Christopher Hegarty, Ph.D.

Chris Hegarty is internationally known for his expertise in satellite navigation technologies, including the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), and electromagnetic spectrum management. Much of his work has been focused on aviation applications of GPS and issues of GPS compatibility and interoperability. This area is critical to the U.S. as more and more countries and organizations launch navigation satellites into space using different systems. The compatibility of all these systems is critical to global aviation as competing systems could cause interference among critical satellites. Spectrum management and modernization are equally critical as organizations compete for pieces of the spectrum and interference issues arise.

Hegarty shares his expertise with MITRE groups, government agencies, and stakeholders from around the world. One way he does this is through his participation with RTCA, Inc., a not-for-profit that develops aviation standards that are often invoked by the Federal Aviation Administration and other civil aviation authorities. He co-chairs RTCA’s Special Committee 159, which develops standards for GPS avionics. He also chairs RTCA’s Program Management Committee, which approves every standard that RTCA produces and provides awareness of what’s going on in diverse areas. It also provides oversight to the more than 20 Special Committees within RTCA that develop standards across a broad range of aviation systems.

Hegarty also shares his knowledge through teaching, presenting at conferences, and writing books and articles. For example, he is the co-author/co-editor of the textbook Understanding GPS/GNSS: Principles and Applications (third edition), and has contributed GPS chapters to Springer’s Handbook of Global Navigation Satellite Systems, CRC’s Digital Avionics Handbook (third edition), and AIAA’s Recent Successful Satellite Systems: Visions of the Future.