Any look into the crystal ball of
(even the near) future is fraught with
caveats, error, and less than perfect
clarity. However, certain extrapolations
and not-so-wild guesses do exist.
GNSS, General – Existing (and near
term proposed) systems will continue
to expand, receive modernization
support, and move (slowly) towards
increased interest in securitizing systems
and data utilized in the GNSS sourceto-
user “food chain”. Nationalism of
systems and (at least regionalism of)
augmentation sources will progress.
Left unknown is GALILEO and the impact
of a renewed GLONASS. It is likely that
increasing signal saturation on GNSSfrequencies will contribute to a heightened
interest in non-L band GNSS (and non-SV
or even non-RF) methods of navigation,
although advances will continue very
slowly due to technological challenges.
Tracking and “reverse tracking” –
The convergence of mapping and
communications will continue at
breakneck speed, further enabling
the location (and status) monitoring
of additional high to medium value
objects. While awaiting for other
technologies to enable true ultra-low
cost commoditization of GNSS and
comms elements (required for obsequious
tracking of the high quantity of lowervalue
items in the world), additional
value will be obtained by “reverse”
tracking, or exploiting more of the
information gleaned by knowing location
and presence of objects to provide newservices and
opportunities.
 Others: Due to
the constraints of
space, let me list
some additional
ideas (or at least
general memes)
to look for in 2008
and beyond - PPS
GPS for commercial
flight, decline of
terrestrial augmentation sources, increase
in terrestrial and space based imaging
and survey networks, convergence
in mapping sources, increase in pay
for precision services, increase in
communications/navigation convergence,
acceleration in commoditization of
GNSS components, and a slow advance
in antenna technology. Here’s to 2008.
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