R-Mode, future alternative to Positioning System

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) (Global Navigation Satellite System), have become the primary source of Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT1) for ships and marine operations. GNSS is also used for the automatic identification system (AIS2). Unfortunately, GNSS is recognized to be vulnerable to jamming and spoofing, intentional or not, that may result in the loss of positioning information, or, still worse, inaccurate positioning information. Read more …

Connecting USB/Bluetooth GPS with Mac M1 [Update-2]

The arrival of Macs with Apple M1 processors and macOS systems 11 "Big Sur" and macOS 12 "Monterey" had caused disappointments among GPS users connected via USB and/or Bluetooth for their navigation applications..

In USB, Latest DriverProlific V.2.2.2 is now universal for GPS BU-353xx by GlobalSat. As for theGNS3000 (¹) in Bluetooth it always undergoes an instability of the interface for the connection of multiple devices, instability that unfortunately does not yet seem to be fully fixed. Read more …

GNS 3000 Bluetooth GPS receiver for mobile

The new GNS 3000 announced by Global Navigation Systems since last spring is finally available (¹). It replaces the GNS 2000 More. Now equipped with a Bluetooth transmitter 5.0, it has an SD Card slot for recording position data continuously.

Compatible with Apple products, It caters mainly to non-GPS devices : iPod Touch and iPad WiFi all models. It can also be used with all PDAs, Bluetooth phones and tablets. It has a Li-Ion battery offering an autonomy of 10 continuous hours.

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Cyber ​​attacks and boating

Garmin was the victim of a cyber attack that started on 23 last July and lasted several days. The resulting outage disrupted many of its online services.

Navionics customers could no longer access the Navionics server through their login credentials. L’application Navionics Boating, the chart installer and the Navionics chart viewer were all impacted. products could no longer be purchased directly from the Navionics website. Chartplotters could still be used as stand-alone devices during this Garmin failure, but the maps could no longer be downloaded or updated. Read more …

Apple finally ship GALILEO [Update]

Good news, a year after its appearance on the first smartphones (¹), Apple finally integrates a GNSS receiver chipset compatible GALILEO. The iPhone 8/8+ and soon iPhone X are now provided with the LTE X16 Snapdragon modem MDM9655 from Qualcomm company, which includes a multi-GNSS receiver : GPS (USA), GLONASS (Russia), GALILEO (Europe) and QZSS (Japan) (²). Confirmation was given to me by our friends at iFixit.

[Update 15/12/2017] The iPhone 6S and 7 are now compatible with Galileo signals.

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BeiDou-3 China rushes its Global GPS

To date, the Chinese GPS satellite constellation BeiDou-2 covers only a part of East Asia and the Western Pacific. With the commissioning of GALILEO European GPS late 2016, the replacement scheduled of U.S. 2nd generation GPSII by the 3rd generation GPSIII, the launch of the 3rd generation of the Russian GLONASS-M satellites, China intends to catch up with global coverage forced march. Read more …

GALILEO and the Apple mobile

Within a month of the launch by Ariane 5 four new satellites of the GALILEO constellation to 18 satellites, manufacturers of components of location have already presented their new chips of location supporting the European GNSS. This allowed the Spanish company BQ to propose early September the first smartphone "Galileo-ready., equipped with the processorQualcomm Snapdragon 652, the Aquarius X 5 more.

We could expect to find the same chip in the iPhone 7 from Apple, that fitted for the iPad and iPhone 4S 3 all its mobile devices with Qualcomm communication processors, integrating GPS reception (US) and GLONASS (Russian), it is not. With this latest smartphone, Apple revives Broadcom, waived for 2012 to ensure these functions, by integrating a chip BCM47734.

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2016 Year of GALILEO

Since my first post on GALILEO end 2011 (¹), Europe's space has increased. Despite the economic uncertainties and many budgetary restrictions, Course and schedule have been maintained thanks to a community political flawless. This is to be welcomed because many other areas of European action didn't have the scoop.

The year 2016 has already been dubbed "the year of GALILEO".. This was the clear message of the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit (²) early March. The Munich Summit covered all GNSS systems, but this year focus was squarely on GALILEO. Read more …