Report Update for National PNT Architecture

Giving the update on National PNT Architecture, Federal Radionavigation Plan and some other related projects, Karen Van Dyke of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, revealed the government-wide effort to establish a national architecture to guide the future development of U.S. PNT systems. The objective, in accordance with the effort's Terms of Reference, is to "provide more effective and efficient PNT capabilities focused on the 2025 timeframe and an evolutionary path for government-provided systems and services." The effort is sponsored by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration as well as the Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy. This report identifies PNT capability gaps and makes a series of recommendations, under a guiding vision of "U.S. Leadership in Global PNT," with the strategy of a greater common denominator approach" and strategic vectors and these include: multiple phenomenologies; interchangeable solutions; synergy of PNT and communications; cooperative organizational structures and an untitled vector whose first element is GPS as the architecture cornerstone. The reports considered a wide range of architectural elements with the promise that more will be offered soon.