MITRE Engineers Honored by U.S. Department of State

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Bedford, Massachusetts, May 12, 2005 — Two MITRE engineers recently received a Superior Honor Award from the U.S. Department of State for their role in advancing U.S.-European Union cooperation on the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) and Galileo, the satellite navigation system being developed by the European Union.

Dr. John Betz and Dr. Christopher Hegarty have been part of a technical group seeking solutions to ensure that GPS and Galileo are technically compatible—allowing civil users to benefit from the combined array of satellites—and that U.S. military uses remain secure and separate from the rest of the system. The MITRE engineers were part of a 31-member interagency team whose multi-year efforts led to the signing of a formal U.S.-European Union agreement in June 2004.

The awards cited the team "for extraordinary contributions to U.S. diplomatic efforts leading to the successful outcome" of the GPS-Galileo negotiations. Paula Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, honored the group during a February 17 awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Said MITRE President and CEO Martin C. Faga, "We're pleased that the State Department has recognized this entire team for sustained technical effort in support of this diplomatic goal."

Dr. John Betz is a fellow in the Center for Air Force Command and Control Systems at MITRE's Bedford, Mass. location. At MITRE since 1989, he is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of radio navigation and special communications. Among his many accomplishments at MITRE was leadership on the team that designed a new military GPS signal (the "M code signal") for use with a new generation of satellites. A member of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, Betz holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Rochester and a master's degree and doctorate from Northeastern University.

Dr. Chris Hegarty is a senior principal engineer in MITRE's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD), where he has contributed to MITRE's support of the Federal Aviation Administration in developing technology to address challenges to GPS integrity. He has been active in a GPS modernization effort and has worked extensively on the signal structure characteristics for a new signal to accommodate civil aviation GPS needs. Hegarty holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a D.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University.

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