Sir George Airy established a meridian at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in 1851 to serve as a common reference for astronomical observations and navigation. By 1884 two thirds of ships were using it as a reference on their charts. US President Chester A. Arthur...

Blog Editor's Note: The author is the President of the RNT Foundation UN Aviation Body: GPS/GNSS Disruption an Urgent Safety Priority October 10, 2019  Dana A. Goward Last week the triennial assembly of the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization...

Blog Editor's Note: The 1859 "Carrington Event" coronal mass ejection was so powerful it induced currents in telegraph wires strong enough to set telegraph offices on fire. A smaller event in 1921 "the NY Railway solar flare" did the same thing to a railway office in...

Image: Moon Over Miami, During 2019 ION GNSS+, D.A. Goward   The recent meeting of the Civil GPS Service Interface Committee in Miami included a number of interesting presentations. One by MITRE's Dr. Arthur Scholz working for the Homeland Security System...

Blog Editor's Note: "Politico" is a well known and respected site for information about US national politics. This is the first we became aware of their weekly newsletter focusing on space issues.  We signed up to receive it when it is published every Friday. The...

Blog Editor's Note: RNT Foundation obtained this strategy document from a Freedom of Information Act request we made earlier this year. To the best or our knowledge and as of this writing, it is not posted on any website other than ours. Links to it are in the text of...

Image: Andy Goldsmith (IMCA): "Reference system signal jamming is happening in the Middle East"   Blog Editor's Note: "DP" is "dynamic positioning" a capability that some maritime vessels have to automatically maintain a relatively precise position despite the...

Blog Editor's Note: RNT Foundation Member and Adviser Prof David Last has a list of credentials and honors in the PNT world too long to list here. Below is a recent interview he did with Coordinates Magazine discussing the recent failure Galileo and the overall need...

We were saddened to hear of the passing of our colleague and leading light of the satnav community, Ronald R. Hatch. He passed away unexpectedly on Friday several days after a medical procedure.  Ron was a member of the U.S. National PNT Advisory Board. The following...

Blog Editor's Note: Spectrum is valuable and there is a fixed supply. As long as this is true there will be fierce and unrelenting competition for it.  The ultra-wideband issue's resurgence does not bode well for those who hope "the Ligado issue" has been put to bed...

Blog Editor's Note: An interesting article with a number of new observations from Dr. Brad Parkinson and Gerhard Berz.  For example, we hadn't realized that the DME frequencies were highly desired by others, though it certainly make sense when you stop to think of it....

Blog Editor's Note: Outstanding article that recaps much of what the community has been saying while also providing great additional insights. Peter Gutierrez provides an update that, disappointingly, shows that more than two months after the most significant problem...

RNT Foundation Report Pilots, Controllers, Intl Air Transport Associations call for action, cite near-miss The passenger aircraft was making an approach to the airport serving the ski resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho in the North American Rockies. An “abundance of...

The Royal Institute of Navigation's annual International Navigation Conference is unique in both the breadth of navigation issues discussed, and the quality of the program. The program for this year's event to be held 19 -21 November in Edinburgh, Scotland, has...

Sen Ben Sasse - Getty Images   Blog Editor's Note: One might discount some claims by politicians as being a bit overblown for the purpose of making headlines. We might take this warning from Senator Sasse (R-NE) a bit more seriously. Sasse is a member of the...

GPS/GNSS is an invisible utility that supports every facet of modern life. Click on the graphic below, mouse around this airport lobby and find some of the many things that use and rely on GPS/GNSS every day. A link to this application is also available on the RNT...

Blog Editor's note: This request for quotations is what the community has been expecting for a while, and in response (finally) to a mandate in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.  In remarks yesterday at a meeting of the Civil GPS Services Interface...

Image: Senators Cruz and Markey discuss GPS backup need with RNT Foundation Board (Photo by Gary Thomas) RNTF Report In a letter dated the 10th of September, Senators Cruz and Markey questioned the Secretary of Transportation about progress meeting the requirements of...

BLOG EDITOR UPDATE: Our hat's off to the folks at the USCG Navigation Center. Shortly after we posted the below bemoaning the lack of followup information - they posted followup information!  Seems that it WAS an equipment problem. Even better, the manufacturer...

The Royal Institute of Navigation is holding a one day seminar that should be of interest to all our readers. Lots of big names in the PNT world will be presenting (see below). We highly recommend it for any and all who can possibly make it.  Here is the web link in...