6 février 2024 | International, Terrestre
15 février 2020 | International, C4ISR
The next GPS payload will be fully digital
By: Nathan Strout
The navigation payload for the next iteration of GPS satellites has passed its critical design review, contractor L3Harris announced Feb. 11.
According to the company, which is designing and building the system, the new payload will provide a more powerful, reliable and flexible GPS signal than previous satellites.The GPS IIIF satellites will follow the first 10 GPS III satellites—the first of which is already on orbit and operational. The Air Force plans to eventually build 22 GPS IIIF satellites.
While the GPS III satellites use a 70 percent digital Mission Data Unit, the one in the new GPS IIIF payload will be fully digital. According to L3Harris, the new system will “provide more powerful signals and ensure flawless atomic clock operations.”
“The digital payload is flexible enough to adapt to advances in GPS technology and future warfighter mission needs,” said Ed Zoiss, president of L3Harris' space and airborne systems. “Proceeding to the next stage in the GPS IIIF navigation payload development process moves the program closer to supporting evolving Air Force mission requirements.”
With the critical design review complete, L3Harris can move forward with final development, test and delivery. The company has contributed navigation technology to every GPS satellite in orbit.
While L3Harris is designing the navigation payload, Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for GPS IIIF. The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin more than $1.3 billion to build the first two GPS IIIF satellites in 2018. Critical design review for the platform is expected in March 2020, according to Space Force budget documents released Feb. 10. Once that is complete and the program passes Milestone C in the third quarter of FY2020, the Space Force will begin procuring additional GPS IIIF satellites with annual contract options.
Delivery of the first GPS IIIF satellite is expected in 2026.
Among their advanced features, GPS IIIF satellites will boast regional military protection capabilities, which allow them to deliver regionally-limited high-power M-Code signals. It will also include new laser retro-reflector arrays that can provide on orbit position determination.
Furthermore, the GPS IIIF satellites are being designed to potentially incorporate technology from Navigation Technology Satellite 3, an Air Force Research Laboratory space vehicle that will be used to test a variety of position, navigation and timing technologies. L3 Harris is the prime contractor on that program, which recently passed its preliminary design review.
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The Tech Companies That Are Eager to Sell AI to the Pentagon
BY DAVE GERSHGORN The Pentagon's AI shopping list is similar to a Silicon Valley company's: fast data organization, predictive maintenance, and mitigation for threats. While Silicon Valley workers continue to protest their employers selling artificial intelligence products to the US military, the US military is still looking to spend money on AI. The Army Research Lab, the Project Maven team, and the USDepartment of Defense's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center will host technology companies later this month in Maryland, where the government will view private demonstrations. According to federal contracting data (free login required for the full list), large tech companies such as Intel, IBM, GE, Oracle, as well as defense company Raytheon, have expressed interest in showing off their AI for the military. Absent from the list are AI giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, though the DoD has not responded to an inquiry as to whether the available contracting data is the complete list of attending organizations. The DoD's needs aren't too different from those of a Silicon Valley tech company, though the technology is unlikely to be used in a food delivery app or search engine. The military is looking for help organizing and standardizing its data, tools to create AIalgorithms, and infrastructure to test and deploy those algorithms. Some of the military's uses are similar to commercial applications for AI, like predictive maintenance and translation, though other use cases include analyzing drone footage and “force protection,” which means mitigating potential threats to the military. Project Maven, in particular, is focused on tech that autonomously extracts information from still or moving imagery. Smaller, more specialized tech firms from outside of Silicon Valley are also vying for government contracts. Descartes Labs, which uses artificial intelligence to analyze satellite imagery, is planning to attend the industry day and give a demo. Descartes Labs' government programs director, Steven Truitt, tells Quartz the company plans to discuss a super-computing platform for the intelligence community and “defense information awareness missions.” A competitor, Orbital Insight, has also indicated interest in the event. Of the 42 businesses interested in attending the event, six are owned by veterans, according to the contracting documents. John Merrihew, VP government solutions at AI contractor Veloxiti, says his military experience puts him in a different category of tech company than Silicon Valley. “I'm an Army retiree after 24 years and a half-dozen combat tours, so I have an obligation to [provide this technology],” Merrihew told Quartz. “I'm not a guy out on the west coast who's made a lot of money like Google. All of my engineers have security clearances, so we're pretty bought in on trying to help the military in this area.” https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/11/tech-companies-are-eager-sell-ai-pentagon/152800/