Don't get too attached to your GPS....

[Rocky_Road]

It appears that our Air Force managed GPS satellite system is starting to fail...and there are problems with the plans to keep it running:

"US government officials are concerned that the quality of the Global Positioning System (GPS) could begin to deteriorate as early as next year, resulting in regular blackouts and failures ? or even dishing out inaccurate directions to millions of people worldwide."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/19/gps-close-to-breakdown

Personally, I normally get 5 to 6 decent satellite signals here in the Panhandle...but my last trip out, my GPS seemed to take forever to make my location, and I was only getting 4 solid satellite 'hits'. I don't know about anyone else, but I would be 'lost' if I had to go back to reading charts!

Happy boating!

 

[EsoxRanger]

Re: Don't get too attached to your GPS....

I still have my old Loran C reciever, and it works.

 

[SuzukiChopper]

Re: Don't get too attached to your GPS....

This comment from the article says it all:

OK, deep breath everyone. remember, this is the Guardian, where science reporting is fact free.

"The first replacement GPS satellite was due to launch at the beginning of 2007, but has been delayed several times and is now scheduled to go into orbit in November this year ? almost three years late."

This statement makes absolutely no sense. There have been 2.5 generations of GPS satellite, with the third being developed currently. There are 32 satellites in orbit, the most recent being launched in March of last year and the oldest in 1993. To provide a fix accurate to 10 meters, a receiver needs to get signals from 4 satellites concurrently. Most receivers can handle up to 12 concurrent signals, but its rare to be able to see that many at once.

The Air Force is currently launching 5 new GPS satellites in the space of one year (March was the third). Presently, there are 31 active satellites, and one spare. When the one launched in March goes active, one of the current satellites will become the second spare. The system only allows for 31 active satellites at a time. 21 are needed for full coverage for the Earth, so there is significant redundancy in the current "constellation". By November, there will be 31 active, and 4 spares.

There have been delays in the third generation GPS satellites (Block III), due to new features (such as 10X power transmission, interoperability with Galileo, and resistance to jamming). But if we suddenly started losing satellites, current levels of service would be maintained with up to 10 satellites lost.

The delays in the newest generation stem from a review of the proposals by Boeing and Lockheed-Martin, and a comparison of the Block IIR and Block IIF designs and production.

In summation, this column should have been titled "GPS System Upgrade Delayed". But that doesn't sell newspapers.

There is NO way the GPS system is going to fail. Unless this is a tactic by the US Military to give "enemies" a glimmer of hope, or make it a fee based system, it's just not going to happen.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Don't get too attached to your GPS....

Taking it with a pinch of salt !!!

 

[JB]

Re: Don't get too attached to your GPS....

I think Guardian must have pants on fire.

 

[Rocky_Road]

Re: Don't get too attached to your GPS....

Here is the short (and full) GAO report about this:

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-670T

This is the U.S. Government Accountability Office report that made the article that I posted.

Happy boating!

 

[FBPirate95]

Re: Don't get too attached to your GPS....

Take into account the number of accidents that have been caused by people blindly following GPS directions and we could be in big trouble!

 

[Bifflefan]

Re: Don't get too attached to your GPS....

Was i the only one to notice that this is from the UK also?

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Don't get too attached to your GPS....

Was i the only one to notice that this is from the UK also?

No, that's why I'm not going to get too worked up about it...

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: Don't get too attached to your GPS....

Those above who reported having issues, I don't get it.

The last 2 years I have seen better GPS coverage than before, being able to get WAAS almost every trip as opposed to only occasionally seeing a WASS signal. Accuracy is up as a result. I don't think I'm seeing more satellites, but they did a serious upgrade to the WAAS side about 2 years ago that has made a huge difference up here in the BC interior.

 

[flycaster]

Re: Don't get too attached to your GPS....

Take into account the number of accidents that have been caused by people blindly following GPS directions and we could be in big trouble!

A problem lays with the coordination of the mapping programs in the GPS units along with the gps spot locator.
IF YOUR MAPPING IS OFF THE GPS INFO IS INVALID.
Can you travel by the gps coordinates only?????
How can you go from N 29? 35' 00" W 82? 20' 00" to N24? 35' 00" W 81? 45' 00".
This is the information that you are getting from the satellites, then the GPS mapping program is converting into information that we can understand.

 

[pduquette]

Re: Don't get too attached to your GPS....

Tackelwasher ; remember- the FLA Panhandle is a lot closer to that Bermuda triangle thingy !!lol peter