MONTREAL, Quebec, 16 Dec. 2005. CMC Electronics Inc. has been awarded a contract by the Canadian Space Agency to undertake the development of a Galileo Safety of Life demonstrator receiver.
Galileo is Europe's state-of-the-art satellite navigation system which is expected to be operational by 2008-2010, with up to 30 satellites orbiting the earth.
CMC Electronics has subcontracted NovAtel Inc. to provide assistance for the program. The Canadian Galileo Safety of Life program involves the addition of a Galileo E5a/E5b receiver section to the existing Galileo Test Receiver, previously developed by NovAtel for the Canadian Space Agency. A modified CMC Electronics CMA-3024 Global Navigation Satellite Sensor Unit airborne receiver will be integrated with the NovAtel engine. CMC Electronics will also develop innovative new Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) techniques and algorithms.
"CMC Electronics has more than 25 years' experience in the design and manufacture of certified aviation Global Positioning System (GPS) products and is an industry leader in GPS for commercial aviation. The Galileo Safety of Life contract award will ensure that CMC Electronics continues to be at the forefront of this new technology," said CMC's Bruce Bailey, vice president for commercial aviation.
According to Tony Murfin, NovAtel's vice president for business development, "The Galileo Safety of Life program with CMC Electronics represents a further essential project which adds to NovAtel's growing inventory of Galileo receiver technology. We are pleased that the Canadian Space Agency continues to provide key leadership in Canada's efforts to maintain pace with Europe's extensive investment in the Galileo program, and we look forward to assisting them in their early support of Galileo signal testing."
CMC Electronics designs and produces leading technology electronics products for the aviation and global positioning markets. Its principal locations are in Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Ontario; and Chicago, Illinois.
CMC is a private company controlled by an investor group led by ONCAP L.P. ONCAP is a CDN $400 million investment fund established by Onex Corporation and a number of leading Canadian financial institutions. Onex is a diversified company with annual consolidated revenues of approximately CDN $16 billion and consolidated assets of approximately CDN $14 billion. Onex is one of Canada's largest companies with global operations in the service, manufacturing and technology industries. For more information, see www.cmcelectronics.ca.
NovAtel designs, markets and sells high-precision GPS and other positioning components and sub-systems used in a wide variety of commercial applications principally in the aviation, geomatics (surveying and mapping), mining, precision agriculture, marine and defence industries. NovAtel is also the principal supplier of reference receivers to national aviation ground networks in the U.S., Japan, Europe, China and India.
NovAtel's solutions combine hardware, such as receivers and antennas, with software to enable its customers to fully integrate the Company's high-precision GPS technology into their respective products and systems. NovAtel is focused on supplying core high-precision positioning technology to OEMs and system integrators who build systems for various end market applications. For more information, see www.novatel.com.
