PCTEL GPS antennas in GAGAN

PCTEL will deploy its WAAS ground station GPS antennas in India's GPS-Aided Geosynchronous Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system. These antennas are currently deployed for the North American WAAS system and Japan's MSAS. The land-based WAAS antennas enable highly precise navigation and tracking of aircraft and covers L1, L2, and L5 GPS frequencies.http://investor.pctel.com

GLONASS-M Satellites head to pad

The Russian Reshetnev Company has sent the fi rst of three GLONASS-Ms satellites to the Baikonur spacedrome and launch pad in Kazakhstan. A second set of three Glonass-M are to be launched in December, thus providing 6 more satellites to enlarge the constellation. Barring further on-orbit failures, this could yield 99.97 percent global availability of three-dimensional positioning - effectively full operational capability (FOC) status - earlier than the planned date, end of 2010. Another two group launches in 2010, of three GLONASS-M satellites in September and two M and one K in December, would achieve FOC of 24 spacecraft. http://en.rian.ru

GPS IIR-21(M) Satellite operational

The last in the series of eight modernized GPS IIR satellites, GPS IIR-21(M), was declared operational for military and civilian users worldwide. GPS IIR- 21(M) will join the constellation of 30 operational satellites on orbit providing global coverage and increased overall performance of GPS service. This IIR-M satellite provides improved accuracy, enhanced encryption, antijamming capabilities, and a second civil signal to provide dual frequency capability and improve resistance to interference. www.losangeles.af.mil

PRN01/SVN49: GPS Satellite anomaly

From monitoring at the University of New Brunswick and elsewhere around the globe, it appears that normal signals from the L1 and L2 transmitters on the GPS satellite PRN01/SVN49 were unavailable for more than two hours on the morning of September 4 from about 12:00 to 14:11 UTC. The L5 test signal continued to be tracked by some receivers but not others. http://sci.tech-archive.net

PerkinElmer contract for Next Generation GPS

PerkinElmer, Inc. has been awarded a contract for $15 million from ITT Corporation Space Systems Division to support the GPS Block IIIA Space System program. It will design and implement several engineering advances into its heritage GPS Block IIR and Block IIF RAFS, as well as qualify and deliver fl ight units for the fi rst two satellite vehicles by March 2012. Lockheed Martin, operating under an initial $1.4B contract, is the program's Space System prime contractor for this next-generation system, and ITT is the provider for the cutting-edge technology navigation payload designed to provide improved position, navigation and timing services. www.perkinelmer.com

Partnership to fi nd missing children

MapQuest and the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) launched a new widget on MapQuest Local that includes valuable missing child alerts and information from NCMEC. It features pictures and information about children who are missing from the geographic area for which the MapQuest Local page is set. Also included is the ability to search for missing children by name and link directly to NCMEC's homepage. www.mapquest.com

Web maps from Ericsson Labs

Ericsson Labs have launched Ericsson Web Maps with APIs, web components and documentation to enable developers to bring dynamic maps into web sites or web applications. It uses Idevio's patented map technology RaveGeo to distribute and visualise the map. www.ericsson.com