The Challenges of the IIF

Aron Pinker, Stephen DeCou, Joseph Sapp

Abstract:	The impetus for GPS was the potential for meeting the common radio positioning and navigation needs of a broad spectrum of military and civil users and reducing the proliferation of specialized equipment responsive to only particular mission requirements. GPS navigation capability is a key component of modernization activities in all of the armed services. GPS is also at the core of the envisioned future air navigation system and ground traffic. But the center piece of GPS are the satellites, and it is clear that we are now just at the beginning of a new era in satellite service for earth operations. The IIFs would make the next step toward a more effective, self-control- ling, and versatile satellite configuration. In this effort the major challenge would be to make the proper compromise between the soaring technological vision and the realities of the Earth’s gravitational field. Accelerating military dependence on GPS and emerging threats to the GPS constellation and usability of its signal make GPS a highly vulnerable “center of gravity.” Simultaneously, the accelerating civil de-pendence on GPS obliges DOD, as the steward of GPS, to meet civil demands for stability and better performance. These two factors shape the perfor-mance requirements of the IIFs. Superimposed on these factors is the time imperative. If the required modifications are not defined in due time an impor-tant opportunity would be lost for a long time. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges and opportunities offered by the IIFs. We will briefly review how the current constellation evolved, what it offers to the user, what are the shortfalls, and poten-tial remediations.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1998) June 1 - 3, 1998 The Adams Mark Hotel Denver, CO
Pages:	495 - 506
Cite this article:	Pinker, Aron, DeCou, Stephen, Sapp, Joseph, "The Challenges of the IIF," Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1998), Denver, CO, June 1998, pp. 495-506.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In