Eric D. Colburn, PLS

Professional Land Surveyor News

Professional Land Surveyor News: USAF Begins Test  Satellite GPS IIF Transmission of L5 Signal

LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE, El Segundo, Calif. – Officials from the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Global Positioning Systems Wing announced that the first GPS IIF satellite, launched May 27, 2010, has begun test transmissions of the new Safety-of-Life (L5) navigation signal.

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Professional Land Surveyor News

Professional Land Surveyor News: Air Force Upgrades GPS Constellation

SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. — The 2nd and 19th Space Operations Squadron will soon take control of the Air Force’s newest GPS satellite following its tentative launch into orbit May 27 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

The GPS IIF SV-1 satellite represents a substantial upgrade for the GPS constellation. Thanks to improvements with the cesium-based atomic clocks used for timing, the IIF is expected to provide more accurate navigation signals than those of its predecessors.

The new IIF satellite will also broadcast two new signals: a jam resistant military code signal and a third civil signal known as the L5.

This latest addition is part of an ongoing modernization effort for the GPS constellation by the Air Force.

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Professional Land Surveyor News

Garmin Licenses Intermap’s High Quality 3D Terrain Models

Monday, March 15, 2010

Intermap Technologies, a worldwide 3D digital mapping and geospatial solutions company, today announced it has signed an agreement with Garmin Ltd., a global leader in satellite navigation. Under the terms of the three-year agreement, Intermap will furnish accurate 3D elevation data for the United States and Western Europe derived from its NEXTMap countrywide digital map database. Initial Garmin products utilizing NEXTMap data are expected to reach the consumer market beginning in the first half of 2010.

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Professional Land Surveyor News

The U.S. Air Force chose Raytheon to develop a new element of the Global Positioning System (GPS), called the Advanced Control Segment (OCX), which will improve the accuracy of information from GPS satellites.

February 25, 2010

The U.S. Air Force selected Raytheon for a contract of $886 million to develop a new element of the Global Positioning System (GPS), called the Advanced Control Segment (OCX), to improve the accuracy of information from GPS satellites.

The new segment will include anti-jam capabilities and improved security, accuracy, and reliability. It will be based on a modern service-oriented architecture to integrate government and industry open-system standards.

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Professional Land Surveyor News

Yesterday, January 18, 2009, Reuters India reported from Beijing, China that over the past weekend China launched the third BeiDou (Big Dipper) or Compass satellite in an effort to build its own global satellite positioning (GPS) system. This latest satellite is part of  a proposed constellation of 35 Chinese GPS satellites to be in orbit by the year 2020.

China is competing in space with the United States and Russia, and in addition to these BeiDou or COMPASS satellites also has plans to land on the Moon in 2012. While this instills a great deal of national pride within China, and is increasing the prominence of China in the space arena, this initiative and the overall China space program has alarmed some western counterparts. Within the region, rival India, in response to China’s space ambitions, is now working to increase India’s space program.

As reported, the China BeiDou or COMPASS GPS network will provide the following services:

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China Compass (Beidou) Constellation Planned by End of 2010. Source: InsideGNSS.com

Here’s an article I found China Daily about the Chinese Compass, or Beidou (Big Dipper) Global Navigation Satellite System which is expected to challenge our U.S. developed GPS, the EU’s GPS and Russia’s GPS.

This Compass GPS is planning on providing regional service to China with 12 satellites in 2011. By the year 2020 China plans to employ a total of 35 satellites in this Compass navigation satellite system.

Also reported is that all four Global Navigation Satellite Systems are negotiating compatibility amongst their civilian-use technologies.

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Check out the following information from the Office of Space Commercialization, on it’s Satellite Navigation page. There are a lot of good links and information about satellite GPS navigation.

The use of satellites for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) has grown dramatically since the U.S. Government authorized civilian access to the Global Positioning System (GPS) in 1983. Thanks to the long-standing U.S. policy of making GPS freely available to the entire world, as well as a track record of highly dependable service, GPS has evolved from a neat gadget into a ubiquitous technology that is now fundamental to the global information infrastructure.

 GPS is a constellation of over 24 U.S. government satellites providing PNT services to an unlimited number of civilian and military users on a continuous, worldwide basis — free of direct user charges. Using the time and position data transmitted by the satellites, a GPS receiver can calculate its location on or above the surface of the Earth within a few meters. When used with an augmentation system, a receiver can attain much higher GPS accuracy — within centimeters, or even millimeters.

Today, GPS technology is in everything from cars and airplanes to Read the rest of this entry →