2010 ION Fellows

Dr. Raynor L. Duncombe

For his involvement in developing the initial methods for tracking the first artificial satellites, and for his leadership in the production of almanacs and the development of the new celestial reference system in the 1970s, and for his contributions in the founding of the International Association of Institutes of Navigation.

Dr. Raynor L. Duncombe worked in the Nautical Almanac Office of the US Naval Observatory from 1950 until 1975 and was director of the same from 1963-1975. The office produced the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac, The Nautical Almanac, The Air Almanac, The Astronomical Phenomena, BLM the Ephemeris, and Sight Reduction Tables. He was actively involved in the introduction of punched card equipment and computers, in the production of the almanacs and computing ephemerides and worked with Paul Herget and Gerald Clemence in developing the software for tracking artificial satellites, including the software for the Vanguard project, the Mercury missions and the naval space surveillance system. Dr. Duncombe did research on the orbits of Venus, Mars, and the outer planets. After retiring from the USNO he moved to the University of Texas and has taught the “Determination of Time” in the aerospace engineering department for more than 30 years. He was a member of the astrometry team for the Hubble Space Telescope and has been active in the International Astronomical Union, American Astronomical Society, The American Association for the Advancement of Science and The Institute of Navigation.

Dr. Duncombe was an early member of the ION and held many offices in the ION, including president. He was responsible for the American ION becoming a member of the International Association of Institutes of Navigation (IAIN) and was the first vice president of the IAIN. He was active in the use of celestial navigation, the almanacs referenced above, and helped develop the initial methods of tracking artificial satellites. He carried on an active research program in astronomy through out his career and has published a large number of papers in navigation and astronomy. He was active in international cooperation in navigation and astronomy, including the definition of UTC, and the revisions of the reference systems in the 1970s. Dr. Duncombe has been active in navigation for more than 60 years. He received his Ph.D. degree from Yale University.

 

John W. Lavrakas

For contributions to the development of GPS Control Segment and user applications, and for service to The Institute of Navigation.

John Lavrakas’s 34 year career as a technical professional has been dominated by GPS, on which he has focused over the past 29 years. In his first 15 years in GPS, he participated in the development of the first Operational Control Segment (OCS) for GPS, developed military GPS receiver equipment for range applications, and led the engineering group in software maintenance at the GPS OCS in Colorado. John’s experience includes systems engineering, design, programming, and testing of GPS receiver equipment, differential GPS, automatic vehicle location system development, satellite control software, GPS ground transmitters, and mission planning and analysis software.

He was a member of the first team to “stand up” the GPS Operations Center at Schriever AFB, and served as its first operations support director (1999-2005), and as a crew member during 24 hour surge support for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, providing direct support to warfighters in the theater. John was a part of the GPS Integrity Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (IFMEA) team, and co-developer of the GPS Integrity Anomaly Database, providing a historical record of GPS service anomalies. He co-established the GPS Interagency Forum for Operational Requirements (IFOR) with Air Force Space Command and the Department of Transportation, authoring its charter and serving as IFOR secretariat.

John has had the unusual distinction of serving both as president of the ION and chair of the satellite division. Before rising to these top positions, he held a variety of other offices: executive VP, western region VP (twice), space representative, Rocky Mountain section chair, and satellite division secretary. He received the ION Distinguished Service Award in 2008.

He has authored or co-authored about 25 papers on GPS, which were presented at ION meetings and published in GPS World and GPS Solutions. He received in 1996 the Best Paper Award sponsored by The GPS International Association.

John W. Lavrakas received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in mathematics from Harvey Mudd College and the Claremont Graduate School, respectively. He has also pursued post-graduate study in electrical engineering at the University of Colorado.

 

Dr. Boris Pervan

For his extraordinary contribution to the advancement of differential GPS technology and integrity assurance, for his excellence as a teacher, and for his service to The Institute of Navigation.

Dr. Boris Pervan is an associate professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). His current research interests include satellite navigation systems, differential GPS (DGPS), carrier phase DGPS, robust navigation algorithms, integrity monitoring, precision approach and landing systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, pseudolites, and multisensor integrated navigation systems.

Dr. Pervan has been involved with satellite navigation systems for more than 15 years. During this time, he has distinguished himself as a professor as evidenced by his selection for the Ralph Barnett Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award [IIT MMAE Department, 2002] and the University Excellence in Teaching Award [IIT, 2005]. He has been a prolific author at ION conferences, authoring or co-authoring more than 50 papers. He also appears as co-author on eight papers appearing in NAVIGATION, The Journal of The Institute of Navigation. His dissertation entitled “Navigation Integrity for Aircraft Precision Landing Using the Global Positioning System” earned him the William E. Jackson Award [RTCA, 1996]. A paper he co-authored, “Autonomous Fault Detection and Removal using GPS Carrier Phase”, was awarded the M. Barry Carlton Award which acknowledges the best paper appearing in AES Transactions during a calendar year [IEEE, 1999].

He has been a leader in satellite navigation systems, particularly in the area of precision approach and landing systems. He is an expert in all aspects of DGPS integrity, and he has been a key member of the LAAS Integrity Panel and the GNSS Evolutionary Architecture Study (GEAS). He is widely recognized as an expert on carrier phase navigation algorithms and integrity. He has significant expertise in the area of unmanned vehicle technology, contributing heavily to the Navy Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration and the Air Force Automated Aerial Refueling programs.

Dr. Pervan became publications chair for the ION in 2006. In this role, he currently serves as editor of ION’s journal NAVIGATION. He has served as secretary of the ION’s Satellite Division and has been a session chair at many ION conferences.

Dr. Pervan received a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Notre Dame (1986), M.S. in Aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology (1987), and Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University (1996).