GPS Tracking

With the current rate of population growth not only in the United States but the world at large, food production is commonly cited as a major concern for future generations, and many governments are on the search for new and innovative ways and people that can help make food production more efficient and able to service a needy planet.  Professionals studying precision agriculture focus on how to utilize currently available technological systems such as GPS tracking devices and advanced irrigation infrastructure to produce as much quality food crops at as low of a cost as possible.  The potential for a GPS tracker to make farming more efficient has been realized by the majority of farmers in this nation, and committees such as the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Advisory Board (PNT) encourage the spread of knowledge regarding GPS tracking technology and similar navigational systems across the globe.  Their latest member, Rajiv Khosla, hopes to combine this knowledge with the many useful practices of precision agriculture.

Khosla, a CSU professor of precision agriculture, was currently inducted into NASA’s PNT committee for a two-year term.  During this time, he will provide insights gained from his time teaching at CSU, conducting research, and participating in outreach programs geared toward spreading the word about how a GPS tracker can help enhance crop production.  The board currently comprises 24 experts from GPS tracking-related industries and academia and provides policy, planning, and program management advice to the United States government regarding space-based positioning, navigation, and timing services, many of which encompass the integration of some form of a GPS tracker and mapping service.

Along with his group of contacts at CSU, Khosla has helped to develop an extensive informative program to understand and showcase how space-based GPS tracking technologies can be better utilized to enhance agricultural productivity, profitability, and environmental conservation in a society that values both mass production and ecologically friendly business and farming practices.  In addition, his personal contribution to the realm of precision agriculture has helped farmers to understand how a GPS tracker can be used to provide fertilizer and other agricultural inputs at variable rates and adjusted to specific soil and crop needs within certain farm fields.  With the world’s population expected to reach upwards of 9 billion by 2050, the work of Khosla and other members of the PNT are a vital tool in helping farmers working to feed the globe while keeping their production techniques as cost-effective and efficient as humanly possible.  While we can’t add more land, Khosla and his colleagues are intent on using GPS tracking technology to help us make the most of the arable land we still have left.

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A Different Kind of Storm

Minimizing the Damage

Solar storms are nothing new to us on Earth.  We are vulnerable to increases in sun activity because our use of technology that we depend on every day can be affected by these incidents.  According to experts solar flare-ups are supposed to increase in frequency in the coming months and years.  It appears that the sun has been in ‘hibernation’ and will now awaken and produce more activity than ever.

Systems that are most vulnerable are GPS tracking and navigation, air travel, smart power grids, financial services and even emergency radio communications.  These can all be knocked out by a severe solar storm which could cause many times more economic damage than did Hurricane Katrina.  This makes it imperative that we be aware of these storms and be able to help predict the flair ups.

That responsibility rests with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States of America.  They have a close partnership with NASA which provides critical data via satellites in space from which these solar storms can be observed in detail.  With this detail comes the possibility of predictions of storms that can produce serious damage on Earth-born electrical systems. (more…)

Do Not Assume They are Always Right

The Downfall of Depending on Technology

Recently, earthquakes have struck several large areas around the world and have caused major damage to cities and towns in these locations.  These events are unsettling for all who endure them and the aftermath of destruction that occurs.  But there is another phenomenon that happens after an earthquake.  GPS Tracking devices lose their accuracy.  How much depends on how much the tectonic plates of the earth have shifted.  It could be a few feet or more. (more…)

Rocket Launch Key to Next Generation GPS

Mission accomplished.

Ares 1-X, NASA’s first rocket in its “new frontier” Constellation space exploration program, rose from its launch pad and pierced the sky Oct. 28 at Kennedy Space Center, FL – buoying hopes that the door had been flung open to a great future in deep space exploration.

The United States had a tall order for the 1.8 million pound, 327-foot-tall spacecraft, and it delivered.  The test rocket represents a future space transportation system that will carry astronauts and possibly tourists on journeys to the International Space Station, to the moon, Mars and beyond.

The Ares 1-X is also the model for a vehicle that will literally launch the next generation of GPS radio navigation satellites into orbit and help repair and modify the 24 satellites already existing in the U.S. Department of Defense system.

The super spacecraft is new and experimental in many ways. Among its features, it runs on oxygen and liquid methane fuel instead of traditional fuels, called hypergolic propellants. The oxygen-methane combo is readily available, costs less, weighs less and is less toxic on the environment. This creates hope that the new-age spacecraft will be capable of going further into orbit and greatly multiply the length of time it can house and sustain human life.

On her six-minute flight, Ares 1-X recorded a library of data that, once analyzed, will be used to improve the design and safety of future spacecraft. The soundness of the structure and hardware were tested. The software recorded motor burn time, ignition, speed, thrust, pressure, payload limits, even the drag and the pull of the main parachute.

The second happy ending to the Ares 1-X story is the difference it will make in the 20-year-old U.S. Department of Defense GPS radio navigation system. The GPS network has been maintained by the Air Force since the 1990s. The constellation of 24 satellites, while still entirely functional and serviceable, occasionally need assistance, repair and modification and one by one will eventually be taken out of service and replaced with more technologically advanced models.

This is due to an ever-increasing demand – from the military as well as civilian worlds – for GPS tracking and navigation services and advances in GPS tracking technology. Improved signal transmission and location readings are certainly on the horizon.

Ares or her offspring will likely be the delivery vehicles for this new technology.

“NASA’s Ares1-X launch vehicle is a significant development for GPS integrators and users,” said Steven Moehling, Vice President of Sales for LandAirSea Systems, a leading provider of GPS vehicle tracking software, systems and accessories. “This demonstrates NASA’s commitment to the space program as well as the proposed GPS modernization program.”

The government is concerned about our GPS satellites becoming outdated. To keep the system running smoothly, Congress authorized a planned modernization. The 2000 action and resulting project were dubbed GPS III.

The project involves new equipment (satellites and ground stations) and better service (accuracy and accessibility of signals).

The U.S. GPS tracking system is, and has been, the dominant player in satellite navigation, so it is necessary to stay on the cutting edge of the technology. Historically, all countries have been dependent on the U.S. Department of Defense satellite system.

Yet, other countries are working on their own, alternative national satellite tracking and navigation systems.  Would-be challengers:

• Russia, in cooperation with India, has been working since the 1980s on its own satellite navigation system called the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS.)
• The European Union and European Space Agency (ESA) have their own system called Galileo, with China and numerous other countries as partners.

Neither are yet operational.

Satellite navigation is crucial for any application where location information is needed. It is precise and reliable. In today’s military operations, much of warfare planning, training and strategy are done on a network level. Even on the civilian side, GPS tracking and navigation has become a staple of everyday life.

A next wave of satellites is due eventually, to eliminate blackouts and failures of service. The NASA Ares 1-X flight might be the hope and assurance America needs, that the GPS system will not fall into disrepair.