Japan’s first navigation satellite gets into position

Society may already be dangerously over-reliant on satellite radio navigation systems like GPS, the Royal Academy of Engineering warns in a report published yesterday. The range of applications using the technology is now so broad that, without adequate independent backup, signal failure or interference could potentially affect safety systems and other critical parts of the economy.

Tests conducted by Rx Networks and the European GNSS Agency (GSA) confirm that, when used in addition to GPS and/or GLONASS, Galileo significantly improves the accuracy of location-based services when used in challenging environments. The GSA and Rx Networks, a leading mobile location technology and services company, announced the results of tests conducted by the company measuring the performance of Galileo when used in various combinations with GPS and GLONASS.

According to a report by Berg Insight, global shipments of GPS-enabled GSM/WCDMA handsets increased almost 97 per cent in 2010 to 295 million units. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.8 per cent, shipments are forecast to reach 940 million units in 2015. The attach rates for wireless connectivity technologies in handsets including GPS, Bluetooth and WLAN are increasing steadily as the adoption of smartphones accelerates. These connectivity technologies are already a standard feature on hi