GPS World

Tag: Boeing

  • Boeing Ships Third GPS IIF Satellite to Cape Canaveral for Launch

    On July 9, Boeing shipped the third of 12 GPS IIF satellites for the U.S. Air Force from the company’s Satellite Development Center in El Segundo to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, aboard a Boeing-built C-17 Globemaster III airlifter.

    SVN-65 is scheduled to be launched in the fourth quarter of this year aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket. It will join the first and second Boeing-built GPS IIF satellites, launched May 27, 2010, and July 16, 2011, to continue the sustainment and modernization of the GPS network.

    “As each IIF satellite becomes operational, we continue the seamless transformation of the GPS constellation into an even more accurate, reliable and durable navigation resource for the U.S. military and the global civilian user community,” said Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems. “Our efficient pulse-line manufacturing process, adapted from Boeing’s commercial airplane production lines, also ensures that we deliver each spacecraft on time and on cost.”

    SVN-65 will now undergo preflight checkout, fueling, and integration to prepare for the early October launch. When on orbit, it will be controlled by the Operational Control Segment, the GPS network’s ground control system. Developed by a Boeing-led team, the OCS entered service in 2007 and was turned over to the Air Force 50th Space Wing in April 2011.

    GPS IIF features greater navigational accuracy through improvements in atomic clock technology, a more secure and jam-resistant signal for the military, and a protected, more precise, and interference-free civilian L5 signal for commercial aviation and search-and-rescue operations. Other enhancements to the IIF include an extended 12-year design life and a re-programmable on-orbit processor that can receive software uploads for improved system operation.

    Of the remaining nine IIFs that Boeing is building for the Air Force, three are complete and in storage, and six are being assembled and tested.

  • Boeing Completes 5th GPS IIF Satellite for U.S. Air Force


    GPS IIF pulse line Boeing is building 12 Air Force GPS IIF satellites on its innovative pulse line at the Satellite Development Center in El Segundo, CA. The pulse line enables simultaneous construction of multiple satellites, increasing savings, quality and efficiency. Photo credit: The Boeing Company

    The Boeing Company has completed the fifth of 12 Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellites the company is building for the U.S. Air Force. The spacecraft was built at the Satellite Development Center in El Segundo using the GPS IIF pulse-line manufacturing approach, which draws on commercial production line practices to build satellites faster and more efficiently.

    Of the five completed GPS IIF satellites, two are on orbit as part of the current 31-satellite constellation; both satellites are meeting mission requirements. Three satellites are in storage on standby for launch by the Air Force. The remaining seven are in various stages of pulse-line production and will likely be added to the constellation over the next three to five years as determined by the Air Force to ensure robust constellation availability.

    "Boeing, in close partnership with the U.S. Air Force, is focused on execution and mission assurance — we are committed to sustaining the GPS constellation with GPS IIF," said Craig Cooning, Boeing vice president and general manager of Space & Intelligence Systems. "The GPS IIF spacecraft feature more capability and improved mission performance for the warfighters and civilians who depend on this critical system."

    The next GPS IIF launch is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2012. The satellite will be launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

    GPS is a space-based, worldwide navigation system providing users with highly accurate, three-dimensional position, velocity and timing information 24 hours a day in all weather conditions. GPS IIF satellites provide enhanced capabilities, including a jam-resistant military signal, greater accuracy through improved atomic clock technology, and a protected, civilian L5 signal to aid commercial aviation and safety-of-life applications. Boeing also is the prime contractor for the GPS Operational Control Segment, which has supported an expanding set of GPS services and capabilities since 2007.

  • Boeing Awarded Contract for GPS Enhancement Demonstration

    The Boeing Company has been awarded a $153.5 million U.S. Naval Research Laboratory contract to demonstrate High Integrity Global Positioning System (GPS) technology concepts. The contract is expected to run through 2010.

    The High Integrity GPS effort combines satellite signals from the Iridium Low Earth Orbit telecommunications system and GPS Mid Earth Orbit navigational satellites to enhance navigation availability, integrity, accuracy, and jam-resistant capabilities for warfighters.

    “High Integrity GPS is an effective near-term tool that will augment GPS satellites to provide critical new capabilities, including aggressive levels of additional anti-jam protection,” said David Whelan, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems chief scientist and vice president/deputy general manager, Advanced Systems. “Our research concluded that significant low-cost improvements to GPS can be achieved by using existing signal platforms and systems such as the Iridium constellation.”

    The need to provide a more capable GPS for warfighters stems from the increasing sophistication of hostile jamming capabilities, according to Boeing. GPS supports numerous military and civil applications, so the ability to jam the system presents a grave threat, the company said.

    “Boeing has been working over the years to find new ways to maximize the effectiveness of the GPS constellation,” said Alex Lopez, vice president, Advanced Network and Space Systems. “With this integrated approach, we can increase the value of the current system by improving its operational mission-assurance capabilities.”

    Based on its years of experience supporting the operation of the Iridium system, Boeing is able to integrate the system with GPS in a manner to create the first such combined navigation and communication “system-of-systems,” the company claimed.

    The High Integrity GPS team includes Boeing Advanced Systems and Phantom Works, Iridium LLC, Rockwell Collins, Coherent Navigation, and experts from academia.

    Iridium Satellite LLC, headquartered in Bethesda, Md., operates the Iridium constellation to provide worldwide voice and data satellite communications services for the private sector and the U.S. government. Boeing has provided Iridium with systems engineering and constellation management functions since the system became operational in 2000.

    Phantom Works is the advanced research and development unit of Boeing. Its charter is to provide innovative technology solutions that reduce cycle time and cost of aerospace products and services while improving their quality and performance.

  • DARPA Seeks GPS Complement

    A Boeing-led team is working on a so-called Robust Surface Navigation (RSN) concept for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The objective of the RSN program is to develop navigation technology that can be exploited in the event GPS signals are jammed, blocked or otherwise unavailable.

    In theory an RSN system would utilize various “signals of opportunity” — signals emanating from satellites, but also those emanating from cell phone towers and television transmission towers, for example — to provide precise location and navigation information to users on the ground.

    “The challenge is to develop an integrated system that can use all available signals — not just GPS — to provide accurate navigation information through one small receiver, thereby eliminating the need for an expensive, fixed infrastructure,” Bart Ferrell, Boeing Phantom Works program manager for Precision Navigation Programs, said in a statement.

    The Boeing-led RSN team is beginning its 15-month Phase 1 concept development contract. The team includes Rosum of Mountain View, Calif.; Shared Spectrum, of Vienna, Va.; and veteran GPS navigation company Navsys.

    Rosum has used broadcast television signals to locate mobile assets and has combined television and GPS signals in location-based applications. Shared Spectrum supplies cognitive radio technologies for government and commercial customers with challenging radio communications and networking needs. Its expertise includes defense communications in extremely challenging RF conditions and commercial communications involving novel approaches to sharing and managing spectrum access.

  • Boeing Can Mix GPS with Iridium

    The Boeing Co. announced concepts for combining the GPS network with the Iridium low-earth orbit telecommunication network to improve accuracy, and signal acquisition in urban environments. Boeing executives delivered the briefing at the National Space Symposium for Pentagon and industry officials. There is no firm plan to turn it into a fielded system, however.

    “In any event, this would not obviate the need for GPS upgrades in any way,” said retired Maj. Gen. Craig Cooning, vice president and deputy general manager of space and intelligence systems at Boeing. “What it does represent is an elegant solution for augmentation of GPS.”

    According to the company, GPS signals could be acquired more quickly through amplification and rebroadcasting in a low-earth-orbit system.

    Iridium is a constellation of LEO communication satellites originally developed by Motorola Inc. in the late 1990s. When the system proved uneconomical, it was almost de-orbited early in the decade, until the Defense Department and private investors put in new money to keep the systems in orbit. The Iridium constellation would have to be replenished in order to support the IGPS concept, according to Boeing, but an upgrade of the system would be necessary in any event by 2014.