Challenge To The Gps

[MMNETSEA]

GPS C LI C K

[JeanneP]

That news article doesn't make sense. GPS is a US military product and I find it hard to believe that anything could get in its way. I am also pretty sure that airlines have been using GPS for quite some time, now.

I need someone to explain to me why I should believe that news article.

[MMNETSEA]

Originally Posted by JeanneP

That news article doesn't make sense. GPS is a US military product and I find it hard to believe that anything could get in its way. I am also pretty sure that airlines have been using GPS for quite some time, now.

I need someone to explain to me why I should believe that news article.

Since it was the Federal Aviation Administration itself who had the report, that does give the article a level of credibility.

[redbopeep]

The article sounds believe-able to me. I suppose the FCC will be getting a lot of letters about this. The current systems used by the airlines are enhanced with ground station to plane (?radar?) to assure location. That's a poor description of it, but it's not using regular GPS which is the "new" FAA plan. This link describes the FAA next-gen system.

[danblu]

I wonder how one of these situations would affect mariners...."A solar superstorm on September 1, 1859 -- named after British astronomer Richard Carrington who observed it -- set off fires in telegraph offices and produced an aurora so bright that people could read newspapers at night by the glow, NASA said." ( yahoo news, june 10, 2011.) According to the article we are entering a period of sunspot activity expected to peak in 2013.

[MMNETSEA]

Originally Posted by danblu

I wonder how one of these situations would affect mariners...."A solar superstorm on September 1, 1859 -- named after British astronomer Richard Carrington who observed it -- set off fires in telegraph offices and produced an aurora so bright that people could read newspapers at night by the glow, NASA said." ( yahoo news, june 10, 2011.) According to the article we are entering a period of sunspot activity expected to peak in 2013.

That will certainly assist HF radio propagation - look forward to that year.

[Spike_dawg]

Basically the cell phone bands can interfere with the GPS bands. GPS frequency is a narrow band at about 1575MHz. Some cell bands are very close by, other utilize frequencies in which harmonics can occur in the GPS frequency. There are critical specifications for the amount of signal level which can be produced in the GPS band by any cell phone, cell site, or other system. All products must be certified for this emission requirement.

As the cell band now require higher data rates (smart phones streaming video, accessing the internet, etc.) new modulation schemes are being utilized to make efficient use of the allotted cell frequencies. These new modulations generate a considerable amount of noise, each user adding to the noise level, some of it bleeding into the GPS band. Now approaches a noise level where a GPS user might have trouble acquiring the GPS signal. This is the concern.