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John Betz |
A Leading Role in GPS
John Betz
October 2008
Over the past 15 years, the Global Positioning System (GPS) has grown from being a technology primarily used by the military to a technology widely used in areas such as aviation, mapping, public safety, and recreation. Not surprisingly, this rapid proliferation of GPS applications and technologies has made updating and expanding the system a priority. The current GPS modernization effort increases the number of satellites used, adds additional civil signals, implements a new military signal (called M-code), includes a new ground control segment to operate the navigation satellites, and involves the launch of GPS III satellites starting in 2014.
Central to MITRE's GPS efforts over the past decade are the technical contributions of Dr. John Betz. To recognize his leadership role in the most recent GPS breakthroughs, the MITRE Board of Trustees in February 2008 presented Betz with its Trustees' Award for his work on negotiations to achieve international compatibility and interoperability of GPS. In a letter to Betz that accompanied his award, Chairman of the Board James Schlesinger wrote, "Your vision demanded a combination of technical excellence and astute political skill, and the results have had a significant impact on the Corporation's ability to serve our sponsors' most critical needs. Your contributions in technical leadership are an inspiration for all MITRE staff to follow."
This is not the first time the company has honored Betz. In 2003, he was named a MITRE Fellow, a rarely bestowed job title given to employees who are nationally and internationally recognized as experts within their particular field and have notably advanced the body of knowledge in their discipline. Currently, MITRE has only three Fellows among an employee population of nearly 6,800.
Leading Breakthrough Technology
Betz was a leader and dominant technical contributor to the GPS Modernization Signal Development Team, which designed the new M-code signal. His technical contributions, in collaboration with other MITRE staff, to signal design and performance assessment have influenced not only GPS, but other satellite navigation systems being developed around the world.
He has also played a major role in international negotiations centered around compatibility and interoperability issues as other countries develop their own satellite navigation systems. "Right now there are two global systems—GPS and the Russian system called GLONASS. Two more are also in development: the European system called Galileo and the Chinese system called Compass. In addition, India and Japan are each developing regional systems."
He continues, "It's in everybody's interest that all of these systems be compatible. The ultimate objective is to have interoperable systems that allow receivers to easily use civil signals from multiple satellite systems. If we can achieve civil-signal interoperability, then users around the world will benefit for decades to come because they will be able to use signals from all the satellites.
"Since GPS is the de facto standard today, a lot of the interoperability issues involve the United States. Early on, the U.S. government made a conscious effort to get involved while the other systems were being designed to try to achieve not only compatibility, but also interoperability. If we're successful, it's going to be a tremendous benefit to billions of users. If we're not, then we'll be in a situation like Betamax and VHS, where nobody gets the full benefit because the signals are not highly interoperable. We're trying to take advantage of this unique opportunity in time to get things right for the world."
An Evolving System
Since the early 1990s, MITRE has served as a key technical contributor to our sponsor's GPS programs. "MITRE's original work on GPS involved its use for civil aviation, and also military uses in support of AWACS [Airborne Warning and Control System] and other programs," explains Betz. "In the mid-1990s, MITRE's internal research program started to focus MITRE signal processing skills on developing anti-jamming receiver technologies for the military. Soon afterward, we came up with some clever ideas in signal design for modernized GPS. This work expanded into prototyping and systems engineering, along with continuing work on anti-jam military receivers.
"Now our work involves almost every aspect of GPS, both military and civil. We've also participated in international negotiations involving satellite navigation between the United States and other nations."
MITRE's work in GPS has spanned decades and has been an effort involving staff from many sites and departments throughout the company. "We have dozens of people who now work on GPS here," Betz says. "Over time we've moved from a small, specialized role to a broad partnership with the Air Force, which is responsible for developing and operating GPS. We also partner with the Aerospace Corporation, as well as with contractors who work on different aspects of GPS."
This modernization effort will greatly expand GPS capabilities. "The first generation GPS satellites transmitted only one civil signal, but GPS III satellites will transmit four civil signals on three different frequencies," explains Betz. "They also transmit the modernized military signal [M-code]. MITRE staff helped develop most of these enhanced signals."
Looking back on his role in the GPS modernization effort, Betz feels a great sense of satisfaction with his work. "I like knowing that I am contributing to something that has such a wide and long-lasting benefit to the world. I also find it very rewarding to be able to work something out theoretically, and then see it put into practice and behave as theory predicted it would."
—by David Savold and Kay M. Upham
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