- Monday, 30 November 2009
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A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject - Winston Churchill
US Insecurity Dept. seeks non-satellite GPS
THE US Department of Homeland Security is adopting a 30-year-old navigation system used by the coast guard to back up its Global Positioning System.
The department is worried that any disruption to the GPS system could wreak havoc as many businesses are dependant on the network.
However the Coast Guard’s Navigation Centre runs the Long-Range Aids to Navigation (LORAN) network, which is technologically so backward that it has been facing retirement since the 1980s.
Basically it is a network of transmission stations, many located in remote regions, staffed with Coast Guard personnel, and equipped with antennas as tall as 900 ft.
According to Popular Mechanics, the DHS budget is spending $34.5 million for the Coast Guard to start upgrading the LORAN system with modern gear. This means that will be able to acquire and track signals from ground stations in much the same way they triangulate signals from multiple satellite feeds. It is not clear how far inland the signals will go.
The advantage of the system is that it uses high-powered transmitters that send stronger signals which will make it harder for anyone to block. They are less influenced by cosmic radiation and can actually give a better reading in some circumstances. µ
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The article title inspired me more than the body could. LORAN. c'mon.
Would have been more interesting to read about real innovation - such as them starting a competition for a navigation aid without any man-made base stations altogether.
You can use the natural base stations, such as sun, moon, stars, magnetic and gravitational anomalies, and terrain of course (given that you are on or above ground). Sensors for all of this plus a decent map base and a processing device should make for a nice GPS alternative that could be very resilient and independent. The ultimate in disaster preparedness, so to speak. You could even use it in nuclear winter (given of course that the device itself survived the NEMP).
Anyone feels like starting a company together? I'd be in!