GPS World, May 2016

SYSTEM SYSTEMS OF Jamming on the Borderline Next Pair Prepped for Galileo ESNC 2016 MAY 2016 WWW GPSWORLD COM GPS WORLD 11 S outh Korea issued a warning in late March after detecting satellite signal disruptions that appeared to be coming from North Korea The capital city of Seoul appeared to be the target Officials said North Korea discharged a large amount of radio waves to jam GPS signals in the region Weve detected signs that North Korea has been sending radio waves to the capital area since a month ago to disrupt GPS signals a senior government official said speaking on condition of anonymity North Korea had been sending test waves since last month but today they discharged the largest amount The disruptions could cause mobile phones to malfunction and affect planes and ships that rely on GPS for navigation No damage has so far been reported in the military or among civilians officials said Since 2010 GPS disruptions have occurred three times in South Korea and all have been blamed on the North Southern Counter On April 7 the U S State Department confrimed the jamming in a public communique stating the the jamming was causing signal disruptions to airplanes ships and buoys in the area surrounding Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces out to about 100 nautical miles On April 8 the South Korean government said it would beef up its system to protect GPS signals but did not explain how South Korea is developing an eLoran system which would be far more difficult to jam than GPS T he latest pair of navigation satellites has reached Europes Spaceport in French Guiana according to the European Space Agency ESA This starts a new Galileo launch campaign that will culminate in a May 24 launch of the 13th and 14th satellites in the constellation A second launch is planned for this fall with four satellites carried aloft on a customized Ariane 5 for the first time bringing the count to 18 Galileo satellites in orbit by the end of the year The pair of satellites left ESAs technical centre in Noordwijk the Netherlands on April 4 cocooned within protective air conditioned containers They were then driven to Luxembourg Airport where they were loaded aboard a Boeing 747 cargo jet for a dawn takeoff the following morning The satellites touched down at Cayenne Félix Eboué Airport in French Guiana at 11 15 a m local time on Tuesday Still within their canisters they were driven to the Guiana Space Centre and unboxed that evening within the cleanroom environment of the centres S1A payload preparation building A fit check is scheduled next to ensure the satellites can be attached to the dispenser T he largest international c o m p e t i t i o n f o r t h e commercial use of satellite navigation once again seeks outstanding ideas and business models with prizes worth a total of 1 million in more than 25 categories The deadline for submissions to the European Satellite Navigation Competition ESNC is June 30 The official website www esnc eu provides all relevant information on prizes partners and terms of participation The ESNC is geared toward individuals and teams from companies research facilities and universities around the world China launched the 22nd BeiDou satellite into orbit on Tuesday BeiDou 22 or BeiDou 2 I6 was launched at 20 11 UTC 4 11 local time by a Long March 3A rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center China launched the 21st BeiDou satellite on Feb 1 the second in a series of BeiDou launches scheduled for 2016 The BeiDou constellation is planned to be completed in 2020 The new satellite the sixth BeiDou 2 IGSO will be used to replenish the current operating regional system The satellite after entering its designed work orbit and finishing inorbit testing will join others already in orbit and improve the stability of the system preparing for BDS to offer global coverage 22 BeiDou