GPS: From satellites
to air traffic control
Researchers at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) developed the final innovation inducted into the
2004 Space Technology Hall of Fame, a precision GPS software system designed
to track locations with an accuracy of just a few centimeters.
JPL scientists have worked
since 1985 to develop the GPS software, which uses a multitude of ground tracking
stations and GPS satellites to determine locations anywhere on Earth down to
a few millimeters in accuracy. The system can also work in reverse, tracking
satellite orbits equipped with positioning beacons with an accuracy of a few
centimeters.
"This was a spinoff that
was driven primarily by the science," said Stephen Lichten, manager for the
tracking systems and applications section at JPL. The software was originally
developed for geophysical studies, such as measuring continental plate motion
over time, he said.
The JPL system has since
been adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which incorporated
it into the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) used to track aircraft across
the continental United States and Alaska to improve air travel safety. With
an improved GPS system, pilots should be able to plot more direct routes without
relying on ground assistance, saving on fuel and flight times, FAA officials
said.
Lichten said one of the
wide-ranging benefits of the software system is its ability to monitor natural
hazards like volcanoes, which tend to give off pre-eruption signals that could
alert officials to danger. The system can deliver real-time positioning information
via the Internet as well, which could help farmers grow crops over large distances
using remote-controlled tractors.
A Navstar GPS satellite.
advertisement