2007 Fellow Recipients

Dr. Christopher J. Hegarty

For sustained contributions to the art and science of satellite navigation and for consistently demonstrating outstanding technical professionalism on GPS modernization, applications, and augmentations.

Dr. Christopher J. Hegarty provided significant contributions to RTCA’s work on the GPS Integrity Channel (GIC), a precursor to satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS), in the early 1990s. He developed the technique for providing accurate corrections for rapidly varying GPS errors over low data rate channels that is used today by WAAS. He contributed to the design of the modulation characteristics and data content of signals broadcast by WAAS geostationary satellites and to the development GPS/WAAS avionics standards. In 1997, he chaired an RTCA subgroup that developed standards for airport pseudolites planned for use as a component of the FAA’s LAAS program. Dr. Hegarty served as the editor of NAVIGATION, The Journal of The Institute of Navigation, and also as the ION’s publication chair from 1997 to 2006.

Dr. Hegarty led a comprehensive study initiated in 1997 to evaluate candidate frequencies for use by the third civil GPS signal (L5). The results of the study directly contributed to the U.S. government decision to place L5 at 1176.45 MHz, and also provided technical solutions to ensure compatibility between L5 and existing systems operating at or near this frequency. In 1998, he received the ION Early Achievement Award and was a co-recipient of MITRE’s President Award.

Dr. Hegarty served as the FAA’s Civil GPS Modernization project leader under an Intergovernmental Personnel Act assignment from 1999 to 2000. He co-chaired an RTCA working group chartered to develop a signal specification for L5 at the behest of the U.S. Department of Transportation. He chaired/co-chaired two ad hoc committees on implementing L5 established under the IGEB. He has made a number of important contributions, including co-authoring the technical annexes to the 2004 U.S.-European Community agreement on GPS-Galileo for which he was a co-recipient of the Department of State’s Superior Honor Award. He also contributed to the design of the new civil GPS L1 signal, L1C.

Dr. Hegarty is the co-editor/co-author of the popular Artech House text Understanding GPS: Principles and Applications, 2nd Edition, 2006, and is co-editor of Artech’s GNSS series. He has been a primary author or co-author of more than 40 conference and/or journal articles on GPS and spread spectrum receiver design and has taught numerous seminars on GPS for NavtechGPS.

Dr. Hegarty was the recipient of the ION’s Johannes Kepler Award in 2005 and the WPI’s Newell Award in 2006.

 

Dr. James Huddle

For his contributions to the design and operation of inertial navigation systems.

Dr. James Huddle is an internationally recognized expert in multi-sensor integrated inertial navigation systems. He is especially prominent in the use of inertial systems for geodetic-position and gravity-disturbance vector surveying. He has made his contributions as an independent researcher and a team leader at Litton Guidance & Control Systems, now the Navigation Systems Division of Northrop Grumman where he is currently director of advanced projects.

Dr. Huddle holds nine patents with four pending and one under secrecy order attesting to his individual contributions. He has written several archival publications and has been an invited lecturer on navigation technology at a number of universities, including Stanford, Ohio State, UCLA, Wisconsin, Calgary, and Stuttgart. Dr. Huddle has contributed to the navigation industry as a member of the PLANS conference executive committee and as a member of the board of governors of the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society where he is currently vice president of technical operations responsible for several technical panels and the distinguished lecturers program. He is a fellow of the IEEE and the International Association of Geodesy.

He served on the Naval Studies Board Panel for Advanced Navigation Technology for the National Academy of Sciences from 1982 to 1984, evaluating gravity gradiometry for the U.S. Navy Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarines for both navigation and the referencing of ballistic missile guidance systems. The panel included nationally recognized university professors and industrial scientists. He has also served on committees for the National Research Council as an invited expert on integrated inertial navigation systems and their applications.

Dr. Huddle was a recipient of the ION Thurlow award in 1988 and the IEEE millennium medal in 2000. He received the Distinguished Engineering Achievement Award from the California Engineers Council in 2000. He has received a number of corporate awards and was inducted into the Northrop Grumman “Hall of Fame” in 2004.

 

David J. Pietraszewski

For significant contributions to DGPS and AIS development.

David J. Pietraszewski is the program area manager for Automatic Identification System (AIS) projects at the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center. Since joining the U.S.C.G. in 1970, he has participated in a variety of navigation technology development from solar power systems for buoys to worldwide implementation of the AIS. His early work included a laser optical channel marking system in the Saint Marys River in upper Michigan and a Loran-C based harbor navigation system.

During the 1980s, Pietraszewski studied the characteristics of GPS Block I performance and recommended pursuit of Differential GPS (DGPS) development. During development of the DGPS standard, RTCM SC104, he wrote sections dealing with data handling and details of implementing the differential corrections’ data link. He was the U.S.C.G.’s expert on using medium frequency radio beacons for the DGPS data link. He led the project that produced the first RTCM SC104 capable user sets and reference stations, first radio beacon modulators and demodulator/receivers, and put the world’s first beacon based DGPS service on air in 1989. In 1987, he conducted sea trials using RTCM SC104 methods and published performance results at the inaugural ION GPS conference and in NAVIGATION, The Journal of The Institute of Navigation. That paper was awarded “best paper” at the 1987 ION GPS conference. In October 1991, he was awarded the Secretary of Transportation (DOT) Award for Meritorious Achievement for his achievements in DGPS research, development, and application.

Following the 1989 Exxon Valdez grounding, Pietraszewski’s career turned toward vessel traffic management. He demonstrated prototype satellite and digital selective calling based vessel tracking systems in Narragansett Bay and a wireless Internet based tracking and information system in San Francisco Bay.

Since 1997, Pietraszewski has made significant contributions to the international development and worldwide deployment of the AIS. AIS is collision avoidance technology prescribed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) under the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention. Pietraszewski is widely acknowledged as the U.S. AIS expert and one of a handful of international experts on the subject. In May 2006, Pietraszewski was awarded the Secretary of Homeland Security Award for Excellence in recognition of his substantial contributions to the development of the AIS. AIS is now implemented worldwide on every vessel subject to the IMO SOLAS conventions, and the U.S.C.G. is building a nationwide AIS infrastructure modeled after the R&D Center’s prototype network.

Pietraszewski is a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute with B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering and a graduate of the U.S.C.G. Officer Candidate School.