Col. Bernard Gruber, GPS Directorate: Farewell Perspective on GPS Program
June 12, 2013
I first met just-pinned-on, shiny and bright, Captain Bernard Gruber-USAF in 1992. Bernie had just arrived at the […]
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I first met just-pinned-on, shiny and bright, Captain Bernard Gruber-USAF in 1992. Bernie had just arrived at the […]
This week’s Defense PNT newsletter by GPS World contributing editor Don Jewell carries an exit interview with Col. […]
The Boeing Company has completed the fifth of 12 Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellites the company is building for the U.S. Air Force. The spacecraft was built at the Satellite Development Center in El Segundo using the GPS IIF pulse-line manufacturing approach, which draws on commercial production line practices to build satellites faster and more efficiently.
The first two satellites for Europe’s Galileo global navigation satellite system were lofted into orbit October 21 by […]
The L5 signal of the new Block IIF satellite shows a very favorable signal strength (Fig. 1), which is somewhere in between the L1 and L2C signal strength for the employed antenna and slightly higher than that of the GIOVE-A/B satellites. While the L5 test signal of the second-last Block IIR-M satellite (PRN1/SVN49) is transmitted through a narrow beam antenna and shows a steep variation with elevation angle, the new satellite exhibits an almost constant flux irrespective of the boresight angle.
A few short weeks ago, the U.S. GPS program had its posterior firmly planted in the catbird seat. Government spokespeople in international fora looked on benignly as European, Chinese, and Russian GNSS programs struggled to resolve their issues and meet their heady challenges. All was well with the world. A new GPS satellite launched, a segment of radio-frequency spectrum secured for a promising new signal, a next-gen satellite shipped to the Cape, and the next-next-gen program nearing successful preliminary design review (since completed). In the blink of an eye, the world is turning.
Brad Parkinson, the first GPS Program Office director, chief architect and advocate for GPS, submitted written testimony to Congress on mitigation options for possible GPS brownouts. His presentation comes in reference to the recent GAO report highlighting the risk that the GPS constellation may fall below the minimum level of 24 satellites required for full operational capability. In his opening, Parkinson states that GAO correctly points out the possibility that the GPS constellation will be reduced to less than the current number of 30 to 32 satellites. In fact, it is possible that the constellation will be at a level of less than 24 satellites. I would like to focus on the options that would help reduce this risk.”
The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued on May 7 an alarming report on the future of GPS, characterizing ongoing modernization efforts as shaky. The agency appears to single out the IIF program as the weak link between current stability and ensured future capability, calling into doubt whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption. It asserts the very real possibility that in 2010, as old satellites begin to fail, the overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits to.”
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