Free Republic

Nav gadgets will be Gah, Properly Screwed if you don't or can't update firmware Older satnavs and such devices won't be able to use America's Global Positioning System properly after April 6 unless they've been suitably updated or designed to handle a looming epoch rollover.GPS signals from satellites include a timestamp, needed in part to calculate one's location, that stores the week number using ten binary bits. That means the week number can have 210 or 1,024 integer values, counting from zero to 1,023 in this case. Every 1,024 weeks, or roughly every 20 years, the counter rolls over from...

Full title: Mankind has lost the art of map reading, says the man who INVENTED GPS: Bradford Parkinson says world is 'too dependent' on smartphones that are vulnerable to failureThe inventor of GPS has lamented that people are unable to read maps because they are now 'too dependent' on using their smartphones or sat-nav devices. Bradford Parkinson, the pioneer inventor of the navigation system relied upon by billions of people, said that he 'worries' about what impact its failure could have. Professor Parkinson received the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in London last night for his key role in developing...

DARPA was interested in creating a chip-scale laser optical gyroscope. Important for its ability to maintain knowledge of position without GPS, optical gyroscopes are used for precision positioning and navigation, including in most commercial airliners. The laser optical gyroscope has a length-scale sensitivity on par with that of the gravitational wave detector, one of the most precise measuring instruments ever made. But current systems that achieve this sensitivity incorporate bulky coils of optical fiber. The goal of the OwlG project was to realize an ultra-quiet (narrow-linewidth) laser on the chip to replace the fiber as the rotation-sensing element and allow...

A group of people who believe the Earth is flat have announced their “biggest, boldest, best adventure yet”: a Flat Earth cruise scheduled for 2020. The cruise, organized by the Flat Earth International Conference, promises to be a lovely time. Flat earthers – who include the rapper B.o.B. and reality television person Tila Tequila – will be able to enjoy restaurants, swimming pools and perhaps even an artificial surf wave. There’s just one problem for those seeking to celebrate the flatness of the Earth. The navigational systems cruise ships, and other vessels, use rely on the fact that the Earth...

Rapid shifts in the Earth’s north magnetic pole are forcing researchers to make an unprecedented early update to a model that helps navigation by ships, planes and submarines in the Arctic, scientists said.

I was recently on a podcast with an Army LtC and Captain who are stationed in Korea discussing the history of GPS.

"Norway has determined that Russia was responsible for jamming GPS signals in the Kola Peninsula during Exercise Trident Juncture. Finland has expressed concern over possible jamming in Lapland," NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu told CNN Wednesday.

Their so-called quantum compass measures the movements of supercooled atoms using a quantum accelerometer which, unlike previous accelerometers, remains accurate over time and doesn’t require external references. Built over five years with $346 million (£270m) funding from the U.K. government, you probably won’t find the three-foot wide, three-foot tall compass under the Christmas tree or in your smartphone any time soon, but it has the potential to dramatically change how we navigate the world. Here’s how: It’s ultra secure It’s incredibly accurate It’s surprisingly cost-effective

Scientists have demonstrated a "commercially viable" quantum accelerometer that could provide navigation without GPS or other satellite technology. The device uses lasers to cool atoms to extremely low temperatures, and then measures the quantum wave properties of those atoms as they respond to acceleration. [T]his quantum 'compass' isn't ready to replace the accelerometer in your phone. It's only truly ready for ships, trains and other large vehicles where size and power requirements aren't major factors. It could keep transportation networks humming even if GPS fails outright. The researchers also expect the underlying concepts to help with science studies, such as...

American and western intelligence sources believe Iran has been increasing its shipments of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah, and that the deliveries now include Global Positioning System (GPS) components to make previously unguided rockets into precision guided-missiles, increasing the threat to Israel, Fox News reported on Friday. One of the Iranian flights arrived in Lebanon three days ago, officials told the news channel. Iran’s Fars Air Qeshm flight number QFZ-9950 departed Tehran International Airport on Tuesday at 9:33 a.m. local time, and flew to an unknown destination, according to flight data obtained by Fox News. Later in the day, the Boeing...

A freelance automotive journalist worries a testing site operated by the Illinois Tollway Authority could be for more than just testing automated tollway technology. Paul Brian said he’s noticed a site with various sensors on northbound I-294 for years with a sign that reads “for testing purposes only.” Illinois Tollway Authority officials said the site is used for testing various sensors, but only for tollway purposes. The site, established in 2015, had an initial price tag of $2.7 million. “The Illinois Tollway has used the test site to study a range of systems – some of which were adopted and...

The co-founder of Fusion GPS - the firm behind the now-infamous Trump/Russia dossier - is likely to be subpoenaed after he rejected a request for an interview before Congress.

WASHINGTON — The Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya who set up Don Trump Jr. for a meeting in Trump Tower as part of a Fusion GPS plot was operating out of the Washington offices of Cozen O’Connor, a law firm run by an anti-Trump former Obama administration official whose super PAC donated to Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush in the 2016 presidential election. Veselnitskaya’s work from the Cozen O’Connor office provides more evidence of a Democrat and establishment Republican effort to set up the Trump campaign for a future Russian collusion case. Veselnitskaya was allowed into the United States by the...

FBI had actually paid Christopher Steele, the man who put together the infamous unverified dossier targeting President Donald Trump during the campaign, in 11 separate cash payments in 2016. This was despite being admonished in February 2016 and despite the fact that he was being paid with money from the Democrats that went through the law firm Perkins Coie to Fusion GPS to Steele for opposition research to gather against Trump... FBI was using taxpayer dollars to pay for opposition research and unverified smears on Trump. In the words of FBI official Peter Strzok, sounds like an “insurance policy.” ......

Driving in DC used to be a nightmare for me until Waze replaced stand still traffic with pleasant drives through picturesque neighborhoods. Unfortunately, residents may not feel a similar delight when they see my car. They’re weary of speeders, noise, and rudeness; and they're fighting back. (I would too, if I couldn't even back out of my driveway) And so, there are rumblings about forcing companies to be "accountable", holding them liable for traffic problems, and even preventing them from reporting certain routes. Unfortunately, this is exactly what we should not be doing. Southern California Radio recently asked their listeners,...

Put aside Russian collusion for a moment. Press pause on possible presidential obstruction of justice. Forget Stormy Daniels. The most significant recent development involving the president may be that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, has subpoenaed Trump Organization business records as part of his inquiry into Russian interference in the presidential election. Those documents — and records recently seized by the F.B.I. from the president’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen — might answer a question raised by the president’s critics: Have certain real estate investors used Trump-branded properties to launder the proceeds of criminal activity around the world? We pored over...

State Dept. Official Reportedly Passed On Second Trump ‘Dossier’ Written by One of Clinton’s Most Discreditable Supporters Last week, the Guardian reported the FBI is looking at a second Trump “dossier,” in addition to the one compiled by former British spook Christopher Steele at the behest of the Clinton campaign. The second dossier is allegedly compiled by Cody Shearer. “One source with knowledge of the inquiry said the fact the FBI was still working on [the ‘Shearer dossier’] suggested investigators had taken an aspect of it seriously,” notes the Guardian. “It raises the possibility that parts of the Steele dossier,...

Nobody could have known, several years ago, that technological progress could make life so complicated in Echo Park. But along Baxter Street, everyone seems to have a story about the ineptitude of drivers — following directions from navigation apps — who can't seem to handle one of the steepest inclines in Los Angeles. "The car came through our garden, went through two fences and ended up backwards hanging over our driveway," said Jason Luther, who was describing an accident that happened during the last rains. "A lot of people can't make it up the hill," Baxter resident Robbie Adams said....

Courts are faulting the search, but allowing the information, as case law lags behind technology Emilio Jean won his appeal, but he might as well have lost. Arizona law-enforcement officers violated Mr. JeanÂ’s privacy rights when they rigged a GPS device to a tractor-trailer he was co-piloting and tracked it for three days without a warrant, the stateÂ’s highest court ruled in January. But the Arizona court declined to throw out the illegally obtained evidence, a move that likely would have set Mr. Jean free. Instead, he is serving the rest of his 10-year prison sentence for attempting to haul...

The U.S. military is worryingly dependent on GPS. Our global positioning satellites tell planes where they are, provide targeting info for smart weapons, and support communication and navigation systems. But in a war with a tech-advanced adversary—think China, Russia, or Iran—GPS could become a big liability because it could be jammed, spoofed, or outright destroyed. So how does the U.S. Air Force train for such a scenario? Simple—just turn it off.