LORAL FEDERAL Systems has won a US Air Force contract, potentially worth $400 million, to upgrade and maintain the global-positioning system (GPS) ground-control system.
The Gaithersburg, Maryland based company will replace the mainframe-based operational-control segment with an open, distributed, architecture based on high-performance workstations.
The upgraded control system will support the improved GLS Block IIR satellites to be launched from 1996. The new satellites will have an "autonav" function which will sustain high levels of navigation accuracy over longer periods, Loral says.
A new man/machine interface will automate more than 90% of the operator's workload, making it possible for fewer people to manage the 24-spacecraft GPS constellation from the master control-station at Falcon AFB, Colorado, the company says. Software will be developed to detect system anomalies automatically.
Loral is teamed with Lockheed Martin Astro Space and ITT, developers of the Block IIR satellite and navigation-payload, to bid for the US Air Force Block IIF procurement of a next-generation GPS satellite and ground-control system.
Source: Flight International