ikeGPS announced a Kickstarter fundraising effort for a smartphone laser measurement and augmented reality accessory named Spike. According to the announcement, with Spike you can measure, map, 3D model (and share) any object up to 600 feet away by taking a snapshot on your smartphone. The company reports that Spike’s precision enables the development of immersive laser-based smartphone apps, delivering deeply textured... read more
On October 1, 2013, the U.S. federal government shut down and furloughed 800,000 non-essential workers. While services considered essential remained active, those considered non-essential services, like the National Geodetic Survey’s Online Positioning User Service (OPUS), were shutdown. OPUS is a free, online GPS post-processing service. If you try to access www.ngs.noaa.gov, the following screen will be displayed: For those of... read more
NovAtel, an OEM provider of high-precision GNSS positioning products, has been contracted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to produce and deliver 176 Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) third-generation reference receivers (G-III). The contract includes engineering support for the receiver as well as support for the current generation reference receiver (G-II), Geostationary Earth Orbit Uplink Subsystem – Type 1 (GUST)... read more
Raytheon Company reached several milestones recently in its development of the GPS Next -Generation Operational Control System (GPS OCX). Lockheed Martin’s GPS III Non-flight Satellite Testbed (GNST) — a full-sized, functional satellite prototype currently residing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station — successfully established remote connectivity and communicated with OCX during pre-flight tests. GNST proved that it could connect with... read more
Accurately Tracking Smartphones IndoorsIf we wish to obtain consistently usable positions indoors using a mobile phone, we can augment its GPS or GNSS receiver with other unfettered sensing technologies such as gyroscopes and accelerometers supplemented by radio signals of opportunity. But is all of this actually feasible? The authors have conducted tests of a multi-system approach to positioning indoors with favorable results. read more
Follow Us