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Garmin planning four new eTrex GPS / Galileo handhelds
According to what appears to be a promotional flyer for Garmin's new lineup of eTrex devices, the company will be launching four new handhelds this fall, three of which will boast Galileo-readiness. The Venture HC looks to be the lone bandit sans Galileo support, but does sport 24MB of internal memory, USB connectivity, a WAAS-enabled 12 channel parallel GPS receiver, 2.1- x 1.3-inch backlit display, trip computer, automatic track log, celestial tables, and waterproof abilities as well. The eTrex H holds it down on the low-end by mimicking the older eTrex and adding future Galileo support via a "drop-in chip," while the Legend HCx handles microSD expansion cards and the top-end Vista HCx adds in a barometric altimeter and an electronic compass. Each unit should purportedly hit shelves sometime this fall, and depending on which model you go for, you'll be spending between $119.94 and $319.94 in Canada, or $111 and $295 here in the US of A. [Warning: PDF read link][Via NaviGadget]
Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system at a "dead end"
Europe's answer to GPS, Galileo, may be making some technological progress these days, but it looks like it still has some serious challenges of another sort to overcome if it's going to move forward as planned. According to the BBC, the main problem at the moment is that the consortium of companies building the system have yet to agree on a single company structure to oversee the ambitious endeavor, and they're now about the run against the May 10th date that had been set to get things sorted out. As a result, the European Commission is now reportedly planning to put forth new proposals to completely overhaul the project, which could see an increased cost to taxpayers in the EU. Whatever the problems, the parties involved had better not waste too much time getting their act together -- we hear the Russians are coming on strong with their own challenge to the GPS throne.[Thanks, Stewart]
Hello, Galileo: European GPS sat sends first navigation data
Although Galileo, the European alternative to GPS, has been beset by endless delays and even the ignominy of having its access system hacked almost immediately, the project continues to make slow progress this week with the transmission of its first navigation message. GIOVE-A, the first of a planned 30 satellites, has been floating overhead since the beginning of last year, but had only been sending "general signals" until the test last week, when the bird sent the data needed to measure the distance between itself and a ground station in Guildford, England. That's a big step, since the system is supposed go live next year and be fully operational by 2011 or so. Here's hoping all goes well -- the American-owned GPS system keeps sending European drivers into the drink.
China's Compass -- friendly GPS clone or Galileo bluff?
Ryan Caron over at Defense Tech has some hefty analysis on China's plans for their very own satellite navigation system, named Compass. No one is really clear what China's intentions for the system are, with rumors ranging from a minor upgrade to their regional Beidou system, to a full-on competitor to USA's GPS and Europe's Galileo. So far the most solid step China has taken towards actually building the system is an order of 18-20 rubidium atomic clocks that are necessary for syncing up satellites, but which have many other military uses. Ryan theorizes that China might just be bluffing about building a system of their own, in a bid to regain a piece of the Galileo pie, which they, along with all other non-European countries, have been unceremoniously written out of starting next year. More alarmingly, a global satnav system run by China would have the potential to operate as a jammer of US and European signals, another reason the various groups involved are so guarded with their systems. However it plays out, China currently has 32 satellite slots registered with the International Telecommunications Union for Compass, and bluff or not, there's a lot of potential there.
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Galileo GPS system hacked at Cornell
The insightful minds over at Cornell University's GPS Laboratory aren't messing around -- they only needed one week to hack the GIOVE-A (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element-A, more commonly referred to as Galileo) and gain access to the European satellite system without those pesky PRN codes. If you're overwhelmed by acronyms, fear not, the jist is as follows: these guys at Cornell did the legwork in developing an algorithm to extract the pseudo random number codes that are used to give customers access to the Galileo GPS system, which unlike America's taxpayer-owned militarily-developed and free GPS setup, is funded by the European Union, European Space Agency, and private organizations (read: service comes at a cost). What those oh so hopeful profiteers obviously disregarded was the little known fact that, well, (right now) it's impossible to copyright physical data about the world, leaving them all but helpless here. So please, should you need access to another set of GPS sats, be our guest and snag all those previously unavailable and presumably costly PRN codes at your leisure.
