Raytheon has announced the successful completion of the initial design review for the Global Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System (GPS OCX), which is key to deciding the development approach of the program, delivery schedule and cost factors.
The U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center's (SMC) GPS Directorate, performed the review and evaluated the technical and architectural maturity of the design of the program.
GPS OCX is an advanced operational gateway service that has been developed to offer safe, precise and consistent timing and navigation data to efficiently support commercial, civil and military users. The system will enable integration of services between space, ground and user sections to improve mission control and command and situational awareness and at the same time offer constant support to billions of users globally.
The OCX enables updating of GPS control (C2) and command and mission control functionalities, changing the GPS operations focus from satellite C2 to user-based, effects-based operations. Additionally, GPS OCX allows added civil signals such as L1C, L2C and L5 as well as new signal structures (M-code) to offer integrity, navigation, improved precision and improved accessibility.
According to the President of Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems, Lynn Dugle, the PDR has been successfully executed endorsing the company’s design and proving that the Raytheon-led team can deliver the Block 1 of GPS OCX in a timely and cost-effective manner.
According to Vice President and GPS OCX program manager for Raytheon, Robert Canty stated that the PDR results show that the design satisfies the MIL-STD-1521B standards and that the team can continue with the second development phase in order to enable the release of the GPS III in 2014.
Source: http://www.raytheon.com