[IGSMAIL-6849] Short Summary of the 43rd IGS GB Meeting

[Urs Hugentobler]

Dear Colleagues,

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.

* IGS GB Elections

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:

as Candidates for Network Representative:
- Laura Sanchez
- Graeme Blick
as Candidates for Data Center Representative:
- Fran Boler
- Ludwig Combrinck
- Jong Uk (James) Park

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.

* Appointed GB Members

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.

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.

* New Clock Product Coordinator

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.

* Renewal of Reference Frame Coordinator

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.

* Renewal of Infrastructure Committee Chair

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.

* Real Time WG Chair

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.

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.

* Renewals of WG Chairs

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.

* Approval of EC Members

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).

* Strategic Issues

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.

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.

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.

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.

* IGS Real-Time Service

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.

* IGS Workshop 2014

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!

* Next GB Meeting

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.

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.

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.

I wish you all a successful and prosperous 2014!

With best regards

Urs Hugentobler
Chair, IGS Governing Board

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