Were going to spend billions putting new satalites in orbit, and no one bothered to let the DOD know what the comercial market really needed out of GPS.
Actually, they solicited a lot of commercial input into the next generation satellites. The original GPS program was DOD only, so they didn't envision many of the uses people have found for GPS. Since last year, the GPS program is jointly managed by DOD & the Dept of Commerce.
But 36 meter's still doesn't solve bigger issues. Like useing it for car navigation systems, or tracking city bound objects (like children, convicts, laptops, cellphones, weapons etc).
It's already being used in car nav systems. Many trucking companies, mass transit, police depts, etc. are also using GPS with telemetry tranceivers to track their vehicles on GIS maps. And yes, there are already criminals wearing GPS & tranceivers to ensure they don't violate parole or house arrest orders.
DGPS only gets about 3-5meter accuracy (95% of the time, or some such statistic). DGPS is used to counter selective availability and some of the distortion caused by various atmospheric conditions. Survey units use a more robus version which actually gives them only distance from a specific point. (A very precise point mind you).
Actually, DGPS is old news. Before that, you could do post-processing of the data from a base station receiver over a known position & another receiver. DGPS addded telemetry to each receiver, but you still had to sit at a point for 15-30 min to get 1 m accuracy at 95% Circular Error of Probability (CEP).
With newer technology & dual channel receivers, the accuracy is much better. Now, there is Real-Time Kinetic (RTK) surveying, which can give 1 m accuracy at 95% CEP in actual real-time. DGPS nowadays can get better than 5 cm accuracy at 95% CEP sitting at a point for 10-15 min.
Re:Furthermore this won't change non military use
on
New GPS Standard Published
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· Score: 3, Informative
Despite these artificial limitation posed by the the US and Australian DoD, apparently everyone who's wanted to has been able to get accuracy to within fifteen meters for quite some time now.
It's not an "artificial" limitation. When they say GPS has a 36 m accuracy, they mean there is a 95% Circular Error of Probability (CEP) that it will locate your horizontal position on the Earth's surface any day within a 36 m sphere. It's quite possible that the position is more accurate. Some days, the accuracy with a 95% CEP has been as low as 7.8 m, and the 50% CEP as low as 2.9 m (both with only single frequency receivers).
Do the sattellites give bad readings which can be easily re-set to their true value, is some kind of interpretarion of multiple results possible (a kind of triangulation)? Either way, this has been the case for over five years.
Before May 1, 2000 "Selective Availibility" introduced a timing error that limited the 95% CEP accuracy to 100 m for civilian receivers. It's been turned off for good now, but the DOD has reserved the right to degrade the signal in a specific region, probably by jamming it.
The delay you're thinking of was called "Selective Availability," and was globaly shut off on May 1, 2000. The DOD did reserve the degrade it over a specific region though (possibly by jamming the signal).
Flight simulators have to stop somewhere short of reality, or you'd need a whole cluster of computers to do the calculations.
Good point! I work in the flight simulation business, and there's a good quote relating to this: to build a completely realistic simulator would cost as much as the aircraft itself. This would probably hold somewhat true for operation as well.
The US gov't already has worldwide networks that aren't connected at all to the internet, at least in DOD.
In the US Air Force, they refer to the internet as NIPRNET (Non-secure IP Router Network). Only unclassified info is sent across it, and sensitive unclassified or privacy act info is restricted to.mil or.gov users only.
The other network is called SIPRNET (Secret IP Router Network). On military installations its conduit is encased in concrete, junction boxes are alarmed, & cable drops are only in secure areas. Off the installations it's encrypted. I imagine the encryption is pretty strong since NSA designs the algorithms.
I miss the radio station in my hometown (WHMH). They made a point of not talking over the music & play any song on an album, not just the hits. They also regularly announced the songs before & after playing. On more than a few occasions, I called in to ask what the last song or song before was & they were happy to tell me. It's only 60 miles from where I live now, but I can't pick it up.
Here in Minneapolis & St Paul, the biggest 3 radio stations are owned by ABC/Disney, and most of the rest by Clear Channel.
Personally, I'm against pornography in general, but for the right of others to do as they please, as long as nobody gets hurt.
I think parents just need to take a more pro-active role in parenting in the US. If people spent more time with their kids, instead of the TV or daycare raising them, I think lots of problems could be solved.
Actually, the capability of tracking a fleet of trucks, buses, police cars, etc. has been around for a few years. I've seen some cities that use it with their bus systems that have a timer at bus stops that tells how close the bus is to the stop.
Re:The good and the bad of it
on
GPS Meets PCS
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· Score: 2
You don't have to carry a cellphone, and you could always disconnect the battery. Just a thought.
*the US government isn't letting anyone but the military be vaccinated!
That is completely not true. The anthrax vaccine has been FDA approved and available since 1978. It was only commonly given to veterinarians or animal workers until the military started giving them. Right now there is just a shortage of the vaccine, since the cultures can take years to grow.
I know of at least one site that already does this. Sony Station, an online gaming site, pops up ads when you start games. It's easy enough to close the window before they finish loading. I'm sure the advertisers don't like this, but oh well.
Actually, its very likely it was shot down. First, the Taliban probably still has Stinger missiles we gave the Mujaheddin during their war with the Soviets. Second, the Predator is a pretty easy target: unstealthy, slow, and sounds like a giant mosquito when lower than 10,000 feet.
Take this article with a (very large) grain of salt.
Predators do NOT carry Hellfire missiles in actual operation.
For the first time in any operation, the Predators, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems in San Diego, are also armed with Hellfire anti-tank missiles, after successful trials this year.
First of all, the "trials" weren't meant to develop the Predator into a weapons system. Only Phase I of the testing is completed. Before Phase II, they have to re-engineer the Hellfire, since it was designed to be fired by low-flying helicopters. After Phase II, "This will complete the demonstration of the objectives we set down at the beginning of this process, to demo the technology, and prove its operational feasibility." The tests they did this year were in ideal conditions, fired at a stationary target.
I spent 2 weeks at Nellis AFB, NV this summer, where the 11th & 15th Reconnaissance Squadrons are the only units that fly the Predator. I saw them flying, up-close, the trailer they control them from, and footage from previous flights. I even talked to one of the pilots that flew one of the Hellfire test flights.
the US Air Force's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment
It doesn't take much to verify facts online nowadays. Like the fact that the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment is in the Army, not the Air Force. The US Air Force has NO regiments, they do have a variety of special operations assets though.
Despite the close normally work closely together. It would not be normal procedure, for example, for the SAS and Delta Force or Rangers, to run a joint patrol. Their methods and communications systems are different and their concept of operations do not easily merge.
Besides the obvious grammatical/editorial error in the first sentence, the SAS & American special ops troops work closely quite often. They're constantly deploying all over the world for training or operations.
I don't know how this kind of stuff gets printed by (supposedly) respected newspapers. The author (who's not just a reporter, but their defence editor) & source for this article are clueless.
Here is the official Air Force factsheet on the RQ-1 Predator
Here is the AF News article about the Hellfire tests
Aside from the creation of Israel, the U.S. and the U.K. drew up borders for a number of other States in the region, many of which had no cultural or historical basis, i.e. Jordan or Kuwait.
Close, but not quite. The UK & France were the parties involved in the partition of the middle eastern areas of the Ottoman Empire after WW I. Most of the area was historically known as (Greater) Syria. After the war, France was given mandate over present day Syria & Lebanon, which they separated to protect the Maronite Christians. The UK was given control over the rest, creating Palestine, Iraq (from 3 formerly unrelated regions: Mosul, Baghdad, & Basra), Jordan (then called Transjordan), & Kuwait.
The Taliban does NOT have popular support in Afghanistan. They rule by fear, force, & terror.
If that is where we end up attacking (pretty likely IMHO), and we rid Afghanistan of them, it'll be a great opportunity to help the people (possibly thru some of the opposing groups) start a democratic gov't.
Re:Why is a civilian spouting off about war?
on
A New Kind of War
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· Score: 2
Traditional warfare in Afghanistan has essentially been ruled out. Airstrikes will be extremely limited because their are so few targets other than the civilian population. Ground troops may not be used at all. And if they are, they will be extremely limited in number.
You don't have a clue. This is going to be a traditional war. There are lots of targets of military value.
Jon Katz is also clueless on this issue. Listen to what the "talking heads" have been saying. The US intelligence community has been relying on high-tech sources too much, for too long. If we'd had human intelligence sources inside some terrorist organizations, we could've possibly prevented the attacks.
Slashdot Mirror
It's already being used in car nav systems. Many trucking companies, mass transit, police depts, etc. are also using GPS with telemetry tranceivers to track their vehicles on GIS maps. And yes, there are already criminals wearing GPS & tranceivers to ensure they don't violate parole or house arrest orders.
From the link you provided, the technical specs say 10 m RMS accuracy. The aforementioned 36 m accuracy is at 95% Circular Error of Probability (CEP).
With newer technology & dual channel receivers, the accuracy is much better. Now, there is Real-Time Kinetic (RTK) surveying, which can give 1 m accuracy at 95% CEP in actual real-time. DGPS nowadays can get better than 5 cm accuracy at 95% CEP sitting at a point for 10-15 min.
Before May 1, 2000 "Selective Availibility" introduced a timing error that limited the 95% CEP accuracy to 100 m for civilian receivers. It's been turned off for good now, but the DOD has reserved the right to degrade the signal in a specific region, probably by jamming it.
The delay you're thinking of was called "Selective Availability," and was globaly shut off on May 1, 2000. The DOD did reserve the degrade it over a specific region though (possibly by jamming the signal).
Remember the Hindenburg?
In the US Air Force, they refer to the internet as NIPRNET (Non-secure IP Router Network). Only unclassified info is sent across it, and sensitive unclassified or privacy act info is restricted to
The other network is called SIPRNET (Secret IP Router Network). On military installations its conduit is encased in concrete, junction boxes are alarmed, & cable drops are only in secure areas. Off the installations it's encrypted. I imagine the encryption is pretty strong since NSA designs the algorithms.
For more info check out these AF regulations:
AFI 33-202: Computer Security
AFMAN 33-221: Computer Security: Protected Distribution Systems (PDS)
They don't play the kind of music I usually want to listen to though.
Wow, that explains a lot.
I miss the radio station in my hometown (WHMH). They made a point of not talking over the music & play any song on an album, not just the hits. They also regularly announced the songs before & after playing. On more than a few occasions, I called in to ask what the last song or song before was & they were happy to tell me. It's only 60 miles from where I live now, but I can't pick it up.
Here in Minneapolis & St Paul, the biggest 3 radio stations are owned by ABC/Disney, and most of the rest by Clear Channel.
Personally, I'm against pornography in general, but for the right of others to do as they please, as long as nobody gets hurt.
I think parents just need to take a more pro-active role in parenting in the US. If people spent more time with their kids, instead of the TV or daycare raising them, I think lots of problems could be solved.
Actually, the capability of tracking a fleet of trucks, buses, police cars, etc. has been around for a few years. I've seen some cities that use it with their bus systems that have a timer at bus stops that tells how close the bus is to the stop.
You don't have to carry a cellphone, and you could always disconnect the battery. Just a thought.
The same article also mentioned they were on-track to get reapproved by the 2nd qtr of 2001, and start producing the vaccine again in April 2001.
Copyrights only apply to a specific instance & medium of a work.
Trademarks apply to a specific design, logo, or name.
I know of at least one site that already does this. Sony Station, an online gaming site, pops up ads when you start games. It's easy enough to close the window before they finish loading. I'm sure the advertisers don't like this, but oh well.
Actually, its very likely it was shot down. First, the Taliban probably still has Stinger missiles we gave the Mujaheddin during their war with the Soviets. Second, the Predator is a pretty easy target: unstealthy, slow, and sounds like a giant mosquito when lower than 10,000 feet.
They don't, the article is total BS. See my previous comment
Predators do NOT carry Hellfire missiles in actual operation.
First of all, the "trials" weren't meant to develop the Predator into a weapons system. Only Phase I of the testing is completed. Before Phase II, they have to re-engineer the Hellfire, since it was designed to be fired by low-flying helicopters. After Phase II, "This will complete the demonstration of the objectives we set down at the beginning of this process, to demo the technology, and prove its operational feasibility." The tests they did this year were in ideal conditions, fired at a stationary target.
I spent 2 weeks at Nellis AFB, NV this summer, where the 11th & 15th Reconnaissance Squadrons are the only units that fly the Predator. I saw them flying, up-close, the trailer they control them from, and footage from previous flights. I even talked to one of the pilots that flew one of the Hellfire test flights.
It doesn't take much to verify facts online nowadays. Like the fact that the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment is in the Army, not the Air Force. The US Air Force has NO regiments, they do have a variety of special operations assets though.
Besides the obvious grammatical/editorial error in the first sentence, the SAS & American special ops troops work closely quite often. They're constantly deploying all over the world for training or operations.
I don't know how this kind of stuff gets printed by (supposedly) respected newspapers. The author (who's not just a reporter, but their defence editor) & source for this article are clueless.
Here is the official Air Force factsheet on the RQ-1 Predator
Here is the AF News article about the Hellfire tests
The Taliban does NOT have popular support in Afghanistan. They rule by fear, force, & terror.
If that is where we end up attacking (pretty likely IMHO), and we rid Afghanistan of them, it'll be a great opportunity to help the people (possibly thru some of the opposing groups) start a democratic gov't.
Jon Katz is also clueless on this issue. Listen to what the "talking heads" have been saying. The US intelligence community has been relying on high-tech sources too much, for too long. If we'd had human intelligence sources inside some terrorist organizations, we could've possibly prevented the attacks.