2001 Fellow

Presented to: Mr. Keith D. McDonald

Citation: For sustained contribution and leadership in the initiation, development and modernization of the Global Positioning System

Mr. Keith D. McDonald is Navtech's technical director and chair, and president of Sat Tech Systems, a satellite technology consulting firm. He served as scientific director of the Department of Defense Navigation Satellite Program and executive director of the Four Service Group that initiated the Navstar GPS program in the early 1970s. He has broad experience in most aspects of GPS, including system engineering, signal structure, system operation and policy. In addition to his consulting, he has published over 90 technical papers and has taught courses on GPS and other navigation systems for George Washington University and Navtech Seminars for the past twenty years.

Mr. McDonald was awarded the Institute of Navigation's Norman P. Hays Award in 1987 for his accomplishments in the advancement of navigation. He was general chair of the ION GPS 1989 meeting and served as ION president from 1990 to 1991. He was a member of the National Research Council Committee on the Future of GPS (1994-1995), and has been instrumental in GPS Modernization activities, including the use of new signal structures and the incorporation of additional GPS civil signals to current and future generations of satellites. In 1999, Mr. McDonald was elected a fellow of the UK's Royal Institute of Navigation and he is the immediate past president of the International Association of Institutes of Navigation.