U.S. Institute of Navigation

GPS World,  March, 2008  

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The U.S. Institute of Navigation (ION) has a new Executive Committee and Council, installing Chris Hegarty, director of Spectrum Management of the MITRE Corporation as president, Mikel Miller, technical director for the Advanced Guidance Division of the Munitions Directorate of The Air Force Research Laboratory as vice president, and John W. Betz, a fellow of The MITRE Corporation as treasurer. Hegarty is also co-author of the book Understanding GPS; Principles and Applications, second edition. Japanese surveying instrument manufacturers Topcon Corp. and Sokkia Co. Ltd., merged February 5. With the recent approval of the Japanese Fair Trade Commission, Topcon purchased more than 32 million shares of Sokkia stock for about $194 million; the shares Topcon purchased represent about 94 percent of outstanding stock.

Both companies provide turnkey positioning products for surveyors. Subsequent to this combination, Sokkia will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Topcon Corp. after all steps are completed. There will be no changes in brands or distribution networks for each company, they said.

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