Archives for 2014

WWII Loran recievers like this one used the Loran system, which recently got an upgrade and revamp to be used as a backup for GPS.

GPS is a wonderful tool, but as it becomes more and more prevalent in technology, it becomes harder and harder to navigate without it. The BBC reported last week that the General Lighthouse Authorities have installed a system called eLoran in seven ports across Britain to use as a backup in case of a GPS outage.

The eLoran system is a resurrected and revamped version of the Long Range Navigation system (Loran) used in WWII by the US Navy to guide warships. The eLoran system has, of course, been upgraded to make it more accurate and renamed and rebranded. Unlike GPS, the eLoran system is ground based and uses completely different kinds of signals to GPS, meaning that a blackout of both systems is highly unlikely. read more

A company called Wearable Experiments has announced their newest wearable GPS product concept: a jacket designed to vibrate to give you directions around select cities. Creatively named the “Navigate” this wearable tech is designed to be fashionable (although I think it looks pretty awful, actually) and help tourists experience the city without being tied to a screen. read more

GPSWorld reported last week that the debate over building GLONASS stations on U.S. soil is continuing. Or, rather it isn’t, as the United States reportedly has refused to negotiate with Russia on this matter. As promised, Russia has disabled military use of the GPS stations on their soil while leaving the stations working for civilian use. They, of course, have not said how they accomplished it. read more

If you live in certain parts of the world, you may have noticed some rather odd GPS readings during the last couple of weeks. Well, as it turns out, the GPS signal has been dealing with some interference from a giant and very active sunspot.

Cnet reported that the sunspot is the largest to be seen in 24 years. Code named AR 12192, this sunspot is large enough to be seen with the naked eye (provided you have proper eye protection) and has been sending out solar flares in the last couple of weeks which have disrupted radio and GPS signals several times. read more