About the ION

The Institute of Navigation is the world's premier non-profit professional society dedicated to the advancement of the art and science of positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). Founded in 1945, it serves a diverse community including those interested in air, space, marine, land navigation, and position determination. Its membership is worldwide, and it is affiliated with the International Association of Institutes of Navigation.

ION members are drawn from many sources including professional navigators, astronomers, cartographers, photogrametrists, meteorologists, engineers, physicists, educators, geodesists, surveyors, general aviation and airline pilots, mariners, yachtsmen, and anyone interested in position-determining systems. Corporate members include corporations, civil and military government agencies, private scientific and technical institutions, universities and training academies, and consulting firms.

ION INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL MEETINGS

These technical meetings offer you and your colleagues the opportunity to exchange technological information on the various navigation and positioning systems. The Institute annually sponsors an International Technical Meeting (January), IEEE/ION PLANS (Spring), JSDE/ION Joint Navigation Conference (Spring), and ION GNSS Meeting (September, sponsored by the ION's Satellite Division). These conferences provide a chance to present technical papers and discuss new findings with industry peers. The meetings are an opportunity to meet new people and renew old acquaintances.

ION SECTIONS

Local Sections: currently the ION has active sections across the U.S. and Canada. If you are interested in forming a section in your area, please contact the ION National Office.

PUBLICATIONS

The ION is well known for is its prestigious quarterly journal, NAVIGATION. The journal publishes original, peer-reviewed articles on all areas related to the science and technology of air, sea, land and space navigation, including estimation of position, velocity, attitude, and time, and the technologies that support the determination of these quantities. Supporting technologies include navigation aids and instrumentation, algorithms and methods, error and integrity analysis, signal processing, biological navigation systems, surveying and geodesy. Editorial services for the journal are provided by professionals in government, industry, and academia.

The ION publishes CD-ROM Proceedings from each ION conference. These proceedings contain each paper presented at the conference and provide a valuable resource for industry professionals.

Another popular series of publications are the Monographs of the Global Positioning System, better known as the "GPS Red Books".

AWARDS PROGRAM

The Institute sponsors five major annual awards. These awards include the Thurlow, Hays, Weems, Superior Achievement, and Burka Awards. Nominations are solicited from the navigation community. The presentation of these coveted awards is one of the many highlights of the ION International Technical Meeting.

In addition to the major awards, the ION sponsors student awards for navigation excellence. Cash awards are available to outstanding students of navigation selected by the faculty of recognized academies.

THE COUNCIL

The Council of the Institute acts as its board of directors. Council members are elected by the membership. Day-to-day operations of the Institute are conducted by the national office staff, at the national headquarters of the ION in Manassas, Virginia.

SATELLITE DIVISION

Satellite Division: The purpose of the Satellite Division is to encourage the development, operation, and use of navigation and position determination systems incorporating satellite based elements. The Satellite Division sponsors two awards presented each year. The Johannes Kepler Award honors individuals for sustained and significant contributions to the development of satellite navigation. The Bradford W. Parkinson Award recognizes outstanding graduate students in the field of Global Navigation Satellite Systems.