China Publishes Official Signal-in-Space ICD for BeiDou Satellite Navigation Open Service

China released today (December 27, 2012 in Beijing; December 26 in the United States) an official version of the complete interface control document (ICD) for the nation's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) Open Service signal-in-space (SIS). (more)

What Caught Your Eye in 2012

LightSquared and GPS, the Hadron Collider, UAVs, GNSS patents and Navipedia

What happens when you don't have cute pets, celebrities or scandals on your website? Turns out it's not a problem - insidegnss.com has published our share of dramatic stories over the past year. Here are the highlights of our 2012 sizzle reel:

Top among them: the Tolkien-worthy battle between LightSquared and the GPS community. That grabbed the Number 1 or Number 2 readership spot in nine out of 12 months.

Also on the list are a number of  . . .  call them cerebral thrillers. The exhilarating doubt over faster-than-light neutrinos in March. The coldly polite courtroom drama between Britain and the U.S. over patent rights to the Galileo civil signal in May and July.

And, in November, the bold European Space Agency campaign to collect and disperse the whole world of GNSS knowledge in a new wiki, Navipedia.

This is not to neglect the newsreel. Inside GNSS investigated and reported the achievements-of-record: Galileo launches (finally)! Chinese releases ICD (sort of, maybe)! GPS modernization delays (again)!

You also liked these disturbing hints of things to come: UAVs aren't safe from civil spoofing, GPS crash avoidance funding under threat, can China and Europe's failed GNSS partnership be fixed?

And then there's the over-the-transom story no one expected: Hurricane Sandy turned west in October and drowned lower Manhattan and the Jersey shore. Lots of you clicked on ESRI's public service maps and apps that explained what happened next.

Enjoy a reprise of these stories before you look ahead to 2013, with our wishes for a prosperous and successful new year!

January 2012

DoD, DoT Deputy Secretaries Say No Practical Solutions Exist for LightSquared Interference to GPS

The president's top advisors on navigation policy said today (January 13, 2012) that "no practical solutions or mitigation" would enable a proposed broadband network to co-exist near-term with GPS-based devices, including several systems needed for aviation safety. (more)

#2 China Publishes Compass/BeiDou 'Test Version' of ICD; Key Data Missing (more)

February 2012

NTIA and FCC Agree: No Practical Way to Fix LightSquared's GPS Interference Problem

The GPS community received a Valentine's Day message from U.S. regulators today (February 14, 2012): there is  "no practical way" to mitigate potential interference posed by terrestrial transmissions from LightSquared's proposed wireless broadband network. (more)

#2 Aviation Subcommittee Hearing Moves Beyond LightSquared to GPS Spectrum Protection (more)

March 2012

Watch the Video: Physicists and GPS Expert Debate Results from the Large Hadron Collider

Six experts debated the exciting - and controversial - claims of faster-than-light neutrinos from physicists who used the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's largest particle accelerator, in a European experiment that called into question the basics of modern physics. (more)

#2 LightSquared Lashes Out at FCC in Last Round of Comments on GPS Interference (more)

April 2012

LightSquared Fallout May Prompt Push for GPS Receiver Standards

The firefight between LightSquared and the GPS community has sparked regulatory brush fires around Washington with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Congress, a half dozen executive agencies, and numerous companies moving to address a new and likely larger battle over receiver standards, radio frequency spectrum efficiency, and RF spectrum protection. (more)

#2 British Military Claims Patent on GPS, Galileo Civil Signal Structure (more)

May 2012

First GPS III Launch Delayed by Up to a Year, OCX by Two Years

The launch of the first GPS III satellite has slipped to 2015 and completion of the ground control system is now delayed by up to two years, according to the chief of the Air Force's space operations. (more)

#2 Common GPS Galileo Civil Signal Could Go Back on the Table in Patent Dispute (more)

June 2012

Senate Proposal Could Gut Research into GPS-Aided Crash Avoidance

Tied up in the long-running fight over reauthorizing the Highway Trust Fund is funding for a program to develop GPS-enabled crash avoidance technology for vehicles. (more)

#2 Trimble Presses FCC for Final LightSquared Ruling (more)

July 2012

UAVs Vulnerable to Civil GPS Spoofing

In June a research team from the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) demonstrated for the first time that a civilian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can be commandeered in mid-flight by a civil GPS spoofing attack. The result will likely factor into the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) plans to draw up rules for integrating UAVs into U.S. airspace by 2015. (more)

#2 Brit Military Visit May Hasten Resolution of GPS Signal Patent Dispute (more)

August 2012

UAVs: Homeland Security Under Pressure to Take a Greater Role in GPS Anti-Spoofing

A congressional committee overseeing activities at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appears poised to push the agency into a more substantive role in overseeing the use of drones in the United States - a move that could force DHS to move more forcefully to protect GPS users from spoofing. (more)

#2 Brussels View: Remembrance of Things Past - Can China and Europe Get Over a Failed GNSS Partnership? (more)

September 2012

LightSquared, FCC Appear to Align on GPS Receiver Standards in Continuing Spectrum Battle

In one of three separate filings on Friday (September 28, 2012) would-be broadband provider LightSquared asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to set "operating parameters" leading to "revised technical rules" to enable it to operate in the lower of the two frequency bands where tests last year showed its operations would interfere with GPS. (more)

#2 U.S. Officials Explore Use of the EU's Galileo Secure Civil Signal (more)

October 2012

Second Pair of Galileo IOV Navigation Satellites Takes Off Successfully

A Soyuz ST-B launcher carrying two Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites took off as scheduled at 18:15 GMT (20:15 CEST; 2:15 p.m. EDT) on October 12 from the European Spaceport in French Guiana. (more)

#2 LightSquared, FCC Appear to Align on GPS Receiver Standards in Continuing Spectrum Battle (more)

November 2012

They're Back: LightSquared Tries New Route to Wireless Broadband, Later for Nearby GPS Band

With the election finally over, and the chain of decision makers now largely clear, the spectrum war between LightSquared and the GPS community is heating up again with new fronts opening at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Congress. (more)

#2 Explore Hurricane Sandy Impact Maps on ESRI website (more)

December 2012

Navipedia - The GNSS Wiki

Satellite navigation is progressing at such a rapid pace that it is difficult to keep track of the latest evolutions, satellite launches, technologies or even systems and signals. With Navipedia, the European Space Agency has introduced a common online entry point for GNSS know-how. As with all media-wiki products, any registered user can comment, propose modification to an existing article, suggest a new topic or submit a draft article. (more)

#2 They're Back: LightSquared Tries New Route to Wireless Broadband, Later for Nearby GPS Band (more)