U.S. and Japan reaffirm GNSS cooperation

Date: 1/3/2010

Source: GPS World

The U.S. and Japan convened a plenary meeting at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., to review and discuss cooperation in the civil use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and GPS augmentations, including Japan's Multi-functional Transport Satellite (MTSAT) Satellite-based Augmentation System (MSAS) and Quasi-Zenith Satellite Systems (QZSS).

Both governments summarised recent redevelopments for their respective GNSS systems and highlighted their international GNSS-related co-operational activities. Both governments reaffirmed the importance of providing open access to space-based positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services for peaceful purposes, free of direct user fees.

Representatives of both governments reviewed the ongoing work of the GPS/QZSS Technical Working Group (TWG), which was established to foster close cooperation during the development of QZSS. The installation of the QZSS monitoring station on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) premises in Guam, as reported in a previous ITS Radar International article, was also highlighted. A QZSS Monitoring Station and a Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer station at a NASA facility in Hawaii is also nearing completion.

Key words: Galileo