GPS not affected by war(i guess)Posted by Fletch on March 28, 2003 at 00:54:55:
First used by the US military, GPS uses satellites to provide accurate positional information on the ground. GPS is now popular with police and emergency service users in Australia and has become crucial to both the shipping and aviation industries. He said that while this capability would now be switched on in the Middle East, resulting in GPS information that was either very inaccurate or totally unavailable. A spokesman for the US Department of Defence recently told New Scientist magazine that technology to "blackout" regions was available, but that the US would not block GPS signals across the globe to fight the war with Iraq. ADVERTISEMENT
In May 2000, then US president Bill Clinton ordered that selective availability be turned off. Mr Clinton said removing selective capability was part of "an on-going effort to make GPS more responsive to civil and commercial users worldwide". Mr Clinton said the decision to turn off selective availability was made in consultation with other government agencies, including those involved in intelligence and defence. "They realised that worldwide transportation safety, scientific, and commercial interests could best be served by discontinuation of SA," he said "Additionally, we have demonstrated the capability to selectively deny GPS signals on a regional basis when our national security is threatened. This regional approach to denying navigation services is consistent with the 1996 plan to discontinue the degradation of civil and commercial GPS service globally through the SA technique." Tthe US military is ensured accurate positioning through the use of what is known as "p-code" (precise-code) GPS, which is encrypted to ensure that information is not intercepted or jammed. P-code is only available to the US military and its allies. It features a set of codes which are unique each satellite and are reset every week. Normal civilian applications use "coarse/acquisition" or C/A-code". Mr Lloyd said that accurate positioning requires the availability of four satellites. Australia is always covered by five satellites, with up to 11 being available at different times. Widely available handheld GPS units are normally accurate to within a metre, he said.
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