Galileo, BeiDou, QZSS, IRNSS, and more join GPS and GLONASS to bring you wider, broader, greater, more accessible and above all more accurate PNT. How to get all that’s coming at you?
Multi-GNSS paves the way for complete exploitation of new signals and constellations in navigation, surveying, geodesy and remote sensing.
The free 1-hour webinar, which will take place at 1 p.m. Eastern [10 a.m. Pacific, 7 p.m. (1900h) Central European Time] on Thursday, Sept. 20, will review advantages of using multi-GNSS for the end-user and challenges in obtaining maximum efficiency when combining multiple constellations and signals. It will also discuss different approaches of testing GNSS receivers against jamming and spoofing attacks.
You will learn:
Advantages of using multi-GNSS
Challenges when combining multiple constellations
Robustness of multi-GNSS receivers to jamming and spoofing
Test solutions for GNSS receivers.
The webinar presents sponsored content by Skydel and Talen-X. Register for it here.
It is the best of times, it is the worst of times. GPS modernization, once gasping for breath by the side of the track, is back in the race and pulling ahead. Relentless innovation in user equipment and newly opened software access mean that high-precision positioning may soon be available to owners of mere tablet computers. Spoofing counter-measures are growing in sophistication and availability. GPS continues to drive many sectors of the economy, with a benefit of as much as $65 billion per day to the U.S.
Yet there are a few flies in the modernization ointment. And GPS may soon collide, catastrophically, with that other U.S. military invention from the 1970s that also leaped the fence into the civic domain and life-changed billions of people around the world: the Internet.
Note: After this issue, we are temporarily suspending publication of the GNSS Design & Test e-newsletter. Subscribers who do not already receive the Navigate! Weekly e-newsletter will in 2018 find it in their inbox each Tuesday. Navigate! covers a broad range of GNSS and PNT industry news and all GNSS constellation and signal updates. You may freely unsubscribe if you wish. The final Navigate! newsletter of each month will carry my GNSS Design & Test column — so, I’m not going away!
— AC
Let’s open these boxes one by one.
Modernization. The first satellite GPS III satellite, declared available for launch in September, appears headed for a March 2018 lift-off. Both the GPS III digital navigation payload and the ground-control software programs are recovering momentum following earlier hiccups and delays. The first III satellite has successfully “talked” with the OCX system on the ground. Lockheed Marting is building 10 of the satellites for the Air Force. Harris Corporation delivered the fourth of 10 digital payloads to Lockheed, and said it would ship four more in 2018. Raytheon is the prime contractor for OCX.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) projected that the current constellation of 31 GPS II satellites will remain operational until 2021, two years longer than previously estimated. This affords some breathing room for the seven GPS III satellites scheduled to be in orbit by then to start replacing the long-lived II generation. No longer need we fear the constellation gap, an alarm sounded by the same GAO back in 2009.
Problems Ahead. But this year’s GAO report also warns that GPS III’s increasing program complexity and upgrades required for new encrypted signals mean that it will take longer for ground infrastructure and user equipment to catch up in capability afforded by the new satellites.
Five programs are now encompassed under the rubric of GPS modernization: the satellites, next-generation ground control (OCX), military user equipment, contingency operations and military code (M-code) early use.
Just because the satellite schedule has regained its footing and is racing forward does not mean that M-code software and installing the receivers needed to acquire it aboard major U.S. weapon systems are keeping up pace with the pack. “Additional development is necessary to make M-code work with over 700 weapon systems that require it,” according to GAO analyst Christina Chaplain. Long message short: the new satellite constellation may be orbiting in the skies years before user equipment and software are in place. “War fighters will have to operate with a mix of older and newer receiver cards.”
Consumer Access to Precision. The January cover story in GPS World magazine will show the results of very promising new tests taking advantage of access to raw GNSS observables now possible thanks to Android. “For those who want high accuracy, but don’t need it full time, high-productivity dedicated professional solutions may not be cost-justified,” writes Stuart Riley along with his co-authors, all from Trimble. “In these cases, a positioning-as-a-service subscription could offer a viable use model. Achieving precision positioning with just a standard mobile device, a correction stream using the mobile device’s data connection and a high-accuracy positioning application produces a very low barrier to achieving high accuracy.”
One of the figures from “Positioning with Android.” Code RTX performance the dataset sampled Nov 20 and corresponding RTK and RTX phase solutions — cell-phone GNSS antenna.
“While we expect that dedicated system approaches employing a custom GNSS chipset and firmware and purpose-built precision applications will continue to be the right solution for industry professionals,” they continue, “it is clear that the ubiquity of consumer mobiles, with increasing compute power, ruggedness and an expanding feature set represents a fertile ground for new development of improved positioning systems that don’t have strict professional requirements.
“A range of new use models and applications will be enabled by consumer mobile phones with technology that improves positioning performance. The goal of the work presented here is to assess what level of performance can be achieved by using proprietary PVT (Position Velocity Time) engine(s) utilizing GNSS measurements from the Android GNSS measurement API.”
Look for the January issue in your mailbox by mid-next month.
Spoofing. This has been the hottest issue, by far, during the past year — maybe two — at technical conferences around the world. Its role has been speculated in some rather notorious seafaring accidents. Its potential to wreck many carefully wrought schemes of transport, finance, safety, security, defense, power supply and more has been resoundingly aired. But help is on the way. Javad Ashjaee in the January magazine’s Expert Opinion column lays out an anti-spoofing strategy that has been installed, as an option, in all OEM boards offered by JAVAD GNSS.
In its most basic form, it amounts to “it is vital that in areas that spoofing danger exists, users employ OEM boards that provide more satellite systems and more signals, rather than using a simple GPS C/A code, for example.”
Heartbreak Dead Ahead. Finally, the January issue contains a lengthy treatise by Brad Parkinson, variously the grandfather, godfather, or just plain father of GPS, on a burgeoning danger that threatens the whole system and the vast economic benefit it provides.
Widespread big data streaming, storage in the cloud, and the much-ballyhooed Internet-of-Things are accelerating the World Wide Web’s breakneck consumption of broadband. More, more, more is needed, and more again tomorrow. We are all complicit, to use a current term, in this.
Every single sliver of radio-frequency band is now worth billions. And this is neither an infinite nor a renewable resource. There’s only so much. No one’s talking about taking away the small radionav portion of the spectrum (yet), but serious, well-funded and well-friended efforts seek to park massive transmitters right next door to it and effectively obliterate the signal, not only of GPS but other GNSS as well.
LightSquared tried this once, in 2010-11, and failed. Now the company is back under a new name, and in the current political climate it has more than a fighting chance of knocking the RF legs out from under the PNT community and all who depend upon it. Which, again, is all of us.
Talk about conflicting priorities.
“I believe the concept of allowing the installation of transmitting towers that, by design, will interfere with normal GPS use at some distance away, opens the door to tacit approval of short-range (or not-so-short-range) GPS jammers,” writes Parkinson.
Well, let’s put all that trouble aside, just for a few more weeks. Enjoy, everyone out there, your winter holidays if you are lucky enough to have some, and we’ll return to business in January.
The first advanced GPS III satellite successfully established remote connectivity and communicated with the next-generation Operational Control System (OCX), further validating the U.S. Air Force’s modernized GPS is ready to launch its first satellite.
On Nov. 2, GPS III Space Vehicle 01 (GPS III SV01), the first of 10 GPS III satellites designed by Lockheed Martin, and OCX, being developed by Raytheon Corporation, successfully completed Factory Mission Readiness Testing (FMRT).
The FMRT validated the command and control interaction between GPS III and the OCX’s Launch and Checkout System (LCS) through a simulated full launch and early orbit mission event sequence.
During this end-to-end system demonstration, command signals were sent from the latest OCX LCS software installed at Lockheed Martin’s Launch and Check Out Capability node in Denver to Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
From there, the commands were uplinked back to the GPS III SV01 satellite, currently awaiting a call up for launch at Lockheed Martin.
“During FMRT, GPS III SV01 received and successfully processed OCX commands that are routinely sent during launch, transfer orbit maneuvers, deployments and payload initialization,” said Mark Stewart, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for Navigation Systems. “We thoroughly tested the first GPS III satellite just like we are going to fly it in 2018.”
GPS III SV01 and OCX first “talked” to each other during a link check on October 3, 2017.
“This was the first time the launch and checkout system directly interfaced with the GPS III satellite,” said Bill Sullivan, vice president of Raytheon’s GPS OCX program. “We’re making consistent, steady progress, and that’s driving us toward a successful launch next year.”
The demo further verifies the space-to-ground compatibility between GPS III satellites and OCX. During a 2013 Compatibility & Integration test, Lockheed Martin’s GPS III Nonflight Satellite Testbed (GNST) — a full-sized, functional satellite prototype — also connected with and received commands from an earlier version of Raytheon’s OCX LCS software.
On Sept. 22, the Air Force declared GPS III SV01 “available for launch,” with launch expected in 2018. The successful FMRT was the final validation that GPS III SV01 is ready to be shipped to the launch pad.
GPS III will have three times better accuracy and up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities. Spacecraft life will extend to 15 years, 25 percent longer than the newest GPS satellites on-orbit today. GPS III’s new L1C civil signal also will make it the first GPS satellite to be interoperable with other international global navigation satellite systems, like Galileo.
OCX will revolutionize GPS command and control and mission management capabilities. It will control all legacy and new signals, provide protection against evolving cyber threats, and reduce operation and sustainment costs through efficient software architecture, automation and performance-based logistics. OCX represents a quantum leap in capabilities over the current system, providing flexibility and adaptability to meet future GPS mission needs.
The GPS III and OCX teams are led by the Global Positioning Systems Directorate at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. Air Force Space Command’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS), based at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, manages and operates the GPS constellation for both civil and military users.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommends the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) assign responsibility to an organization to collect test data, lessons learned and design solutions in its effort to meet GPS modernization goals.
According to the GAO, “The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, as part of M-code receiver card acquisition planning, assign an organization with responsibility for systematically collecting integration test data, lessons learned, and design solutions and making them available to all programs expected to integrate M-code receiver cards.”
DOD concurred with the recommendation.
The GAO presented its findings in a 53-page report issued Dec. 12, “Global Positioning System: Better Planning and Coordination Needed to Improve Prospects for Fielding Modernized Capability.”
According to the GAO, “DOD has made some progress on initial testing of the receiver cards needed to utilize the M-code signal. However, additional development is necessary to make M-code work with over 700 weapon systems that require it.
“DOD has begun initial planning for some weapon systems, but more remains to be done to understand the cost and schedule needed to transition to M-code receivers.
“The preliminary estimate for integrating and testing a fraction of the weapon systems that need the receiver cards is over $2.5 billion through fiscal year 2021 with only 28 fully and 72 partially funded (see below figure). The cost will increase by billions when as yet unfunded weapon systems are included.”
Status of weapon systems that have determined the cost needed to transition to M-code receivers through Fiscal Year 2021, as of February 2017.
In its summary, the GAO wrote “DOD faces risks as it simultaneously develops satellites, a ground system to operate them, and receiver cards that allow use of GPS signals. It will need to install receiver cards on hundreds of systems and, without better coordination, risks paying repeatedly to solve similar problems across the systems.”
The report also assesses the extent to which DOD faces acquisition challenges in sustaining the GPS constellation and developing a new ground control system. The GAO analyzed GPS quarterly acquisition reports and data, acquisition strategies, software and test plans, and other documents, and interviewed DOD and contractor officials.
M-code receiver enhances security, positioning, navigation and timing capabilities
The U.S. Air Force recently completed a series of successful flight tests of its next-generation military-code GPS using a Raytheon Company receiver onboard a B-2 Spirit at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
This first M-code test onboard the B-2 is an important milestone for the U.S. government-led GPS modernization effort to enhance security, positioning, navigation and timing capabilities for U.S. military and civilian applications.
Military GPS user equipment (MGUE) M-code receivers will give military aircraft, ships and ground vehicles access to the modernized GPS network.
“M-code receivers unlock the next-generation GPS network for military users,” said Rick Yuse, president of Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems. “This test demonstrated M-code capability onboard the B-2 for the first time, marking an early milestone for the overall GPS modernization effort.”
The tests verified the integration of an MGUE-equipped risk reduction prototype of Raytheon’s miniaturized GPS airborne MAGR-2K-M receiver with B-2 systems in representative flight and mission profiles.
Raytheon is developing M-code receivers under a contract with the USAF Global Positioning System Directorate GPS User Equipment Division. The company is also under contract with the USAF Joint Service Systems Management Office to qualify and certify the MAGR-2K-M and deliver production representative units to support platform integration and testing.
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $45.5 million contract to provide military code (M-code) early use (MCEU) capability to the Global Positioning System (GPS).
Part of the Air Force’s overall modernization plan for the GPS, M-code is an advanced, new signal designed to improve anti-jamming and protection from spoofing — as well as increased secure access — to military GPS signals for U.S. and allied armed forces.
MCEU will provide command and control of M-code capability to eight GPS IIR-M and 12 GPS IIF satellites on orbit, as well as future GPS III satellites, which the Air Force expects will begin launching in 2018.
MCEU is envisioned as a way to accelerate M-code’s deployment to support testing and fielding of modernized user equipment in support of the warfighter.
The Military Code (M-Code) Early Use (MCEU) contract will accelerate deployment of command and control of M-code capability to GPS IIR-M and GPS IIF satellites currently on orbit, as well as future GPS III satellites (like GPS III SV02 above). (Photo: Lockheed Martin)
The U.S. Air Force’s MCEU contract directs Lockheed Martin to upgrade the existing Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP) Operational Control System (OCS), allowing it to task, upload and monitor M-code within the GPS constellation. The contract includes new software and hardware development that will be deployed in 2019 to worldwide ground facilities that support the Air Force’s GPS.
“When people think of GPS, they often think of the satellites that provide the signals, but do not remember the important ground system behind it,” said Mark Stewart, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for Navigation Systems. “We recognize the ‘ground’ is critical for any major space mission constellation and we are proud that we can help the Air Force with this part of their GPS modernization plan.”
The AEP OCS — maintained by Lockheed Martin under the GPS Control Segment (GCS) Sustainment Contract — controls the 12 GPS IIR, 8 IIR-M and 12 IIF satellites in orbit today. The company has successfully implemented several recent projects to modernize and sustain the system for the Air Force.
In June, Lockheed Martin deployed the first of its state-of-the-art GPS Monitor Station Technology Improvement Capability (MSTIC) receivers at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The software-defined MSTIC system replaces 30-year-old hardware, positioning the Air Force to take advantage of commercial off-the-shelf technology enhancements in processing power, reliability and cybersecurity in the future. Six Air Force AEP OCS monitoring stations around the world will receive the MSTIC upgrade by the end of 2017.
In February 2016, the Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin the GPS III Contingency Operations (COps) contract to upgrade the AEP OCS with new capabilities so it could support the more powerful, next-generation GPS Block III satellites. The COps program passed a successful Critical Design Review milestone with the Air Force in December 2016.
Also in 2016, under the GCS contract, Lockheed Martin completed the commercial off-the-shelf upgrade No. 2 (CUP2) project — part of a multi-year plan to modernize the AEP OCS’ technology and enhance the system’s ability to protect data and infrastructure from internal and external cyber threats, as well as improve its overall sustainability and operability. CUP2 is now fully operational and managing the current GPS constellation.
In the July and August issues of the magazine, the “Out in Front” editorials held forth on the perfection or lack thereof in the GPS signal and service.
Now it’s your turn!
Give us your opinion at gpsworld.com/17augustpolland we’ll publish the results in the September issue. And you’ll gain entry to a random drawing for a $50 gift card.
The question is: How close to perfect is GPS performance?
And your choices are:
Absolutely perfect. 100 percent.
Nearly perfect. The space segment functions flawlessly. The only problems are with jamming and user equipment.
Almost nearly perfect. There have been a few hiccups in space, then there’s jamming, and user equipment weaknesses.
Not nearly close enough to perfect — but pretty good. The (admittedly rare) operator miscue, jamming, spoofing, and other exploitable user equipment weaknesses.
Fair, but a long way to go. All the above cited problems, plus lack of signal reception under canopy, urban canyons, indoors.
Not a passing grade. But it’s the best I have, so I grit my teeth and use it.
Pretty poor if you ask me. It just does not meet my requirements.
Other (please specify)
For background and two different views on the controversy engendered by a U.S. Air Force public release on this subject, see:
Three of six new Lockheed Martin-developed state-of-the-art receivers are now deployed to help the U.S. Air Force maintain the accuracy of GPS satellite signals.
In June, the first new Monitor Station Technology Improvement Capability (MSTIC) receiver became operational at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The upgrades continued at U.S. Air Force monitoring stations on the Kwajalein Atoll and Hawaii.
These critical upgrades of the GPS Monitoring Stations from early 1990s technology are part of an overall effort to modernize and maintain the current GPS ground control system, known as the Architecture Evolution Plan Operational Control Segment.
GPS monitoring stations are globally dispersed, fixed-position sites that monitor GPS satellite signals and help maintain their navigation and positioning accuracy for users around the world.
Under Lockheed Martin’s GPS Control Segment (GCS) Sustainment contract, the company used an agile development methodology to develop and deploy the first MSTIC receiver on schedule in under 36 months. The three remaining Air Force GPS Monitoring Stations will be upgraded with MSTIC receivers by the end of 2017.
“Taking advantage of current commercial technology trends has allowed us to provide the Air Force with a monitoring capability that can support the Air Force’s GPS mission for years to come,” said Vinny Sica, vice president and general manager of Mission Solutions for Lockheed Martin. “The MSTIC receiver addresses today’s obsolescence problem while providing the opportunity for the monitoring of modernized navigation signals in the future.”
The new MSTIC receiver’s software-defined radio (SDR) technology will replace the legacy monitor station receiver element (MSRE)’s hardware-based ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) platform originally deployed almost two decades ago, Sica said.
MSTIC leverages commercial off-the-shelf hardware without the need for custom firmware. Standard interfaces and the inherent configurability of the architecture simplifies sustainment and enables MSTIC software to migrate to new hardware platforms as commercial vendors increase processing power, improve reliability and enhance cybersecurity, Sica said.
“MSTIC’s new SDR technology enables the remote application of mission specific software updates which will improve performance and enable reception of modernized GPS signals,” added Sica.
The GPS Directorate at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missiles Systems Center contracted the MSTIC upgrade. Air Force Space Command’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS), based at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, manages and operates the GPS constellation for both civil and military users.
Gen. David L. Goldfein, chief of staff of the Air Force, listens to 1st Lt. Mark Skinner, 2SOPS GPS mission commander, explain current 2SOPS activities during his visit to Schriever AFB Dec. 20, 2016. (U.S. Air Force photo/Christopher DeWitt)
Spirent Federal Systems, a provider of GPS and GNSS simulators, has begun developing MNSA-capable GNSS simulators for the Modernized Navstar Security Algorithm.
Spirent Federal is developing software that will support M-code using MNSA. M-code is an updated GPS military signal that is being rolled out as part of the modernization of the current GPS constellation.
GPS modernization began in 2000 when the GPS Selective Availability feature was set to zero. Since that time, the U.S. Air Force has been working on newer generation satellites that will transmit new civilian and military signals.
Until now, AES and SDS have been the only methods authorized to be used within a GNSS simulator to produce M-code.
Spirent Federal Systems has been a provider of AES M-code and SDS M-code capable simulators for many years, but as the long awaited MNSA M-code signals become available, Spirent Federal Systems will be making this option available to authorized users on the GSS9000 series simulator.
It has been a good year for all global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), as the chief executives of each system testify here. Alternative positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) also thrives. In this roundup of the latest highlights from the past year and forecasts for the future, 2017 augurs very well indeed! Let’s look at the newest alternative-PNT offerings first, followed by forecasts from the chief executive officers (CEOs) of each of the conventional GNSS.
Alternative PNT grows and expands
Two new entrants to the positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) marketplace offer key capabilities to fill in the gaps left by GNSS. A new satellite timing and location (STL) service from low-Earth orbit satellites, provided by Satelles and Orolia, gives a strong signal capable of penetrating buildings.
Satellite Time and Location (STL) Service. Pursuant to a recent announcement of new PNT solutions independent of GPS/GNSS signals, provided via the Iridium constellation, GPS World talked with Jean-Yves Courtois, CEO of Orolia. Orolia has partnered with Satelles to bring new PNT products and services to the global market, with a focus on military, and defense, government and commercial customers worldwide.
Jean-Yves Courtois, CEO of Orolia.
“We are a manufacturer and integrator of timing equipment,” Courtois said. Orolia is the parent company of GPS/GNSS product and service providers Spectracom, McMurdo and Spectratime. “This new STL service is not fully commercialized yet, but it’s operational and it can be tested. Receivers are available and can be integrated into our equipment.
“The timing signal is very accurate and close enough to GPS for most timing applications, although the positioning accuracy is lower than what GPS users are used to. It is an augmentation for timing primarily, and secondarily for positioning.
“In terms of timing accuracy, it provides on the order of tenths of microseconds in accuracy, and this covers a lot of timing applications, very familiar to us and to our customers. This is an ideal timing backup or augmentation of GPS. As number 2 worldwide in high-precision timing, we know this market and its applications very well.”
Correlator beamforming. The Locata Corporation announced a patented correlator beamforming technology to stem multipath mitigation. The new technique’s performance under rigorous testing by the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology will be detailed in the January 2017 issue. Look for it! Here are a series of snippets as a preview of that lengthy technical article appearing in Richard Langley’s Innovation column.
“Unlike conventional or traditional beamsteering technology, the new correlator beamforming approach combines RF signals received by any number of individual antenna elements into a single switched-RF signal. This time-multiplexed signal is then downconverted and digitized by a single RF front-end. The correlator beamforming design will should offer cost savings because the resulting data stream is processed using a single correlator channel per beam. This markedly reduces the complexity when compared to the traditional beamsteering methodology.
“The correlator beamforming technique performs antenna array signal processing to form beams as part of a receiver’s correlation process. The complete explanation of this technology can quickly get complex, even for the seasoned RF engineer. To describe this process more simply, we will assume noiseless signals and no multipath (except as noted), as well as equal noise figures for all front-end processing chains. To further simplify our explanation, modulation on the carrier and switching losses will be ignored.”
“To evaluate the performance of correlator beamforming as fairly as possible compared to traditional beamsteering and single-element processing, AFIT set up its data collection such that all three approaches could be implemented in a software receiver. Additionally, a seven-element Naval Air Systems Command GPS Antenna System 1 (GAS-1) antenna was used for this experiment. The antenna was mounted on a 51-inch (130-centimeter) diameter rolled-edge ground plane provided to the ANT Center by the MITRE Corporation.”
“The testing focused on demonstrating an easily modified GNSS receiver to potentially deliver a low-cost solution for mitigating multipath — specifically targeting short delay and carrier multipath. The results presented here show that the multipath rejection performance nearly equals that of a traditional beamsteering GNSS receiver. Applications that can significantly benefit from this technology include stationary GNSS monitoring installations such as those used in satellite-based and ground-based augmentation systems and GNSS receivers for autonomous vehicles and UAVs in high multipath areas such as urban canyons.”
GPS III ready, steady
Col. Steve Whitney, Director, U.S. Air Force GPS Directorate
“The [GPS III] program is working to solve several technical challenges as we progress to completion,” Col. Steve Whitney, director of the U.S. Air Force GPS Directorate, wrote in GPS World’s December issue. “SV-01 testing uncovered electro-magnetic interference between a payload component and a hosted payload. Testing also uncovered electron impact issues on the L-band antenna elements. In partnership with Lockheed Martin, the program developed corrective action and design mitigations for both of these issues and is implementing these steps within our production flow for all the SVs.”
“In the coming year, SV-02, the second GPS III satellite, will also be progressing towards completing production. Currently, all of the SV-02 sub-assemblies have been received by Lockheed Martin and are being integrated into the spacecraft. The next major step in the production flow for SV-02 will be to mate it with its propulsion core.
“Recently, we completed negotiations with Lockheed Martin to extend the production line with purchases of SV-09 and SV-10. These satellites will be technically equivalent to SV-01 through SV-08. This $395 million purchase of two satellites marks a significant affordability milestone for the procurement of GPS III satellites.
“Looking ahead, we are analyzing how to acquire satellites beyond SV-10. We are executing a phased strategy which starts first with determining the viability of a GPS III production design existing beyond the current contractor. We awarded an initial phase of contracts to the Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, and Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in May 2016 to provide a feasibility assessment of the readiness of their satellites designs. In this phase, the contractors will provide a GPS III production design, manufacturing plans and a navigation payload brassboard test report, along with manufacturing/production processes and facilities maturity.”
Galileo coming on strong
Director of the Galileo Programme Paul Verhoef of the European Commission wrote in that same issue of the magazine, “The production of the satellites continues to maintain a steady rhythm, with a production line stretching from suppliers across Europe to OHB and SSTL and then to ESA’s ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands for acceptance testing, based on a wide range of simulated space tests.”
Paul Verhoef, director of the Galileo Programme and Navigation-related Activities, European Space Agency.
“The acceptance of the next satellites to launch is scheduled for this year’s end,” continued Verhoef. “Along with the two more Ariane 5 launches to come — one in the second half of 2017 and another in 2018 — the current plan is to commission further launch services as well as additional satellites in order to have Galileo fully operational by 2020. For these launches, Galileo may be the first customer of the new Ariane-6 launch vehicle.
“2017 will see the upgrade of various elements of the Galileo Ground Segment to reinforce its robustness, including updated releases to the Galileo Control Segment overseeing the satellites and the Galileo Mission Segment, overseeing the navigation signals. A new release of elements of the Galileo Security Facility, for security monitoring of the system, as well as the secure Public Regulated Service, will be deployed at the two Galileo Security Monitoring Centres.
“The Galileo Ground Segment will gain a sixth tracking telemetry and control facility, for monitoring the satellite platforms in Papeete, Tahiti, and additional processing chains for increased redundancy will be deployed across the Uplink Stations in Kourou, Reunion and Noumea used to update the navigation message information. Similar redundant chains will be finalized for all 15 current Galileo Sensor Stations, which perform continuous collection of Galileo signals to identify the tiniest clock error or satellite drift.”
EGNOS. “Along with the progress of Galileo, contracts are planned to cater for the further development of the ESA-designed European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, Europe’s first navigation system. EGNOS was certified for safety-of-life aviation use in 2011, and is managed by the European Commission through a contract with operator the European Satellite Services Provider, based in France. ESA will support the technical evolution of EGNOS version 3, intended as multi-constellation in nature, again through the Horizon 2020 framework.”
GLONASS looks forward to a new signal: CDMA!
Sergey Karutin, GLONASS Chief Designer, wrote “On the threshold of the first GLONASS-K2 launch, new GLONASS reference documents were published in October 2016, describing the family of code-division multiple-access (CDMA) radionavigation signals. The draft GLONASS Open Service Performance Standard has been developed. The GLONASS User Information Support System continues to evolve.”
From left: Sergey Karutin, GLONASS designer general; Nicolay Testoedov, director general, SC Information Satellite Systems; and Andrey Tulin, director general, SC Russian Space Systems.
“The system transmitting CDMA navigation signals is referred to in four interrelated interface control documents containing general information on signals and the detailed description of signal structures and digital message data. The new signals make it possible to include 63 satellites in the constellation, not only in circular medium-Earth orbit but also on geostationary and high-Earth orbits.
“The transition to the flexible string-type structure of the message data produces 2-second periodicity of integrity information delivery to users. The increased number of digits occupied by the ephemeris and clock parameters contributes to a better orbit and clock broadcast accuracy. The ephemeris broadcast precision improves from 0.4 to 0.001 meters. Time-stamp length in CDMA signal has increased to 30 bits, compared to 12 bits of frequency-division multiple-access signals.”
BeiDou approaches full regional services
Li Wang
“In 2017, three to four launches of BeiDou satellites will occur,” wrote Li Wang, Director of the International Cooperation Center in China’s Satellite Navigation Office. “BDS will provide basic services to the countries along the Belt and Road region by 2018, and possess global service capability by 2020.”
“BDS will keep improving its nationwide reference station network and steadily enhance its service performance. The dense reference stations for the nationwide frame network will be constructed by 2018, providing meter and decimeter level real-time location services for users in China, even centimeter level service in some areas.
“BDS will carry out the design, validation and construction of SBAS in accordance with international civil aviation standards. The first GEO satellite of BDSBAS will be launched in around 2018. The satellite-based augmentation services covering China and surrounding regions will be provided from 2020, to provide CAT-I services to civil aviation users.
“China will promote construction of a national comprehensive positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) system based on BDS, and strive to establish such a national PNT system with a united benchmark, no-gap coverage, security and effectiveness by 2030, as well as to upgrade capabilities to provide time and space information.”
By Karen Parrish, DoD News, Defense Media Activity
An Air Force program that will provide a vital new command system for the global positioning system satellite constellation in the shortest time possible will continue despite cost growth, Defense Department officials have confirmed.
Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, announced Oct. 12 the continuation of an over-cost program supporting the global positioning system. Here, Kendall is briefed by Jose Romero-Mariona on cybersecurity science and technology during Kendall’s visit to Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific in San Diego, Aug. 24. (Navy photo by Aaron Lebsack)
The next-generation operational control system, known as OCX, reached what is called a Nunn-McCurdy breach on June 30. The Nunn-McCurdy provision applies to weapons programs and requires the military services to notify Congress if a program’s cost per unit increases 25 percent or more over the current baseline estimate.
But well before June 30, defense acquisition experts began working with Raytheon, the contractor for OCX, to resolve program issues. In December 2015, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall directed in-depth quarterly reviews, including a series of “deep dives” overseen by him. Certification activities began in July 2016, and culminated with Kendall certifying the program to Congress yesterday, thus allowing the program to continue.
Next-Generation GPS
James MacStravic, acting assistant secretary of defense for acquisition, discussed OCX and its importance with DoD News.
“This is what the controllers on the ground are going to use to make sure that all the satellites are talking to each other, that they’re exchanging the same information [and] that they’re where they’re supposed to be,” he said.
The OCX system will command all modernized and legacy GPS satellites, manage all civil and military navigation signals and provide improved cybersecurity and resilience for the next generation of GPS operations.
The OCX program includes the following phases: Block 0, to perform launch and checkout of GPS-III satellites; Block 1, to command all navigation signals, including the modernized military signal; and Block 2, for additional enhancements to signal assurance and navigation warfare capabilities. The ground segment capability not only supports military forces, but also civil, commercial and scientific uses. The current total program cost estimate for OCX is $5.46 billion.
OCX will consist of:
A master control station and alternate master control station;
Dedicated monitor stations;
Ground antennas;
GPS system simulator; and
Standardized space trainer
Turning the Program Around
Defense officials said factors in the OCX cost growth included late recognition of the magnitude of information assurance work that was required, concurrent systems engineering that drove significant rework, inconsistent configuration management of the program baselines, immature software and a lack of automation across the program. These issues drove schedule slips, which in turn increased the cost of the program, leading to the breach.
MacStravic described the efforts defense officials and Raytheon have made to turn the program around. He emphasized the work has included the personal involvement of Kendall, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and Raytheon’s chief executive officer.
“What we spent the summer doing was making sure … does this program have the right management resources, the right financial resources and an appropriate schedule to succeed?” MacStravic said.
Officials report that after three on-site quarterly reviews, Kendall’s assessment is that Raytheon is making substantial progress on the program, but that some additional schedule increase has occurred and that there is risk of more schedule increases.
Progress has been sufficient to support certification under the Nunn-McCurdy process, officials said. Kendall’s office will continue the OCX quarterly reviews begun in March 2016, which to date have included the secretary and principal deputy acquisition chief of the Air Force, the program executive officer and Raytheon’s chief executive officer.
The alternatives to certifying the program included several options, including program termination, but this was deemed simply unworkable, due to the extended time it would require to design and field a new ground system for the vital GPS III network.
According to officials, the future of the OCX program will depend upon Raytheon’s ability to demonstrate that it can deliver the needed capability to the Air Force at acceptable cost and within an acceptable time.
[Editor’s note: This is the Signals Leadership Award acceptance speech given by Clark Cohen at GPS World’s 2016 Leadership Dinner in September. The Award was recognized the development of alternates to GPS based on communication satellites: a method for adding high-accuracy ranging capability to Iridium by modifying the transmitted signal structure of an already flying, programmable constellation. ]
Thank you GPS World, industry sponsors, and colleagues who engaged in the selection process. I appreciate the honor.
The Advanced Waveform was the second and most ambitious broadcast that we developed for the DoD-sponsored iGPS program. It is a wide-bandwidth (10 MHz maximum spectrum allocation), near-white, high-power broadcast with independently resolvable code and carrier capable of illuminating regions of the world at any time. Yet Iridium was never designed for navigation.
I am grateful to the Naval Research Lab, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Boeing, and Iridium for their support. Also, many capable people comprised our team. Completeness is impossible, but I’ll highlight the efforts of Dick Cervisi, Kamran Ghassemi, Ann Stevens, Robert Scholl, Tom Guffey, Bernie McCormick and Mark Psiaki.
The commercial Iridium constellation is built on billions of dollars of private capital. Meanwhile, the iGPS overlay required Congressional appropriation. But if the technical part weren’t challenging enough, the politics were, in my view, a bit too hard.
My topic is the future of public-private partnerships. Such partnerships include the GPS space and ground segments and most other government projects. Our broken, inflexible Congress is not helping. My answer here for the family dinner table is not political — it’s structural, non-partisan, systems engineering.
We can do better than handicapped innovation, winner-take-all procurements, Nunn-McCurdy triggers, continuing resolutions, debt-limit brinksmanship and government shut-downs. This is not to judge people. Good people are operating under imperfect rules.
House elections now resemble a stuck, one-bit, analog-to-digital converter. Hundreds of individual races, cumulate the equivalent of input noise and bias, rendering the House largely unresponsive to voters. Consent of the governed demands a healthy, moderating feedback loop from people to representatives to laws and back. Cutting this loop spells trouble.
A major root cause of dysfunction is winner-take-all, single-member districts. Geographical voting made sense in the 18th century. But in an increasingly complex, connected world, where you live is no longer a stand-in for what you think.
We need to start dissolving district boundaries themselves. An elegant approach is aggregating adjacent single-member districts into larger multi-winner “super districts” with three to five members each. A refinement called Ranked Choice Voting eliminates spoiler hazard and incentivizes positive campaigns. No change to the Constitution is needed — only passing a law.
We should reset our expectations. Congress should be able to pass the nation’s budget on time every time. We don’t need drama around GPS modernization, backup terrestrial navigation, and spectrum protection. And America should boldly pioneer aspirational, cathedral-and-moonshot-scale, public-private initiatives.
Working hard and playing by the rules implies a value-added, positive-sum relationship with society. But to the extent that the rules are imperfect, don’t vestiges of zero-sum exchange imply collateral damage somewhere in society? Voters are rebelling by the millions. We should pay attention. America’s defining Revolutionary War was fought over taxation without representation.
Whether applied to sword or plowshare, precision feedback from GPS provides guidance to help minimize collateral damage. Updated voting rules will do the same for the nation. Everyone benefits from more efficient and effective execution. Yet perhaps our greatest harvest — should we choose to claim it for ourselves and our children — will follow from sowing new seeds of discovery and innovation through public-private partnerships on a vast and visionary scale.
