Category: Fleet GPS System News

• September 27th, 2011
• Jackson Parker

Yesterday LightSquared decided to make its side of the story public by investing in several full-page ads in newspapers such as the Washington Post and New York Times. The Coalition to Save Our GPS recently responded to the ads, saying, “Today’s expensive full-page ads repeat LightSquared’s same, tired claims that it full well knows are not accurate…”

“LightSquared’s goal of creating more broadband competition is laudable, but its initial failure to recognize the potential for interference to the GPS devices and services we all rely on every day is inexplicable, and its continuing efforts to claim that the problem has been ‘solved’ are irresponsible….It’s time for LightSquared to step forward and accept responsibility for providing fully tested, verified solutions, and for bearing the full costs associated with any transition required to implement any solution.”

• September 21st, 2011
• Aurielle Destiche

Calypso Medical Technologies, a medical device and software company which has developed a tracking system to pinpoint tumors in the body, has been acquired for $10 million by Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, California.

Timothy E. Guertin, president and CEO of Varian Medical Systems said, “With Calypso’s technology, Varian will be able to offer cancer treatment centers real-time, non-ionizing tumor tracking tools for enhancing the precision of their treatments.”

Calypso, based in Seattle, creates products and software used to do real-time tracking of tumors during cancer treatment. The company does much of its work in prostate cancer treatment and is developing a lung cancer treatment product.

The Calypso® System features GPS for the Body® technology and Beacon® electromagnetic transponders that together currently provide a solution to continuously and accurately track and target location to improve precision of prostate cancer treatments.

• September 20th, 2011
• Aurielle Destiche

The dispute between LightSquared Inc. and the GPS industry recently shifted back to Congress. LightSquared is currently seeking approval from the FCC to move forward with its plans to build out a broadband wireless network. But the company has been facing fierce opposition from many claiming the proposed network will interfere with GPS system signals.

During a hearing before Congress, several lawmakers criticized the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for “advocating” for LightSquared at the expense of critical GPS operations.

• September 14th, 2011
• Jackson Parker

The US economy has been struggling since 2007. Many are hoping that the country does not enter a double-dip recession this year. Budget cuts are a harsh reality for cities and states across the US. Budget cuts affect us all, and now they are affecting the US global positioning system aka GPS.

The U.S. Air Force has done an incredible job with the GPS system. But budget issues are forcing the US federal government to carefully scrutinize its plans for space. One issue that may end up on the table is whether to proceed with plans to develop a new generation of “GPS III” satellites, or try to save money by sticking with the existing GPS IIF design.

• September 9th, 2011
• Jackson Parker

GLONASS is a network of 22 satellites orbiting the earth that are owned and controlled by the Russian government. Starting next year smartphones based on Qualcomm chipsets are going to get a huge improvement in their GPS reception because they will be able to utilize Russia’s GLONASS signals in addition to the Global Positioning System (GPS). According to Qualcomm and an article in PC Mag, adding GLONASS improves GPS accuracy in “deep urban environments” by 50 percent.

New smartphones will actually be able to leverage both satellite networks to get a much stronger, more reliable GPS signal, even in urban like New York City and in the mountainous terrain like in Colorado. Between GPS and GLONASS, Qualcomm smartphones will have 55 satellites to choose from, which makes it much easier for a smartphone or GPS receiver to get a GPS signal.

• August 30th, 2011
• Jackson Parker

GPS devices are an invaluable tool that modern society is completely dependent upon. The GPS market has drastically grown worldwide on account of increased use of the technology in areas of fleet management, aerospace applications/avionics, transport navigational systems, public safety, and others. GPS technology has proven its worth as huge benefits are being drawn from this technology to obtain precise position, velocity, and timing information of various devices.

According to an RNCOS research report released yesterday, “World GPS Market Forecast to 2013”, the contribution of the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to the world economy has shown a steady growth in the last decade. The global shipment of GPS devices is anticipated to reach around 900 Million Units by 2013, growing at a CAGR of more than 20% during 2011-2013, acknowledged RNCOS in its latest research report.