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"Are we too reliant on GPS?"

Posted by Chris Anderson on March 14, 2011 at 12:30pm

3689394566?profile=originalGood article from O'Reilly Radar. It's worth reading it all, but here's the nut:

The core issue is that GPS technology has been built into many crucial infrastructure applications, from transportation systems to power grids, and in many cases there is no fallback option should the GPS signals suddenly become unavailable. GPS has many advantages, but it is not particularly secure or robust in terms of interference, due to its relatively weak signal strength. GPS hasn't failed in any major way yet, but concerns are growing with recent reports of strong solar storms that have the potential to disrupt GPS satellites, and a troubling, growing black market of GPS-jamming devices.

One of the advantages of military UAVs is that they're often designed to operate in "GPS denied" environments, by using dead reckoning, image processing and other navigation techniques. Indoor work with SLAM, which doesn't use GPS, is useful in developing alternatives, too.
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  • bGatti March 19, 2011 at 9:52am

    Are we reliant on a specific technology or the feature?

    If there is sufficient interest in what GPS provides, then it becomes reasonable to assume that this technology will remain present.

     

    @krzysztof, You're right, imagining stabe flight without GPS is a start.

    Take return to launch for example, a directional antenna could yield vector info, while flight could be coordinated with compass, and pressure*2 or more in a low dihedral plane?

     

    If we have telemetry on servo, why not measure signal strength, move servo, and transmit vector?

    then location = vector * signal loss?

     

     

     

     

  • bGatti March 19, 2011 at 9:19am
    @Jack, I've read that the US is still the World's largest manufacturer, though certainly not the worlds fastest growing manufacturer.
  • Dano March 16, 2011 at 12:23pm
    Last year a solar flare knocked a WAAS satellite out, it is used to increase accuracy of GPS:
    From Wiki..."The Galaxy 15 satellite ceased responding to control commands between April 5, 2010, when solar activity damaged the spacecraft’s communication package, and December 23, 2010, when its battery drained and the Baseband Equipment command unit reset."
  • Duane Brocious March 15, 2011 at 6:08pm

    "— A remarkable 2003 rampage included 10 major solar flares over a ...

     

    Rare but very real. We are currently in the active cycle (2003 +11) of increased / intense sun spot and solar flare activity affecting our planet.

  • brakar March 15, 2011 at 3:17pm

    If solar storms is a problem for the gps network, I think it will also be so for the uav electronics and radio systems. Hence, when solar storm, stay home drink beer :-)

    btw, how many days a year is this likely to occure?

  • T3
    Krzysztof Bosak March 15, 2011 at 2:35pm
    I didn't want to turn the discussion down, but let's be realistic. First step to get rid of GPS would be implementing dead reckoning plus occasional (or less availble) position update from another system. We were actually going the opposite way towards 5Hz and 10Hz GPS. A step forward would be using simulated 0.1Hz GPS.
  • Duane Brocious March 15, 2011 at 1:11pm
    My guess is that the next step will be geocentric mapping as oppsed to orbit centric mapping. Cheaper in the long run. But then I promoted the concept of  what came to be called "cell" technology and was laughed at 30 years ago.
  • Dano March 15, 2011 at 12:12pm

    @Duanne

     

    Exactly! People dislike change (new things) but change is the one constant in life... Go figure.

  • Duane Brocious March 15, 2011 at 11:12am

    "we can ask the same question about other modern marvels, computers, antibiotics, autos, cell phones and so on."
    And we have been asking that same question about "new things" for a few thousand years.

    "Are we too reliant on Folsom points? Soon nobody will know how to make Clovis points." 

  • Dano March 15, 2011 at 10:47am
    Ok lets go with your premise.... we are doomed to a 3rd world existance. Not buying it one bit, I'm old enough to have lived through 4 wars, more than a dozen recessions, countless natural disasters and myriad of other calamities. Somehow we survive, innovate and thrive. My $$$$ is on the now and future. If I did not believe that I would not have become an owner in a company but live out my days in fear of the unknown.

    Back to GPS.... there are several plans by others to compete with GPS but.... The Europeans keep failing to fund theirs, China has plans to complete a global system by 2020, a very ambitious schedule which is likely not to be met.

    The title of the article is "Are we too reliant on GPS" and we can ask the same question about other modern marvels, computers, antibiotics, autos, cell phones and so on.

    Welcome to the modern world with all it's marvels and associated problems. I love it.
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