Launched 35 years ago as an alternative to the American GPS and other international navigation systems, Russia’s national radio-based satellite navigation system Glonass is now completing its satellite constellation, bumping the number of operational satellites up to 24 in order to offer continuous coverage anywhere in the world, officials from the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) announced last week.
After the launch of the Glonass M navigation satellite in late November, Russia currently has a total of 31 Glonass satellites in orbit, including reserve satellites, those on stand by, under maintenance, or waiting to be put into operation before the end of the year, reported RIA Novosti.
The Glonass system has begun to generate interest on the world market. In April, Swedish satellite data provider Swepos became the first foreign company to use Glonass technology after Swepos concluded that it was better than GPS at northern latitudes.
Leading mobile microelectronics manufacturers have launched a new generation of GPS+Glonass chipsets for mobile devices. For example, Qualcomm has just announced that its existing and upcoming Snapdragon processors all offer GPS and GLONASS connectivity.
The first ever GPS+GLONASS smartphone was launched in April of this year in Russia by MTS, a major Russian mobile operator. Since then, Samsung, Apple and other mobile device makers have also offered the dual location system in some of their newest devices.
Over 330 billion rubles, approximately $11 billion, will be spent by the Russian state on the Glonass program from 2012 to 2020, according to a statement made yesterday by Roscosmos Deputy Director Anatoly Shilov, RIA Novosti reported.
· You may click here to watch Qualcomm’s video on how combined access to GPS and GLONASS improves location accuracy, reliability and speed.
