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  • Survey Perspectives – Early January 2008

    GPS

    On the GPS front, I’m going to paraphrase, plagiarize, and otherwise copy from my fellow newsletter editor Don Jewell, who writes the Military & Government PNT newsletter. He spent decades on the inside looking out (think Lt. Col. Jewell) and offers interesting perspectives.

    First off, after a relatively quiet period since launching the first new modernized satellite, the Block IIR-M (offering the new L2C signal), in September 2005, there has been a flurry of activity and announced activity in the past 13 months.

    First — Sept. 25, 2005. PRN 25/SVN 53 . Slot C4.
    Second — Sept. 26, 2006. PRN 31/SVN 52. Slot A2.
    Third — Nov. 19, 2006. PRN 12/SVN 58. Slot B4.
    Fourth — Oct. 17, 2007. PRN 15/SVN 55. Slot F2.
    Fifth — Dec. 20, 2007. PRN /SVN 37. Slot C1.

    Remember, a total of eight IIR-M satellites were built; the GPS Wing says the remaining three will be launched in 2008. One of the remaining Block IIR-M satellites has been modified by Lockheed Martin, with the capability of broadcasting an L5 non-operational test signal. The L5 operational signal is planned for the next-generation GPS satellite, the Block II-F. The first II-F was due to launch in 2008, but this doesn’t seem likely…and it seems less urgent since the IIR-M modified to broadcast an L5 test signal will secure the signal spectrum. Securing a signal frequency, especially with the competing satellite systems from other countries is not a simple task — but we’ll save that discussion for another time.

    So, from all public sources of information available, the current IIR-M launch schedule looks something like this:

    Sixth — Mar. 13, 2008.
    Seventh — June 2008.
    Eighth — October 2008.

    This is the flurry of activity I was referring to. Essentially, five launches within a twelve-month period.

    And this is where I bring in some of Don’s valuable info:
    “In the current constellation there are indeed 32 satellites, and normally that would be nearly the perfect constellation configuration, but a few of the older satellites and payloads are ‘single string’ in space parlance or on their last legs and require substantial care and feeding, including power management, by the very talented personnel/crews at the 50SW (Space Wing), 2SOPS (Space Operations Squadron) at Schriever AFB in Colorado, and the intrepid engineers at the GPS Wing at Los Angeles Air Force Base in California.

    “Each GPS satellite is designed with an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ side that approaches 100% redundancy for critical systems. Several of the satellites were switched to the ‘B’ side years ago and have significantly outlived their design life, which differs with each series of satellites launched.

    “Therefore, don’t be surprised that as we launch more and more GPS satellites (IIRM+s), the number of active satellites in the constellation stays the same. Since we have 32 satellites on orbit, remember that is almost the optimum number, we are in a replenishment mode, and attempting to maintain the constellation at the optimum number while still adding new capabilities, or modernization; a good thing for war fighters when we are involved in several hot conflicts/wars around the globe.

    “Now, what about the nine possible failures of the IIA series GPS satellites? The satellites in question are all at or beyond their design life and have critical failures; they are being kept alive by heroic means that require exceptional amounts of time and money. If the worst should happen and all nine IIA birds fail, then we would be down to 23 satellites which is far from the optimum number — but remember we will be launching the rest of the IIRM satellites at the same time and that should put the number of on-orbit GPS satellites at about 29. Colonel Dave Madden says the goal is to stay as near the optimum number as possible but to certainly never go below 27 satellites if possible.”

    So, I think the conclusion to be drawn here is that those of you who are experiencing “PDOP spikes” during the day that prevent you from being productive when using RTK will continue to experience those, even with the new GPS satellite launches. I mention RTK because that is the technology that relies most heavily on having a consistent number of observables (6+). Static post-processing users are affected, but to a lesser extent.

    The bottom line, and I’ve made this point many times in the past, is that if you want more satellites observable, the solution in GLONASS. That subject transitions nicely into my next discussion.

    GLONASS

    Why is it that we always seem to hear about GLONASS satellite launches, but the number of operational GLONASS satellites never seems to increase significantly (and even decreases)? The answer is that legacy GLONASS satellites had a poor operating life span — well under four years. The good news is that the new GLONASS-M satellites they’ve been launching have a “guaranteed” operating life of seven years.

    Since I touched on this subject last fall, six more GLONASS-M satellites have been launched: three on October 26, 2007, and another three on December 25, 2007 (Russia’s Christmas gift to GNSS users). Two of the October 26 satellites are operational, so there are four left in orbit and pending operational status. There are twelve operational GLONASS satellites as of December 29, 2007. This could increase to sixteen in the next couple of months as the four satellites already in orbit are made operational. That would be, by far, the most operational GLONASS satellites we’ve seen in recent years.

    This is great news for GPS/GLONASS users. Actually, GPS/GLONASS users gain more marginal benefit from GLONASS satellites than from GPS satellites because GLONASS satellites are on different orbital planes than GPS, and therefore, offer a better opportunity to increase the quality of the satellite geometry (e.g., decrease your PDOP).

    As in 2007, six GLONASS satellites are scheduled to launch in 2008. This is good, but we’ll probably see some legacy GLONASS satellites fail also. There are two that are past their fourth birthday, and three that just turned three years old last month. In the best-case scenario, we could see 22 operational GLONASS satellites a year from now. In the worst-case scenario, I can’t imagine having less than 14 or so available to us. Not bad considering we had as few as nine available during certain times in 2007.

    Although it’s been a rough ride at times, I continue to be a passenger on the GLONASS bandwagon. You can keep up with the GLONASS constellation status by visiting

    this Russian Space Agency website.

    Topcon/Sokkia Merger

     

    Switching gears a bit, we move on to December 10, 2007, when the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) approved the Topcon/Sokkia merger. JFTC approval was needed because both companies are headquartered in Japan. The only constraint is that “non motor-driven total stations” sold in the Japanese market must be sold through a third party “in order to clear antitrust concerns posed by the JFTC,” according to the Topcon press release. You can view the entire press release here.

    I think this is a boon for both Topcon and Sokkia. It gives Topcon another distribution channel to push its GNSS technology. It gives Sokkia access to a broader range of GNSS technology than they have with Point, Inc., their joint venture with NovAtel. Also, Leica recently bought NovAtel. Since Leica is a direct Sokkia competitor, it put Sokkia in a difficult position if the Topcon merger didn’t go through.

    I don’t think this particular merger is a bad thing for the user community. My guess is that you’ll see some dual branding, like you did when Trimble acquired Spectra Precision. Even though it’s all Trimble technology, it markets the EPOCH GPS system under the Spectra name for the budget-minded user while still maintaining higher selling prices for its technology under the Trimble brand name. I could be wrong, but I bet Topcon/Sokkia does something like this.

  • What Can You Do for Your Country?

    Editor’s Note: As Geospatial Solutions rings in a new year, we’re pleased to welcome Art Kalinski to the helm of the GeoIntelligence Insider newsletter. Please e-mail him with your questions and comments about the use of GIS in military and homeland security applications.

    By Art Kalinski

    I felt honored to receive an invitation to write this monthly column for Geospatial Solutions. I guess when you get to my age, people assume that you finally know something. The only thing I know for sure is that I realize how little I know — and that the learning process never stops.

    When my GIS career started, I was a career naval officer who was tasked with performing the U.S. Navy’s 1987 Base Closure study. The complexity of determining which of the 326 Naval Reserve Centers should be closed led me to a new technology: geographic information systems. Once I set up the Navy’s first GIS, I was able to effectively execute ring studies to determine the geographic distribution of reservists and how closures would affect travel times (and the resulting impact on costs and retention).

    GIS proved to be such a powerful tool that I pursued a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, studying under Dr. Dennis Lord and Dr. Wei-Ning Xiang. After completing the degree and retiring from the Navy in 1993, I became the GIS manager for the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC). Several years ago, we started using oblique imagery with our GIS. It spawned an expansion of GIS use that I had never seen, especially among first responders.

    Last year, when I was approached by an oblique imagery company to manage military applications, I was surprised that the technology was not already being used by the armed forces, but thrilled by the opportunity. So now I manage a Marine Corps-wide imagery contract, and get a chance to rub elbows with the nation’s finest.

    It’s those experiences that lead me to ask the rhetorical question, “What can I, as a GIS professional, do for my country?” As GIS professionals, we tend to think of GIS operations as limited to back rooms populated by computer geeks. Sometimes it seems that the impact of our work doesn’t make it out of those back rooms. Consider the following events, where maps in the field made a big difference to a country in crisis.

    September 11, 2001: The New York City GIS operation — housed in Building 7 of the World Trade Center — was destroyed. Luckily the GIS staff was unhurt, but they had no equipment, nor a facility in which to do their work. Many volunteers came together to restore and expand a GIS operation in a west-side pier warehouse. When I spoke with GIS Director Alan Leidner, I was stunned to learn that in the weeks after 9/11, the makeshift GIS operation produced some 7,000 E-size plots and 8,000 smaller plots in response to more than 1,800 requests for support. I told Alan that I couldn’t even imagine that number of requests. He replied that was also surprised, but that fulfilling each request answered a real need, and was greatly appreciated by the recipients.

    January 6, 2005: In Graniteville, South Carolina, a train derailment caused a chlorine spill that killed nine people. During the following weeks, the Aiken County GIS Division operated around the clock and produced more than 1,200 GIS plots for the 100-plus agencies that came to “help.”

    Labor Day weekend, 2005: Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Local GIS capabilities were eviscerated. The GIS Corps was mobilized and even in Atlanta, ARC’s GIS Division helped by producing more than 200 E-size plots of aerial imagery overlaid with GIS vector data and GPS reference grids. The plots were delivered to the National Guard, where they were used in rescue and recovery efforts.

    2006 Atlanta midtown apartment fire.
    2006 Atlanta midtown apartment fire.
    During the fire, police and firefighters worked together, thanks to GIS.
    During the fire, police and firefighters worked together, thanks to GIS.

    On a much smaller scale, Atlanta experienced a midtown apartment fire in 2006. Upon seeing the smoke and hearing the news, my GIS staff immediately printed hard-copy plots of the location and delivered the plots to the on-scene commander. The imagery and overlaid street data helped the commander coordinate the plans to cordon off the area. I’ve been told that the picture at right is historic, because it shows police and firefighters actually working together. Such is the power of GIS.

    Other than being burned to the ground during the civil war, Atlanta has avoided major disasters — so far. With a regional population of 4 million, one of the largest airports in the world, thousands of truck and rail miles traveled every day, and a major rail yard located next to downtown, Atlanta is fertile ground for potential damaging events. As ARC’s GIS manager, it became clear that it would be a dereliction of duty if we didn’t prepare to support first responders in the event of a major regional emergency. After all, we had the hardware, software, orthorectified and oblique imagery, data, and most importantly, a well-trained GIS staff.

    We inventoried our resources and realized that we only needed a few items to build a portable operation that could be trucked to any location in the region to provide GIS support. Our final system consisted of two laptops running ArcGIS, 2 terabytes of portable hard drive storage, two desktop printers, an HP plotter, LCD projector and screen, and an E-size laminator. The laminator permitted us to provide maps and imagery for use in wet field locations. We already had most of the hardware, so our additional purchases were limited to two folding tables and chairs from an office supply store, and a $600 pop-up tent in case we had to set up outdoors. We considered getting a generator, but since we planned to set up shop in schools, churches, public buildings or, most likely, next to a mobile command vehicle, power was not a concern.

    We quickly learned some surprising lessons. Although E-size plotters don’t look very large in the office, most of them won’t fit inside a minivan or SUV. Since those vehicles were the most readily available transportation for us, we had the legs of our plotter shortened by 10 inches so that it would fit. Unfortunately, the HP 1055 plotter’s legs have special fittings on each end, so the 10 inches has to be taken out of the middle instead of off the end. I found an auto body shop that “chopped” the legs, welded them, and finished them to look like new for $150. We renamed the plotter “Stumpy.”

    Another key lesson was supplies. During our Katrina support we ran out of ink and plotter paper, and had a hard time getting additional supplies during the Labor Day weekend. We subsequently instituted a policy to never fall below a baseline of supplies. For us, that minimum was 10 rolls of plotter paper, two sets of inkjet cartridges, and 10 boxes of E-size foam-core lamination pouches. Rotating our stock ensured fresh supplies at all times. We also obtained emergency contact numbers for several suppliers if the need arose.

    Setting up the ARC Portable GIS for UASI Exercise.
    Setting up the ARC Portable GIS for UASI Exercise.
    Inside the ARC Portable GIS tent.
    Inside the ARC Portable GIS tent.

    Some GIS operations may make the decision not to go portable. Each locality is a unique situation, and going portable may not be feasible. Those who do decide to build a portable system must test and exercise the system. It’s easy to assume that you can go portable, but until you work out all the kinks, “Murphy” will be your partner. We took advantage of several training opportunities to set up and demonstrate our system, including an Urban Area Security Initiative command and control exercise observed by DHS. Not only does this type of exercise test the system, but it exposes first responders to its capabilities and what they can expect from the GIS team.

    ARC Portable GIS set up next to Atlanta Police Mobile Command Vehicle.
    ARC Portable GIS set up next to Atlanta Police Mobile Command Vehicle.

    There is a potential to step on the toes of local GIS divisions, so we made it clear to all that we’re not in the business of competing with other GIS operations, but we will go where needed if the local capabilities are overwhelmed. To prevent confusion, we coordinate the requisition of our system through the Georgia Emergency Management Agency Georgia Mutual Aid Group.

    I don’t want to overplay the importance of GIS support during a crisis. After all, computer maps and data are just one cog in the emergency response wheel. But GIS can provide the information and tools to give our first responders that little edge that makes a difference. To me, that added support is worth my time. As GIS professionals I feel that we owe this support to our community, taxpayers, and most important to the first responders at the tip of the spear.

  • Another GPS Chip Merger: NXP to Acquire GloNav

    European chip maker NXP Semiconductors plans to acquire U.S.-based fabless GPS chip maker GloNav Inc., the companies announced today.

    NXP will purchase the company for $85 million in cash plus up to $25 million more, contingent upon GloNav reaching certain revenue and product development milestones over the next two years. The transaction will give NXP immediate access to GloNav’s GPS products and technology, including its single-chip and 90nm design capability, the company said. It expects the deal to close in Q1 2008.

    “This is the second major acquisition that we have made this year to strengthen our Mobile and Personal Business Unit that quickly adds complementary technologies to our existing portfolio and meets our customers’ demands for innovative products,” said Frans van Houten, NXP CEO. “We are a leader in cellular system solutions. Combining GloNav’s GPS expertise with NXP’s FM Radio, Bluetooth, USB and NFC leadership, enables us to offer a broader connectivity suite to the mobile phone market.

    “We already turned the cell phone into a multimedia wallet,” he continued. “It’s only natural that we also want to use our mobile phones to navigate and to find local goods and services. GPS integration allows us to create these and many more interesting and dynamic features, continuously enriching the cell phone in our pocket.”

    GloNav has approximately 50 employees and contractors at locations in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland and Taiwan. It will join NXP’s Mobile and Personal Business Unit.

    With the merger pending, GloNav investor Ceva Inc. said that it will divest its ownership stake in the company. European private equity firm Atlantic Bridge Venture created GloNav in 2006 through the divestment of Ceva’s GPS technology and product lines and a merger with California-based RFDomus Inc. Ceva’s ownership in GloNav is 19.9 percent on a fully diluted basis.

    The value of Ceva’s shareholding in GloNav, based on its ownership percentage and the acquisition purchase price, is approximately $17 million, more than four times the recorded value of approximately $4 million for the GloNav investment as accounted in in Ceva’s financial statements. “Today’s announcement that NXP Semiconductors is to acquire GloNav is great news for Ceva and in line with the company’s strategy to focus on its strength as a leading silicon intellectual property SIP provider for DSP cores, multimedia, Bluetooth and SATA products.” said Gideon Wertheizer, Ceva CEO.

    NXP’s acquisition of GloNav caps a busy year of high-profile acquisitions in the GPS sector of the semiconductor industry. A week ago wireless chip and chipset provider Atheros Communications Inc. announced plans to acquire GPS tech supplier u-Nav Microelectronics in a $54 million deal. Prior to that, SiRF Technology acquired Centrality Communications while Broadcom acquired Global Locate.

  • Schlumberger Acquires Exclusive Distribution Rights to MetaCarta for Oil & Gas Sector

    Schlumberger has announced the acquisition of exclusive distribution rights to the oil and gas sector for MetaCarta‘s map-based geographic information search technologies. Schlumberger will acquire all existing contracts for MetaCarta in the oil and gas sector, resulting in a single source for sales and support of this technology in the industry.

    “MetaCarta is the perfect compliment to expand the Schlumberger industry leadership in information management. With the increasing amount of information held in unstructured form, such as documents, presentations and web content, MetaCarta’s geographically specific access to unstructured content brings new power to petrotechnical professionals,” said Olivier Le Peuch, president, Schlumberger Information Solutions (SIS). “In combination with our geoscience and engineering information management solutions, now petrotechnical professionals will be able to rapidly incorporate all available information that is relevant to their prospect or field.”

    MetaCarta search technology combines map-driven geographic search, geographic referencing, temporal filtering and data visualization capabilities, for both structured and unstructured content, making that content “location-aware.” This enables geoscientists and engineers to find and display relevant data in the context of their area of interest.

    “The Schlumberger global sales and support organization will accelerate the expansion of MetaCarta solutions in the oil and gas industry,” said Ron Matros, president and chief executive officer, MetaCarta. “We look forward to bringing geographically relevant data search capabilities to a broader set of customers across the globe.”

  • Navteq Shareholders Approve Nokia Merger Plan

    Navteq Corp. said Wednesday that its stockholders have approved the company’s pending merger deal with Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia.

    Shareholders representing more than 75 percent of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock eligible to vote and nearly 100 percent of the total votes cast at the special meeting Wednesday, voted in favor of the merger agreement. That move follows the company’s announcement late last week that it had received early termination of the mandatory waiting period under the U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.

    Nokia plans to acquire Navteq for about $8.1 billion (€5.7 billion).

    Upon satisfaction of the remaining closing conditions, under the terms of the merger deal each outstanding share of the common stock of Navteq will be converted into the right to receive $78 in cash, without interest, and Navteq will survive the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nokia Inc., according to the company. All unvested options to purchase common stock will accelerate and vest in full immediately prior to the consummation of the merger. Option holders will receive a cash payment for each option held equal to the excess of $78 over the applicable option exercise price, less taxes.

  • ITT Wins Contract for GPS Command and Control Systems

    ITT Corporation has been awarded a contract for the next-generation GPS Command and Control Systems designated OCX by the U.S. Air Force. ITT is part of a team, led by Raytheon Company, that will develop a system design and prototype of the OCX system. A system design review and prototype demonstration is scheduled for early 2009.

    “This is a significant achievement for ITT,” said Chris Young, president of ITT Space Systems Division. “OCX represents our first, strong push into the GPS control segment.”

    OCX is intended to improve command and control of the GPS constellation, improve mission capabilities, and provide a more user-oriented environment. Once implemented, Air Force Space Command can improve operational services for civil and military customers worldwide. The first phase of the contract will focus on defining the long-range architecture, technical requirements, concepts of operations, and fielding capabilities incrementally. Issues related to the introduction of future GPS III satellite blocks into the constellation also will be part of the OCX’s first contract phase.

    “The cornerstone of our solution is a versatile, service oriented architecture,” said Young. “Our design will enable the government to implement low-cost, targeted software upgrades that won’t ripple undesirably throughout the system.”

  • Hexagon Closes on NovAtel Merger Deal

    NovAtel Inc. announced today that Hexagon Canada Acquisition Inc. has successfully taken up all of the shares tendered and not validly withdrawn pursuant to its tender offer for all the outstanding common shares of NovAtel, at an offer price of U.S. $50 in cash per share.

    The tender offer and withdrawal rights expired at 5:00 p.m., New York time, on November 27 2007. According to the depositary for the offer, a total of 8,647,240 common shares of NovAtel were tendered and not validly withdrawn prior to the expiration of the offer (including 306,716 shares delivered pursuant to the guaranteed delivery procedures). Shareholders who validly tendered prior to the expiration of the offer and whose shares were not validly withdrawn will promptly receive the offer price of US $50 in cash per share.

    As a result of the purchase of the common shares of NovAtel in the tender offer, Hexagon, through Hexagon Canada Acquisitions Inc., now owns approximately 93.3% of the outstanding common shares of NovAtel, including shares owned by Hexagon or any of its affiliates prior to the offer.

    Hexagon intends to acquire the remaining outstanding common shares of NovAtel not previously tendered by means of a compulsory acquisition in accordance with Canadian law, on the same terms as the common shares acquired under the tender offer. After the consummation of the compulsory acquisition, Hexagon intends to cause NovAtel’s common shares to cease to be traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

    Following the completion of the compulsory acquisition, NovAtel will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Hexagon but will conduct its business relations with other subsidiaries of Hexagon on an arms length basis.

    “Hexagon is excited for NovAtel to be joining the Hexagon group. We expect great things from NovAtel as it continues to operate independently and grow as a pure play supplier in the market for high precision Global Navigation Satellite System technology solutions to OEMs,” said Ola Rollen, CEO and president of Hexagon AB.

  • TomTom-Tele Atlas Merger Falls Under Scrutiny

    The European Commission (EC) is taking a closer look at TomTom’s planned acquisition of TeleAtlas; it looks as if it might have a tough European road to hoe.  The EC only initiates a second review in about 3 percent of the mergers it reviews, so it’s a bit of an extraordinary step. The probe will examine whether the deal would push up the price of digital maps for rival portable navigation device makers or limit their access to these maps, the EC said. It set an April 17 deadline for the probe to end.

    TomTom and Tele Atlas said in a joint statement they expect to have a clearer idea about whether the deal can go through by early next year. TomTom extended its offer for Tele Atlas shares until March 31, assuming it would know the outcome of the probe by then.

  • Navteq Schedules Stockholder Vote on Nokia Merger

    Navteq Corp. said Monday that it has scheduled a special meeting of stockholders next month to consider approval of the previously announced merger agreement between the company and Nokia.

    Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia and digital map supplier Navteq first announced on October 1 that they had reached a definitive merger agreement to the tune of $8.1 billion (€5.7 billion). In the meantime, PND rivals Garmin and TomTom became involved in a bidding war over Tele Atlas, a Navteq competitor.

    Navteq stockholders of record at the close of business on November 13, 2007, are entitled to notice of the special meeting and to vote on the adoption of the merger agreement, according to the company. The special meeting will be held on December 12 in Chicago. Proxy statements and the accompanying proxy card were mailed to Navteq stockholders earlier this month, the company said.

    Completion of the merger is subject to the adoption of the merger agreement by Navteq stockholders at the special meeting and the satisfaction of the other closing conditions set forth in the merger agreement. Navteq currently expects to complete the proposed merger in Q1 of next year.

  • Geospatial Systems, Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging Announce TAMS System

    Geospatial Systems, Inc. (GSI) has announced the development of a new Tactical Airborne Mapping and Surveillance (TAMS) system designed to produce National Imagery Transmission Format (NITF)-compliant imagery supporting forward area mapping requirements. TAMS is platform-agnostic, with a multisensor payload capable of in-theater fixed wing, helicopter, and unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned aerial systems (UAV/UAS) deployment.

    GSI and Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging (LGGI) unveiled the TAMS-UAV system at the GEOINT Conference, which was held October 21-24, 2007, in San Antonio, Texas.

    GSI and LGGI recently began testing the tactical mapping system, responding to interest in end-to-end sensor software capabilities within the DoD, and specifically by military services responsible for in-theater data collection. The team completed its initial testing of the TAMS system during NGA’s Empire Challenge 2007. During the July 2007 exercises, the team produced NITF-compliant image products from more than a terabyte of raw data.

    The TAMS system is built upon GSI’s metric mapping-grade camera line. The plug-and-play camera modules include 2-megapixel high definition, 11MP, 39MP and Thermal IR metric cameras. The cameras are connected to a small, lightweight controller that stores, processes, compresses, and disseminates the map information to a ground station in NITF format.

    “Geospatial Systems is pleased to collaborate with Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging on this considerable undertaking. We are excited to use our technology and breadth of products to satisfy the needs of the defense intelligence community,” said Maxime Elbaz, CEO, Geospatial Systems, Inc.

    Christopher Tucker, senior vice president, National Programs, Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging, said, “Developing this partnership with Geospatial Systems further enables us to address our customer’s priority mission challenges, with a modular, and rapidly deployable suite of sensors and software.”

  • Survey Perspectives – October 2007

    ION GNSS 2007 Report

    I hope some of you had a chance to read my ION GNSS conference blog, as well as those of my fellow editors who attended the conference. I think Editor-in-Chief Alan Cameron’s brainstorm about this was very good, and I expect we will repeat next year. If you missed it, you can still view it on the GPS World Web site. It’s worth a few minutes of reading to get the flavor of what the hot issues were.

    For this newsletter, I’m going to hit the highlights and comment on them, so fasten your seatbelt.

    CGSIC  Meeting

    Every year, the CGSIC (Civil GPS Service Interface Committee) holds two days of meetings before the ION GNSS conference; this year was no different. There were status briefings on the different programs, such as GPS and GPS modernization, GLONASS, Galileo, Compass, QZSS, WAAS/EGNOS, NDGPS and other activities. The CGSIC provides PDFs of the presentation on its site.

    Satellite launch schedule. The GPS Wing plans to launch the rest of the IIR-Ms in FY08. One was launched last week, on October 17. Its designation will be PRN 15/SVN 55 when it’s declared operational in early November.

    The next launch is scheduled for December. Then March 2008. Then June 2008. The launch schedule for the last one hasn’t been announced yet.

    However, the GPS Wing said that they plan to launch the first Block IIF satellite (with L5 in addition to L2C) before they launch the last IIR-M. This will be interesting, because rumor has it that the Block IIF is waaaay behind schedule and has almost no chance of being ready in 2008.

    Another interesting twist is that Lockheed was awarded a contract last Spring to enable a IIR-M satellite to broadcast an L5 test signal. Something about protecting the L5 frequency with the ITU (United Nations International Telecommunication Union) until the first IIF is ready.

    GLONASS. For you GLONASS users (or potential ones), the future is brightening somewhat. I’ve been touting GLONASS for some time, and the reliability of operational satellites has been disappointing. One could say that this is due to the legacy satellites, which are averaging well under four years of operational life, but that isn’t the whole story. While the newer GLONASS-M satellites supposedly have a seven-year life guarantee, the track record for the GLONASS-M really isn’t that great. For example, of the three GLONASS-M satellites that were launched in December 2006, only one is operational today.

    There are seventeen GLONASS satellites in orbit. Only eleven are operational. Seven are the newer GLONASS-M models and four are the legacy models.

    The bright spot is that six more GLONASS-M satellites are scheduled to launch by the end of this year—three this month and three more in December. The number of usable GLONASS satellites really needs to improve. GLONASS can’t seem to get above 13 operational satellites, and many times it’s been down to 9. Don’t count on the six new satellites to be operational in the near future. Sometimes, it takes more than six months after launch for them to be declared operational. I wish it wasn’t the case, but that’s a fact. Sometimes, I beat up on the GPS Wing for their slow pace, but after they launch one, it’s operational within thirty days—and it’s reliable.

    The GLONASS folks also announced that they are migrating the datum used by GLONASS, named PZ-90, to the ITRF (International Terrestrial Reference Frame). The revised GLONASS datum is named PZ-90.02. It was implemented on September 20, 2007.

    It doesn’t match ITRF05 exactly, but I understand their intent is to do so eventually. They publish the PZ-90.02 difference from ITRF05 as:

    Delta X: -36cm
    Delta Y: +8cm
    Delta Z: +18cm
    There is no rotation.

    Lastly, the long-awaited news about GLONASS possibly migrating to CDMA (to be compatible with GPS and Galileo specs) was discussed. The decision seems final (except the final government stamp) that GLONASS will eventually offer a CDMA signal interoperable with GPS L1 (called L1CR) and GPS L5 (called L5R). Not much else to mention on this now because it’s years—even a decade—away from now, but good news for users nonetheless.

    Galileo. There’s a lot to write about this, but also nothing to write. As users, we would benefit tremendously from Galileo. But it’s time to quit talking and start doing. That’s not to say they haven’t been doing; hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent developing Galileo, but the same discussions about the benefits are becoming stale.

    The biggest, and possibly best, news is that the European Union is not considering the PPP (Private-Public Partnership) funding model any longer. Looks like it will be a publicly financed system, at least into initial operation.

    To borrow a slogan from Nike: Just Do It.

    NDGPS. I blogged quite a bit about this during the conference.

    Not much post-ION conference information on NDGPS. I see that the invitation for public comment on NDGPS is now closed. Last I checked, there were only about 42 public comments. I read through most of them; about 25 percent were not relevant. There were some very good comments in support of NDGPS.

    NDGPS is probably going to survive in one form or another. I think it’s likely that some stations will stay and some will go away. If that’s the case and the USCG picks up the 12 they say they will, then the reduction in coverage will be minimal. The other possibility is that once the purse-string folks understand the cost of shutting down a site, that may be a big enough deterrent that the DOT finds the budget dollars somewhere to keep them going.

    Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS)

    WAAS. Finally, long-term WAAS geo configuration is settled. The two legacy WAAS geos stopped broadcasting a couple of months ago. Right after the ION conference, the WAAS ground software was upgraded to incorporate the new reference stations in Canada and Mexico. WAAS users in Southern California, Southern Texas, Maine and Minnesota should see improved performance. The FAA GNSS program manager, Leo Eldridge, also stated that they are considering adding a third WAAS geo at 125W longitude, but that would be 3-4 years down the road.

    EGNOS. The European Space Agency says EGNOS is in Initial Operations Phase (IOP) and expects it to enter Long-term Operations Phase (Safety-of-life, Commercial Services) in a couple of years. EGNOS is usable now and there are three broadcasting GEO satellites. See my July 2007 column for details.

    The ESA reports that EGNOS coverage will expand northward, and eventually into Africa.

    MSAS. MSAS was declared operational on September 27, 2007. There are two GEO satellites identified as PRN 129 and PRN 137; if your receiver doesn’t recognize them, check with the manufacturer for a firmware update. Ground users should be able to benefit from MSAS in a broad area including Australia. Here is a coverage map:

    Map of two GEO satellites - PRN 129 and PRN 137

    Industry Developments

    Javad GNSS. Ever the GNSS maverick, Dr. Javad Ashjaee came to an agreement with Topcon, and now both companies are free to compete in all markets as of January 2008. Ashjaee has plenty of experience competing in survey/construction, so I would expect to see his company introducing products to that market next year.

    Septentrio. It’s not often that you encounter a new designer of high-performance GNSS receivers. This little-known Belgian company might prove to be a factor in the GNSS market. They’ve positioned themselves as an OEM supplier, much like Novatel, so you probably won’t see their name on a product that you use, but they may make the guts of a product you use. They just opened a U.S. office in Los Angeles, California, that is run by the guy (Chris Litton) whose father (James Litton) founded NavCom Technology, a competitor of sorts. Weird.

    NavCom Technology . NavCom is a wholly owned subsidiary of John Deere Company that has been focused on providing precision agriculture solutions for their owner. Now, that may be changing. They’ve hired two salespeople to develop external sales to achieve “NavCom’s revenue and growth goals for GPS products and services in direct sales, government customers, system integrators, and OEMs,” according to their press release.

    Some of NavCom’s key engineers developed the first Leica survey receivers while at Magnavox, so they have the technical capability. But creating a better mousetrap in the survey/construction market isn’t necessarily the name of the game. They’ve got to have a solid dealer network, and that isn’t easy.

    Leica/Novatel. No big surprise here: Leica (Hexagon) bought Novatel for $390M ($50/share). Novatel has been Leica’s sole source of GNSS technology for several years. If you bought Novatel stock five years ago for a couple of bucks a share, you did well. Also, the Topcon/Sokkia acquisition is still waiting for Japanese government approval, and with Novatel being Sokkia’s source of supply for GNSS technology, Sokkia is in a really weird position.

  • Expert Advice: NDGPS Cut-Off Premature

    By Charles R. Trimble

    As we look forward in the modernization of GPS, and we’re looking at the spectrum of other systems that are coming online, GPS today has fundamentally the preeminent position in terms of positioning and navigation. If we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot in the transition from the GPS we have today to GPS III, which is 10 years out, GPS will probably remain the fundamental standard, because the only way non-military uses of these additional systems will get early use is by receiver manufacturers putting in dual-reception capability and using the new satellites as they go up, fundamentally as additional ranging signal augmentations. It’s the only way you get early use out of getting a few satellites in the sky.

    A lot of whether GPS will retain its standard position has to do with worldwide confidence in the system. We’ve done a pretty good job of maintaining a level playing field for everyone in the world with regard to GPS. There haven’t been the problems that were experienced with Loran systems which were occasionally turned off, creating consternation in Europe. But the possibility, currently under consideration, of actually dropping an important accuracy augmentation element of GPS — the Nationwide Differential GPS (NDGPS) — before alternatives are available would certainly undermine worldwide confidence in the U.S. commitment to continuing to provide service equal to or better than what is already there.

    The key issue here: You can have all the paper designs in the world you want, but fundamentally the question is once you have a given level of capability, how well is that maintained — and is it improved over time?

    With all the machinations that have gone on, the United States has done a pretty good job. It basically delivers a set of signals that are better than promised. The system, especially with its augmentations, is clearly better today than it was 10 years ago.

    Now, the U.S. from a policy standpoint does need to transition from where we are to GPS III. We simply need to do it in a wise manner. The problem that I see with zeroing out the budget for NDGPS is that we save very little money — about $10 million a year to maintain the system. For any accountancy firm, this would fall below the line of relevance in the budget. And the effect, in undermining international confidence in GPS and in direct costs to state and local governments, would far outweigh any such savings.

    Until we have something in GPS III that provides accuracies in the half-meter range, which is what’s required for civil Geographic Information Systems (GIS) work, it would be foolish to turn NDGPS off. We would be degrading a system without any real alternative.

    Furthermore, you’re probably going to cost state and local and federal governments, who use NDGPS extensively for local mapping, far more than $10 million by turning the system off.

    I believe the main commercial use of NDGPS, outside of the GIS realm, is precision agriculture. The arguments to put it in originally were to provide the people on the interior of our continent the same sort of services that the coastal regions are provided. The issue we have is we don’t have a strong vocal constituency, and frankly state and local governments can’t provide much of a hue and cry for degradation of service.

    And losing confidence, undermining international confidence in the U.S. to maintain a stable system, is not a party to the table, either.

    Granted, international users do not actually use NDGPS itself. But they have invested the money to put in comparable base stations in their countries. For the U.S. to discontinue NDGPS undermines and brings into question whether their investment was a good investment — and whether, as an international user, you can comfortable continue to rely on GPS.

    It’s a confidence issue. There is no economic damage to foreign users. But it’s a perception of undermining GPS credibility across the globe if we pull back support from a system that just a few years ago we deemed to be important and almost essential.

    Some precision ag and other potential NDGPS users have switched over to WAAS, the Wide Area Augmentation System. There’s no question that WAAS is a good system, but you’re not going to get below a couple of meters, and you’re certainly not going to be able to farm above buried water tape. There’s clearly a market and I believe it’s part of the mix. It turns out it’s really tough to get at the 20-centimeter accuracy level over large distances, and WAAS will not give you that.

    At some point in our transition — I don’t know whether it’s five years from now or 10 years from now — the world is going to be a different place in terms of satellite services and the level of satellite services. It may very well be at some point in the future, this space of 20–50 centimeter accuracy can be very well delivered by a private service (without interference in the RF spectrum), or let’s just say, can be delivered by satellite.

    At that time, when there are truly other alternatives, I’m not going to be beating my shoe on the desk to maintain a legacy system. The issue in this whole positioning and navigation field is that as people are starting to get economic value out of information, introducing hiccoughs into the user stream of productivity enhancement is not a good thing.

    We say that until there is a viable alternative for the 20–50 centimeter space, we ought to continue sending out the signals. Once there is a viable alternative, then you can certainly transition; look at the cost of transition, and you will probably transition.

    But it turns out this is a relatively cheap way of providing information in this space and, frankly, we’re a long ways away from using GPS in automated systems that are directly related to safety of life. To get that, you have to play the game that the FAA plays, and worry about seven nines of reliability [99.9999999 percent]. GPS in its augmentation is probably at the one to two nine level. But as the usage increases, by having multiple augmentation systems and using them, there is no reason that reliability can’t be increased.

    Fundamentally, the word to government is it’s premature to shut off the lights. It may be the right decision at some point in the future, but I think it would cause a lot more problems than the $10 million it would save if it’s done now.

    CHARLES R. TRIMBLE is chairman of the U.S. GPS Industry Council.