Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design
The University of Nottingham and the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) have signed a formal agreement that will create a £9 million (US$18.3 million) state-of-the-art GNSS facility built in Nottingham, United Kingdom.
By Glen Gibbons
The stunning sequence of multi-billion-dollar buyout offers for the two leading navigable map data providers TeleAtlas and NAVTEQ — by TomTom and Nokia, respectively — raises issues not only of access to critical intellectual property (IP) and a long-delayed explosion of location-based services (LBS) but may also determine the outcome of the long-debated platform of choice for GNSS-enriched consumer applications.
By Glen Gibbons
Boeing technicians and first Block IIF satelliteThe Boeing Company has successfully assembled and integrated all flight hardware onto the first GPS Block IIF (follow-on generation) satellite. Launch is now scheduled for the second half of 2008.
GPS llF spacecraft will bring new capabilities to the GPS constellation, such as a new encrypted military code, a new civil signal, crosslink enhancements, increased signal power, and longer design life. Boeing is building 12 GPS Block IIF satellites under contract from the GPS Wing at the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base.
By Glen Gibbons
Trimble has introduced a new, real-time kinematic (RTK) compact GNSS card — the Trimble BD960 — for high-precision guidance and control applications, such as unmanned vehicles and port and terminal equipment automation.
By Glen Gibbons
Thales Alenia Space Italia (TAS-I) has awarded NovAtel Inc. a €440,000 milestone award for continued development of the Galileo ground reception Chain (GRC) reference receiver. Although the incremental size of the award is modest, the agreement provides for confirmed, longer-term funding of a two-year-old contract valued at €6.3M (US$8.6 million).
By Glen Gibbons
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has named ITT Corporation as the prime contractor for Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), the keystone technology of the Next Generation Air Transportation System.
An initial three-year contract for White Plains, New York–based ITT is valued at $207 million for overall system integration and engineering. With options to operate and maintain the system after deployment through September 2025, the contract has a potential value of $1.86 billion.
By Inside GNSS
The United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) has awarded Overlook Systems Technologies, Inc., a two-year GSA Order (base year plus option) for technical support to the Joint Navigation Warfare Center (JNWC) at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. If fully exercised, the contract has a $100 million value.
The award coincides with the transition of the JNWC from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration to USSTRATCOM on 1 October 2007. Overlook selected Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) as a teammate to provide support in response to USSTRATCOM’s June 2007 solicitation for the JNWC contract.
By Inside GNSS
Rakon Ltd., designer and producer of high-precision quartz crystals, oscillators, and frequency control products will build a manufacturing plan in southern China by the end of the year.
New Zealand–based Rakon will work with an unnamed Chinese partner that the company says is already part of its supply chain. In July, the company opened a new Shanghai office, which joined existing offices in Shenzhen, China, and Taipei, Taiwan.
By Inside GNSS
San Jose, California–based Symmetricom, Inc., has launched the SyncServer S300/S350, the latest in its line of network time servers using the latest Network Time Protocol (NTP) to synchronize time on servers, workstations, and a variety of network elements for expanding IT enterprises.
The company also announced that its XLi SAASM Time and Frequency Receiver with a new Ground-Based GPS Receiver Application Module (GB-GRAM) SAASM receiver has been granted security approval by the Global Positioning Systems Wing (GPSW). The GB-GRAM GPS Receiver is integrated into Symmetricom’s XLi SAASM (Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module).
By Inside GNSS
Septentrio, a European developer of GNSS receivers for industrial applications, has opened a business development office in southern California, and announced the appointment of J. Christopher Litton as business development Manager to start up and run the North-American operations for the company.
By Inside GNSS
Trimble’s board of directors has elected new leadership following the death of chairman Robert S. Cooper. Trimble’s new chairman, Ulf J. Johansson, has served as a director on Trimble’s board since 1999. Johansson was a founder and served as chairman of Europolitan Vodafone AB, a GSM mobile telephone operator in Sweden, from 1990 until March 2005.
By Inside GNSS
San Jose, California–based SiRF Technology expects to close this fiscal quarter on its purchase of Centrality Communications, Inc., a provider of navigation processor solutions for mobile navigation devices.
In exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of Centrality, including equity awards, SiRF has agreed to pay $283 million in a combination of cash and shares of SiRF common stock, with the exact amount to be determined at the time of closing. The boards of directors of both companies have approved the merger.
By Inside GNSS
Broadcom Corporation, an Irvine, California–based $3.67-billion fabless semiconductor company focusing on wired and wireless communications, has closed its $143 million cash deal for Global Locate, Inc.
Headquartered in San Jose, California, Global Locate is an eight-year-old, privately-held, fabless provider of GPS and assisted GPS (A-GPS) semiconductor products and software.
By Inside GNSS
