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Dear Colleagues,<br>
<br>
It is time to give a short summary of the 43rd International GNSS
Service Governing Board Meeting held in San Francisco on December 8,
2013. The most important topics were the announcement of the results
of the GB elections that took place just before the GB meeting as
well as other changes in the GB.<br>
<br>
* IGS GB Elections<br>
<br>
Two positions in the GB were open for election, namely a Network
Representative and a Data Center Representative. Five candidates had
kindly agreed to stand in the election, which was organized by an
Election Committee consisting of Chuck Meertens (Chair), Carey Noll,
and Ralf Schmid. The candidates were:<br>
<br>
as Candidates for Network Representative:<br>
- Laura Sanchez<br>
- Graeme Blick<br>
as Candidates for Data Center Representative:<br>
- Fran Boler<br>
- Ludwig Combrinck <br>
- Jong Uk (James) Park<br>
<br>
All candidates received strong support from the Associate Members.
As a result of the election Laura Sanchez (DGFI) was elected as
Network Representative and Fran Boler (UNAVCO) was elected as Data
Center Representative. I would like to sincerely thank all five
candidates, who presented the voters with no easy choice through the
high level of competence they represent. I congratulate the
successful candidates and look forward for the collaboration in our
Board. I thank the two outgoing representatives, Carey Noll and Gary
Johnston for their significant contribution to the work of the GB
and I am very glad that both continue to serve in our Board, Carey
as Chair of the Data Center WG and Gary as an appointed GB member.
Finally I also thank the Election Committee for carrying out their
quite onerous task with great efficiency.<br>
<br>
* Appointed GB Members<br>
<br>
The terms of two appointed GB members come to an end by the end of
this year. On behalf of the IGS GB I thank both Richard Wonnacott
and James Park for their expertise provided to our Board through
comments, suggestions and advices. Their contributions at numerous
meetings is highly appreciated. We had the opportunity to thank
Richard personally at our GB dinner after the Board meeting. James
was unfortunately not able to join us.<br>
<br>
At our GB meeting we appointed two new members to our Board. As
already mentioned above we appointed Gary Johnston (GA) in order to
secure his presence in our Board after the end of his term as a
Network Representative. As a second member the Board appointed
Satoshi Kogure from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Although not representing his agency, Satoshi is highly involved in
QZSS and in the Asia Pacific multi GNSS activities as well as in the
International Committee on GNSS (ICG) and thus complements the IGS
GB with major expertise. I warmly welcome Satoshi in our Board.<br>
<br>
* New Clock Product Coordinator<br>
<br>
End of this year Ken Senior (NRL) steps down as IGS Clock Product
Coordinator after many years of contributing to our Service. Ken
started his work as Clock Products Coordinator and WG Chair in 2003
and since then significantly enhanced the performance of the IGS
Rapid and Final timescales. On behalf of the GB I thank Ken for
devoting his strong expertise to one of our key products over many
years. I am particularly glad to welcome Michael Coleman (NRL) as
our new Clock Products Coordinator who was approved as a new member
of the GB and look forward for our collaboration. On behalf of the
GB I want to sincerely thank U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)
for the strong support the IGS continues to receive. <br>
<br>
* Renewal of Reference Frame Coordinator<br>
<br>
The term of Bruno Garayt (IGN) as the RF Coordinator ends by the end
of this year. The coordination of the IGS' reference frame
activities, in particular the daily SINEX combination, the quality
control and analysis of the respective products in close cooperation
with the ACC as well as the support of the reprocessing activities
form a key function of our Service and is crucial for the
maintenance of the stability of the IGS reference frame and for the
contribution to the ITRF. IGN renews its support and Bruno is ready
to continue his important function for a next term of four years.
His next term was unanimously approved by the GB. On behalf of the
IGS GB I want to thank him for his careful work and look forward to
the continued fruitful collaboration, and I sincerely thank IGN for
its significant contribution to the IGS.<br>
<br>
* Renewal of Infrastructure Committee Chair<br>
<br>
The Chair of the Infrastructure Committee (IC) was up for renewal by
the end of this year. The IGS network infrastructure is the basis of
our work and I am particularly glad that Nacho Romero (ESA/ESOC) is
ready to continue supporting the IGS in the important function as
the Chair of the IC. The GB approved Nacho in his function as well
as the members of the Committee. The GB thanks ESA/ESOC for this
support of the IGS.<br>
<br>
* Real Time WG Chair<br>
<br>
Mark Caissy (NRCan) is stepping down as RT WG Chair end of this
year. Over the last ten years he was the driver for our newest
product, the IGS Real-time Service which has been launched in April
this year. Significant developments were required in order to reach
this goal. A global real-time tracking network needed to be put in
place, including configuration and management of communications and
data distribution, algorithms needed to be developed, products to be
generated, combined and validated, and the necessary standards and
real-time formats and protocols needed to be developed and promoted.
Mark accepted this challenge and pushed the undertaking forward with
much enthusiasm, leading as WG Chair a group of experts in the
field. I sincerely thank Mark for his multi-year effort and NRCan
for the support over these years. <br>
<br>
The EC is still working to indentify a successor for Mark.
Unfortunately several options could not be realized. As the IGS RT
Service is up and running, well guided by the RT ACC Loukis Agrotis
(ESA/ESOC) while the responsibility of the WG Chair is the
conception of next directions, we consider a short gap in the
appointment of a new Chair as not utterly critical.<br>
<br>
* Renewals of WG Chairs<br>
<br>
Several Working Group Chairs were routinely up for renewal, namely
Christine Hackman (USNO), Chair of the Troposphere WG, Carey Noll
(NASA/GSFC), Chair of the Data Center WG, and Ken Mac Leod (NRCan),
Chair of the RINEX WG. All three are ready to continue their work
for the IGS and get the support from their respective institutions.
The GB unanimously renewed their terms based on their contributions
that are well documented in the respective Components Reports. On
behalf of the GB I thank all three for their willingness to advance
important components of the IGS as well as USNO, NASA/GSFC and NRCan
for their continued support. <br>
<br>
* Approval of EC Members<br>
<br>
Finally the GB also approved the current members of the Executive
Committee who are (apart from the GB Chair and Ruth Neilan, the
Director of the IGS CB) Chuck Meertens (UNAVCO), Chris Rizos (UNSW),
and Tim Springer (ESA/ESOC).<br>
<br>
* Strategic Issues<br>
<br>
The Central Bureau under the lead of Steve Fisher collected a wealth
of information in the form of Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
helping to monitor the performance of the IGS according to our new
Strategic Planning process. The KPIs were further analyzed in a
meeting of the Executive Committee on December 10. The indicators
document that the IGS made progress with respect to all objectives
listed in the new Strategic Plan. Some of the objectives, in
particular related to maintenance and diversification of funding
sources require additional effort. Based on the input by the
different components of the IGS the Strategic Implementation Plan
for 2014 could be established. I thank Steve and his team at the CB
for this thorough collection of information and well-done
preparation for the GB.<br>
<br>
The GB decided to consider two modifications of the Terms of
References. The first change concerns the installation of a Chair
Elect to ease the process for the appointment of a next GB Chair.
The second modification aims at having the Real Time ACC a voting
member of the GB, highlighting the importance of our new RT Service
as integral part of the IGS product portfolio. Necessary
modifications of the Terms of References will be prepared by the EC
for the next GB meeting.<br>
<br>
As my position as IGS GB Chair is up for a new appointment end of
next year the GB decided the installation of a Chair Search
Committee which will be appointed by the Executive Committee
beginning of next year.<br>
<br>
Finally the GB approved our new logo which was designed by Prim Prim
Studio, a small and engaged design company from Lithuania. You will
find it on our new documents and on our upcoming new web site. I
thank Allison Craddock from IGS CB for this initiative.<br>
<br>
* IGS Real-Time Service<br>
<br>
The IGS Real-time Service was launched in April this year after a
big effort over many years that was already addressed above. The RT
Service is currently running with Initial Operational Capability. At
our meeting the GB discussed the path towards Full Operational
Capability. Main issue is the question whether the different
elements are ready to provide GLONASS products not as an
experimental but as an official RT product. A number of questions
still need to be answered until the GB can fully assess the
different aspects to take a firm decision at its next meeting.<br>
<br>
* IGS Workshop 2014<br>
<br>
The preparations for the IGS Workshop in Pasadena from June 23-27,
2014, are progressing well. Rolf Dach (AIUB), the Chair of the
Scientific Organizing Committee presented the layout and session
structure of the workshop which will have a similar format as the
very successful workshop in Olstzyn last year. I thank the SOC,
composed of Rolf Dach (Chair), Shailen Desai and Andrzej Krankowski
for their thorough and systematic work as well as Allison Craddock
and the CB for organizing the local facilities. We are looking
forward to our highlight of next year, celebrating 20 years of
service!<br>
<br>
* Next GB Meeting<br>
<br>
The next GB Meeting is scheduled for June 22, the Sunday before the
IGS Workshop, in Pasadena, USA. We plan a Business Meting associated
to EGU in Vienna in the week of April 28, 2014.<br>
<br>
This long but nevertheless incomplete list should be enough to give
an overview over the discussions and decisions made at our GB
meeting. The meeting was again long. And again we were running out
of time, just finishing in time to join the GGOS reception the same
evening and to relax after a long and busy Sunday afternoon.<br>
<br>
I like to thank the members of the GB for their constructive
contributions and discussions. I sincerely thank all participants
and supporters of the IGS for their efforts for the success of the
IGS. The thanks goes to the network operators, operators of data
centers and analysis centers, the product coordinators, WG, PP and
Committee chairs and members, the Central Bureau, GB and EC members,
and all institutions supporting the IGS. <br>
<br>
I wish you all a successful and prosperous 2014!<br>
<br>
With best regards<br>
<br>
Urs Hugentobler<br>
Chair, IGS Governing Board<br>
<br>
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