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In response to this morning's MV list traf on GPS, the attached is prov FYI:
R. S. Rayfield, Jr.
Maj USMC (Ret)
-----Original Message-----
From: LBH Ranch [mailto:LBH@airmail.net]
Sent: Monday, May 01, 2000 10:18 PM
Subject: Global Positioning System
GPS Becomes 10X More Accurate
Steve Holland
05/01/00
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton on Monday gave the go-ahead to let
boaters, motorists and hikers use a satellite-navigation system with the
same pinpoint accuracy that the military has long enjoyed.
Clinton ordered the U.S. military to stop scrambling satellite signals used
by civilians as of midnight GMT (8 p.m. EDT) on Monday night. The decision
should mean that Global Positioning System receivers will be ten times more
accurate.
The decision, made after four years of deliberation, is likely to be a boon
to the GPS industry, which is already expected to double in the next three
years from $8 billion to more than $16 billion.
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Wide commercial use
The possibilities for increased commercial use are wide: air, road, rail and
marine navigation, precision agriculture and mining, oil exploration,
telecommunications, electronic data transfer, construction, recreation and
emergency response.
Consumers who have bought GPS receivers for boats, cars or recreation will
find that they are 10 times more accurate when the military ceases
disruption of the signal beamed down from orbiting GPS satellites. The White
House said it should generate greater acceptance of the system.
``In plain English, we are unscrambling the GPS signal,'' said White House
science advisor Neal Lane. ``It's rare that someone can press a button and
make something you own instantly more valuable, but that's exactly what's
going to happen today.''
An example of a GPS receiver. (AP)
``This is a very significant step forward in furthering the worldwide
utility of GPS for peaceful civil, commercial and scientific pursuits,'' he
said.
Better for emergency crews
Emergency teams responding to a crisis will be able to determine what side
of the highway they must respond to, saving precious minutes.
Commerce Secretary William Daley said the step would help millions of
commercial, scientific and government GPS users.
``This move has the potential to do for GPS what the PC has done for
computing, making this powerful information technology far more accessible
and affordable to the broad public,'' he said.
Accuracy could be to 9 yards
Currently, a GPS-based car navigation could give the location of the vehicle
to within 100 yards (100 meters), a problem where multiple highways run in
parallel. The signal change will eliminate these problems and possibly lead
to greater consumer confidence in the devices.
Related Links Directory: Global Positioning System Directory: GPS guides
Search: GPS Shopping.com: GPS units
Outdoor enthusiasts already use GPS but the greater accuracy will provide
accuracy of 20 (20 meters) or better, allowing hikers, campers and hunters
to navigate their way through unmarked wilderness.
The Commerce Department said one user reported readings with an accuracy of
9 meters when the signal was temporarily unscrambled in 1994.
In fact, the White House said, the accuracy of GPS will exceed the
resolution of U.S. Geological Survey topographical quad maps.
Recreational boaters will enjoy safer, more accurate navigation around
sandbars and rocks. Fishing aficionados will find a good fishing hole on
lakes and rivers more quickly, and commercial lobster boats will find it
easier to recover their traps.
About GPS
The GPS system is a product of super-reliable atomic clocks that emerged
from Nobel-prize winning physics. It can calculate position, velocity and
time anywhere on the globe, any time of the day or night, in any kind of
weather.
Artificial errors intentionally have been introduced into the satellite
signals for years for national security reasons, giving the military a far
more accurate system than civilians.
Lane told reporters the military would be able to scramble the signals on a
regional basis should it need to do so for national security reasons.
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