eGPS Solutions

BREAKING NEWS....      

 

July 17, 2011

 

eGPS Network News
                eGPS is happy to announce another one of our GPS base stations was admitted into the NGS CORS program. Our Braselton, GA station (GABN) was accepted in May and is now providing free static files to the public through the CORS program of the National Geodetic Survey, and division of NOAA. www.ngs.noaa.gov/CORS/  This Braselton CORS is on the property of Robbie Henderson, RLS where he operates his Land Surveying business.
eGPS is the largest contributor to the CORS program in Georgia and is proud to serve the geospatial community as the backbone for geodetic control throughout the state of Georgia. We are also currently involved in submitting 2 new GPS base stations into the CORS program as well. We will announce them if and when they are accepted.

 

 

June 16, 2011     

The severe thunderstorms that rolled through yesterday has created a few internet outages. We are waiting for a couple stations to come back on line in Chattanooga, TN, Murphy, NC and Moultrie, GA. They should most likely be back on line very soon.

The solar flares have decreased for now, but the forecast is for them to increase steadily until the solar maximum predicted to occur in May of 2013.

 

Satellite Status / Space Weather Update 16 June 2011, GPS Week 1640

SATELLITE STATUS

GPS STATUS:
31 healthy GPS Satellites: (GPS/UTC offset is 15 seconds)
NANU 2011039 SVN49 (PRN01) WAS DECOMMISSIONED FROM ACTIVE SERVICE ON JDAY 126 (06 MAY 2011). PRN01 IS AVAILABLE FOR FUTURE SATELLITE SERVICE
NANU 2011042 SVN30 (PRN30) UNUSABLE JDAY 133(13May)/2055 - UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
NANU 2011043 ON APPROXIMATELY 1 JUNE 2011, SVN35 WILL RESUME TRANSMITTING L-BAND UTILIZING PRN01. AT L-BAND ACTIVATION, SVN35/PRN01 WILL BE UNUSABLE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. ADDITIONALLY, NO BROADCAST ALMANACS WILL INCLUDE SVN35/PRN01

Mission planning is strongly encouraged for your GPS operations as even with 31 satellites there remain some periods of high DOP and reduced availability in some regions when using an elevation mask of 10 degrees or higher. You can have high DOP even with 6 satellites if the geometry is poor.

http://www.skyfix.com/artikkel.aspx?AId=76&back=1&MId1=79 (GeoskyII, Fugro planning software)
http://www.trimble.com/planningsoftware_ts.asp (Free Trimble GPS/GLONASS planning software)
ftp://ftp.trimble.com/pub/eph/almanac.alm (Latest combined GPS/GLONASS Almanac)
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=currentAlmanac&format=yuma (YUMA GPS only Almanac)

Note:  Always download and use the latest almanac for mission planning. Otherwise you must explicitly set satellites unhealthy/healthy as necessary to evaluate your specific constellation scenario. Always verify age of downloaded Almanac to be sure it is current.
GPS Launch Update: (12 May 2011)
GPS Block IIR-20 (SVN49) PRN01 was decommissioned on 6 May 2011. It was never set healthy.
GPS IIF-2 (SVN63) which was due for launch on 17th November 2010, then delayed till 23 June 2011 has been further delayed until 14th July 2011.

GPS Update: (28 October 2010)
The US Government Accountability Office has issued a 2010 revised report highlighting Challenges in sustaining and Upgrading the Global Positioning System.
See the summary, with a link to the full report, at the following: http://gao.gov/products/GAO-10-636

USA GPS Interference Testing:  (11 June 2011)
DOD GPS interference testing is ongoing at/near the following locations:
El Segundo, CA; Rancho Bernardo, CA; Cape Canaveral, FL; Navy Air Station Patuxent River, MD; White Sands Missile Range, NM; Gulf of Alaska,AK.

Specific times/dates are listed at:  http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/gps/gpsnotices/GPS_Interference.pdf
 
UK GPS Jamming:  (6 June 2011)
STANFORD TRAINING AREA, EAST ANGLIA, SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2011
Dates: Between 19 and 23 September 2011 and between 03 and 07 October 2011 inclusive.
Times: 0900 -1730 BST.
Location of MULTIPLE jammers: Land based within 5km of N52° 31.0’ E000° 45.0’.
Frequency: A 24 MHz band centred around 1575.42MHz (GPS L1).
Total Power: Up to 10 Watts EIRP.

 

CONUS WAAS GEO Satellite Status: (18 March 2011)
WAAS PRN's 133, 135 and 138 are currently operational. 
WAAS Service for Alaska Fully Restored
March 18, 2011 – FAA officials have placed the Intelsat Galaxy 15 GEO satellite (also known as CRW) back into operational mode, thereby restoring Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) service to a large area in northwest Alaska. Dual GEO coverage over a large portion of the rest of Alaska has also been restored.

For further information see the following link:
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/techops/navservices/gnss/waas/news/

GLONASS Status: (16 June 2011)
23 (of 27) Satellites healthy
GLONASS 727:  slot/plane/RF-chnl 3/1/-             Maintenance
GLONASS 718:  slot/plane/RF-chnl 17/3/-           Maintenance
GLONASS 726:  slot/plane/RF-chnl 22/3/-           Maintenance
GLONASS 701:  slot/plane/RF-chnl 4/3/-5           Commissioning

GLONASS Update: (5 May 2011)
05.05.2011
Glonass-K1 #701 launched on 26 February 2011 began transmitting navigational signal in L1, L2 and L3 on 7 April 2011.

GLONASS Launch Update: (26 May 2011)
Three GLONASS-M satellites are planned for launch in 25 August 2011. Delayed from July 2011.

EGNOS/Galileo Update: (23 May 2011)
Galileo: October take off for EU satellites

The launch of the first two operational satellites of the EU's global navigation satellite system will take place on 20th October, the European Commission announced today. This is just the first of a series of launches due to take off from Europe's Space Port in Kourou, French Guiana.

More Information:

European Commission

 

(18 January 2011)
Commission presents midterm review of Galileo and EGNOS
Today, the European Commission presents its midterm review on the development of Europe’s satellite navigation programmes Galileo and EGNOS. Recent progress in the development of Galileo, including the signature of four major contracts and the testing of the first four operational satellites, means the satellite navigation system will deliver initial services in 2014.

Read the full article here:

European Commission

 

A more detailed document (COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL - Mid-term review of the European satellite radio navigation programmes) at the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/_getdocument.cfm?doc_id=6312 estimates that Galileo’s Full Operational Capability should be achieved in 2019-2020.

COMPASS (Beidou) Update: (28 April 2011)

The eighth satellite of the Chinese COMPASS system was launched on 10th April. An Asia/Pacific regional service is expected to be completed within the coming two years, and global service by 2020

SPACE WEATHER UPDATE
The sun today:

"Courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams."

 

3-Day Report of Solar & Geophysical Activity: (Updated 15 June 2011 2200UTC)

Solar Activity Forecast: Solar activity is expected to be low with a chance for M-class events all three days of the period (16 - 18 June).

Geophysical Activity Forecast: The geomagnetic field is expected to be at mostly quiet levels through day one (16 June) and the majority of day two (17 June). Late on day two, and through day three (18 June), quiet to isolated active conditions are possible due to glancing blow effects from the CME observed early on 14 June.

 

Current Space weather Conditions:

Solar wind speed 436 km/sec	Updated 16 June 2011@1013UTC
48 sunspots	Updated 15 June 2011
IMF is North (Bz=2.9 nT);	Updated 16 June 2011@1014UTC
F10.7 cm Radio Flux (Penticton), 101	Updated 15 June 2011@2200UTC
Planetary K-index (Max. during preceding 24 hours), Kp = 3	Updated 16 June 2011@1028UTC
Planetary A-index (Est. 24hr running value), Ap = 6	Updated 16 June 2011@1028UTC

Kp index: Maximum value of previous four, 3-hourly planetary index measurements of geomagnetic activity
Ap Index: A measure of the general level of geomagnetic activity over the globe for a given (UT) day.
IMF: Interplanetary Magnetic Field: When the interplanetary magnetic field turns south compared to the Earth's magnetic field, geomagnetic activity will increase. As the Bz (Southward pointed) value becomes more negative, the associated geomagnetic activity increases.

Solar Cycle Update: (7 June 2011)
The Solar Cycle 24 Prediction Panel has agreed that the solar minimum occurred in December 2008.
The predicted solar maximum (Cycle 24) is now expected to occur in May 2013.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/

 

June 10, 2011

There is high Solar activity now and predicted in the coming year. The following link will take you to an article that explains what is happening : http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/PUBS_LIB/NGSRealTimeUserGuidelines.v1.0.pdf  

Caution should be taken when solar activity like flares are present. There is a higher probability for error when the atmosphere is transitioning through different conditions throughout the day.