Tuesday, October 13. 2009

A satellite orbiting the earth could someday prevent an auto accident...

That's the word from Dr. Gerhard Schmidt, Ford’s chief technical officer. He's referring to GPS satellites, so of course, he really means that data from them could be used with other tech to prevent accidents. The somewhat misleading discussion at USA Today explains:

Ford and Auburn are trying to see if GPS satellites can act as an early warning system that detects when a vehicle is about to lose control and communicate with the vehicle’s stability control systems and other safety features to prevent a rollover or other serious accident.

Monday, October 5. 2009

First Review of Nuvifone

PC Magazine has the first review I've seen of the Garmin Nuvifone G60. Short story: "Unfortunately, Garmin spent almost two years bringing this phone to market, and it feels like a 2007-era device."

Friday, October 2. 2009

EU Helps Make GPS More Accurate

The European Commission introduced EGNOS on Thursday. It's a satellite-based navigation system that improves GPS accuracy from about 10 meters to within two meters. Most navigation devices sold in Europe are ready for EGNOS; I couldn't find much discussion of whether US receivers are good to go with the new free service.

- Sci-Tech Today

Wednesday, September 30. 2009

GPS in the Snow

Recall that one of the errors in GPS is called "mulitipath error" - that's when the signal from the GPS satellite bounces off something before it gets to the receiver, making its path artificially "longer." Its noise for most applications, but in fact is valuable in ... wait for it... measuring snow depth. Researchers at the University of Colorado, Boulder, looking to learn about the impact of soil moisture on the echoes found their experiment in the middle of a snow storm. That lead to a startling realization: "The snow slowed the reflected GPS signals, and the delay corresponded to the snow's depth..." That in turn led to a method to accurately measure snow fall in real time. The team's paper, in Geophysical Research Letters appeared this month.

- ScienceNow

Friday, September 18. 2009

Mass Supreme Judicial Court: Installing GPS with Warrant OK

The highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts upheld the right of police to install GPS tracking device to track suspects so long as a judge grants a warrant. The court ruled, unanimously, that such action "does not violate the ban on unreasonable search and seizure in the state’s Declaration of Rights."

But, there are some stipulations: The officers, must of course convince a judge a warrant is appropriate and the "devices can be installed for up to 15 days before police must show why the devices need to remain in place."

- The Boston Globe

Tuesday, September 15. 2009

How the GAO Report on GPS Helps/Hurts the Program

The GAO report [APB coverage] “helps because it puts a lot of emphasis on the budget for future satellites and things like that,” said Col. Robert Hessin, acting director of the National Coordination Office for Space-based Positioning, Navigation and Timing, a government agency that tracks GPS legislation and the health of the constellation.

Where it hurts, he said, is on the international front, where China, Russia and Europe are developing their own satellite navigation systems. “We’re competing with the rest of the world on precision navigation,” Hessin said.