More launches planned for March and May Four new satellites of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) have passed tests in orbit and joined the system to provide positioning, navigation and timing services, according to China news service Xinhuanet. The four satellites include the 47th, 48th, 52nd and 53rd satellites of the BDS family, according to China’s Satellite Navigation System Management Office. All of them, operating in medium Earth orbit, were developed by the China […]

February 28, 2020 What started out as a fairly routine backcountry freeride on snowbikes — dirt bikes with ski and track conversions designed for deep snow — turned into an unexpected situation that left Craig Hunter and three other party members stranded in a deep ravine in freezing temperatures. In his own words, Hunter shared with Garmin the details of their 40-hour ordeal, SOS, night in the woods and rescue in the Canadian Chic Chocs. […]

Photo: Carlson Carlson Machine Control has introduced the Vsx7 multi-frequency position and heading receiver. The Vsx7 is a multi-GNSS receiver designed specifically for machine control and can be installed on excavators, drills, pile drivers and more. Paired with the Carlson A45 antennas, the Vsx7 features high-precision positioning in Athena RTK, Atlas L-band and SBAS and heading accuracy of up to .01 degrees. The whole Vsx7 system is designed to operate in harsh conditions from -40 […]

L3Harris Technologies has reached a major milestone in the U.S. Air Force’s Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3) project — passing the preliminary design review that defines the spacecraft’s path to delivery and allows the program to move to the next phase of development. NTS-3 is an experimental program examining ways to improve the resiliency of the military’s positioning, navigation and timing capabilities. It will also develop key technologies relevant to the Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation, […]

Turkey has opened GNSS base station in Antarctica, according to Sputnik News. The station can track changes in the location of icebergs and transmit photos of Antarctica’s surface, as well as process data from GPS, GLONASS and Galileo. “A GNSS satellite navigation base station was set up within the framework of the fourth Turkish scientific expedition to Antarctica,” said Turkish Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank, as quoted by the national Anadolu news agency. “A […]

Dana Goward, President, Resilient PNT Foundation On Feb. 12, the White House released an “Executive Order on Strengthening National Resilience through Responsible Use of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Services.” It is gratifying to see White House attention to this issue. The increase in public awareness it brings will benefit individual users and the nation as a whole. The order also hints at market driven solutions that could quickly improve America’s PNT resilience. Needless delays Unfortunately, […]

February 20, 2020 By Riikka Lamminen, Content Manager, Firstbeat The more you use your phone, the faster it runs out of battery. Our bodies work the same way. The more stressful and active your life is, the faster your reserves are depleted. Our new Body Battery™, powered by Firstbeat analytics, helps you keep tabs on how much you have left in your tank. It offers an easy way to connect the dots between stress, recovery, sleep and physical activity. The higher […]

Earlier this month, Apple applied to the Federal Communications Commission for to a license to install GPS testing equipment on its headquarters campus. This may be related to an application filed by Apple Inc. with the U.S. Patent Office in August 2019, which describes the company’s “Machine Learning Assisted Satellite Based Positioning.” From the patent application: MACHINE LEARNING ASSISTED SATELLITE BASED POSITIONING A device implementing a system for estimating device location includes at least one […]

February 18, 2020 Advanced new features and professional IFR navigation tools are now available within our Garmin Pilot app, many of which incorporate a familiar look and feel to our most popular flight decks and avionics. Pilots can experience a near-seamless transition between Garmin avionics and Garmin Pilot when performing common functions, such as loading and activating instrument approach procedures, departures and arrivals within the Americas. Additional features such as a visual procedure selector, custom […]

The nation’s third next-generation GPS III satellite – and the first delivered by Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) to the new U.S. Space Force – has arrived in Florida for an expected April launch. On Feb. 5, the third Lockheed Martin-built GPS III space vehicle (GPS III SV03) was shipped to Cape Canaveral from the company’s GPS III Processing Facility near Denver aboard a massive Air Force C-17 aircraft traveling from Buckley Air Force […]