Dr. Penina Axelrad

For her continuing contributions to research and graduate and undergraduate education in the fields of dynamics and systems, aerospace electronics and communications, and GPS technology.

Dr. Penina Axelrad is an associate professor of Aerospace Engineering Sciences with the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Since 1985, Dr. Axelrad has been active in research on GPS technology and applications for space and airborne navigation, publishing 22 technical papers and over 60 conference papers, and serving as co-editor of an AIAA book on GPS.

Dr. Axelrad directly supervises a group of four to eight graduate students and provides technical advice to a larger group of students through joint research projects with colleagues. She has served as the primary dissertation advisor for 11 graduating doctoral students during the past 11 years.

Students from her research group have successfully moved on to positions of responsibility within the DoD, NASA, industry, and other universities. Her teaching contributions include the development of a graduate laboratory course in GPS technology and an undergraduate lab course on aerospace electronics and communications. She was one of the leaders of a major undergraduate curriculum revision within the Aerospace Engineering Department with the goal of improving student education through increased hands-on learning experiences. She has given numerous seminars on GPS for both scientific and non-technical audiences and is actively involved in outreach programs for K-12 students.

Dr. Axelrad received her S.B. and S.M. from MIT in 1985 and 1986, respectively, and her Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1991. Her current research interests include technology and algorithms for GPS-based navigation of spacecraft in LEO and HEO, multipath characterization and correction, and remote sensing using GPS-based bistatic radar. Dr. Axelrad has been an active member of the Institute of Navigation since 1986, serving in numerous positions including space representative, ION GPS program chair, associate editor of NAVIGATION, Satellite Division chair, and currently as ION executive vice president. She is also an associate fellow of the AIAA, a senior member of IEEE, and a member of Sigma Xi. Her contributions to the GPS field have been recognized by the 1996 Lawrence Sperry Award from the AIAA and the 2003 Tycho Brahe Award from the ION .

Dr. M. Elizabeth Cannon

For her sustained contributions in the field of global navigation satellite systems, including differential GPS, kinematic carrier phase methods and applications, integration, and educational efforts.

Dr. M. Elizabeth Cannon is a professor in the Department of Geomatics Engineering at the University of Calgary. She has been active in GPS research since 1984 in areas such as precise kinematic positioning for land, air, and marine applications and also GPS/INS.

During the past 12 years, Dr. Cannon has been a leader in many GPS-related research areas, including attitude determination using GPS, multipath parameter estimation, precision farming based on GPS and GIS, precise positioning using GPS carrier-phase integer ambiguity resolution, multiple reference station RTK positioning, precision aircraft-to-aircraft positioning, receiver performance characterization under high dynamics, and GPS augmentation with other sensors.

Dr. Cannon has raised over $7 million dollars to support her research programs, and has published 75 journal articles and more than 120 conference papers. Flowing from this research, she has co-developed six different GPS-related software products, which have been licensed to over 180 organizations in 18 countries. She has taught over 2,000 professionals in short courses in North America and many European countries.

In addition to her direct research contributions, Dr. Cannon has taken leadership roles in several diverse professional associations. She has received over 30 different awards, including 11 best presentation awards at ION GPS/GNSS conferences and eight awards for journal and conference papers, Canada’s Top 40 Award, and eight different awards recognizing her outstanding teaching abilities. She is also a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Dr. Cannon is actively engaged in the community-at-large, giving more than 200 presentations on GPS to students and teachers, as well as community, professional and government groups. She held the NSERC/Petro-Canada Chair for Women in Science and Engineering from 1997 to 2002, which was aimed at increasing the representation of women in science and engineering.

Prof. Richard B. Langley

For his contributions to GPS education for specialists and his research advances in many areas including atmospheric delay modeling, and advancing the knowledge of GPS in society.

Prof. Richard B. Langley is a full professor at the Department of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering at the University of New Brunswick, where he is the senior member of the Geodetic Research Laboratory and has conducted GPS-related research and teaching for more than twenty years.

Prof. Langley has worked extensively with the Global Positioning System. He is a co-author of the best-selling The Guide to GPS Positioning published by Canadian GPS Associates and has been a columnist and contributing editor of GPS World magazine since its inception. The material developed for Prof. Langley’s academic, private, and public lectures were also directed to contributing chapters in the 1996 book GPS for Geodesy. His research team is currently working on a number of GPS related projects including the study of atmospheric effects on WAAS and the development of applications for spaceborne GPS.

Prof. Langley’s involvement with GPS started as a post-doctoral fellow at MIT with the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, where he carried out research in geodetic applications of lunar laser ranging and very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). For work in VLBI, he shares two NASA Group Achievement Awards. He joined Dave Wells and Petr Vanicek at UNB in 1981 to expand an early GPS research program. The mid-1980s saw this partnership develop DIPOP, the UNB static GPS data processing software package, which has evolved over the years to become a powerful analysis tool. This research also produced partnerships with the University of Bern and aided in their GPS program.

With interests in virtually all high-precision applications of GPS, Prof. Langley oversaw the development of the UNB-RTK system, which is being used for machine control, deformation monitoring, and other applications.

Prof. Langley has mentored many undergraduate and graduate students over the years. A number of these former students have gone on to make their own marks in the GPS community.

Prof. Langley has a B.Sc. in applied physics from the University of Waterloo and a Ph.D. in experimental space science from York University, Toronto. Prof. Langley has co-chaired numerous sessions at ION meetings and served as a track chair for ION GPS/GNSS 2003. He has also won three “Best Presentation in Session” awards from the ION.

Dr. Benjamin B. Peterson

For the development of navigation systems that perform well in challenging radio environments.

Dr. Benjamin B. Peterson has developed several effective techniques for improving GPS performance in urban canyons. He developed a receiver that would continue to navigate with two satellites and a stable frequency source. He has also developed a dynamic programming algorithm to estimate vehicle path from limited measurements and a GPS positioning algorithm that does not need the time information in the most-fragile GPS navigation message.

Dr. Peterson developed a VHF spread spectrum navigation system for tracking troops inside buildings, which was successfully demonstrated at Fort Benning in 1998.

Dr. Peterson has thoroughly investigated Loran performance in deep urban canyons and for DoD counterdrug applications. He developed a miniature low-power Loran sensor for integration with GPS in urban warfare environments and a magnetic loop antenna for a Loran receiver. Currently, he co-chairs the Loran Integrity Performance Panel (LORIPP), which strives to determine whether Loran can meet the integrity and availability requirements for non-precision approach. Dr. Peterson is also involved with the Loran Accuracy Performance Panel (LORAPP), where he leads the investigation to determine whether Loran can backup GPS for harbor and harbor entrance navigation.

Finally, Dr. Peterson has served as the lead educator and mentor for many U.S. Coast Guard cadets. Their names appear as co-authors on Dr. Peterson’s publications, which include nine journal articles, four book chapters, and more than 29 conference papers.

Dr. Peterson received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Yale in 1983, and spent most of his career on the faculty of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He retired from the Academy in 2000 as a Coast Guard captain, head of the Department of Engineering, and director of the Center for Advanced Studies. At that time, he founded Peterson Integrated Geopositioning.

Dr. Peterson’s work has received numerous recognitions. He received the ION’s Burka Award for the best paper to appear in NAVIGATION in 1991. And in 1995, he received the U.S. Coast Guard’s Alumni Association Distinguished Faculty Award. The International Loran Association has recognized Dr. Peterson with best paper awards in 1998 and 2002, and with their Medal of Merit in 2000.

POSTHUMOUS FELLOW
Mr. Sterling R. Anderson

For his recognized contributions and expertise to the field of VOR Guidance Systems.

Mr. Sterling R. Anderson was chief of the Transmitter and Antenna Branch at the Civil Aeronautics Administration Technical Development and Evaluation Center from 1942 to 1959. During this time period, he was the key engineer in the development of the CAA’s conventional VOR and its improvements, and was responsible for the design, development and successful testing of the Compatible DVOR. Although he was not the original inventor of the VOR or Doppler VOR concepts, his engineering know-how made it possible for these systems to be practical and rapidly deployed as the worldwide standard for air navigation.

Mr. Anderson was a main contributor to the design and testing of the original VOR. He invented the modulation eliminator for the transmitter signal input to the goniometers. This was the original Five-Loop VOR antenna system that was deployed in the 1950s. Mr. Anderson also did significant mathematical analysis in deriving the VOR multipath error for siting considerations and polarization error equations for antenna design that were used to enhance the accuracy of the VOR. He was the main technical contributor to the design, development, and testing of the Four Loop VOR Antenna that significantly reduces the cone of no coverage at the top of the station and the polarization error.

Mr. Anderson together with Mr. Robert Flint designed, developed, and tested the CAA’s Compatible DVOR. The DVOR is deployed at major airports. All of this work was done in 1958. The compatibility feature is that a receiver designed for conventional VOR can use the DVOR transmission. The DVOR mitigates multipath error. Additionally, Mr. Anderson demonstrated mathematically the compatibility feature of the CAA system as well as the degree of multipath rejection.

POSTHUMOUS FELLOW
Maj. Gen. John W. Hepfer

For his contributions as a practical navigator, research and development project officer, and strategic missile program manager resulting in the development and production of a multitude of navigation, guidance and control systems for both fighter and bomber aircraft, and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Major General John W. Hepfer was the former deputy for Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO), Air Force Systems Command out of North Air Force Base, Calif.

Gen. Hepfer held degrees in mathematics and physics from Bridgewater College in 1950. He received his master of arts degree in quantitative analysis from the University of Maryland in 1966 and was a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Program for Management Development.

Gen. Hepfer enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on July 30, 1942, where he flew 44 combat missions in the Southwest Pacific as an aircraft navigator. During his career, he served as chief of guidance and control for the Minuteman Missile program, assistant deputy chief for Systems Command, Commander—Rome Air Development Center, and commander of the Air Force Ballistic Missile Office directing all efforts related to the Minuteman and MX missile programs.

POSTHUMOUS FELLOW
Dr. Leonard Kruczynski

For over 25 years of work on GPS, including serving as commander of the GPS Test Force at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground and his participation on RTCM Special Committee 104 and the GPS Test Standards Committee.

Dr. Leonard Kruczynski was a 1965 distinguished graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. He also earned a master of science from Purdue University and a doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, he earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Santa Clara.

Dr. Kruczynski was a retired United States Air Force officer. He was commander of the GPS Test Force in Yuma, Ariz., from 1982 to 1985. He was chief scientist for Trimble Navigation for 10 years and then joined Magellan Corporation in 1995 as director of strategic relationships.