The federal government has been reminding GPS users about April's rollover event for close to a year, and the event will show "who has been paying attention," blogged the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation Monday. The Department of Homeland Security says legacy GPS navigation messages have a 10-bit parameter that "rolls over" to zero every 1,024 weeks, starting in January 1980, with the next scheduled for the week of April 6. It said that rollover could affect the reliability of coordinated universal time signals received by some critical infrastructure owners and operators.
If there are to be new export controls on position, navigation and timing technology, they should come after detailed talks between the government and commercial enterprises doing R&D, manufacture and distribution of PNT technologies, the GPS Innovation Alliance commented last week in a Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security proceeding on identifying and proposing controls on emerging technologies essential to national security. Those talks need to cover such ground as the extent to which emerging PNT technologies might become public information, the extent to which the PNT industry is doing R&D activities outside the U.S. and whether foreign firms might have developed PNT technologies to the point U.S. export controls would be ineffectual, GPSIA said.
The final 10 satellites of Iridium's Next broadband satellite constellation were launched into orbit Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the company said. It said 75 of the 81 Next satellites being built have been launched, with nine of those to be in-orbit spares, and the remaining six unlaunched satellites to be ground spares. Aireon said having 75 of its hosted payloads in orbit on the Next satellites was one of the last remaining hurdles before it begins its satellite-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast aircraft surveillance service within weeks.
After a disappointing 2018 for commercial satellite communication -- no revenue rebound, pricing and backlog declines and many operators seeing video revenue declines -- stronger revenue is a chief concern for most operators this year, Northern Sky Research analyst Gagan Agrawal blogged Wednesday. Service providers enjoyed "a marquee year," especially with bigger inroads into aerospace, consumer broadband, nautical and backhaul markets. He said strong market forecasts in broadband, aero and maritime point to service providers likely doubling revenue over the next four to five years. This year also should see capacity pricing declines similar to 2018, he said.
Intelsat joined GSMA as it looks to help solidify the integration of satellite and terrestrial technologies and to push 5G deployment, the satellite operator said Tuesday.
The Aerospace Industries Association is urging a resolution to the budget impasse resulting in the partial federal shutdown. AIA said Tuesday that beyond direct effects on government employees, the shutdown is having a ripple effect, with export licenses no longer being processed, contractors being furloughed and research projects at the FAA, NASA and NOAA in limbo. “Every day the shutdown lasts, the impacts grow and become more difficult and more expensive to fix,” it said.
The satellite industry could have cumulative revenue of $159 billion by 2027 from the satellite-delivered broadband and very small aperture terminal markets, Northern Sky Research said Monday. NSR forecasts 13.4 percent annual growth in the installed base of consumer sites. It expects lower capacity pricing and a stronger focus on retail to help increase demand. It said proliferation of Wi-Fi hot spots could open the market as well. The researcher said business models need to adapt, with operators needing to go direct-to-market in emerging applications like backhaul.
Facing a demand for launch of 11,746 small satellites by 2030, the smallsat launch services market could see cumulative revenue in excess of $69 billion by then, Frost & Sullivan said Monday. It said the smallsat launch service market growth is accelerating, with 89 smallsats launched in Q3 and seven new operators entering the market.
Harbinger Capital's 2017 $1.9 billion fraud suit against SkyTerra's former owners and management -- on stay since February -- will remain on stay through April 3, said a New York State Supreme Court docket 657515/2017 stipulation Friday. The sides said the stay was at Ligado's request. SkyTerra became part of Ligado in 2010.
Sirius XM and Visa are collaborating on an "e-wallet" that would be integrated into vehicle dashboards and let drivers and passengers make purchases while driving, they said Monday. They said the e-wallet will be offered to manufacturers who deploy Sirius XM's connected vehicle services. They said Visa is setting virtual payment relationships with various retailers and will provide secure authentication capabilities, while Sirius XM is developing protocols for connectivity and in-vehicle interfaces.