization platform for communication service providers globally. The integrated capability to simultaneously support both GPS and GLONASS provides our customers another way to improve the reliability of their network.”
Timing and synchronization are a focal point technology in Ethernet and mobile carrier networks today. Synchronous Ethernet allows frequency signals to transfer at the physical layer over Ethernet, helping improve network reliability by offering synchronization services to Carrier Ethernet networks. Using SyncE to complement IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) can enhance PTP services being delivered to mobile base stations deployed in radio access networks. The new SSU 2000 capability puts SyncE and PTP on the same output port, thus providing an ideal synchronization solution for the evolution of mobile networks as they extend coverage and increase capacity.
Designed in a NEBS-compliant package, the SSU 2000 integrates intelligent functional modules into a flexible, fully redundant system. This enables telecom network operators to seamlessly satisfy current and future requirements for generating and distributing superior synchronization signals for advanced network services.
The SSU 2000 has been deployed in more than 125 countries as a timing and synchronization distribution system for communications service providers.
According to tracking data from stations of the International GNSS Service’s Multi-GNSS Experiment, the second Russian Luch satellite, Luch-5B, started transmitting GLONASS and GPS differential corrections on January 17, 2013, at around 11:07 UTC.
Luch-5B, launched on November 2, 2012, carries a transponder for the System for Differential Correction and Monitoring satellite-based augmentation system. The satellite, occupying an orbital slot at 16 degrees west, uses PRN code 125. Transmission tests are not continuous.
On December 21, 2012, GLONASS 712 was deactivated and replaced in almanac slot 8 by GLONASS 743, transmitting on frequency channel -6 (minus 6). At the time, the satellite was physically in orbital slot 2.
On January 4, the GLONASS System Control Centre announced that GLONASS 743 was to be moved from orbital slot 2 to orbital slot 8 beginning on January 5. The move is expected to take until February 15. IGS M-GEX stations stopped tracking GLONASS 743 at about 05:23:30 GPS Time on January 5.
Subsequently, the GLONASS System Control Centre announced that GLONASS 701K, the GLONASS-K test satellite (also known as GLONASS 801 by the
IGS), was re-introduced into the broadcast almanac beginning January 6. It will use almanac slot 8 and transmit on frequency channel -5 (minus 5). Note that the satellite is physically near orbital slot 21. Experimental work with GLONASS 701K will continue until GLONASS 743 completes its orbital slot move.
Septentrio announced on January 7 that it has successfully implemented BeiDou support in the company’s high-precision receiver software, taking advantage of the recent official release of BeiDou’s Interface Control Document (ICD) to including the Chinese satellite navigation signals into its position-velocity-time (PVT) solution.
According to the Belgian GNSS receiver manufacturer, its engineers “are currently processing further data sets to finalize the implementation of full BeiDou support. Although the BeiDou constellation is still being deployed, the data analysis already shows promising results.”
The top panel of Figure 1 compares the height from a stand-alone solution of GPS-only with a GPS+GLONASS solution and a third (in light blue) including BeiDou. “The value added by BeiDou is more than what was expected from a constellation that is still being deployed,” according to Septentrio business development manager Laurent Le Thuaut. “Although the solution is not aided by differential corrections, the position shows an increase in accuracy when sufficient BeiDou satellites are included.”
The bottom panel of Figure 1 shows that, even with the current BeiDou constellation (15 satellites total, of which five are geostationary over China, five in full mid-Earth orbit similar to GPS and GLONASS, and five in inclined geosynchronous orbit over Asia), the total number of satellites used over the European region reached 26 for a short moment.
Figure 2 shows the L1 pseudorange residuals for all constellations individually. This comparison highlights the advantage of the GPS constellation, which builds on two decades of real-time orbit prediction. The BeiDou orbits are “quite accurate for a relatively young constellation, but show typical meter-level jumps when ephemerides are updated,” according to Septentrio.
Septentrio says that the new feature will soon become available on selected company platforms. Users of its multi-constellation receivers will then benefit from improvements in urban availability and signal integrity, thanks to the augmented signal coverage.
According to RIA Novosti, the launch of Russia’s second GLONASS-K satellite has been delayed until 2013 from its end-of-year launch date, Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Alexey Zolotukhin said on Monday.
“The launch has been postponed due to technical flaws in the Fregat booster made by the Lavochkin space company,” Zolotukhin said. The new date for the launch will be set at a state commission meeting on spacecraft testing after all the flaws have been fixed, Zolotukhin said.
A Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle had previously been scheduled to lift off from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia by the end of 2012.
The satellite will be tested in orbit through 2015 before it becomes operational.
Fully Operational System Modernizes for the Multi-GNSS World
Headshot: Vitaly Davydov and Sergey Revnivykh
By Vitaly Davydov and Sergey Revnivykh
Since December 2011, the GLONASS system has been fully operational, providing worldwide service with 100 percent global availability and acceptable accuracy for most users. The system is globally accepted by many users, and most leading manufacturers include GLONASS in their devices.
This fact became a reality due to the successful completion in December 2011 of the Russian Federal Mission Oriented Program dedicated to GLONASS restoration, under the under permanent supervision and control of the President of the Russian Federation and Russian Government, Vladimir Putin.
It may have seemed back in 2002 that very few people outside the GLONASS team believed in the success of the Program, when the constellation was composed of six operational satellites with only a 3-year lifetime. But now the GLONASS constellation consists of 24 modernized operational Glonass-M satellites and in-orbit spares. Further, the new generation GLONASS-K satellite flight tests have begun.
The GLONASS Program obtained significant support in May 2007 when the famous Decree of the President of the Russian Federation was issued. The President made commitments to sustain the GLONASS system and provide its open service free of charge and available for all users worldwide without any restrictions. At the same time, the President charged the Government to prepare and approve the new GLONASS Program for 2020. The new Federal Mission Oriented Program ,designated GLONASS maintenance, development and use for 2012–2020, was approved by the Government of the Russian Federation on March 3, 2012 with a dedicated article in the State Budget Law. That means that the President’s commitments are supported by real financial resources for the next decade, and the situation of the mid-1990s will never occur to GLONASS again.
The new Program has three major tasks:
To keep GLONASS in full operational mode.
To significantly improve GLONASS performance and service quality.
To provide conditions for worldwide use.
The tasks to make GLONASS an integral component of the global GNSS infrastructure, providing worldwide service for all users, are challenging. At the same time, the primary goal of GLONASS as a dual-use system is to serve national security interests.
What the Future Brings
GLONASS development in the near future is foreseen in a few key directions.
Space Segment. Modernization of the GLONASS core, called the Space Complex, undertakes the development of new spacecraft with enhanced performance. This means more stable on-board clocks, new code-division multiple-access (CDMA) signals, and intersatellite link for orbit, clock update, and range measurements. The GLONASS-K satellite will be the new generation spacecraft, applying advanced technologies.
The first-phase GLONASS-K satellite is already passing flight tests, transmitting new CDMA signal in L3 band in addition to the existing set of FDMA signals. The GLONASS-K of the second modernization phase will transmit the full set of new CDMA signals in L1, L2 and L3 bands.
At the same time, all new GLONASS satellites will continue transmitting the existing set of frequency-division multiple-access (FDMA) signals, providing backward compatibility with existing user equipment. Implementation of the CDMA signals in L5 and in L1 (1575.42 MHz) bands is also in line with the Signal Modernization Concept. This task is undergoing study to optimize the power and mass budget of future satellites and to consider benefits for users. Finally, new CDMA signals will provide better accuracy, better protection to interference and better service for users.
GLONASS modernization foresees extending the number of operational satellites in constellation available for users. Presently navigation message enables maximum 24 satellites for users. Activities in order to get more operation satellites available, assumes modernization of the existing FDMA almanac. New almanac of CDMA signals has no limitations.
Ground Segment. Ground-control segment modernization will produce a monitoring-station network extension to provide global coverage, extension of the uplink-station network to provide more frequent updates of orbit and clock, and system clock modernization to make the system time scale more stable and better synchronized with UTC.
The new geodesy reference PZ-90.11 is already coordinated with the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) at the centimeter level and shall be introduced soon.
Augmentation. The System for Differential Correction and Monitoring (SDCM) space-based augmentation system is dedicated to improving navigation services, providing integrity data and better accuracy for users. As a first phase, the service area of SDCM is over the Russian territory. For SBAS signal re-transmission, the three GEO communication satellites of the Luch system are equipped with navigation transponders. The first Luch-5A is already in orbit. The other two are scheduled for launch. Eventually the SDCM system will provide a global navigation service, transmitting precise orbit and clock data to users and introducing precise-point positioning (PPP) technique.
Performance Improvements. The GLONASS modernization plan foresees step-by-step performance improvement of all system components. By 2020, the GLONASS system in stand-alone mode will provide sub-meter accuracy for users with an open signal. Augmented by SBAS, the GLONASS system will provide user positioning accuracy at the decimeter level and better.
In the coming Multi-GNSS world, the GLONASS system must be one of the key components to benefit all users with reliable and accurate navigation, positioning, and timing services. To reach that goal, the international cooperation between system providers with feedback from all group of users is a mandatory condition. All global and regional navigation satellite systems must be compatible and interoperable. The International Committee on GNSS, established according to UN recommendation, plays a significant role for international cooperation aimed at achieving synergy in the navigation environment.
2013 is very important for GLONASS to demonstrate stability with improvement for all users around the world. All the necessary resources to achieve this are available, based on the long-term Federal Mission Oriented Program supported by the President and the Government of the Russian Federation.
Vitaly Davydov is the deputy head of the Federal Space Agency, Coordinator of the Program for GLONASS Sustainment, Development, and Use. He graduated from the Dzerzhinsky Military Academy and from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration with a Master‘s degree in Public and Municipal Administration. From 1997 to 2004 Vitaly Davydov supported the Russian Federation Security Council’s Office. Prior to that from 1975 to 1997 he occupied various positions in Russian Department of Defense’s Space Forces.
Sergey Revnivykh is deputy director general of the Central Research Institute of Machine Building, leading institute of Federal Space Agency, Head of PNT (Positioning, Navigation and Time) Analysis and Information Center. He is a member of the management of the Federal GLONASS Program. He received his Ph.D. degree from the Moscow Aviation Institute.
General Designer of Russia’s GLONASS satellite navigation system Yuri Urlichich has been dismissed from his post in the wake of an embezzlement scandal, a spokesperson for RF Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who is in charge of the military-industrial complex, told Itar-Tass.
Urlichich still holds the position of Director General of Russian Space Systems (RSS), but is no longer the chief designer of Russia’s GLONASS system.
The personnel decision is apparently related to a scandal involving embezzlement of 6.5 billion rubles ($200 million) of the GLONASS programs funds at RSS, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told the RIA Novosti news service on Sunday. Rogozin heads the government’s military-industrial commission.
According to Igor Bozhkov, head of the Moscow Metro Internal Affairs Department, RSS’ initial contract with Russian space agency Roscosmos allowed the company several avenues for embezzlement.
No charges were reported against Urlichich or other GLONASS makers as of late Sunday.
The Washington Post is reporting that President Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff was aware of alleged embezzlement of state funds earmarked for GLONASS. Sergei Ivanov said he discussed the probe with police officials but didn’t speak publicly about it for several years, to prevent the culprits from covering up their deeds. Ivanov, a KGB veteran like Putin, said years in the spy service taught him to be sly with the enemy. As a former cabinet member, Ivanov previously oversaw the development of the GLONASS system.
It was thirty years ago today, Cheremisin taught the band to play. They’ve been going in and out of style, but they’re guaranteed to raise a smile. So may I introduce to you the constellation here for years, Vladimir Putin’s GLObal NAv Sat System!
While in our booth at INTERGEO in Hanover last month, I heard Andrey Kupriyanov say it was GLONASS’s 30th birthday today, that particular today being October 12. “First satellites launched,” he recalled.
“Then it is the 30th birthday of GNSS as well,” I replied. “First GPS, then GLONASS. One plus one equals two: GNSS.” Andrey Kupriyanov nodded agreement, then told me a bit about his involvement in the program back then.
After graduating from the Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography in 1972, he obtained a Ph.D. in geodetic astronomy, taught for a while, then worked in the U.S.S.R. Ministry of the Merchant Marine, taking part in the development, testing, and application of new operational equipment for mid-Earth orbit satellites.
We’re Vladimir Putin’s GLObal NAv Sat System, we hope that you enjoy our show. We’re Vladimir Putin’s GLObal NAv Sat System, sit back and let PNT flow.
GLONASS achieved full operational status with 24 satellites in 1995, a year after GPS hit that milestone. The constellation subsequently declined to six operational satellites in 2001.
Andrey Kuypriyanov kept busy, representing Ashtech, Magellan, and Thales Navigation in Russia, and participating in research involving GPS and GLONASS monitoring, interaction, and eventual interoperability.
A recovering economy early this century enabled Russia to invest significantly in satnav again. Renewed launches and new spacecraft designs with longer lifetimes restored the constellation to full operational capability, with worldwide availability and greater accuracy.
Vladimir Putin’s global, Vladimir Putin’s global, Vladimir Putin’s GLObal NAv Sat System!
Andrey Kupriyanov is no longer the young man he once was (who among us is, really?) but he stays involved as executive director of the GLONASS-GNSS Forum and as NovAtel’s regional manager for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
It’s wonderful to be here, it’s certainly a thrill. You’re such a lovely user group, we’d like to take you home with us, we’d love to take you home.
Andrey Kupriyanov Olkgovich is of course only one of many, many long-laboring soldiers in the international GNSS brigade: engineers who made devices, product managers who carried them forth to market, users who embraced them. But on this 30th birthday of GNSS — we’re only just now hitting our stride, entering our golden years — let’s give him, and all of us, a rousing chorus.
I don’t really want to stop the show, but I thought you might like to know, that the singer’s going to sing a song, and he wants you all to sing along. So let me introduce to you the one and only Kupriyanov, and Vladimir Putin’s GLObal NAv Sat System!
The internal newspaper of ISS Reshetnev, Siberian Satellite, has reported on the status of current and future manufacturing of GLONASS satellites (loosely translated):
“A federal target program, approved by the Russian Government, has provided measures to maintain and develop the GLONASS system. The Reshetnev Company from 2012 to 2020 will manufacture 15 “Glonass-M” satellites and 22 “Glonass-K”. The work in this direction is taking place at ISS at full speed. Now the company is making space apparatus “Glonass-M” No. 50 [likely to be known as 750 once launched] and has signed contracts with related enterprises for the supply of equipment for a few more satellites in this series. [ISS] has already completed the manufacture of satellites “Glonass-M” No. 47, No. 48, No. 49. Routine tests confirmed compliance characteristics of their design and with operational documentation. The space vehicles have been put in the assembly shop for safekeeping. [ISS] has sent a next-generation navigation satellite “Glonass-K” No. 12L to the spaceport. A decision on the launch date of the navigation satellites will be made by Roscosmos after an analysis of the [state of the] GLONASS constellation.”
Note that there is a reserved launch slot for the GLONASS-K satellite at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on 14 November.
Javad Ashjaee, founder and CEO of JAVAD GNSS, has filed a letter with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) concerning his company’s development of technical possibilities in GNSS filter designs and components. He states “I hope this will be helpful in establishing realistic guidelines for the characteristics of high-precision GNSS receivers that will be used in critical applications.”
Below is the full text of the letter.
September 7, 2012
The Honorable Julius Genachowski
Chairman
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20554
The Honorable Lawrence E. Strickling
Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information
National Telecommunications & Information Administration
United States Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230
Dear Chairman Genachowski and Assistant Secretary Strickling:
In this communication I want to inform you of the current status of technical possibilities in GNSS filter designs and components. I hope this will be helpful in establishing realistic guidelines for the characteristics of high precision GNSS receivers that will be used in critical applications.
We have improved our previous L1 filter and have extended the design to include all commercial GNSS bands.
Figure left above is our filter that protects GPS L1, Galileo L1 and GLONASS L1 bands. It brings in all the useful signals intact and rejects out of band signals with the slope of about 12 dB/Mhz. Similarly, Figure right above is our filter that protects GPS L2, GPS L5, GLONASS L2 and Galileo L5 and has slope of about 9 dB/Mhz.
These filters have been extensively tested with five different innovative tests and prove that the filters also improve the performance of GNSS receivers. These extensive innovative tests are embedded in the receivers that we mass-produce today and every user can test their receivers in all environments. These tests are much more extensive than those previously employed by PNT and other organizations. These embedded tests are not only much more extensive, but it takes only a few minutes to perform these by any novice user by clicking some receiver buttons. Compare that to the limited tests by PNT and others that took weeks to perform and needed experts with very expensive equipment in some laboratories to perform.
These filters not only protect GNSS signals against all LightSquared signals (10L, 10H and 10R handsets) but also from all similar signals that may appear near all commercial GNSS bands in the future. We are proud that our filters help allow better usage of these precious bands, in particular for broadband wireless communication that our country desperately needs.
These filters apply to wideband high precision GNSS receivers and the cost is even less than earlier conventional filters. The case of narrow-band low precision receivers (e.g. Garmin) is much simpler, as has been demonstrated by GPS receivers in more than 300 million cell phones and mobile devices which are not affected by LightSquared signals. The low precision receivers (L1 C/A code only) require filter slopes 10 times less steep than those presented here and do not necessitate additional costs.
In summary, the technology exists today of improved filter design and better performing GNSS receivers and can actually be done at a cost lower than current conventional GNSS receiver filter designs. I trust that the information that I have presented can be used in establishing the performance guidelines and requirements for all GNSS receivers used in critical applications.
I also would like to invite your representatives to ION-2012 GNSS conference where we present details and answer questions at 2:00 PM on September 20.
Regards,
Javad Ashjaee, Ph.D.
CEO, Javad GNSS
San Jose, California
USA
Launch dates this fall for GNSS satellites are as follows, according to various sources:
Compass M2 and M5: September 18, 18:12 UTC (speculative); Compass G6: No earlier than October 1.
GSAT-10 (includes a GAGAN SBAS transponder): September 21.
GPS IIF-3: October 4, 2012. Launch window: 12:10-12:29 UTC.
Galileo IOV FM3 and FM4: October 10, 18:31 UTC.
Luch-5B: Originally scheduled for October 15, launch has slipped to no earlier than November 1 due to an issue with the “Briz-M” upper stage, which caused the loss of the Telkom-3 and Ekspress-MD2 communication satellites during their launch on August 6.
