Karen Van Dyke
Global Positioning Systems

Karen Van Dyke is the Volpe Center Principal Technical Advisor on GPS. Karen has conducted availability and integrity monitoring studies for aviation applications of GPS for all phases of flight. She was the project lead of a Volpe Center team that designed, developed, and implemented GPS Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) outage reporting systems for both the U.S. Air Force and the FAA, which are used to brief GPS availability to pilots during pre-flight planning. She has worked with the FAA to develop prediction models for the GPS Wide Area and Local Area Augmentation Systems to support the Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) system. Karen also has worked with Australian, German, and Chilean aviation authorities on the implementation of similar systems for use by pilots and air traffic control in these countries.

Ms. Van Dyke was a member of a team that conducted a study for the Office of the Secretary of Transportation to identify and analyze GPS vulnerabilities and interference mitigation techniques for all modes of transportation. More recently she has headed a team of Volpe staff who been supporting the GPS Joint Program Office on development of GPS III, performing the GPS Integrity Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (IFMEA), working with the Federal Railroad Administration on the High Accuracy Nationwide Differential GPS initiative, assessing the use of the GPS Wide Area Augmentation System for maritime applications, and development of a GPS Performance Monitoring System for DECEA (Brazil Aviation Authority).

Currently she is the lead for the DOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration, on behalf of DOT and the civil community, in the development of a National Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Architecture for 2025 with the National Security Space Office. This effort is in support of the National Space-Based PNT Executive Committee.

Karen received her BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. She is the recipient of the Award for Meritorious Achievement ' the Silver Medal' from the Secretary of Transportation and the Superior Achievement Award 'the Bronze Medal' from the DOT Research and Special Programs Administration. Ms. Van Dyke served as the President of the Institute of Navigation from 2000-2001. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Navigation (ION) and is the recipient of the ION Early Achievement Award and the Distinguished Service Award. Ms. Van Dyke was a collaborator on the book, Understanding GPS: Principles and Applications (first and second editions).