GPS World

Tag: ION

  • ION GNSS+ Twitter contest

    Headed to ION GNSS+ 2017?

    Tweet a selfie with @GPSWorld Group Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Alan Cameron OR in the GPS World booth at ION GNSS+ and you will be entered to win two tickets to the GPS World Leadership Dinner!

    To qualify, simply tweet a selfie with @gpseditor Alan Cameron, or in the GPS World booth, tag @GPSWorld and use #iFoundAlan. One winner will be randomly selected at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28, and contacted via direct message on Twitter. Photo must be taken at ION GNSS+ 2017 and submitted prior to noon on Sept. 28.

  • ION requests comment on GNSS SDR Metadata Standard

    ION requests comment on GNSS SDR Metadata Standard

    The Institute of Navigation’s GNSS Software Defined Radio Metadata Standard working group is seeking public comment on the standard through Dec. 31.

    In recent years there has been a proliferation of software-defined radio (SDR) data-collection systems and processing platforms designed for GNSS receiver applications or those that support GNSS bands. For post-processing, correctly interpreting the GNSS SDR sampled datasets produced or consumed by these systems has historically been a cumbersome and error-prone process.

    This is because these systems necessarily produce datasets of various formats, the subtleties of which are often lost in translation when communicating between the producer and consumer of these datasets.

    This specification standardizes the metadata associated with GNSS SDR sampled data files and the layout of the binary sample files.

    The GNSS SDR Metadata Standard defines parameters and schema to express the contents of SDR sample data files. The standard is designed to promote the interoperability of GNSS SDR data collection systems and processors.

    The metadata files are human readable and in XML format. A compliant open source C++ API for reading metadata and binary samples is also officially supported to promote ease of integration into existing SDR systems.

    Review the formal standards document and click on Submit a Comment to provide feedback. Comments will be accepted through December 31, 2017.

  • ION journal Navigation grows significantly in impact

    ION journal Navigation grows significantly in impact

    Navigation, a journal published by The Institute of Navigation, has experienced continued growth according to the latest Journal Impact Factor (JIF) report.

    The JIF of an academic journal is a measurement tool used to calculate the yearly average number of citations to recent articles published in a journal and is an indication of the relative importance of the journal within its field. It is generally recognized that journals with higher impact factors are deemed more important than those with lower ones due to its citation rate.

    Navigation’s Journal Impact Factor is now 1.604, an increase from 0.979 last year and 0.562 the year before. Total citations have increased by more than 270 percent over the past two years.

    “We are especially pleased with our strong performance,” said Boris Pervan, Navigation‘s editor. The increase in Navigation‘s impact factor is reflective of ION’s commitment to improve the quality and content of the papers published in the journal.

    ION extends its gratitude to its esteemed editorial board, which includes: Penina Axelrad, Pau Closas, Paul Groves, Christopher Hegarty, Changdon Kee, Jiyun Lee, Gary McGraw, Michael Meurer, Thomas Pany, Boris Pervan (editor), Jason Rife, Andrey Soloviev, Maarten Uijt de Haag, Todd Walter, Lisa Beaty (managing editor) and Fiona Walter (administrative editor).

    Navigation is indexed in the Thomson Reuters Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch), Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition and Thomson Reuters Current Contents/Engineering Computing and Technology.

    Additionally, Navigation is abstracted in Electrical and Electronics Abstracts. Citations and abstracts of articles in Navigation can be found using the INSPEC online database. Navigation is published by ION in partnership with Wiley.

    The Institute of Navigation is the world’s premier professional society dedicated to the advancement of the art and science of positioning, navigation and timing. The institute is a national organization whose membership spans worldwide.

  • Research: Infrasound direction-finding, positioning system

    By John P. McIntire, Duy K. Nguyen, Eric T. Vinande, and Frederick C. Webber
    U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory / Presented at ION ITM, January 2017

    Detection of artillery blasts at a near distance (0.15 miles or 0.24 km) using a single infrasound sensor, with the sensor amplitude trace over time shown on Infiltec’s Amaseis software data and visualization package, and using some basic bandpass filtering (5 to 25 Hz). The spikes are clearly visible as high amplitude impulses in the traces, confirming sensor detection.
    Detection of artillery blasts at a near distance (0.15 miles or 0.24 km) using a single infrasound sensor, with the sensor amplitude trace over time shown on Infiltec’s Amaseis software data and visualization package, and using some basic bandpass filtering (5 to 25 Hz). The spikes are clearly visible as high amplitude impulses in the traces, confirming sensor detection.

    Infrasound refers to sound frequencies below the threshold of human hearing, around 20 Hz or less. There are a variety of natural sources of infrasonic emissions, including thunderstorms, avalanches, meteors, earthquakes, volcanos, and windstorms as well as manmade sources of emissions, such as aircraft, heavy machinery, artillery, missile testing and road traffic. Infrasound is especially attractive from a sensing perspective due to its ability to propagate long distances while suffering little from atmospheric or environmental attenuation.

    Blasts detected at 5.22 miles (or 8.4 km) are still detectable, but additional signal processing or wind-filtering techniques may make these impulsive signals more prominent above the noise.
    Blasts detected at 5.22 miles (or 8.4 km) are still detectable, but additional signal processing or wind-filtering techniques may make these impulsive signals more prominent above the noise.

    In this work, we describe the development of a man-portable “tactical” infrasound field sensor array that is small, lightweight and can be rapidly set-up and torn-down as needed. The system is able to provide direction-finding capabilities to infrasound impulse sources with a directional accuracy of +/–3 degrees. Such information could be used for alternative positioning schemes, described in detail, or perhaps for direction-finding (homing) to acoustic sources of interest. Possible users could be military or search-and-rescue teams operating in GPS-denied environments; field researchers studying volcanology or seismology; or other geo-acoustic scientists and engineers.

  • ION seeks abstracts for Joint Navigation Conference

    ION seeks abstracts for Joint Navigation Conference

    ion-2017-joint-navigation-conference
    Logo: JNC

    The Institute of Navigation (ION) is seeking abstracts for its Joint Navigation Conference (JNC), which will be held June 5-7 in Dayton, Ohio.

    The abstracts are due Feb. 15.

    According to ION, JNC is the largest U.S. military positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) conference of the year with joint service and government participation. The event will focus on technical advances in PNT, emphasizing joint development, test and support of affordable PNT systems, logistics and integration.

    From an operational perspective, the conference will focus on advances in battlefield applications of GPS; critical strengths and weaknesses of field navigation devices; warfighter PNT requirements and solutions; and navigation warfare.

    The event, which will feature a technical exhibit and showcase of guidance, navigation and control technology products, will include more than 200 operational presentations, ION reports.

    The ION Joint Navigation Conference will take place at the Dayton Convention Center, as well as a classified environment on June 8 at the Air Force Institute of Technology.

  • ION announces executive committee and council for 2017-19

    ION announces executive committee and council for 2017-19

    ION_logo_TThe Institute of Navigation (ION) has announced its Executive Committee and Council for 2017-19. The ION Executive Committee and Council consists of a wide range of professionals in the field of positioning, navigation and timing.

    “ION is excited with the talented and distinguished group of professionals that hail from all segments of the PNT community who are giving their time to serve on the ION Executive Committee and Council,” said Lisa Beaty, executive director of ION.

    ION Executive Committee

    • President: John Raquet, Air Force Institute of Technology
    • Executive Vice President: Jade Morton, Colorado State University
    • Treasurer: Frank van Graas, Ohio University
    • Eastern Region Vice President: Anthea Coster, MIT Haystack Observator
    • Western Region Vice President: Gary McGraw, Rockwell Collins
    • Satellite Division Chair: Frank van Diggelen, Google
    • Military Division Chair: Elliott Kaplan, The MITRE Corporation
    • Immediate Past President: Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska, The Ohio State University

    2017–19 Council Members

    • Eastern Council Member-at-Large: Francine Vannicola, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
    • Eastern Council Member-at Large: Keith McDonald, The MITRE Corporation
    • Western Council Member-at-Large: Neil Gerein, NovAtel Inc., Canada
    • Western Council Member-at-Large: Paul Benshoof, Locata Corporation

    Technical Representatives

    • José Ángel Ávila Rodríguez, European Space Agency, The Netherlands
    • Sunil Bisnath, York University, Canada
    • Mathieu Joerger, The University of Arizona
    • Olivier Julien, ENAC, France
    • Allison Kealy, The University of Melbourne, Australia
    • Di Qiu, Polaris Wireless, Inc.
    • Andrey Soloviev, QuNa
    • Terry Moore, University of Nottingham, UK

  • Out in Front: ION-ITM addresses ethics of autonomy

    Source: Alan Cameron
    Attention-grabbing graphic from “Navigating Autonomous Requirements” at ION-ITM.

    The talk veered off into rather heady philosophical realms at the plenary session for ION’s International Technial Meeting in late January. Two of the three speakers had been encouraged to go well outside the box — and not to employ any equations in doing so — to address or envision the autonomously navigated future.

    We are caught in the act of seeing ourselves become obsolete, at least behind the steering wheel of an automobile. The Google driverless car has logged more than a million miles, exploring the traffice terrain that will soon be home to millions of autonomous vehicles. What has it found? That the human in the loop (HiL) is the biggest source of error and catastrophe.

    There remain a few technical issues to sort out before this particular future is upon us. One of these, one that excites John Fischer of Spectracom, is the time-sensitive network concept: a standard and securable network that provides a platform for connecting critical system infrastructure with IT features. These networks deal in velocity accuracies of centimeters per millisecond, The V2V and V2X (vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-network) systems that will support autonomous driving must reduce latency to nearly imperceptible levels for functions like crash avoidance and lane awareness to work reliably.

    We were encouraged to consider the ethics of autonomous navigation by Mikel Miller of the Air Force Research Lab, Sensors Directorate. Once the vehicle becomes autonomous, it decides for the driver — including life or death choices.

    Imagine a situation that could actually happen less than a decade from now. Riding in a driverless car on a curving coast highway, you round a curve to see a group of children crossing the road. Detecting them, the car begins to brake, but quickly calculates it cannot stop in time. Programmed to avoid collisions with pedestrians and other vehicles, it is also programmed to protect its passengers. It must choose between carnage on the highway or driving you off the adjacent cliff into the ocean.

    Which to choose? Four lives versus one. Other ethical dilemmas have arisen in the history of GPS, GNSS, and precise PNT, chiefly concerning privacy. We are about to enter a more difficult realm.

  • Institute of Navigation honors fellows and award recipients

    The Institute of Navigation (ION) has announced the recipients of the 2016 fellow memberships and annual awards during the ION International Technical Meeting (ITM) and Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications (PTTI) in Monterey, California, held Jan. 25-28.

    2016 Fellows

    Election to Fellow membership recognizes the distinguished contributions of ION members to the advancement of the technology, management, practice and teaching the arts and science of navigation, as well as lifetime contributions to the Institute.

    Karl Kovach has been elected for significant contributions to the development of GPS, its signals, interface and specifications and performance standards.

    Anthea J. Coster has been elected for contributions to the development of global GPS TEC database and for utilizing GPS measurements for ionospheric and space weather studies.

    Gary McGraw has been elected for sustained contributions to the development of high accuracy and high-integrity positioning, navigation and timing technologies for a variety of military and civil aviation applications.

    2015 Annual Awards

    ION also presented its Annual Awards during the ITM/PTTI meeting. The awards program recognizes individuals making significant contributions or demonstrating outstanding performance relating to the art and science of navigation.

    Alexander A. Trusov received the Early Achievement Award for research, development and demonstration of ultra-low dissipation inertial MEMS sensors that may enable low-cost IMUs with North-finding and inertial navigation grade performance. The Early Achievement Award is presented in recognition of outstanding contributions made early in one’s career.

    Captain Nicholas Rayl received the Superior Achievement Award for performing above and beyond the call of duty navigating hostile airspace to engage a hostile AAA piece that represented a threat to aircraft. The Superior Achievement Award is presented to an individual demonstrating outstanding accomplishments as a practicing navigator.

    Ramsey M. Faragher and Robert K. Harle received the Dr. Samuel M. Burka Award for their paper “Towards and Efficient, Intelligent, Opportunistic Smartphone Indoor Positioning System” published in the Spring 2015 issue of NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 62, No. 1,pp. 55-72.The Dr. Samuel M. Burka Award recognizes outstanding achievement in the preparation of a paper contributing to the advancement of the art and science of positioning, navigation and timing.

    Inder J. Gupta received the Captain P. V. H. Weems Award for pioneering theoretical and experimental work on anti-jam antennas and signal processing techniques for interference suppression in GNSS receivers. The Captain P. V. H. Weems Award is presented to individuals for continuing contributions to the art and science of navigation.

    James L. Garrison received the Tycho Brahe Award for contributions to developing and applying GNSS and other signals-of-opportunity, reflectometry methods for space-based and airborne remote sensing, in oceanography, agriculture, and hydrology. The Tycho Brahe Award is presented to recognize outstanding contributions to the science of space navigation, guidance and control.

    Carolyn McDonald received the Norman P. Hays Award for the development and production of over thirty years of engineering tutorials in the field of satellite navigation, timing and inertial navigation; and for development and sustained support of the ION’s conference programs. The Norman P. Hays Award is given in recognition of outstanding encouragement, inspiration and support contributing to the advancement of navigation.

    Tim Murphy received the Thomas L. Thurlow Award for significant contributions to Global Navigation Satellite Systems for aviation. The Thomas L. Thurlow Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the science of navigation.

    Donald Mitchell received the Distinguished Service Award for his coordination between the PTTI user community and hardware developers, and contributions to the organization and operation of the PTTI meeting. The Distinguished Service Award is presented for extraordinary service to The Institute of Navigation.

    Francine Vannicola received the Distinguished Service Award for representing the timing community and facilitating the incorporation of the Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Systems and Applications Meeting into the ION’s meeting programs. The Distinguished Service Award is presented for extraordinary service to The Institute of Navigation.

  • ION Joint Navigation Conference abstracts due by Feb. 15

    The deadline for submitting abstracts for the Institute of Navigation (ION) Joint Navigation Conference (JNC) is Monday, Feb. 15.

    Abstracts must be received by Feb. 15 and must be written for public release. For more information and instructions on submitting an abstract, visit the ION website.

    The JNC is the largest U.S. military positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) conference of the year with joint service and government participation. For Official Use Only (FUOU) U.S. ONLY sessions will be held June 6-9 at the Dayton Convention Center in Dayton, Ohio. The U.S. ONLY CLASSIFIED sessions will be held June 9 at the Air Force Institute of Technology.

    The ION Joint Navigation Conference, sponsored by the ION’s Military Division, will focus on technical advances in guidance, navigation and control (GN&C) with emphasis on joint development, test and support of affordable GN&C systems, logistics and integration.

    From an operational perspective, the conference will also focus on advances in battlefield applications of GPS; critical strengths or weaknesses of fielded navigation devices; warfighter PNT requirements and solutions; and navigation warfare.

    The ION JNC features more than 200 operational presentations on a diverse array of topics. It also features a technical exhibit and showcase of GNC technology products and services and operational product demonstrations.

    Attendance Restricted. Conference attendance for both FOUO U.S. ONLY (June 6-8) and U.S. ONLY Secret Clearance (June 9) sessions will be screened by the Joint Navigation Warfare Center and will be restricted to U.S. ONLY.

  • ION Co-Locates ITM, PTTI Conferences for 2016

    Two of the Institute of Navigation’s (ION’s) conferences — the International Technical Meeting (ITM) and the Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Meeting — will be co-located for 2016. One registration fee gives attendees access to both technical events and a commercial exhibit. The co-located conferences will take place Jan. 25-28, 2016, at the Hyatt Regency Monterey in Monterey, Calif.

    Abstracts are due Oct. 2, 2015. Submission requirements have changed, and depend on the session the abstract is submitted for. Review the call for abstracts for more information.

    This year’s joint ITM/PTTI Plenary Session is “Autonomous Vehicles – Beyond the Navigation Technology.” The session will address issues outside of navigation technology, including legal issues, regulatory challenges, transitional periods, markets enabled by autonomous operation and similar topics beyond the core navigation technology.

    ITM is ION’s winter meeting, which features peer-reviewed technical papers related to positioning, navigation and timing, and includes the ION Fellows and Annual Awards presentations.

    PTTI is the annual technical conference designed to disseminate and coordinate PTTI information at the user level, review present and future PTTI requirements, inform government and industry engineers, technicians and managers regarding precise time and frequency technology and its problems, and provide an opportunity for an active exchange of new technology associated with PTTI.

    The co-located 2016 ITM and PTTI meetings will feature a technical exhibit and showcase of products and services related to positioning, navigation and timing. For more information on exhibiting, contact ION or go to www.ion.org.

  • ION GNSS+ 2015 Technical Program Available Online

    The ION GNSS+ 2015 technical program is now available online, and registration is open.  ION GNSS+ 2015 will be held Sept. 14-18 (tutorials Sept. 14-15) at the Tampa Convention Center, Tampa, Fla.

    This year, unlike in previous years, the technical program (registration brochure) will only be distributed online. Users can search and sort the program online or download and print a PDF version. A printed on-site guide book will still be available to attendees.

    ION GNSS+ 2015 is the 28th International Technical Meeting of the ION Satellite Division and the world’s largest technical meeting and showcase of GNSS technology, products and services and other sensors in today’s marketplace.

    Attendees who book a hotel room first will save $200 by entering the hotel confirmation number from the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel and Marina at the start of the registration process. Attendees will need a valid hotel confirmation number to claim this discount during registration.

    ION GNSS+ brings together international leaders in GNSS and related positioning, navigation and timing fields to present new research, introduce new technologies, update current policy, demonstrate products and exchange ideas. The focus of this meeting is the growing emphasis on GNSS and the rapidly evolving field of alternative navigation methods.

    This year’s conference will feature panels of industry experts, policy updates, the world’s largest GNSS commercial exhibit and more than 300 technical presentations presented through:

    Peer-Reviewed Tracks

    • Multisensor Navigation and Applications
    • Algorithms and Methods
    • Advanced GNSS Technologies

    Systems and Application Tracks

    • Mass-Market Applications
    • High Performance & Safety-Critical Applications
    • System Updates, Plans and Policies

    GPS World Editor and Publisher Alan Cameron discusses the importance of the annual ION GNSS Conference at the 2014 event, also held in Tampa.

  • Deadline for ION JNC Abstracts Is Wednesday

    Abstracts are due Wednesday, March 4, for the Institute of Navigation (ION) Joint Navigation Conference (JNC), scheduled for June 22-25 in Orlando, Fla.

    The ION Joint Navigation Conference, sponsored by the ION’s Military Division, is the largest U.S. military positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) conference of the year with joint service and government participation, ION said. The event will focus on technical advances in guidance, navigation and control (GN&C), with emphasis on joint development, test and support of affordable GN&C systems, logistics and integration.

    From an operational perspective, the conference will also focus on advances in battlefield applications of GPS; critical strengths and weaknesses of fielded navigation devices; warfighter PNT requirements and solutions; and navigation warfare.

    For Official Use Only (FOUO), United States only, sessions will be held June 22-24 at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld, Orlando. The U.S. only classified sessions will be held June 25 at Shades of Green Walt Disney World.

    The ION JNC features more than 200 operational presentations on a diverse array of topics. Abstracts are being accepted through March 4.