GPS 3 Main Payload Facing More Delays

As reported by Space News: Continuing problems with an Exelis-built payload will delay the delivery of the first of the GPS 3 next-generation navigation satellites, a senior U.S. Air Force official said Feb. 7.

Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, said the issue highlights the problem inherent in relying on one contractor for a critical technology. Exelis Geospatial Systems of Rochester, N.Y., has supplied the payloads for all previous generations of GPS satellites. 

The latest payload delay is not expected to push back the first launch of the Lockheed Martin-built GPS 3 satellites at this point. Nonetheless, Shelton made clear his patience is wearing thin. 

“Both the prime and the sub know exactly where we stand on this,” Shelton said in remarks at a Capitol Hill Club breakfast.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver is under contract to build eight GPS 3 satellites, the first of which is slated to launch in 2015. The satellites are expected to be more accurate and reliable than previous generations of GPS craft. 

In December 2012, Exelis announced it had integrated and performed initial testing of a payload aboard a prototype GPS 3 satellite.  But the company has struggled with the navigation payload since at least this past September, when Shelton mentioned the problem publicly.

In November, Exelis officials said they believed “the known technical issues have been resolved” and that the payload was expected to be delivered in spring 2014. At the time, they said the delays stemmed from “first-time development and integration issues, including design changes to eliminate signal crosstalk.” Crosstalk occurs when a signal broadcast on one circuit creates an undesired effect on another circuit. 

Chip Eschenfelder, a Lockheed Martin spokesman, said via email Feb. 7 that while “known performance issues have been resolved, we test thoroughly across the full range of launch and space flight mission environments to ensure that there are no residual problems.”  

That testing is ongoing, Eschenfelder said. “Lockheed Martin and Exelis are doing whatever it takes to get this first navigation payload right,” he said.

Shelton said he expected the current problems would push the delivery of the satellite from late 2014 into 2015, but most likely would not postpone the initial launch. 

Shelton was visibly frustrated with the issue and suggested that the U.S. government might benefit from having a diversity of GPS payload providers. 

“There is exactly one provider for navigation payloads,” Shelton said. Although not ready to abandon Exelis, Shelton said he has encouraged industry to work on an alternative payload. 

The Air Force has tried in the past — with mixed results — to create competition where none previously existed. 

Exelis spokeswoman Jane Khodos said in a Feb. 7 email that GPS 3 will meet all mission and quality requirements.

“We want to make sure to get everything right before the payload goes into space, especially with this first one,” Khodos said. “Significant testing with flight-like engineering units and the first GPS III satellite’s flight hardware indicates that the known technical issues have been resolved.”

Meanwhile, Shelton also raised questions about the long-term viability of the existing GPS constellation, calling some of the on-orbit satellites “fragile.” 

“We’re a little bit concerned about the long-term viability of the satellites,” he said, joking that some of the satellites were old enough to vote.

Currently, 31 GPS satellites are on orbit, including eight from the legacy Block 2A program. The first of those satellites, which were designed for a 7.5 year lifespan, were launched in 1990.

Beer-delivery Drone Grounded By FAA

As reported by CNN: Ice fishers in Minnesota are reeling from a recent FAA decision prohibiting beer delivery by drone.

Local brewery Lakemaid was testing a new drone delivery system to airlift frosty cases of beer to fishermen holed up in ice shacks on Mille Lacs Lake. After spotting a Lakemaid YouTube video that went up last week of one of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on a test run, the Federal Aviation Administration contacted Lakemaid and told the company to stop.

Unfortunately for Lakemaid fans and anyone else dreading a walk to the corner store, it's currently against the law to fly drones for commercial purposes or above 400 feet in the United States. The FAA is working on a comprehensive set of rules and regulations that will pave the way for commercial drone flight, but the legislation won't be ready until at least 2015 and drones might not be in the skies until 2017.

Until then, thirsty fishermen must obtain their beverages through old-fashioned terrestrial delivery methods.

The great beer grounding of 2014 might just be the issue that will turn Americans into pro-drone advocates. A WhiteHouse.gov petition has already gone up, asking the Obama administration to issue Lakemaid an airworthiness certificate. So far, 183 thirsty UAV advocates have signed the petition (only 99,817 signatures to go!).

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has previously expressed his support of aerial beer delivery on Twitter. In August he said "Perhaps I am not against ALL drones!" and linked to a news story about a drone delivering beers during a music festival in South Africa.

Only amateurs are allowed to fly drones at this time, and they're limited to small vehicles under 55 pounds. They can only operate the aircraft for fun, not for profit, and they must adhere to local and federal laws. For example, drones are not allowed to cruise over populated areas.

Some groups have received exceptions to test drones for research purposes.

"While we are evaluating many potential uses of [UAVs] as we move toward their safe integration into the nation's airspace, commercial operation of such aircraft is not yet allowed," said FAA spokesperson Elizabeth Cory in an e-mail.

Announcing plans to deliver goods by drone has been a popular publicity stunt for U.S. companies over the past year. On a recent "60 Minutes" segment, Amazon demonstrated a drone delivery system it's working on for packages. The company conducted the tests outside the country to avoid breaking U.S. law. In June, the Domino's pizza chain said it was developing a drone capable of delivering up to two pizzas.

The FAA has asked other companies and institutions to ground their drones in the past year. The agency has contacted a company in Wisconsin that used drones to capture aerial footage for real estate. And the Drone Journalism Lab at the University of Nebraska received a cease-and-desist letter for its attempts to use drones for reporting purposes.

Even once FAA regulations are in place, we likely won't see the skies filling up with beer deliveries.   Interested companies will have to get proper training and licenses.

"We are concerned about possible careless and reckless operation, especially if someone on the ground is hurt by an object or objects falling from the [UAVs]," said Cory, citing the FAA regulation that prohibits careless flying.

Delivery of goods is expected to be a small segment of future drone market. The bigger commercial uses will focus on agriculture, law enforcement and aerial photography.

Delicious test cases like beer and fast-food delivery might be gimmicky, but they can help ease the public's concerns about drones in the sky. The technology is mostly known for its military applications, and civil liberties groups are concerned about drones being used for surveillance by law enforcement. Local residents in Deer Trail, Colorado, have even attempted to pass a law that makes it legal to shoot down drones with the proper drone hunting license.

But the next generation of friendly drones aren't all packing weapons or collecting data for the NSA. Some just want to bring you a nice cold one and maybe a slice without getting stuck in traffic.

New York Police Department Is Beta-Testing Google Glass

As reported by Venture Beat: Google Glass may soon become a favored tool for law enforcement agencies in the United States.

The New York City Police Department’s massive and controversial intelligence and analytics unit is evaluating whether Google Glass is a decent fit for investigating terrorists and helping cops lock up bad guys, VentureBeat has learned. The department recently received several pairs of the modernist-looking specs to test out.

“We signed up, got a few pairs of the Google glasses, and we’re trying them out, seeing if they have any value in investigations, mostly for patrol purposes,” a ranking New York City law enforcement official told VentureBeat.

“We’re looking at them, you know, seeing how they work.”

The glasses are currently only available through Google’s Glass Explorer program, in which people who interested in acquiring them first apply and then receive notification from Google on whether it accepts or denies their application. Respondents who get the green light must pay $1,500 for the privilege.

The news that the country’s largest police department is eagerly beta-testing Google’s products comes at a sensitive time for the company, given its entanglement in various intelligence-gathering efforts from spy agencies in the U.S. and abroad. Not that Google is happy about that: Google chairman Eric Schmidt blew a gasket when it was revealed that the NSA was routinely hacking into the company’s servers to spy on customers, as outlined in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

A spokesman for Google said the company was not working with law enforcement agencies on the project and that the NYPD likely acquired the glasses through the Google Glass Explorer program.

“The Google Glass Explorer program includes people from all walks of life, including doctors, firefighters and parents. Anyone can sign up to become a Glass Explorer, provided he or she is a U.S. resident and over the age of 18,” read the wooden company response to my questions.

This isn’t the first time the NYPD has embraced new tech platforms: In 2012, the NYPD and Microsoft worked together to build the Domain Awareness System, a tool for gathering and managing surveillance data for counterterrorism efforts.

Google Glass is an Android-powered, wearable computer built into a module perched on the side of a pair of eyeglasses. It comes from Google’s somewhat clandestine special-projects division, called Google X, which is also working on driverless cars, high-tech contact lenses, and high-altitude balloons that blanket the Earth below with wireless Internet. Google Glass incorporates a heads-up display reminiscent of that used in advanced fighter jets and commercial airliners to communicate with pilots. A camera captures photo and video on demand.

The chief information officer of the San Francisco police department, Susan Merritt, said that her department has yet to test the wearable Google computers. But she says the applications for law enforcement are potentially huge.

The San Francisco department currently deploys Samsung S4 smartphones for cops working the street. Merritt says the S4 has become an integral tool because it enables officers to access the department’s criminal database to run warrant checks and pull up mugshots of wanted suspects in real time.

Google Glass could have a similar value proposition for police forces, Merritt said, pointing out that wireless facial recognition software is one potential use.

Even without facial recognition, Google Glass could help match suspects’ names and faces to information contained in various databases that police and federal law enforcement agencies use, such as those from the National Crime Information Center. That would give investigators a handy way to see a suspect’s rap sheet while interviewing them, for instance.

It could also help eliminate the time-consuming, hand-written or typed reports that are the bane of cops the world over by enabling video recording and dictation for digital reports.

But the glasses could run afoul of civil liberty groups who say Google Glass and their wireless software programs could encroach on the rights of innocent citizens, especially in a city like San Francisco.

Asked about these issues, Merritt deferred answering.

“This is very interesting,” Merritt said. “Call us back in six months!”

As for the NYPD, if the evaluators like what they see, the department could represent a significant customer for Google. With 34,500 people in the NYPD overall, that represents a lot of potential Glass-equipped cops.

That in turn could have a massive influence on Google Glass’s revenues, especially if other departments hop on the wearable bandwagon and the devices someday become standard issue for law enforcement agencies worldwide.

So far in New York, the NYPD official says, it’s too early to tell.

Some in law enforcement and the intelligence community sniff at Google Glass, arguing that while it might be a helpful gadget for geeks to manage their lives, its applicability to spying and investigations is limited.

“Its use for law enforcement and intelligence agencies is doubtful,” said Vincent Cannistraro, a former ranking clandestine operator with the CIA, who spent the majority of his career in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Central America.

“But I’ve been wrong before.”

The NYPD sees it differently.

“We think it could help impact patrol operations in New York City. We shall see,” the NY law enforcement official said.

U.S. FY14 Budget Pares GPS Appropriations

As reported by Inside GNSS: The GPS program sustained a cut of more than six percent from the levels in the president’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14), increasing the likelihood that the Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX) will be delayed and putting pressure on budgets in future years to make up for cuts to modernization efforts.

Congress made combined reductions of $67 million in GPS-related Department of Defense (DoD) line items out of a total White House request for $1.276 billion — some 5.3 percent. The depth of the cut jumps a bit, however, when cuts in the civil contribution to GPS are taken into account.

The Obama administration had asked for $20 million for the Department of Transportation’s (DoT’s) payment into the GPS program — money that goes primarily toward upgrading the ground segment and support for new civil signals. Lawmakers in the House cut the civil request entirely while those in the Senate gave the budget item a mere 25 percent haircut to $15 million.

In the end, House lawmakers appear to have persuaded their Senate colleagues to adopt their point of view, holding the civil contribution to just $6 million for fiscal year 2014. When the civil contribution is taken into account, the total reduction in appropriations for GPS is over six percent.

The main effect of the shortage in civil money will be delays in work on the OCX, which is integral to benefiting from the capabilities of the GPS Block III satellites and new civil signals.

“The impact of the reduced civil contribution to OCX will slow software development and testing,” the U.S. Air Force said in a written response to a question from Inside GNSS about the significance of the cuts. “However, the impact is recoverable,” they said, “if appropriations over the next two years fulfill the agreed to funding commitments.”

The prospects for full restoration of civil funding, however, seem dim. The budget line has been cut repeatedly since 2011 with the request more than halved for the last two years. From an original plan that should have seen $40 million or more contributed each year by the civil community, Congress allocated only $19 million in both 2012 and 2013 out of a $50.3 million and a $40 million request, respectively.

DoD, DoT Differences on Civil Funds
A further complication arises from a very long — and so far unresolved — back-and-forth between the departments of defense and transportation over what exactly the civil money is to pay for. Without clarity on what civil appropriations buys and what the likely consequences of further cuts would be, the chances that Congress will be convinced to support more funding appear sharply reduced.

“DoT looks forward to continuing to provide input on GPS requirements from the civil sector to the Air Force,” the agency said in written response to Inside GNSS. “DoT will work with DoD to assess programmatic and schedule impacts to ensure that we continue implementation of the civil signal monitoring requirement.”

The Pentagon is in a tougher spot this year with regard to its own funding and will be less likely to be able to make up any deficiencies. Although the congressional authorizing committees approved the entire White House request for GPS, the appropriators cut everything but procurement of the GPS IIF satellites — $56 million. The request for GPS III procurement was cut by $27 million to $450.6 million. Also downsized was the request for GPS III development — trimmed by $20 million to $201.3 million.

“The impacts from the FY 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act reductions to the GPS program are consistent with efficiencies across the space portfolio,” said the Air Force. “The $67M in cuts to the GPS Enterprise are targeted at a variety of programs with varying impact. The most significant reduction is to the procurement of long lead items. Although not likely to delay production, it will defer these costs to future years.”

Slowdown in GPS Modernization?
The exact reasons for the cuts are unclear. The House said the advance procurement money for the ninth GPS III spacecraft and beyond was “ahead of need.” It gave a similar reason for its proposed cut from GPS III development. The Senate was “eliminating program management growth,” citing a desire to “maintain program affordability.” The explanation accompanying the final budget agreement used similar language to describe the decisions. The House and Senate committees did not respond to queries about the decisions by press time.

The financial decisions may hint at a further slowing of GPS modernization. Defense managers were already replacing satellites on an as-needed basis, launching only when one of the famously long-lived GPS satellites started to fail.

The anticipated mission duration of each of the 19 IIR and IIR-M satellites is now expected to be longer by one to two years as a result of revised battery-charge control rates. Those satellites make up more than half of the current constellation. Although budget-smart, delaying launches also delays modernization at a time when other, potentially competing, DoD constellations are coming online.

Independent sources have confirmed that finding savings is a top priority, a point underscored by military officials.

“Due to fiscal realities, the Air Force has implemented cost saving measures while continuing modernization efforts across the GPS Enterprise,” the Air Force told Inside GNSS. “Furthermore, the Air Force is maintaining our commitment to National Security users and the larger civil community for a baseline GPS satellite constellation requirement of 95% functional availability of a 24-satellite constellation. The Air Force works with OSD (the Office of the Secretary of Defense) and Congress to ensure the GPS enterprise continues to be adequately funded to meet these requirements.”

Caught in the middle is the National Coordination Office (NCO) for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT), a key hub for working through interagency GPS issues. The NCO gets its funding from both DoD and DoT and has already taken budgetary hits over the last several years.

“We suspect we’ll have to deal with smaller budgets like all the other departments,” said Acting NCO Director Col. Harold "Stormy" Martin, although “all the ramifications” of the 2014 budget “have not played out.”

The budget pressures driving the cuts will continue, said federal budget expert Stan Collender, although improvements in the overall federal deficit outlook should reduce the pressure to ratchet spending down beyond what is already planned through measures such as “sequestration,” which lasts through 2021.

“The best way to look at this is that where these programs are now, for the most part, is where they are going to be for the next five years,” said Collender, who is national director of financial communications for Qorvis Communications.

“In general what you would expect on appropriations, defense and domestic, is that there is going to be a lot of pressure on all spending programs,” Collender told Inside GNSS. “Some will do a little bit better, some will do a little bit worse, but there is not a big windfall in additional cash coming anytime soon. And I mean through 2020. So you're going to find a lot of programs squeezed, and squeezed and squeezed again over the next five years.”

Israeli Pilots Jailed For Storing Sensitive Maps On Smartphones For Convenience

Israeli soldiers use their phones to send text messages at a bus
stop in Mevaseret Zion, near Jerusalem.

As reported by The Guardian: Two Israeli combat pilots have been jailed for five days and 12 others disciplined for storing operational maps on their smartphones.

Military authorities discovered the security breach after one of the pilots reported that he had lost his mobile phone and that it contained sensitive data, Israeli Army Radio reported on Wednesday.

The phone was recovered, the report said, and investigators found he had loaded maps and other classified documents.

Other members of his squadron had done the same so they could have the information readily at hand, the radio said.

The 14 pilots were court-martialled: two were sent to jail, 11 received suspended sentences and one was fined.

GPS Satellite Mounted Atop Booster For Feb. 20 Launch

As reported by Space Flight Now: Beginning a slate of three launches in five months to fortify the Global Positioning System, the first craft was mounted atop its Delta 4 booster rocket Wednesday for liftoff Feb. 20.

The launch is precisely timed at 8:40 p.m. EST to replace a 16-year-old member of the navigation network -- the GPS 2A-28 satellite. The evening launch opportunity extends 19 minutes.

Built by Boeing, the new GPS 2F-5 satellite brings with it modernized features including greater accuracy, better anti-jamming and a civil signal for commercial aviation as the fifth Block 2F bird.

Crews transported the satellite to Complex 37 overnight and lifted it into the gantry. The initial stage of attachment of the craft onto the upper stage of the rocket was completed.

The Air Force and partner United Launch Alliance plan to launch GPS 2F-6 in May on another Delta and GPS 2F-7 on an Atlas 5 in July.

The Feb. 20 launch is headed for Plane A, Slot 3 of the constellation where it will become a primary spacecraft to transmit navigation and timing to military and civilian users around the globe. The satellite currently in that slot will be moved into a backup role for remainder of its useful life.
It will be the 25th Delta 4 launch and the fourth with a GPS satellite. ULA intends to conduct four flights of the Delta 4 this year.

 The launch was delayed from October while engineers ran additional tests and analysis on the low-thrust condition experienced on the successful GPS 2F-3 flight.

"The delay of the GPS 2F-5 was not related to any new observation from the GPS 2F-3 launch. The Phase II investigation of the GPS 2F-3 flight telemetry continues the analysis from Phase I with the goal to thoroughly confirm there are no systematic issues with RL10B-2 engine," the Air Force says.

"Over the last several months, the team has continued testing and analysis which has increased our understanding and confidence in the conclusions of the GPS 2F-3 flight telemetry and the conclusions from Phase I."

Investigators believe a tiny fuel leak developed at the first ignition of the upper stage engine, resulting in lower-than-expected thrust and longer burn times. It is possible there were low-frequency dynamic responses that occurred on the engine system during ignition.

Additional inspections, in-flight helium purges to critical areas of the engine system and changes to how the engine is thermally conditioned during ascent to prepare for its initial ignition have been put in place to mitigate the risks.

GPS is marking the 20th anniversary of its Initial Operational Capability, the point in which the constellation was populated sufficiently to go into service.

"GPS has grown to become a vital worldwide utility serving billions of users around the globe. GPS multi-use Precision Navigation and Timing services are integral to the United States global security, economy, and transportation safety, and are a critical part of our national infrastructure," the Air Force says.

"GPS contributes vital capabilities to our nation's military operations, emergency response, agriculture, aviation, maritime, roads and highways, surveying and mapping, and telecommunications industries, as well as recreational activities. It is not an overstatement to say GPS is fundamental to today's technical infrastructure and culture."

Car Communication Systems To Be Required As U.S. Weighs Rules

As reported by Bloomberg Technology: U.S. regulators will propose rules before President Barack Obama leaves office requiring vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems in new cars, a move advocates said may aid safety more than seat belts and air bags.

“Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology represents the next generation of auto safety improvements,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said at a news conference today. “The potential of this technology is enormous.”

Technology companies including Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) are among those vying to build the architecture for the connected car of the future. Google Inc. and Tesla Motors Inc. are among companies looking at employing automated systems that could be precursors to self-driving cars.

The technology would let cars automatically exchange safety data such as speed and position 10 times per second and send warnings to drivers if an imminent collision is sensed, the Transportation Department said in a statement today. The systems being envisioned won’t be able to operate brakes or steering, though such technologies are being studied.

The technology’s price is dropping and its effectiveness is improving, said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book. It will take years to work out the how the devices work outside the lab and the degree to which they will control vehicles, he said in an e-mailed statement.

‘Connected Fleet’
“The full transition from our current vehicle fleet to a connected fleet will take at least 10 years, and like any new technology, the early stages of the transition will be fraught with glitches,” Brauer said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the U.S. auto-safety regulator, released in May its draft of a policy that encouraged development of technologies that could be components of autonomous vehicles.

It conducted a pilot project in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to test short-range communication technologies that it has said could prevent, or reduce in severity, as many as 80 percent of crashes involving non-impaired drivers. About a third of U.S. highway fatalities are alcohol-related.

“The vision of talking cars that avoid crashes is well on the way to becoming reality,” Scott Belcher, president of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, said in a statement. The Washington-based trade group includes companies such as Honda Motor Co. (7267), Siemens AG, AT&T Inc. and TomTom NV.

Crash-Imminent Braking
David Strickland, who stepped down as NHTSA administrator last month, said in May that the agency was looking at whether to regulate crash-imminent braking, a technology featured in a number of luxury models that applies brakes automatically if sensors indicate a crash is about to occur.

Vehicle-to-vehicle systems would go a step beyond such systems by allowing communications to take place between cars, or between a car and the road.

Today’s announcement begins a three-year period of intensive, more-focused research and consultations with the industry that will lead to a proposed regulation, NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman said.

The “game-changing” technology has now been demonstrated as reliability and capable of saving lives, Friedman said. Automakers, their suppliers and tech companies had been waiting for a signal that regulators were ready to write long-term plans, and they’ll react favorably to today’s Transportation Department decision, Foxx said.

Reserved Wireless Spectrum
Among the issues to be settled: how much access non-automotive users would have to the frequencies to be designated for use in vehicle-to-vehicle communications. Both the Transportation Department and the Federal Communications Commission will have to carefully evaluate any potential interference with the safety-critical systems.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, representing automakers includingGeneral Motors Co. (GM) and Toyota Motor Corp., cautioned that the FCC should reserve the airwaves for “safety-critical auto systems until thorough testing is completed.”

Automakers have to work with companies that are trying to fit unlicensed Wi-Fi devices on the same frequency, said Michael Stanton, president and chief executive officer of the Association of Global Automakers.

“Communication delays of even thousandths of a single second matter when dealing with auto and highway safety,” Stanton said.

‘Wi-Fi Demand’
The Telecommunications Industry Association welcomed the end of an almost “15-year development cycle” and noted that technology companies were looking to share the designated frequency “to meet exploding Wi-Fi demand.”

“We look forward to working with the FCC and other federal agencies to determine how other low-power unlicensed technologies such as Wi-Fi can share this radio spectrum,” the Arlington, Virginia-based group, whose members include Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) andAlcatel-Lucent (ALU), said in a statement.

The Transportation Department today said the technology it envisions won’t track vehicle movements or allow the exchange of personal information. It would allow cars to be identified only for the purposes of fixing safety flaws.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, raised concerns in May that the communications advances being discussed could make cars vulnerable to hacking.