Official U.S. government information about the
Global Positioning System (GPS) and related topics
National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing
Advisory Board
Tom Powell
Dr. Powell is a Technical Fellow at The Aerospace Corporation, where he focuses on current and future concepts for resilient Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT). He has supported GPS acquisition programs for over 20 years for Space Systems Center (SSC) in Los Angeles for the office of the Undersecretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition in Washington D.C.
Dr. Powell has developed orbit determination and estimation approaches and participated in launch and early orbit operations for multiple satellite programs. He led an Aerospace technical team to process signals from the Air Force Falcon Gold experiment, one of the first demonstrations of receiving GPS signals on a spacecraft above the GPS constellation.
As Chief Engineer of the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR) program for the GPS Joint Program Office, Dr. Powell led a multi-organizational technical team that developed requirements, evaluated proposals, and conducted early field trials with Army and U.S. Marine Corps users.
In support of GPS and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Systems Engineering, Dr. Powell led the Aerospace team responsible for GPS constellation management, satellite reliability, Functional Availability, and Atomic Clock Modernization programs. In addition to advising multiple US Government agencies on domestic spectrum and regulatory matters, Dr. Powell participated as a technical advisor to the US delegation in multiple bilateral and multilateral International Telecommunications Union (ITU) sponsored spectrum coordination meetings with all current global and regional GNSS providers.
Prior to joining Aerospace, he worked at NASA Johnson Space Center on advanced space station and lunar base concepts, and in Space Shuttle mission operations.
Dr. Powell holds a BSc degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical engineering from Purdue University, an MSc in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles.
