GPS and all that.........

[buglerbilly]

ITT Selected to Build Critical Elements for GPS Advanced Control Segment (OCX)

Rochester, N.Y | ITT Corporation (NYSE: ITT) announced that it has been selected by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center as part of the Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) team to provide components and services for the next generation of Global Positioning System (GPS). Under the contract agreement, ITT will provide navigation processing components, precision monitor station receivers, and key components of the system security design for the GPS Advanced Control Segment (OCX).

The segment will improve accuracy, availability and continuity of the GPS, and brings increased situational awareness to U.S. military users and consumers worldwide.

"Our industry-leading visualization capabilities and more than 35 years of successful GPS payload experience were critical to the U.S. Air Force's decision," said Mark Pisani, vice president and general manager, Navigation Systems, ITT Geospatial Systems. "With ITT's technology and resources, our nation's military and consumer GPS users globally will experience improved accuracy, security, reliability and timing precision."

This new contract represents Phase B of the program and will encompass system design, development, integration, and transition to operations. The contract represents the continuation of ITT's products and services delivery to the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, which selected ITT as part of the initial phase of the contract awarded in 2007.

ITT Corporation has a strong legacy of designing, developing, integrating and manufacturing GPS payloads for the highly successful U.S. Air Force Global Positioning System since 1974. ITT payloads have been on every GPS satellite ever launched and have accumulated nearly 500 years of on-orbit life without a single mission-related failure.

"ITT brings extensive GPS experience and knowledge to our team," said Bob Canty, GPS vice president and program manager for Raytheon. "We look forward to working with ITT and providing the Air Force a robust ground system that will provide new capabilities and ensure our warfighters have the most accurate system."

Raytheon Wins $886 Million Contract To Develop Next-Generation GPS Control Segment

Program to improve security, accuracy and reliability of GPS satellites

AURORA, Colo. | The U.S. Air Force has selected Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) for an initial contract of $886 million to develop a new element of the Global Positioning System to improve the accuracy of information from GPS satellites.

The contract represents the first two development blocks of the advanced control segment (OCX), which will have a significant impact on GPS capabilities. The OCX will include anti-jam capabilities and improved security, accuracy and reliability and will be based on a modern service-oriented architecture to integrate government and industry open-system standards.

“We are excited to partner with the Air Force to provide the best-value GPS control system for the future,” said Lynn Dugle, president of Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems business. “Raytheon’s broad experience in delivering satellite-to-ground command-and-control systems will ensure that our nation’s military and civil GPS users worldwide are provided new capabilities.”

The OCX will dramatically affect GPS command, control and mission capabilities and make it easier for the operations team to run the current GPS block II and all future GPS satellites.

“Raytheon is proud to deliver innovative technologies to help the Air Force meet its mission of protecting GPS operational services,” said Bob Canty, GPS vice president and program manager for Raytheon. “The advanced control segment is a critical program for our nation’s combat forces, coalition partners, as well as domestic and international civil users. By selecting Raytheon, the Air Force recognizes our experience and commitment to take GPS to the next level.”

The GPS, a satellite-based radio navigation system for the military and the public, comprises three major segments: the user segment, the space segment and the control segment, which includes a master control station and ground antennas.

“The OCX concept was created to separate the control and space segments,” Canty said. “Technologies were evolving so rapidly and were so critical to execution that specialized skills were needed. The GPS wing saw the same need for specialized expertise on GPS OCX.”

Raytheon brings more than four decades of experience in command-and-control systems for satellites to the OCX program. Teammates include The Boeing Company, ITT, Braxton Technologies, Infinity Systems Engineering and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The contract was awarded by the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base.

[buglerbilly]

Tardy, but Twice as Precise

With New GPS Satellites, U.S. Seeks To Double Resolution

By william matthews

Published: 22 March 2010

The U.S. Air Force is preparing for a May launch of the first of a new generation of Global Positioning System satellites.

If it occurs on time - it's years behind schedule - the launch will come about a year after a government study sparked widespread concern by warning that the aging GPS satellites could begin to fail later this year.

Having too few of these satellites could reduce the ability of precision-guided bombs to hit their targets, could force aircraft to reroute or delay long-distance flights, and could diminish the accuracy of GPS signals available to troops fighting in urban areas or in mountainous terrain, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported to Congress.

The Air Force, which operates GPS satellites, plays down the likelihood of degraded GPS service, but other GPS experts say the possibility is real.

The new satellite - a GPS IIF - is the first of 12 Boeing-built satellites scheduled to be launched over the next several years. A second IIF launch is expected later this year if all goes well with the first one.

As their numbers increase in orbit, the accuracy of GPS should also improve, said Ken Torok, vice president of Boeing's navigation and communications systems division.

The GPS IIF is designed to be twice as accurate as its predecessors. Thus, when most of the IIFs are in orbit, they should be able to locate a receiver on earth with accuracy of less than 3 meters, compared with less than 6 meters with the current GPS constellation.

Greater accuracy is a product of advanced atomic clocks in the new satellites, Torok said. GPS works by accurately measuring the time it takes for positioning signals to travel from several satellites in space to a GPS receiver on Earth. Software in the receiver measures the time from three or more satellites and then calculates its location.

The more accurate the time measurement, the more precise the location.

IIF satellites offer other improvements as well for military and civilian users.

The satellites' military signal - "M-code" - is formatted in a way that enables it to penetrate jamming better than the signals from current satellites, Torok said. And variable power feature enables operators to increase signal power to punch through jamming if that becomes necessary, Torok said.

The IIF satellites have greater capability to receive updated software in space. They carry enough onboard memory to update both the GPS system and the satellite's operating system. Current satellites have only limited updating capability, Torok said.

New ground-based control equipment for the GPS system uses more automation to fly the satellites and manage the constellation. The automation reduces operating costs, he said.

The IIFs are designed to operate at least 12 years in space but are expected to last longer than that, Torok said. Extended life among satellites is not uncommon. At least one of the current GPS satellites is still going after 19 years.

The current GPS constellation includes 30 satellites. The Air Force says the system's "requirement" is for just 24 and that there is little danger of the constellation falling below that number. But other GPS experts say 24 satellites can't provide the level of accuracy that's available with 30, and the requirement should be raised to 30.

Rival global positioning systems being set up by Europe and China are designed for 30 satellites.

"We really need IIF launched and on orbit," said Bradford Parkinson, an aeronautics and astronautics professor at Stanford University and a GPS pioneer more than three decades ago.

Even so, "IIF will not take us out of the woods," he said. "Any significant degradation from the current 30-satellite coverage" is likely to mean "brownouts" in which GPS service in some locations is poor or lost.

"While we have a good chance of keeping at 24 [satellites], we have virtually no prospect of maintaining 30 in the near term. GPS-IIF will help fill the gap, but it is not enough," he said.

"We desperately need to vigorously pursue GPS III to avoid dropping below 24," he said. GPS III is the generation of satellites after GPS-IIF that's being developed by Lockheed Martin.

The first GPS III is to be launched in 2014, according to Lockheed. But in light of the delays that plagued the IIF and most other satellite programs, the GPS III schedule may be unrealistic, the GAO warned.

Getting the first GPS IIF to the launch pad was a challenge. Work on IIF satellites began more than a decade ago and was plagued by "congenital defects due to bad procurement practices imposed" by the Air Force, Parkinson said.

There were other troubles, too, according to the GAO. They included "a loss of expertise in building the GPS satellites on the contractor side, lax program oversight and technical problems." As a result, the first IIF is 3½ years late and IIF program costs more than doubled, climbing from $729 million to $1.7 billion.

As important as GPS is to the military - it's used to navigate aircraft, ships and vehicles, to guide foot soldiers and smart bombs, and to track supplies - it is also critical for civilian uses.

Airliners steer by it, many drivers use it instead of paper maps, cell phones link to it, farmers use it to manage crops, and surveyors and cartographers depend on it. GPS tracks packages in transit and puts accurate time stamps on automated teller machine transactions.

So keeping the GPS constellation intact is important.

"I have attended the reviews of launch readiness of IIF as a member of the Independent Review Team and we have reasonably high confidence in the current design," Parkinson said.

Boeing concurs, said Torok. "We feel very confident about IIF program now." ■

E-mail: bmatthews@defensenews.com.

[buglerbilly]

U.S. Air Force officials continue plans to modernize GPS


SCHRIEVER AFB, Colo. | Through the years, the Global Positioning System has become one of the most widely-used Air Force applications.

Today GPS is used in everything from farming and aviation to public safety, disaster relief and recreation, not to mention its military purpose of providing precision navigation and timing to combat forces.

This dependence requires a keen focus on maintaining and modernizing the system. Air Force officials took the next step in that process when they awarded a contract last month to Raytheon Company for the Next Generation GPS Control Segment, commonly referred to as OCX.

"OCX is the new ground system that will replace our current Architecture Evolution Plan ground system," said Lt. Col. Deanna Burt, 2nd Space Operations Squadron commander. "OCX is critical for us as we cannot fly GPS III satellites with our current ground system."

The OCX development contract is set to last 73 months with option years for sustainment worth about $1.5 billion. The contract will include development and installation of hardware and software at GPS control stations here and at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., deployment of advanced monitor stations at remote sites and initial contractor support with sustainment options for five years.

"The new OCX ground system will bring more automation and combine AEP and our Launch Anomaly and Disposal Operations system into one ground system eliminating the need for dual certifications," Colonel Burt said.

The new ground system also will allow for command and control of an additional number of satellites.

"OCX is also meant to fly up to 64 satellites where our current AEP system can only fly up to 32 satellites," she said.

This modernization doesn't leave the legacy GPS birds flying solo. OCX will maintain backwards compatibility with the Block IIR and IIR-M constellation, provide command and control of the new GPS IIF and GPS III families of satellites, and enable new modernized signal capabilities.

"OCX is urgently needed not only to enable new warfighter capabilities but also to put the new GPS III space vehicles into mission operations," said Col. Dave Madden, GPS Wing commander at Los Angeles AFB, Calif. "OCX will have a flexible architecture that can rapidly adapt to the changing needs of today's warfighter and will connect to the Global Information Grid so that warfighters around the globe have immediate access to GPS data and constellation status."

----
Jennifer Thibault
50th Space Wing Public Affairs / AFNS

[buglerbilly]

Boeing to Provide Next-Generation GPS Ground Systems Support to US Air Force

AURORA, Colo., April 12

Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced that, as part of the Raytheon team awarded the space-based Global Positioning System (GPS) advanced control segment program (OCX), it will develop portions of the U.S. Air Force's new ground control segment. GPS OCX will provide more secure, accurate, and precise navigation around the world for military, humanitarian and commercial applications.

The development contract, awarded recently by the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center's GPS Wing, is valued at more than $880 million over six years, including five option years for sustainment.

Boeing has provided ground operations sustainment support for the current GPS II fleet for nearly a decade. Under GPS OCX, the company will provide infrastructure, development of the ground systems, and continued 24/7 operational and sustainment support for the current and future GPS satellite systems. The company will install hardware and software at GPS control stations at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

"This award demonstrates the Air Force's confidence in our solution," said Sparky Olsen, director of Boeing Intelligence and Security Systems Mission Operations. "We will deliver a solution that provides enhanced operational capabilities to warfighters and other users while demonstrating Boeing's efficiencies and innovation with responsive operations and sustainment."

GPS OCX will replace the current GPS Operational Control System while maintaining backward compatibility with the Block IIR and IIR-M constellation, providing command and control of the new GPS IIF and GPS III families of satellites, and enabling new, modernized signal capabilities.

A prime contractor for GPS satellites for more than three decades, Boeing is currently under contract to build 12 GPS Block IIF satellites. GPS IIF is the product of Boeing's experience with 39 successful satellites from the GPS Block I and Block II/IIA missions and more than 30 years of teamwork with the Air Force. GPS IIF will form the core of the GPS constellation for many years to come.

[buglerbilly]

05/7/10 05:30 PM ET

Air Force Working Through GPS Receiver Problems
By Turner Brinton


GPS 3 satellite. Credit: Lockheed Martin artist's concept

WASHINGTON — More than 8,000 deployed military GPS receivers experienced compatibility problems with the most recent upgrade to the timing and navigation constellation’s ground control segment, but the U.S. Air Force has implemented an interim fix while it validates a permanent solution.

When the Air Force upgraded the GPS Operational Control Segment Jan. 11, some military users began reporting their systems were losing GPS signals. The problem was isolated to a specific type of GPS receiver known as the Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) deployed in at least 86 U.S. weapons systems that were having trouble authenticating a new messaging format implemented as part of an upgrade, the Air Force disclosed in an April 30 posting on the Federal Business Opportunities website. The posting has since been removed.

The service on Feb. 12 contracted on a sole-source basis with the receivers’ manufacturer, Trimble Military and Advanced Systems of Sunnyvale, Calif., to help Air Force Space Command’s GPS Wing track down the affected hardware and implement a fix.

Trimble identified two models of SAASM receivers that were affected and developed a temporary software solution that was implemented in critical U.S. platforms, Air Force spokesman Joe Davidson said May 4 in an e-mailed response to questions. Trimble has now completed development of a permanent solution for one type of receiver and is close to a permanent solution for the other, Davidson said. Both solutions must pass through the GPS Wing’s security certification process.

When the problem surfaced, the GPS Wing assembled a User Equipment Crisis Action Team to contact military users around the world, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, to identify whether they had any of the affected Trimble receivers in their equipment.

”In some cases, users do not know whether they have one of the affected Trimble receivers because the card/form factor has been integrated into another box or higher level assembly, or the GPS receiver is in an inaccessible location,” the Air Force said in the April 30 contract notice.

The Air Force said the urgent nature of the problem justified the issuance of a $900,000 sole-source, cost-only contract to obtain Trimble’s help tracking down the affected receivers. The company’s work on this contract is nearly complete, Davidson said.

The problem forced the services to temporarily suspend the use of certain weapons platforms, the April 30 posting said. The U.S. Army, for example, was prompted to suspend the use of Excalibur 155-millimeter guided artillery shells that rely on GPS to enhance their accuracy. “If the SAASM receiver within the unit doesn’t pass the correct information to the precision guided munitions, the round could fall on friendly troops or civilians,” the Air Force posting said.

The only other affected weapon system the Air Force identified by name was the U.S. Navy’s X-47B, an unmanned combat aerial vehicle demonstrator built by Northrop Grumman. According to the Air Force, the Navy’s X-47B program office is losing almost $1 million per day while the vehicle is grounded.

Navy Capt. Jeffrey Penfield, the service’s Unmanned Combat Air System program manager, said the aircraft was affected for a short time and no issues remain.

“A GPS anomaly that resulted in navigation problems for the X-47B system was identified during testing in January 2010,” Penfield said in a May 5 e-mailed response to questions. “Within one month, the GPS Joint Program Office distributed a solution that was successfully tested on the X-47B and surrogate aircraft. The GPS issues have been resolved, with no further problems noted.”

[buglerbilly]

Air Force: Tests didn't include troubled GPS unit
By DAN ELLIOTT (AP) – 11 hours ago

DENVER — The military did no advance testing on a specific type of military GPS receiver that had problems picking up locator signals after a change in ground-control software, the Air Force said Monday.

The Air Force tested other equipment, but none of it contained the type of receiver that was unable to lock on to Global Positioning System satellites after the change, said Joe Davidson, a spokesman for the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.

The manufacturer of the receivers, Trimble Advanced and Military Systems, said it ran its own advance tests using specifications from the Air Force GPS Wing and found no problems.

"Once the upgrade (on the ground-control software) went live, the compatibility problems were immediately identified and Trimble worked with the GPS Wing to resolve them," Trimble spokeswoman Lea Ann McNabb said in an e-mail.

Davidson said earlier that the problem, which occurred in January, was identified in less than two weeks. A temporary fix was installed in all the receivers and a permanent fix is being distributed, he said.

Davidson said the Air Force's testers didn't have any copies of the affected receiver before the problem. The Air Force is now acquiring a more representative sample of the tens of thousands of GPS receivers in use, he said.

Officials would not say how many weapons or other systems were affected by the problem, but they said operations were halted in only one program as a precaution.

They declined to identify the program, but an Air Force document briefly posted online last month indicated it was an unmanned Navy jet still under development.

The Air Force said the problem was caused by defective software in the Trimble GPS receivers. Trimble, a subsidiary of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Trimble Navigation Ltd., received a $900,000 no-bid contract to help resolve the trouble.

The Global Positioning System uses 24 satellites beaming signals to Earth that can pinpoint a location using a receiver tuned to the satellite frequency. It's widely used by the military and in civilians gadgets like cell phones and car navigation systems.

The satellites are overseen by Air Force Space Command units at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., and Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif.

On Thursday, the Air Force plans to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., the first of a new generation of GPS satellites expected to last longer and perform better.

The new satellites, known as Block IIF, have a design life of 12 years, faster processors, more memory and a new signal for civilian uses. They are built by Boeing Co.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

1st Boeing GPS IIF Spacecraft Ready for Launch from Cape Canaveral

(Source: Boeing; issued May 18, 2010)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. --- Boeing announced today that the first of 12 Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF navigation spacecraft that the company is building for the U.S. Air Force has successfully completed prelaunch testing. The satellite, GPS IIF-1, is scheduled for a May 20 launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

GPS is a space-based, worldwide navigation system providing users with highly accurate, three-dimensional position, navigation and timing information 24 hours a day in all weather conditions. The 12 GPS IIF satellites feature stronger and more precise signals that will enhance the services that support U.S. warfighters, their allies, and civilian GPS users around the world.

"These next-generation satellites provide improved accuracy through advanced atomic clocks; a more jam-resistant military signal and a longer design life than earlier GPS satellites; and a new civil signal that benefits aviation safety and search-and-rescue efforts," said Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager, Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. "GPS IIF is the culmination of our deep experience with 39 successful satellites from previous missions, representing more than 30 years of teamwork with the Air Force."

"GPS is used by nearly a billion people worldwide for everything from farming and aviation to public safety, disaster relief and recreation, not to mention its military purpose of providing precision navigation and timing to combat forces," said Air Force Col. David Madden, GPS Wing Commander. "GPS IIF will increase the signal power, precision and capacity of the system, and form the core of the GPS constellation for years to come."

As the first spacecraft in the GPS IIF series, GPS IIF-1 underwent stringent and comprehensive testing following shipment to the launch site in February. Tests included verification of key satellite functions as well as end-to-end system testing to verify operations between the satellite and the Boeing-built ground control segment at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado. Commands were sent from Schriever to GPS IIF-1 at Cape Canaveral to turn on payloads, reprogram processors, and verify interoperability with user receivers and equipment, both civil and military.

In April, the Air Force and Boeing team completed a comprehensive series of prelaunch exercises. These included a mission dress rehearsal and two integrated crew exercises that involved all GPS IIF launch and missions operations crews, from controllers at Schriever to space vehicle engineers and range radar operators at Cape Canaveral to tracking stations around the world.

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space and Security is one of the world's largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world's largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $34 billion business with 68,000 employees worldwide.

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

Software Glitch Renders Dark Thousands of GPS Receivers, For Days



While installing software upgrades to ground control stations for a new fleet of GPS satellites, Air Force inspectors discovered a glitch in software compatibility that rendered dark up to 10,000 GPS receivers for at least two weeks.

The new software was installed back in January and initially the Air Force blamed the contractor for writing a bad program, but now says it was a compatibility problem instead of defective code; the affected receivers all came from the same source. It took Air Force techs less than two weeks to discover the outage and begin putting in place a temporary fix; a more permanent fix is being distributed.

Apparently, the outage affected GPS receivers on the Navy’s in development carrier-launched drone, the X-47B. While willing to identify that Navy program, the Air Force refused to identify other weapons that might have been impacted by the software problem.

A spokesperson for the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center told the AP that the military’s GPS system, and its heavily encrypted communications channel, is safe from cyber attack and that its never been hacked.

Some influential military leaders, such as Gen. James Mattis, who heads Joint Forces Command, aren’t so confident in GPS infallibility. He has repeatedly said the military must prepare to fight without its many battle command networks and sensors as any future enemy will target the system because they know full well how overly dependent the military is on systems such as GPS.

– Greg Grant

Read more: http://defensetech.org/#ixzz0pfZPApKn
Defense.org

[buglerbilly]

Lockheed Martin Delivers Key GPS III Test Hardware Ahead of Schedule

08:37 GMT, November 9, 2010 EL SEGUNDO, Calif. | The Lockheed Martin-led team developing the next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS III) has completed the program’s first contract deliverable ahead of schedule, by shipping the GPS III Bus Real Time Simulator (BRTS) from its Newtown, Pa., facility to Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, Calif., on September 10, 2010. Acceptance testing for the BRTS was completed seven days after delivery.

GPS III will improve position, navigation and timing services and provide advanced anti-jam capabilities yielding superior system security, accuracy and reliability for more than 750 million users around the globe.

The BRTS is a specialized piece of test equipment designed to reduce risk and ensure total mission success for the lifecycle of the GPS III program. The BRTS will allow Aerospace Corporation to independently validate GPS III bus flight software for the U.S. Air Force. Throughout GPS III development, Lockheed Martin will deliver several bus flight software increments to Aerospace Corporation, where engineers will use the BRTS to test and confirm the satellite’s guidance and navigation functions and ensure the flight software will meet program requirements.

“As GPS user demand and new applications continue to increase, we remain focused on delivering GPS III mission success affordably and efficiently for our customer,” said Dave Podlesney, Lockheed Martin’s GPS III program director. “The Bus Real Time Simulator will play a critical role in providing mission assurance and the delivery ahead of schedule demonstrates our continued positive momentum and close partnership with the entire government/industry GPS III team.”

The Lockheed Martin team recently completed the GPS III critical design review two months ahead of schedule and is now proceeding rapidly in the program’s manufacturing phase. The first launch of a GPS III satellite, which will provide significant improvements over current satellites, is scheduled for 2014 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

[buglerbilly]

Space Team Improves GPS Capability for Warfighters

(Source: U.S Air Force; issued March 10, 2011)

SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. --- Joint force warfighters around the globe will soon be able to assess real-time and future GPS accuracy, both where they are and where they're going, with a new capability developed by the 2nd Space Operations Squadron's Global Positioning System User Operations team here.

The new capability uses the Google Earth software application to display data supplied by the GPS Operations Center for warfighters on the ground in places like Afghanistan.

Chaz Bowman, the GPSOC program manager, calls it an innovation that could be limitless for users once it is deployed.

It jumps way beyond the situational awareness tools warfighters are currently using, said Capt. Bryony Veater, the 2nd SOPS weapons and tactics flight commander.

"Right now, users must view slides and other similar forms of displays to extrapolate the scenario they are looking for, whereas this tool lays everything on one viewable screen, " Captain Veater said. "It even displays the terrain warfighters will need to traverse during their operation."

The new capability also creates a one-stop shop for ground-force mission planners who are looking for different forms of GPS core data.

"Until now, users would have to visit up to five or six different (secure) websites to obtain the GPS data they need," Mr. Bowman said. "Once we launch this capability, those same users will follow a link we send them once, and from then on, they'll be able to see what they need from GPS in one viewing."

Both Captain Veater and Mr. Bowman work as part of the GPS user operations team, which can be thought of as a 911 call center for military GPS user emergencies. The GPSOC provides vital data to GPS users in real time and though it was designed to primarily support military user, staff members also answer questions for civilians and Federal Aviation Administration officials.

"We are user support," Captain Veater said. "We're focused on what the user needs to get the job done. Our only job is to make sure the user has what they need to operate with and through GPS."

Jordan Scott, a former Army captain and GPSOC contractor, conceived the idea for the new capability after returning from a deployment in Afghanistan this past summer. Once he relayed the concept, the GPSOC team went about innovating and modifying software to make it compatible with Google Earth software. They began testing in preparation for product launch roughly three weeks ago, and Mr. Bowman said he believes the capability could be operational in a few weeks.

This innovation is so new that team members haven't even thought of a name for it, yet 2nd SOPS leaders say it holds clear and obvious advantages over previous situational forms of information.

"This new tool gives 2nd SOPS unprecedented situational awareness when assisting users in theater," said Lt. Col. Mike Manor, the 2nd SOPS director of operations. "The particular capability provides our team with a real time visual of the terrain and the GPS accuracy a unit is experiencing when they call for GPS- related assistance. The Google Earth picture is definitely worth a thousand words, and this tool basically eliminates the guess work when trying to understand the current situation our users are experiencing."

According to Mr. Bowman this product launch represents the first time GPSOC has placed information on Google Earth, or any common operating picture.

"It really means that we can now put tools in the hands of the warfighter and it is limitless as to what we can give them now," Mr. Bowman said. "He no longer has to go multiple places to find a piece of information. When he clicks on his operating picture and he wants to see GPS, he simply clicks on the GPSOC core."

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

GPS over-reliance driving us toward catastrophe: experts Ben Grubb

March 11, 2011 - 1:30PM


Professor Andrew Dempster. Photo: Supplied

It is an issue that many law enforcement agencies and governments don't want to discuss, according to Professor Andrew Dempster, a specialist in satellite navigation signal processing and receiver design.

The problem? Australia and the world's reliance on global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), commonly known to many as GPS, and its vulnerability to be deliberately jammed or unintentionally interfered with.

"There is ... [a] group of people (users) who don't want to talk about it," said the professor, who works at the UNSW School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems.


Powerful solar eruptions can disrupt satellites. Photo: AFP

"They don't want to draw attention to the fact that GPS can be jammed. They don't want people to know that it's vulnerable. And included in that group are all the major telcos, some of the authorities that track vehicles and I imagine that the police are the same – that they don't talk about it that much."

Critical infrastructure that can be impacted by interference can include plane and airport navigation systems, emergency service vehicles, ships and security vans, some of which carry large amounts of money. Researchers in Britain have gone as far as saying that GPS failures could lead to "loss of life".

One known example of an airport and planes landing there being impacted by unintentional interference has already occurred in the US, the professor said.


An example of a GPS and mobile phone jammer. Photo: Tradekorea.com

According to The Economist, a driver who passed the Newark airport in New Jersey each day had a GPS jammer installed in his truck for personal reasons. The Economist said it took two months in late 2009 for investigators to track down the problem, which led to "brief daily breaks in reception".

Professor Dempster said the matter of interference with GPS was "a significant hazard for military, industrial and civilian transport and communication systems" because criminals had "worked out that they can jam GPS".

He also said that because GPS signals were weak, they could "easily be outpunched by poorly controlled signals from television towers, devices such as laptops and MP3 players, or even mobile satellite services".

But it's not only interference from here on earth. Solar flares in space can also cause havoc for satellites.

Professor Dempster said he had found one such example of unintentional interference in North Sydney, where an SBS TV tower was causing GPS signals nearby to be degraded.

"There will be times if you were driving along past there [where] your [car's] GPS would drop out there for 30 seconds or maybe less," he said. "But you wouldn’t really notice it," he added.

He said a car's GPS navigation device dropped out for "all sorts of reasons".

"I think one of the problems we have with interference or detecting interference is that many people would have observed it and not known that it was happening," he said.

Many people may have even noticed interference with their car's GPS when driving, he said. However, the fact there was interference was most likely unknown to drivers because the signal usually returned to normal after a short period of time.

But it was not only interference Professor Dempster was worried about. "What has happened is GPS has now been around for a while and a number of navigation systems have been retired because GPS has overtaken them," he said.

"So there were a number of backups that sort of existed and as we became more reliant and also more confident in GPS, some of these backups have been removed."

Planes for example, before GPS, used many other ways of finding an airfield other than GPS. But those systems were being phased out because "they’re expensive to maintain" and "they only work in the local area".

Although his workshop on the matter, held on Wednesday in Canberra, heard from Australia's communications regulator, the ACMA, that it had not prosecuted a single person for jamming a signal in Australia, Professor Dempster said that he was still concerned.

"There is certainly evidence ... with eastern European criminals making pretty widespread use of GPS for that sort of purpose – for making high-value assets and vehicles ... (the location of those assets) unavailable [using jamming devices]," he said.

Many of Professor Dempster's concerns were echoed in a report released this week by the Royal Academy of Engineering in London, which suggested that developed nations had become too reliant on GPS systems.

The report said everything from commercial aircraft and the tracking of cargo to the opening of train doors at stations were vulnerable, with consequences ranging from "the inconvenient - such as passenger information system failures - to possible loss of life - such as interruptions to emergency services communications".

"GPS and other GNSS are so useful and so cheap to build into equipment that we have become almost blindly reliant on the data they give us," said Dr Martyn Thomas, chairman of the academy's GNSS working group.

In a statement put out alongside the report, it said that the range of applications using the technology were "now so broad that, without adequate independent backup, signal failure or interference could potentially affect safety systems and other critical parts of the economy".

It recommended, among other things, that critical services include GNSS vulnerabilities "in their risk register and that these are reviewed regularly and mitigated effectively".

All of this was why the UNSW team were working with the University of Adelaide and private company GPSat Systems on a project which aimed to develop geo-location jamming-detection technology.

Although jamming-detection technology exists today, what doesn't exist is the ability to be able to pinpoint exactly where a jammer is, which was why the research was being conducted.

This reporter is on Twitter: @bengrubb

- with AFP

[ADMk2]

Let me get this straight. A jammer outputs a radio frequency signal, but technology doesn't exist to pinpoint where that radio frequency is coming from?

Hmm. One wonders how HARM or AMRAAM's "home on jam" systems work, if this is the case, let alone a radar detector...

[buglerbilly]

Have a guy on a motorbike carry the Jammer, that'll complicate things, perhaps not completely but enough to make it harder.............

[ADMk2]

True, but you are going to reduce your capability to jam the signal too... That little handheld jammer can put out a signal over how much range? A kilometre?

[buglerbilly]

One I got shown by a Security guy a while ago was the size of a cigarette pack (used for demos for Police etc NOT legal otherwise or of dubious legality) and had a range of a kilometre, I'd have thought 5-7 kilometres for the one above in open terrain, possibly more..............CBD areas would cut that down enormously.

Therein lies the problem, a lot of this Interrupting shit is easy to buy IF you know where to go and what kind of thing you want, and one of the prime areas to go is only slightly North of us in WA.............the USA is pretty rife with gear as well, as is the UK (of all places) but they, the UK, tend to be far more strictly controlled, security registration etc.

Any ways back to the point, someone with a Jammer can sacrifice the unit as long as it serves its purpose for a period of time. You are not necessarily looking to interrupt forever..........

[Raven22]

One I got shown by a Security guy a while ago was the size of a cigarette pack (used for demos for Police etc NOT legal otherwise or of dubious legality) and had a range of a kilometre, I'd have thought 5-7 kilometres for the one above in open terrain, possibly more..............CBD areas would cut that down enormously.

Good luck getting kilometres of range out of something so small. Military ECM devices have much, much more available power and no where near the jamming range.

[ADMk2]

One I got shown by a Security guy a while ago was the size of a cigarette pack (used for demos for Police etc NOT legal otherwise or of dubious legality) and had a range of a kilometre, I'd have thought 5-7 kilometres for the one above in open terrain, possibly more..............CBD areas would cut that down enormously.

Therein lies the problem, a lot of this Interrupting shit is easy to buy IF you know where to go and what kind of thing you want, and one of the prime areas to go is only slightly North of us in WA.............the USA is pretty rife with gear as well, as is the UK (of all places) but they, the UK, tend to be far more strictly controlled, security registration etc.

Any ways back to the point, someone with a Jammer can sacrifice the unit as long as it serves its purpose for a period of time. You are not necessarily looking to interrupt forever..........

What do you mean by 1k though? A 1k radius, diameter etc? I find it rather difficult to believe that a handheld device like that could jam ALL GPS signals within a 1k radius, radiating constantly for any sort of duration. The battery life alone would mean that it would turn off pretty darn quick...

And how does a ground based receiver/transmitter like that go in jamming GPS signals received by aircraft at altitude? Especially when even your average domestic airline carrier is travelling at or above 162m's per second even over cities...

[buglerbilly]

Hey I'm no expert, I'm just telling you what I see and hear.............how it works, how long it lasts............who knows? You need to go talk to people FAR smarter than me to find that out.I assumed the 1K referred to radius?

Consider this, how much power would you require? We are talking interruption not necessarily jamming here..............

Also consider tho that modern lithium batteries provide far more power than people think, thats why I have very small lights that throw 600-800 lumens of beam (a long distance) operating from a a single or dual battery and these are small batteries. The battery power that could be packed in hand-held unit shown above would outstrip that by a large degree.

[buglerbilly]

Could 4G Wireless Plans Interfere With GPS?

By John Reed Friday, April 8th, 2011 11:54 am



A senior Air Force space official recently warned of the potential threat of 4G wireless service interfering with Global Positioning System transmissions.

One broadband company in particular, LightSquared, has received temporary permission to build 40,000 ground-based transmitters “with exponentially more power, ones that transmit significantly closer to GPS receivers as compared to our transmitters that are 22,000 miles away in space,” said Lt. Gen. Michael Basla, the vice chief of Air Force Space Command during a cyberwarfare conference in Maryland. “So now we have a physics problem and a huge spectrum concern with potential GPS interference.”

This has the potential to disrupt not only GPS-based navigation but also the world’s satellite based timing signals on which “our networks, banking systems and power grids rely,” said Basla.

4G wireless is meant to provide IP-based broadband web service to the world’s mobile device users; this includes everything from laptops and tablets to smartphones, and yeah, it’s an understatement to say that this market is going to be huge.

The government is apparently looking into the issue to determine if the company can deploy this service without interfering with GPS signals, according to the three-star. “Believe me, I hope that is the case for both economic and operational reasons,” added Basla.

Meanwhile, the ageing GPS constellation itself is doing quite well due to the fact that it has recently been expanded to 24 satellites and is starting to be upgraded with the new Block IIF satellites.

“The GPS constellation is a model on the incremental capability for our space domain, we have replacements in the pipeline,” said Basla. “Our GPS constellation continues to exceed the requirements that our nation has placed on us.”

Read more: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2011/04/08/4g-wireless-could-interfere-with-gps/#ixzz1IynKcdHK

[buglerbilly]

LightSquared wireless Internet plan concerns officials pushing GPS for aviation

By Ashley Halsey III, Published: June 4

Two of 21st-century America’s favorite gadgets — the smartphone and the GPS device — are on a collision course, according to a report delivered Friday to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The report says deployment of a massive new network of towers and satellites to expand wireless communication may effectively shut down Global Positioning System devices that are at the core of a multibillion-dollar plan to revolutionize aviation. They also may affect some GPS units used by drivers, bicyclists and boaters.

The report puts the Obama administration in a Solomonesque position with two of its most cherished, ambitious and expensive initiatives. The president has promised to make Internet access available to all Americans, even as the administration has pushed airlines to invest billions to install GPS-based equipment.

The Federal Communications Commission in January issued a waiver to allow Reston-based LightSquared to develop a $14 billion broadband communications system adjacent to the bandwidth used for GPS transmissions.

LightSquared’s proposal for a network of 40,000 ground transmitters working with a seven-story orbiting satellite will dramatically increase the system’s reach and versatility, but the transmitters will overpower the GPS transmissions, according to a report by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics.

“The impact of a LightSquared . . . deployment is expected to be complete loss of GPS receiver function,” the RTCA concluded in its executive summary.

Report under review

The RTCA, a nonprofit research group that represents 400 government, industry and academic organizations, came into play because aviation is in the midst of a multibillion-dollar transformation that relies entirely on the viability of GPS. It was asked to determine just how much LightSquared’s plans would invade the GPS bandwidth.

RTCA officials declined to take phone calls or to release the full report Friday. The FAA said it was reviewing the report but did not release it. That left LightSquared and other interested parties in the awkward position of commenting on something they had not actually seen in full.

“Though we’ve not seen the full report, the summary indicates the analysis shows there would be interference if we used the frequencies closest to GPS, but it also indicates that if we use the frequencies farthest away from GPS, we would not cause any interference,” said Jeff Carlisle, executive vice president of LightSquared.

He said tests showed that GPS performed better on airplanes than analysts had predicted.

“Like all spectrum holders, we have an obligation to operate properly within our band, and we take that responsibility very seriously,” Carlisle said. “A robust GPS system is a vital national resource that LightSquared will not jeopardize.”

The uncertainty comes at a critical time for the revolutionary national aviation system known as NextGen, an innovation that is intended to catapult flying from a reliance on World War II-era radar systems into a GPS-based system that will allow more direct routing, save billions a year in fuel, reduce carbon emissions and streamline air travel so that it can better accommodate growth projected for the next decade and beyond.

With cash-strapped airlines already taking an “after you, Alphonse” approach to equipping their fleets — wary that the FAA won’t have corresponding equipment and procedures in place on time — adding one more troublesome variable heightens the anxiety.

Former acting FAA administrator Bobby Sturgell, now a senior vice president with Rockwell Collins, said Friday that the LightSquared project should undergo additional testing and “should not be rushed.”

“We want to see the complete report,” Sturgell said. “However, the executive summary confirms what we believe, that LightSquared’s terrestrial-based system interferes with aviation GPS, which is a major public safety issue.”

In an earlier interview, Sturgell said the LightSquared plan is “a big concern not just to NextGen, but to the GPS community at large, and the military is very concerned about it, as well. This company has a conditional waiver, they’re marching toward a September deadline to start rolling out these towers and they want to have service by the end of the year.”

Possible interference

The departments of Homeland Security and Transportation also have expressed reservations about the plan.

When LightSquared began testing in Las Vegas last month to meet one condition of the FCC waiver, the FAA warned that GPS might be rendered “unreliable or unavailable” within about a 350-mile radius of the city.

Carlisle said data from the testing haven’t been compiled, but he said that certain GPS receivers capture signals from the LightSquared bandwidth.

“As soon as that was identified we were fairly certain that there were some receivers that were going to be susceptible [to interference],” he said. “The testing we’re going through is determining the type and scope of receivers that will be susceptible.”

The system operates on the L band, and 1559 megahertz is where LightSquared’s authorized bandwidth ends and the GPS band begins.

Once the testing in Las Vegas and other research is complete, a team that includes LightSquared representatives and GPS industry experts is to file a report with the FCC on June 15. After a period for public comment, Carlisle said he hopes the FCC will issue a confirmation that interference with GPS is not an issue, allowing his company to proceed.

LightSquared, backed by billionaire Philip Falcone and his Harbinger Capital Partners hedge fund, is muscling its way into a broadband market dominated by AT&T and Verizon Wireless. It plans to lease network space to companies such as Apple, Wal-Mart or others that might offer wireless devices under their own brands.

Reuters reported last Wednesday that LightSquared is close to a $2 billion-a-year network-sharing agreement with Sprint Nextel, which wants to rent space on the LightSquared network to launch its own high-speed wireless service.

[buglerbilly]

Lockheed Martin completes design milestone for GPS III

July 06, 2011

Lockheed Martin has successfully completed on-schedule a System Design Review (SDR) for the Global Positioning System (GPS) IIIB satellite increment under the US Air Force's next generation GPS III programme.

GPS III will improve position, navigation and timing services and provide advanced anti-jam capabilities yielding superior system security, accuracy and reliability for users around the globe.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Newtown, Pa., is under contract to produce the first two of a planned eight GPS IIIA satellites, with first launch projected for 2014. The contract, which features a "back to basics" acquisition approach, includes a Capability Insertion Programme (CIP) designed to mature technologies and perform rigorous systems engineering for future GPS III increments.

An important milestone that precedes the Preliminary Design Review, the GPS IIIB SDR, established requirements for the capability insertion planned for the follow-on GPS IIIB satellites and validated the satellite design will meet the ever increasing demand of more than one billion GPS users worldwide.

"This milestone comes at a pivotal time when the need to affordably and predictably enhance the GPS constellation's capabilities is at an all time high," said Lt. Col. Don Frew, the US Air Force's GPS III Programme Manager. "Thanks to hard work from the entire government and industry GPS III team, we have a solid, low-risk path to introduce critical new capabilities to billions of military, civil and commercial GPS users."

GPS IIIA will deliver signals three times more accurate than current GPS spacecraft and provide three times more power for military users, while also enhancing the spacecraft's design life and adding a new civil signal designed to be interoperable with international global navigation satellite systems. GPS IIIB will provide higher power modernized signals, a fully digital navigation payload capable of generating new navigation signals after launch and a Distress Alerting Satellite System payload that relays distress signals from emergency beacons back to search and rescue operations.

The Lockheed Martin-led GPS III team, which includes ITT of Bloomfield, N.J., and General Dynamics of Scottsdale, Ariz., completed the milestone with the US Air Force at Lockheed Martin's facilities in Newtown, Pa. Representatives from the US Air Force's GPS Directorate, Air Force Space Command, the Defense Contract Management Agency, the Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Defense and user communities participated in the review.

"Working together with the US Air Force and GPS user communities, this milestone validates that we have developed the most affordable and lowest risk solution to introducing vital new capabilities for the GPS constellation," said Keoki Jackson, Lockheed Martin's GPS III programme manager. "We understand the importance of GPS to our nation and the world, and we are laser focused on executing the entire GPS III programme to meet the world's global navigation and timing needs for the next 30 years."

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin is progressing steadily on the GPS IIIA programme and is on schedule to deliver the first satellite for launch in 2014. In August of 2010, the joint government and industry team completed a highly successful critical design review, which validated the detailed GPS IIIA design and allowed the programme to begin the transition to the production phase. The programme has now switched its focus from design to manufacturing and has already completed 90 percent of the programme's 59 manufacturing readiness reviews.

With a focus on affordability and risk reduction, the GPS III team is developing a GPS Non-Flight Satellite Testbed (GNST), which will serve as the programme's ground pathfinder and vehicle demonstrator for the first complete GPS IIIA satellite. The entire GPS III development and production sequence will utilize the GNST to provide space vehicle design level validation; early verification of ground, support, and test equipment; and early confirmation and rehearsal of transportation operations.

Most recently, GPS III subcontractor ATK shipped the GNST core structure to Lockheed Martin in May. The GNST will run through the same steps of the production flow as the flight vehicles, including environmental testing at Lockheed Martin factories in Newtown, Pa., and Littleton, Colo., followed by processing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The team is on track to deliver the GNST to the new Littleton, Colo., GPS Processing Facility (GPF) in December 2011.

Source: Lockheed Martin

[buglerbilly]

Battle Brewing Over Future Of GPS Constellation

(Source: Lexington Institute; issued September 2, 2011)

(© Lexington Institute; reproduced by permission)

The U.S. Department of Defense is an engine of innovation. From jet engines to lasers to digital networking, America's military has pioneered the development of new technologies with the potential to transform commerce and culture. One of the most spectacularly successful examples is the Global Positioning System, an orbital constellation that allows users anywhere on or near the earth's surface to precisely establish their location in three dimensions and time. GPS-generated information is essential to military activities such as navigation, targeting and reconnaissance, and has found myriad civilian uses in areas such as cellular communication and air traffic control.

The U.S. Air Force is responsible for the operation and modernization of this vital global utility, and most observers agree it has done a very good job. But the federal government is entering a prolonged period of fiscal austerity that will force the service to carefully scrutinize all of its plans for space. One issue that may end up on the table is whether to proceed with plans to develop a new generation of "GPS III" satellites, or try to save money by sticking with the existing GPS IIF design. The issue has far-reaching budgetary implications, because it impacts on launch costs, the design of ground segments for managing and utilizing GPS satellites, and the compatability of future satellites with other navigation systems.

Boeing, the builder of current GPS IIF satellites, apparently has crafted a proposal to sell additional satellites in that configuration to the Air Force for less than $100 million per spacecraft. In the military space business -- where satellites sometimes cost more than a billion dollars each -- that is considered to be a bargain. The satellites would not be able to meet some of the requirements specified for the next-generation GPS III birds, but they would satisfy most operational needs while enabling the Air Force to avoid spending billions of dollars on the development and testing of new designs. The proposal is well-timed given pressures on the defense budget and spreading awareness of just how serious the government's long-term fiscal challenges may be.

However, the Air Force is ambivalent about Boeing's proposal, because the company took much longer than expected to develop and orbit the first two GPS IIF satellites, and the satellites have not yet demonstrated all necessary performance features. Although sticking with IIF would enable the Air Force to avoid all the "non-recurring" costs associated with developing the next generation, the service might eventually end up spending more money on launches because GPS III satellites are designed to be launched in pairs and the current satellites can only be launched one at a time.

That's an important consideration given that the 30 or so spacecraft in the constellation must be periodically replaced to assure precise positioning information remains available to all users. It also is not so clear what the ultimate cost and schedule for buying more of the current satellites would be, since parts of Boeing's supplier base have gone cold and would need to be reconstituted.

The key issue, though, is the requirements for the next-generation system that current GPS satellites cannot meet. How important are they, and will the Air Force have the money needed to satisfy them? It's easy to say right now they must be met, but no one knows where the service will come down if it has to choose between GPS III and a new bomber. On the other hand, if the Boeing proposal ends up costing more than currently advertised to supply satellites in a similar timeframe, the Air Force might as well go ahead and buy the more capable system.

Considering the importance of GPS to military and civilian users alike, this debate is not likely to end anytime soon.

-ends-

[buglerbilly]

The political storm clouds over GPS

By Philip Ewing Thursday, September 15th, 2011 2:26 pm

The Air Force’s top space boss confirmed Thursday that a proposed new national broadband network partly backed by a Democratic campaign contributor causes “severe interference” to the military’s ability to use the Global Positioning System.

DoD and federal witnesses told a House panel on Thursday that they won’t let the new network begin operation until they’re confident it won’t interfere with the military’s GPS, but their appearance came after a report in the Daily Beast that the White House had pressured the head of Air Force Space Command, Gen. William Shelton, to change what he planned to tell the subcommittee. Republicans appeared ready to use the connections to try to embarrass the White House.

Here’s the backstory: Virginia broadband startup LightSquared wants to build a new national network with both terrestrial transmitters and links to satellites in orbit. But the network operates so close to the spectrum used by GPS that it hampers military receivers’ ability to get the precise timing and tracking data they rely on. The Federal Communications Commission gave LightSquared preliminary permission to begin testing its network, and DoD tried it out earlier this year down at White Sands Missile Range and Holloman AFB, N.M. The results, Shelton and others said, were clear: LightSquared’s signals effectively jammed the military’s GPS receivers with their much stronger signals.

GPS, Shelton told lawmakers, was supposed to occupy a “quiet neighborhood” in the electromagnetic spectrum. “But if you put a rock band in the middle of that quiet neighborhood, that’s quite a different circumstance,” he said.

No one disputes the results of this year’s tests, including LightSquared, the House witnesses said Thursday. The company has submitted an alternative proposal that would enable it to use frequencies a little farther away from GPS, and to develop “filters” to protect GPS receivers. That’s where the process stands now; DoD and federal authorities say they haven’t had time to study the new proposal to determine what to make of it, but there’s some worry that the nature of LightSquared also would interfere with GPS no matter what changes it makes.

Complicating all this is that LightSquared is owned by an investment group run by billionaire Democratic donor Philip Falcone. In Thursday’s story in the Daily Beast, Eli Lake wrote that it appeared the White House tried to pressure Shelton to change what he planned to tell the House subcommittee in deference to Falcone’s interest in standing up LightSquared’s network.

Wrote Lake:


The Obama administration urged Shelton to say “the general supported the White House policy to add more broadband for commercial use; and that the Pentagon would try to resolve the questions around LightSquared with testing in just 90 days. Shelton chafed at the intervention, which seemed to soften the Pentagon’s position and might be viewed as helping the company as it tries to get the project launched, the officials said.”

Shelton didn’t give that testimony to the House Armed Services Committee’s Strategic Forces subcommittee; he told committee members unequivocally that LightSquared’s network jammed the military GPS receivers “and to our knowledge, there are no mitigation measures.” Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio vowed to refer the situation to Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Turner also said that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s decision not to show up for Turner’s hearing was an “affront” to Congress.

So — still hanging in there? It’s a perfect scandal for Republicans: Even as GOP defense advocates rail against what they call dangerous proposed budget cuts for DoD from the White House, now they have a situation in which the Obama administration may have tried to help clear the road for a big fundraiser whose business could jeopardize military readiness. It fits the classic Republican narrative that Democrats don’t get defense.

The Office of Management and Budget told Lake there’s nothing unusual about vetting government witnesses’ testimony, and Shelton didn’t tell lawmakers what he was reportedly being pressured to say. In fact, in response to questions from Turner and the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Loretta Sanchez of California, Shelton said it could cost billions of dollars and a decade or longer to develop the “filters” needed to safeguard military GPS receivers from interference from LightSquared — assuming its alternative plan actually works as advertised. That’s a non-starter in Austerity America, and Turner asked rhetorically why the military should have to absorb the time, costs and inconvenience to shield itself in the first place — it has a right to continue using GPS as it is, he argued, not an obligation to accommodate private-sector newcomers.

What comes next? Maybe another House hearing, if Issa takes up this cause, and possibly more from the Armed Services Committee when DoD and the feds finish their next round of testing on LightSquared’s alternate proposal. With all the politics and money tied up in this thing, it’s going to come up again.

Read more: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2011/09/15/the-political-storm-clouds-over-gps/#ixzz1Y4QAaaCA
DoDBuzz.com

[buglerbilly]

Broadband firm returns fire in GPS battle

By Philip Ewing Monday, September 19th, 2011 1:01 pm



Virginia broadband startup LightSquared fired right back after the House Armed Services Committee hearing at which government officials said its network would jam military GPS. The narrative that LightSquared is a deep-pocketed political octopus that wants to imperil military readiness just isn’t true, CEO Sanjiv Ahuja said in a statement.

Here were his exact words:


Regulators from both parties understand LightSquared’s approach will create more competition in the marketplace, put downward pressure on the prices paid by consumers, create good paying jobs in the tech sector, and give Americans access to the most modern cellular technology.

LightSquared’s plan has drawn bipartisan support because it’s right for the country. Any suggestion that LightSquared has run roughshod over the regulatory process is contradicted by the reality of eight long years spent gaining approvals. Just this week, there has been another request from the government for an additional round of testing of LightSquared’s network.

We understand that some in the telecom sector fear the challenges for their business model that LightSquared presents. We understand the opposition of some in the GPS industry; many of their devices “squat” on someone else’s spectrum and while technological fixes are readily available, some companies are loath to make the necessary engineering changes and would instead prefer to get access to someone else’s spectrum for free.

It’s also ludicrous to suggest LightSquared’s success depends on political connections. This is a private company that has never taken one dollar in taxpayer money. About $10,600 sits in the LightSquared PAC. The founder of LightSquared has given to candidates in both political parties in the last eight years, with two thirds of his contributions going to Republicans because of the founder’s free market philosophy. I gave $30,400 in contributions to both parties in late 2010.

It’s difficult to charge that LightSquared has undue political influence when it was denied the opportunity to testify at [Sept. 15’s] hearing of the House Armed Service Committee’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee – or even be allowed a one-on-one meeting with the chairman of that committee prior to the hearing, as the GPS industry was given.

True: Subcommittee chair Rep. Mike Turner made much of the fact that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski did not show up to testify, but he did not mention whether he had invited anyone from LightSquared — evidently they asked to be there and were “denied,” per Ahuja’s statement.

So what’s next? The message that subcommittee Democrats tried to get home last week was that the feds and LightSquared can work all this out, that there’s a way to get some kind of compromise here. But Air Force Space Command boss Gen. William Shelton didn’t sound so confident; he said as far as he knew, there were no “mitigation measures” for protecting military GPS from LightSquared’s interference. So the basic dispute here — how to square this company’s proposals with what the military says is an essential capability — is unresolved.

Read more: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2011/09/19/broadband-firm-returns-fire-in-gps-battle/#ixzz1YRitosEx
DoDBuzz.com

[buglerbilly]

AF gen: GPS, LightSquared ‘can’t coexist’

By Philip Ewing Tuesday, September 20th, 2011 4:47 pm



The boss of Air Force Space Command, Gen. William Shelton, does not want to get any more mixed up in the political imbroglio between the FCC, Republicans, Democrats and the broadband startup LightSquared. His job, he told reporters Tuesday, is to protect the Global Positioning System, and to that end, he reaffirmed at the Air Force Association’s trade show that GPS and LightSquared’s proposed network “cannot coexist.”

Simple as that.

He said as much during a question and answer session after a speech to the convention and then again to reporters in a press briefing afterwards. In fact, Shelton even picked up a pen and drew a diagram to illustrate how LightSquared’s network effectively jams the signal that military GPS receivers need to get their precise timing and location data. Shelton pointed to his diagram and said that even under LightSquared’s alternate proposal for its network, which would move its signal farther away from GPS, it would still squelch the harmonic frequencies that precise receivers use.

As for the “filters” LightSquared wants to develop to protect GPS receivers, Shelton repeated that it could cost billions of dollars and take a decade to install them on all of the military’s GPS units — if they work. That’s not gonna happen. The only answer, he concluded, is “spectrum reassignment” — the FCC would have to move LightSquared up or down the spectrum. The problem there, of course, is that other users are already occupying those parts of the band, but that’s the FCC’s problem, not the military’s.

So did the White House pressure him to change the testimony he planned to give about this to the House Armed Services Committee?

“Any time, in the past and in the future, that I’m called to testify I’ll do my best to present the facts as I know them,” Shelton said. “The real issue here, certainly, from my perspective, is protecting the GPS service.”

Read more: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2011/09/20/af-gen-gps-lightsquared-cant-coexist/#ixzz1YXrZlZsv
DoDBuzz.com

[buglerbilly]

AF Chief Lauds General Who Fought White House

September 22, 2011

Military.com|by Bryant Jordan

The Air Force 4-star who reportedly told a Congressional committee that the White House attempted to alter his testimony on the potential threat of a system of new 4G broadcast towers was "saluted" Wednesday by the Air Force Chief of Staff.

Gen. Will Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, testified to Congress recently on the military's official concerns that 40,000 broadcast towers proposed for construction by LightSquared could wreak havoc with the existing GPS receivers.

Recent media reports allege that LightSquared benefitted from close contacts within the White House to create a nationwide broadband internet network and that administration officials pressured Shelton to downplay the network's potential impact on disrupting military operations.

During a forum of senior officers at the Air Force Association conference in Washington on Wednesday, the moderator complimented Shelton for giving his "unvarnished" testimony before Congress.

The applause of hundreds of Airmen and others broke out, interrupted only when Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz interrupted to make a comment of his own.

Schwartz acknowledged Shelton's candid testimony in the face of the purported White House pressure.

"Will Shelton, I salute your courage."

The White House has reportedly said it offered only guidance to Shelton. Meanwhile, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee has launched an investigation into contacts between administration officials and LightSquared, according to the website NextGov.com.

The committee's chairman Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas, and the six other Republican lawmakers allege the administration sought to muzzle and soften the testimony Shelton and other experts on how the planned multibillion-dollar network could interfere with GPS receivers, according to the report.

© Copyright 2011 Military.com. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Report: Indian army could use Russian satellite navigation system


Oct 6, 2011, 11:13 GMT

I suppose havng half your gear running off GPS and the other half running off GLOW-ASS makes a lot of sense to someone, somewhere, who's employed by the Indian Military..................IF World War ever breaks out again at least some of your gear might work! :dunno

Moscow - India's military is considering using Russia's Glonass satellite system for navigation and targeting, a leading Russian newspaper reported Thursday.

Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov offered Delhi access to the system during a recent meeting with his Indian counterpart Arackaparambil Kurien Antony, Kommersant newspaper wrote.

Glonass is a worldwide satellite navigation system similar to the US' GPS system. Russia placed its 24th Glonass satellite into orbit on Monday, upgrading the system to full worldwide coverage.

India could use Glonass for monitoring and controlling its own ballistic missiles and would avoid the cost of setting up its own worldwide satellite navigation network, the report said, citing a senior Russian army officer.

Russian army spokesmen have said that the Glonass system would allow guided missiles to strike targets anywhere on Earth with an error margin of less than one metre.

Antony was in Russia from Monday through Wednesday on a visit devoted primarily to talks on ongoing and future arms acquisitions from Moscow.

Topping India's Russian arms shopping list are a nuclear submarine, a retrofitted aircraft carrier and modern tanks.

Russia in 2010 sold some 3.5 billion dollars of weaponry and military equipment to India. A recently signed deal worth 1.5 billion dollars will deliver 29 MiG-29 fighter jets to India's navy by the end of 2012, according to news reports.

[buglerbilly]

10 October 2011 Last updated at 15:20 GMT

Military jamming of GPS in Scotland suspended

By Steven McKenzie
BBC Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter


Temporary jamming of GPS is routinely practiced in exercises, the Royal Navy said Continue reading the main story

Jamming of global positioning signals (GPS) during Europe's largest military exercise has been suspended, following complaints from fishermen.

The Royal Navy issued warnings in September and October that GPS in parts of Scotland would be disrupted during Exercise Joint Warrior.

But Western Isles fishermen said the first they knew was when their equipment went offline last Friday.

The Royal Navy said the military would seek to address their safety concerns.

Joint Warrior is held twice a year and jamming of GPS in April drew no complaints, according to the military.

The Royal Navy said all appropriate actions were taken to warn of the disruption during this year's second exercise, including a guide which was issued on 7 September.

The guide gives the locations and timings for the jamming of GPS.

The Scottish government confirmed it received the guide in September and put it on its website, but a spokeswoman added that it was the Ministry of Defence's (MoD) responsibility to distribute the information.

A Royal Navy spokesman said: "Joint Tactical Exercise Planning Staff (JTEPS), who co-ordinate the tri-service exercise, issued a guide to fishing vessels, ferry operators and environmentalists on 7 September 2011.

"This notice gave warning of the jamming operations, the specific date and times they would be happening and the locations.

"A warning notice, called NAVWARN 269, was also issued on 3 October and both Aberdeen and Stornoway coastguards have been transmitting regular warning broadcasts on VHF, notifying mariners that the operations will take place."

The spokesman said temporary jamming was routinely practiced in military exercises and was an essential part of preparation for operations.

He added: "However, in order to be absolutely clear that there are no genuine safety concerns to address, JTEPS have suspended jamming for the remainder of exercise Joint Warrior 112.

"This will provide a period of time to reflect with all the relevant authorities about the conduct of GPS jamming and ensure that all parties are fully aware before the beginning of the next exercise which is scheduled for spring 2012."

Satellite TV

Austen Campbell, the skipper of the Stornoway-based fishing boat Ocean Spirit, said crews knew nothing of the jamming until their system failed last Friday.


The exercise runs until 17 October and involves Nato warships and aircraft

He said: "We weren't notified about it at all.

"We thought it was a problem with our boat but everyone else started complaining about it. The coastguards were giving out warnings today but it still shouldn't be happening."

Mr Campbell added: "We are losing earnings over it until the exercise finishes. It is putting boats at risk."

Westerns Isles local authority, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, said the jamming had also been blamed for affecting internet connectivity and mobile phone and satellite TV.

Comhairle leader Angus Campbell said: "Whilst the total effect of the jamming is unclear it is totally unacceptable if the MoD's exercises are causing disruption to island communications networks.

"I will be writing to the MoD to seek clarity on exactly what has gone on here and to seek assurances over future exercises."

Caithness, Sutherland and Ross SNP MSP Rob Gibson said the MoD had compromised the safety of fishing boat crews.

He added: "In the North Minch, distress signals for mariners are effectively silenced because of the GPS jamming.

"They say it's for our defence but at what cost?"

Exercise Joint Warrior runs until 17 October and involves Nato warships, aircraft and ground troops.

[buglerbilly]

The Global Positioning System for Military Users: Current Modernization Plans and Alternatives

(Source: Congressional Budget Office; issued Oct. 29, 2011)

The U.S. military has come to rely on the Global Positioning System (GPS) to conduct many of its operations. The Department of Defense (DoD) is modernizing the system—in part to better counter deliberate interference—by purchasing new satellites and upgrading the systems that control the satellites.

In a study prepared at the request of the former Chairman of the Defense Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations, CBO considers the implications of modernization plans for military users and assesses how those efforts are synchronized with DoD’s efforts to improve the capabilities of its GPS receivers. The study also examines three alternatives for improving the performance of the GPS for military users and estimates the budgetary consequences of those options as well as their effect on the ability of the GPS to operate in an environment where an opponent is trying to jam GPS signals.

Results in Brief

As DoD’s GPS satellites reach the end of their service lives, the department plans to replace them with ones that can counter deliberate interference by generating stronger signals. After examining DoD’s plan and other possibilities for upgrading the system, CBO finds that:

-- It will cost DoD roughly $22 billion from 2012 to 2025 to modernize the GPS under its plan.

-- An alternative approach—namely, improving military receivers to retain the GPS signal even in the presence of such jamming—would be less expensive than DoD’s plan for upgrading its constellation of GPS satellites by improving the signals.

-- Depending on how that alternative approach would be implemented—CBO examined three options—savings would be between $1 billion and $3 billion. The alternative approach would also yield benefits almost a decade earlier than DoD’s plan.

-- The alternative approach has some disadvantages, however. The improvements to military receivers could make them larger and heavier (and thereby less useful to personnel operating on foot) until they could incorporate the substantial gains that have been achieved in miniaturization in other applications.

Click here for the full report (60 pages in PDF format) on the CBO website.

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/125xx/doc12505/10-28-GPS.pdf

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