Solar storms spell trouble for GPS

http://www.newscientisttech.com/chan...e-for-gps.html
Solar storms spell trouble for GPS

SOLAR flares can drown out GPS signals with potentially serious
consequences for airlines, emergency services, and anyone relying on
satellite navigation.

It turns out these bursts of charged particles, which produce auroras
and geomagnetic storms, also generate radio waves in the 1.2 and
1.6-gigahertz bands used by GPS.

How was such a clash missed? Because GPS receivers only became common
during a period of low solar activity. By 2011 solar flares will reach
the peak of their cycle and receivers will likely fail. Or so
Alessandro Cerruti of Cornell University, New York, told a meeting of
the Institute of Navigation in Fort Worth, Texas, last week. The only
solution would be to redesign GPS receivers or satellites, which may
not be practical, says Cerruti.

From issue 2572 of New Scientist magazine, 07 October 2006, page 27

BFD, All those radios are called Aids to navigation for a
reason, they are conveniences. CAL found Paris with just a
compass and a chart.



"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
|
http://www.newscientisttech.com/chan...e-for-gps.html
| Solar storms spell trouble for GPS
|
| SOLAR flares can drown out GPS signals with potentially
serious
| consequences for airlines, emergency services, and anyone
relying on
| satellite navigation.
|
| It turns out these bursts of charged particles, which
produce auroras
| and geomagnetic storms, also generate radio waves in the
1.2 and
| 1.6-gigahertz bands used by GPS.
|
| How was such a clash missed? Because GPS receivers only
became common
| during a period of low solar activity. By 2011 solar
flares will reach
| the peak of their cycle and receivers will likely fail. Or
so
| Alessandro Cerruti of Cornell University, New York, told a
meeting of
| the Institute of Navigation in Fort Worth, Texas, last
week. The only
| solution would be to redesign GPS receivers or satellites,
which may
| not be practical, says Cerruti.
|
| From issue 2572 of New Scientist magazine, 07 October
2006, page 27

Larry Dighera wrote:

How was such a clash missed? Because GPS receivers only became common
during a period of low solar activity. By 2011 solar flares will reach
the peak of their cycle and receivers will likely fail. Or so
Alessandro Cerruti of Cornell University, New York, told a meeting of
the Institute of Navigation in Fort Worth, Texas, last week. The only
solution would be to redesign GPS receivers or satellites, which may
not be practical, says Cerruti.

GPS's Y2K, perhaps?

--
Peter

So much for the rampant decomissioning of VORs NDBs
and LORAN, not to mention the NDB approaches that were
trashed because they are "useless" now that we have GPS.

"Peter R." wrote in message
...
Larry Dighera wrote:

How was such a clash missed? Because GPS receivers only became common
during a period of low solar activity. By 2011 solar flares will reach
the peak of their cycle and receivers will likely fail. Or so
Alessandro Cerruti of Cornell University, New York, told a meeting of
the Institute of Navigation in Fort Worth, Texas, last week. The only
solution would be to redesign GPS receivers or satellites, which may
not be practical, says Cerruti.

GPS's Y2K, perhaps?


Digging through old files on the hard drive reveals this:

Y2K Sale
FOR SALE - Cheap!
One 55-gallon drum of heating oil
Ten 55-gallon drums of water
10 cases of Poptarts
50 cases of canned fruits and vegetables
40 boxes of tampons
10 cases AAA batteries
One cow
One shotgun (with shells)
One pair night-vision goggles
One seven ton portable concrete bunker (lead-lined)
Will consider trade.

On Wed, 25 Oct 2006 07:53:16 -0400, "Peter R."
wrote in :

Larry Dighera wrote:

How was such a clash missed? Because GPS receivers only became common
during a period of low solar activity. By 2011 solar flares will reach
the peak of their cycle and receivers will likely fail. Or so
Alessandro Cerruti of Cornell University, New York, told a meeting of
the Institute of Navigation in Fort Worth, Texas, last week. The only
solution would be to redesign GPS receivers or satellites, which may
not be practical, says Cerruti.

GPS's Y2K, perhaps?

Perhaps the European or Russian GPS systems operate in a frequency
band that won't be affected by solar flares. But, they may have other
issues:


http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/12_2...ml?CMP=OTC-RSS

July 20, 2006

European GPS System Hacked Email this article |Print this article
By Mary Grady, Newswriter, Editor

When the Europeans who are working to develop their own GPS
system stalled on a promise to release the signal code to U.S.
researchers, a team at Cornell University decided to figure it out
for themselves. "Even Europeans were being frustrated," said Mark
Psiaki, leader of the Cornell engineering team. "Then it dawned on
me: Maybe we can pull these things off the air, just with an
antenna and lots of signal processing." He did just that, and
published his results in the June issue of GPS World. But while
the U.S. system is taxpayer-funded and its signal is free, the
Europeans intend to sell the signals from their Galileo satellites
to recoup some of the $4 billion cost. Psiaki says it won't work
to try to copyright the data. "Imagine someone builds a
lighthouse," he said. "And I've gone by and see how often the
light flashes and measured where the coordinates are. Can the
owner charge me a licensing fee for looking at the light? ... No.
How is looking at the Galileo satellite any different?" The
Galileo system is scheduled to enter service by 2010.


Hopefully, the new US GPS will address the solar flare issue:


http://www.informationweek.com/news/...leID=177103423
U.S.-European GPS Rivalry Heats Up

A U.S. official on Wednesday will unveil a next-generation GPS
system that the government promises will provide more commercial
features. The current GPS network has focused on military
requirements, but now the Europeans are readying Galileo.

By George Leopold Anne-Francoise Pele
EE Times

Jan 24, 2006 11:19 AM

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is raising the bar in its growing rivalry
with Europe over global positioning technology.

A U.S. official on Wednesday (Jan. 25) will unveil a
next-generation GPS system that the government is billing as
providing more commercial capabilities. The current GPS network is
controlled by the U.S. military, and civilian capabilities are
deliberately degraded out of security concerns.

The Commerce Department said Deputy Secretary David Sampson will
unveil the new system at a next-generation GPS forum hosted by the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The upgraded system will include a
second civilian GPS channel "enabling significant improvements in
accuracy and reliability," the department said in a statement.

Executives from General Motors, IBM, Lucent Technologies and
Trimble Navigation are also scheduled to appear at the GPS forum.
Also attending will be members of the U.S. GPS Industry Council
along with state officials and university researchers.

The U.S. move follows recent milestones in Europe, where the
European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA) are
readying its GPS entry, Galileo. On Jan. 12, ESA's Giove-A test
satellite broadcast its first signals from Earth orbit. The
navigation satellite was launched on Dec. 28 from Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazahstan.

Giove-A, which stands for Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element,
will test frequencies allocated for the Galileo constellation by
the International Telecommunications Union.

ESA and the European consortium building Galileo signed a 950
million euro ($1.167 billion) contract on Jan. 19 to complete the
second phase of the European GPS project. The partners have agreed
to develop and construct the first four satellites in the planned
26-satellite Galileo constellation. Construction is scheduled to
be completed by 2010.

The third phase will include launch of the entire Galileo network.
Total cost is estimated at 3.6 billion euros ($4.42 billion).


But there is always this issue: http://gbppr.dyndns.org/PROJ/mil/gps/

On Wed, 25 Oct 2006 06:17:38 -0500, "Jim Macklin"
wrote in
:


BFD, All those radios are called Aids to navigation for a
reason, they are conveniences.

Were you aware of the design flaw in GPS as implemented? I just
thought it might be a good idea to provide the information to those
weren't.

Of course, this issue makes no mention of solar mass ejections, that
can potentially knock out any satellite.

It appears that we are (finally?) seeing some technological innovation
tickling down to the GA fleet, but I'm becoming uneasy with the
apparent lack of robustness engineered in these early systems.


CAL found Paris with just a compass and a chart.

Yes. It was an Earth Inductor Compass*. I've never seen one of those
in any aircraft in which I've flown, let alone piloted.


* http://oldbeacon.com/beacon/earth_inductor_compass.htm

"ktbr" wrote in message
...
So much for the rampant decomissioning of VORs NDBs
and LORAN, not to mention the NDB approaches that were
trashed because they are "useless" now that we have GPS.

Interference that would cause a deterioration in the GPS system would
do...what?, to the LORAN and NDB's?

On Wed, 25 Oct 2006 11:12:07 GMT, Larry Dighera wrote:

How was such a clash missed? Because GPS receivers only became common
during a period of low solar activity. By 2011 solar flares will reach
the peak of their cycle and receivers will likely fail.

The sun is on an 11-year cycle. If 2011 is the date of the max (and we are
apparently in the minimum now), the LAST max was about 2000. Unless the author
believes that GPS receivers only became common after 2000, the user community
has already been through one solar max period.

Ron Wanttaja

On Wed, 25 Oct 2006 12:36:06 GMT, ktbr wrote in
:

So much for the rampant decomissioning of VORs NDBs
and LORAN, not to mention the NDB approaches that were
trashed because they are "useless" now that we have GPS.

Good point(s). It really renews one's faith in our government. :-(