GPS World

Tag: ION GNSS 2014

  • Apply Orbital Science and Win at GPS World’s ION GNSS Booth

    Apply Orbital Science and Win at GPS World’s ION GNSS Booth

    gps_roulette_booth Photo: GPS World
    Photo: GPS World

    Scientists and engineers of the GNSS persuasion will want to test their knowledge of the two-body model and Keplerian orbits in a practical application at the roulette wheel in GPS World’s booth, #224–#226, at the ION GNSS+ Conference.

    Those successful in their predictions of the fall of the ball will mathematically increase their chances of winning a Go-Pro Hero video camera, a pair of tickets to the fabulous Leadership Dinner, or a bevy of $50 gift cards.

    Simply fill out a subscription form and receive five chips for play at the roulette table. Bet odd or even, red or black; bet your favorite number or take a split. If the ball falls into the 0, 00, or 25 slots, all bets on the table, winning or losing, are paid off with a handsome additional stake! This is the magazine’s way of celebrating its 25th anniversary.

    The more you win, the more raffle tickets you can put into the drawing bowl for the prizes. The prize drawing will be held during the afternoon break on Thursday, at approximately 3:40.

    According to a well-known GNSS expert and ION attendee, “From the point of view of satellite orbital mechanics, the high-speed spinning of a ball within the outer rim of a roulette wheel resembles the orbit of a satellite around a massive body. Friction between the wheel and the ball generates orbital decay that causes the ball to lose speed and, once a certain loss of energy occurs, fall from the rim into the center of the wheel. In the case of roulette, timing the period of motion of both the ball traveling around the rim and the wheel in the center combined with an orbital decay model allows a computer to predict the correct quandrant of the wheel that the ball will settle into as much as 40 percent of the time. Properly implemented, this is enough to create a tremendous advantage over the casino.”

    You too can turn your scientific knowledge to lucrative advantage!

    GPS World Booth #224–#226 is located at the rear of the hall, adjacent to the attendee lounge. The roulette wheel will be in operation during all exhibit floor hours, including the Wednesday evening reception.

  • Sensonor Showcases STIM300 IMU at ION GNSS+

    Sensonor Showcases STIM300 IMU at ION GNSS+

    The Sensonor STIM300 IMU.
    The Sensonor STIM300 IMU. Photo: Sensonor

    Sensonor will be showcasing its STIM300 Inertial Measurement Unit at Booth 102 at ION GNSS+.

    The STIM300 is a small, tactical-grade, low-weight, high-performance non-GPS aided IMU. It contains three highly accurate MEMS gyros, three high-stability accelerometers and three inclinometers. The IMU is factory calibrated and compensated over its temperature operating range.

    The STIM series is designed for use below and on the ocean, on land, in the air, and in orbit and space. The STIM300 IMU is well suited for stabilization, guidance and navigation applications in the industrial, aerospace and defense markets. It is a crucial building block for inertial navigation systems in UAVs, AUVs, AGVs, UGVs and ROVs, Sensonor said.

    The STIM300 is also used for camera turret stabilization and for use in various handheld devices that require a small IMU to secure operations during GPS outage.

  • Lockheed Martin-Built GPS Satellites Reach 200 Years of Operational Life

    Lockheed Martin-Built GPS Satellites Reach 200 Years of Operational Life

    gps-release-92
    Photo: US Air Force

    The U.S. Air Force’s fleet of GPS Block IIR and IIR-M satellites, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, have reached 200 collective years of operational life. The 20 satellites make up about two thirds of the current GPS constellation.

    Originally launched between 1997 and 2009 to add capabilities to the GPS constellation and to replace other aging satellites, the 12 GPS IIR and eight IIR-M satellites have maintained an availability record of 99.96 percent, which represents only 10 minutes of down time per satellite during all their years of operation.

    The 200-year milestone will be celebrated with a brief cake-cutting “ceremony” during ION GNSS, on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m., at the Lockheed Martin booth.

    “This is a tremendous GPS operations and sustainment performance milestone, and we applaud the men and women of the Second Space Operations Squadron of the Air Force’s 50th Space Wing, as well as the industry team who support them,” said Mark Stewart, vice president for Lockheed Martin’s Navigation Systems mission area. “The world relies on GPS every day for things like synchronizing global banking and investing, shipping and transportation, search and rescue operations, ATM transactions and even precision farming.”

    This spring, the IIR-M satellites played a major role in the continued modernization of the GPS constellation. To help manufacturers develop and test next-generation advanced civil GPS receivers, under the direction of Air Force Space Command and in collaboration with the Department of Transportation, these satellites began early broadcasting of test civilian navigation, or CNAV, messages on a new signal planned for all future satellites.

    Making these milestones even more significant is the fact that the GPS IIR and IIR-M satellites were designed to last 7.5 years, or collectively about 150 years. All 12 IIR satellites are currently operating beyond their design life with the oldest operating for more than 16.5 years. Three of eight GPS IIR-M satellites have surpassed their expected life span and all satellites will have done so in 2017.

    To meet evolving GPS user demands, Lockheed Martin is developing the next-generation GPS III satellites. These satellites will deliver three times better accuracy, provide up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities, and include enhancements which extend spacecraft life to 15 years, 25 percent longer than the newest Block IIF satellites. GPS III will be the first generation of GPS satellite with a new L1C civil signal designed to make it interoperable with other international GNSS.

  • New at ION GNSS+: Live Indoor Demonstrations

    A new event highlighting indoor location is being held this year at the ION GNSS+ Conference, which takes place September 9-12 in Tampa, Florida. The two-part event is scheduled for Wednesday, September 10.

    The indoor location sessions are part of a new Commercial Track that also covers high-accuracy products, multi-constellation products, new consumer products such as wearables, MEMS, and simulation and testing.

    Greg Turetzky, Intel Mobile Communications, is the session chair for a panel discussion from 1:45 to 3:25 p.m. in Room 24 titled “Indoor Location, Standards and Implementations.”

    The discussion will cover issues of standardization and certification from key organizations involved in indoor location, according to the ION GNSS+ program. Discussion will focus on the progress and issues for bringing indoor location to a level of standardization to allow penetration into all mobile devices.

    Panel members include:

    • 3GPP: Kirk Burroughs, Qualcomm
    • WiFi Alliance/IEEE: Marc Linsner, Cisco
    • Bluetooth Sig/OMA: Ian Blair, Cambridge Silicon Radio Ltd., UK
    • FCC/CSRIC: Chris Gates, Nextnav
    • Multiple: Steve Malkos, Broadcom
    • OGC: Hongwei Liu, MappedIn, Canada
    • MEMS Industry Group: Mahesh Chowdhary, ST Microelectronics
    • In-Location Alliance (ILA): Jounni Kamarainen, Nokia, Finland

    Paul McBurney, GopherHush Corp., is guiding live indoor location demonstrations from 3:55 to 5:30 p.m. in Room 13-16. Demo areas will be set up around the edge of the conference room, and each presenter will have their demo running. In turn, each will talk about their demo from the stage. At the same time, there will be live video of the demo feeding to the big screen on stage. After the demos, panelists will be seated on stage to answer questions posed by the chair, and audience question moderated by the chair.

    Demonstration partipants include:

    • RxNetworks, Ryan Reilly, “Resolving Indoor Location on Three Axes Using A-GNSS/Wi-Fi/ and Barometric Pressure”
    • Broadcom, Steve Malkos, “Enhanced Wi-Fi Ranging with Round Trip Time Measurements”
    • CSR, Dave Huntingford, “Indoor Positioning with MEMS, GNSS, Wi-Fi, Signals of Opportunity and Cloud-Based Learning”
    • PNI Sensor, Becky Oh, “Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) Using MEMS Inertial Sensors and PNI Sensor’s Ultra Low-Power SENtral Sensor Hub”
    • Indoo.rs, Markus Krainz, “Indoor Location Demonstration”
    • Navizon, Inc., Cyril Houri, “Navizon Indoors: A Pedestrian Navigation System Combining the Analysis of Wireless Signals (Wi-Fi, iBeacons) and Inertial Navigation”
    • Nokia, Jani Ollikainen and Hannu Laine, “Indoor and Local Positioning with BT Low Energy and Easy Installation”

    Learn more about the ION GNSS+ program at the ION website.

  • ION GNSS+ Features Natural Navigation, Commercial Track

    ION GNSS+, sponsored by The Institute of Navigation, is considered the world’s largest technical meeting and showcase of GNSS technology, products and services. This year’s conference takes place September 8-12 at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida.

    ION GNSS+ will bring together international leaders in GNSS and related positioning, navigation and timing fields to present new research, introduce new technologies, discuss current policy, demonstrate products and exchange ideas.

    Pre-conference events held Monday and Tuesday, September 8-9, include tutorials and the CGSIC meeting. The conference itself kicks off Tuesday with the plenary session, held 6:30-8:30 p.m.

    This year, the plenary speaker is Tristan Gooley, navigator and explorer, who will discuss “The Wonderful World of Natural Navigation.” Gooley has led expeditions in five continents, climbed mountains in Europe, Africa and Asia, sailed small boats across oceans and piloted small aircrafts to Africa and the Arctic. He has walked with and studies the methods of the Tuareg, Bedouin and Dayak in some of the remotest regions on Earth. Gooley will describe how his love of the subject grew over time and explains how he learned to find his way using the sun, moon, stars, weather, plants and animals. He has used natural navigation in the Sahara desert, in jungles, on ice, on oceans and in the English countryside. He will explain how these ancient techniques can be used by anyone willing to try something new and how natural navigation can enrich all journeys, large or small.

    Gooley’s talk will be followed by Panel Discussion Lightning Talks moderated by GPS World Publisher Alan Cameron. Presenters include Dr. John Betz, The MITRE Corporation; Didier Faivre, European Space Agency, France; Dr. Frank van Diggelen, Broadcom; Glen Gibbons, Inside GNSS; Oscar Pozzobon, QASCOM S.R.L., Italy; Dr. Frank van Graas, Ohio University; Dr. Todd Humphreys, The University of Texas at Austin; Dr. Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, The Ohio State University; and Dr. Didier Flament, European Space Agency, France.

    Technical sessions will be held Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. This year, a new commercial track has been added.

    The program is available for download.

    ION has created a short video about “Why You Should Attend ION GNSS+”.

  • Rohde & Schwarz Demos Latest Simulator at ION GNSS+

    Rohde & Schwarz Demos Latest Simulator at ION GNSS+

    SMBV100A_GNSS_front-WRohde & Schwarz will be demonstrating its SMBV100A simulator at ION GNSS+ 2014, and is offering a new Wireless Standards poster for visitors to its booth. Rohde & Schwarz will be exhibiting in Booth I during the show, which will be held in Tampa, Florida, September 10-11.

    Based on a digital vector signal generator, the SMBV100A supports realtime and hybrid configurations up to 24 dynamic GPS, GLONAS, Galileo, BeiDou and QZSS satellites and can be synchronized for multi-channel RF solutions. Rohde & Schwarz will be demonstrating its latest SMBV100A solutions and technologies along with dedicated solutions to support navigation and GNSS testing including:

    • Support realistic user environments: obscuration, multipath, antenna characteristics and vehicle attitude
    • Realtime external trajectory feed for hardware in the loop (HIL) applications
    • High signal dynamics, simulation of spinning vehicles and precision code (P code) simulations
    • Support for ground-based augmentation systems (GBAS)
    • Avionics test solutions: VOR, ILS, DME, and TACAN
    • Field-to-lab capture and playback solutions
    • Interference hunting and direction finding solutions

    New Wireless Standards Poster – Register Now!

    Conference attendees who stop by Booth I can register for a new Wireless Standards Poster. The convenient wall chart provides an overview of all the major standards for digital cellular, public safety, TV white space, wireless connectivity and GNSS technologies.

    Not able to attend?  Click here to register to have a poster sent to you.

  • Dual-Frequency Pinwheel Antenna Designed for Optimal Positioning 

    Dual-Frequency Pinwheel Antenna Designed for Optimal Positioning 

    The NovAtel GPS-702-GG-HV high-performance pinwheel antenna comes in three colors. Photo: NovAtel, Inc.
    The NovAtel GPS-702-GG-HV high-performance pinwheel antenna comes in three colors. Photo: NovAtel, Inc.

    NovAtel, Inc., has introduced the GPS-702-GG-HV to its line of high-performance Pinwheel antennas. Tracking L1/L2 GPS and L1/L2 GLONASS frequencies, customers can use the same antenna for GPS-only or dual constellation applications, reducing equipment costs and need for future redesign, the company said.

    With the same form-factor and choke ring performance as the company’s other pinwheel antennas, the GPS-702-GG-HV has been enhanced even further to provide the robustness needed for use under high-vibration conditions.

    The phase center of the antenna remains constant as the azimuth and elevation angle of the satellites change. Signal reception is unaffected by the rotation of the antenna or satellite elevation, so placement and installation of the antenna can be completed with ease. With the phase center in the same location for both the L1 and L2 signals and with minimal phase center variation between antennas, this antenna is designed for baselines of any length.

    Enclosed in a durable, waterproof housing, the GPS-702-GG-HV comes in three colors: NovAtel standard grey, as well as desert tan and olive drab for military customers. The antenna is available for order beginning September 12.