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McMurdo announced a launch of their new product, Fast Find Ranger PLB

by gps4us news 2012-05-07 14:22
Maker of Emergency Positioning Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs), Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs), Search and Rescue Transponders (SARTs) and other emergency devices McMurdo announced a launch of their new product, Fast Find Ranger PLB. [More]
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Next generation GPS satellite aided Distress Alerting system becomes an integral part of Worldwide Search and Rescue operations

by Russel 2012-01-13 13:03
Satellite-Aided Search and Rescue Technology for detection and location of aircraft and vessels in distress which was originally developed by NASA has evolved into an international cooperative project to fulfill Search and Rescue objectives by enhancing the global Cospas-Sarsat system with improved space-based distress alerting and locating capability. NASA leads research and development or application of advanced technology to develop highly efficient search and rescue, survival and recovery systems. They include GPS navigation and tracking solutions, transmitters, receivers, and antennas capable of locating spacecraft, aircraft, ships, vehicles and individuals in potential or actual distress. The Satellite Aided Search and Rescue System serves search and rescue agencies worldwide with a network of 58 ground terminals. It currently has 38 participating countries, with Cospas-Sarsat payloads on 11 satellites, orbital spacecraft, instrumentation and equipment provided and supported by Unites States, Canada, France, and Russia.  Geostationary orbit satellites have been used as key system components to detect and locate radio beacons activated by mariners, aviators and travelers in distress virtually anywhere in the world and at any time.  Thousands of lives have been saved worldwide since the search and rescue satellite-aided tracking, the SARSAT system was implemented. Geostationary orbit satellites  have a large field of view, although missing parts of the Arctic and Antarctic, but they cannot position a beacon unless its signal contains location information provided by an integral satellite navigation receiver. An extended study determined that a better SARSAT system would be one based on medium Earth orbit satellites. A medium Earth orbit system can provide full global coverage, determine beacon location, and do this with fewer ground stations. Global Positioning System satellites constellation provides the foundation for the improved system to help mariners, aviators, and recreational enthusiasts in distress almost anywhere in the world at anytime and in almost any condition.   Included as an operational part of International Cospas-Sarsat, the Distress Alerting Satellite System is based on Global Positioning System which significantly enhances its performance. The NASA Search and Rescue Mission Office in collaboration with several government agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Coast Guard has developed a next-generation satellite-aided search and rescue system, called the Distress Alerting Satellite System.   The foundation of new Distress Alerting Satellite System has been established with nine GPS satellites which are hosting prototype hardware that is being used for proof-of-concept testing. The system will become fully operational after receiving complete test results that will determine the separation of search functionality out of search and rescue. The new technology will more quickly identify the locations of people in distress and reduce the risk to rescue operation teams. The SAR survival individual kit includes personal Locator Beacon and rugged waterproof GPS or floating handheld GPS navigator. The GPS satellites will have instrument clusters to relay the emergency signals from risque beacons located on the aircraft, ground vehicles, on the water vessels and in personal use. The Micro Personal Locator Beacon technology could be used as a separate tracking device or embedded in the circuitry of onboard and personal GPS navigators carried by travelers, aviators and marine enthusiasts. NASA and participating agencies are now completing the development and testing of the new system and expect to make it operational in the coming years after a complete constellation of satellites carrying the Distress Alerting Satellite System payloads is launched. Once completed the Distress Alerting Satellite System will be able to almost instantaneously detect and locate distress signals generated by emergency beacons installed on aircraft and maritime vessels or carried by travelers greatly enhancing the international community’s ability to rescue people in distress. 
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GPS collar tracking system helps understand the wildlife migration habits

by gps4us news 2012-01-10 13:44
  Nature scientists have tracked the movements of wild animals with electronic collars that emit radio signals in the VHF band. The data received from the collars helps researchers to better understand the animal's social structure, mortality rates, feeding ecology and other behavior patterns. That method of  tracking wild animals requires ecologists work extensively in the field to search for the radio signal from the collars, then record the wild animals location on a handheld GPS, which is a cumbersome process. The new generation of GPS collars is designed to calculate the exact location of the wild animals with adjustable polling intervals from seconds to hours and send a data packets and text messages to a central processing application via the first tier of the distributed GPS tracking system which consists of multiple VHF transmitting GPS enabled tracking collars. In many cases the researchers use custom built expensive GPS tracking collars for larger animals, but often the less expensive GPS tracking systems such as Astro DC 40 or DC 30 transmitters and and Astro 320 receivers could be used at a fraction of cost. The collars are instantly paired with GPS navigation handheld receivers either Astro 220 or Astro 320 among most advanced models. Originally designed as hunting dog collars the Dc 30 and Dc 40 have been proven to be suitable not only for dogs but for many other animals including wild cats, mountain lions as one example. GPS tracking collar helps researchers bring to light critical information about pumas and mountain wild cats as many regions most active predator, so that key conservation objectives can be initiated to preserve this essential member of the ecological environments. Biologists have collared growing numbers of wild animals for tracking in studies to better understand the migration habits of wildlife across geographical areas. Lynx, pumas and mountain wild cats have been fitted with innovative GPS tracker collars with an embedded accelerometer to provide new insight into puma wildlife range, habitat, biology and behavior.  Depending on the goals of the wildlife research the GPS navigation and tracker system may take shape of a complex multi-tiered distributed platform. The Astro 320 combo bundle of the navigation handheld and DC 40 tracking GPS collar is a good example of the first tier at the heart of the more complex wildlife animals tracking system. Both the collar and the host station are receiving the GPS satellite constellation information in real time. Multiple Astro units are individually paired and work as universal VHF radio communication devices with collars transmitting the tracked animal's most current GPS location Astro 320 host device which compares the received GPS location information with its own reading of the GPS satellite constellation. Next tier of distributed application may perform the consolidation of information from GPS navigators and involves a cloud computing web services enabled dedicated servers, which are collecting information from GPS devices and store in the database. The processing application queries the data cube, extracting records containing most current information about animal's location, and then translates it into an electronic messages for the distribution to the subscribed researchers and to the e-mail web service application. In parallel, the data then is analyzed, formatted and aggregated on an open-source topographic map that displays the wild animals' movements, allowing nature researchers to know when the animals have strayed too close to livestock herds. The GPS tracking collar advanced antenna design safeguards against the animal location information is getting lost when the animal enters into the water to cross the river.  Astro DC 40 is rugged and reliably works in all weather conditions. Combination of a high-sensitivity GPS collar receiver, quad helix GPS antenna and extended range VHF antenna into an all-in-one transmitter makes this orange colored collar the universal wearable tracking device eliminating the need to put two separate collars on an animal. Each collar transmitting circuitry has an unique electronic lock which uses a four-digit PIN number that helps keep the data packets broadcast by the collar secured in transmit. The paired Astro 320 navigator unlocks the information for the nature scientists to see  tracked animal  whereabouts. The GPS satellite acquisition system keeps connectivity with the GPS constellation satellites even in the  heavy bush or densest covered forest. The DC 40, in combination with the Astro 320 pinpoints the tracked animal position in preselected intervals to keep optimal balance between frequency of the transmit intervals while checking the animal current location and longer battery life. With an increased range and simplified user interface the Astro also offers rich mapping capabilities. Depending on terrain Astro 320 keeps track of up to ten animals as far as nine miles away.  Animals that are too far away to fit on the Astro 320 map’s current zoom scale can be notated on the display’s margin in the direction of the animal’s location. The researcher also can choose the duration that each animal’s track-log is viewed on the display, and optionally completely toggle it off for a cleaner display. The nature animal scientist or nature explorer can mark the exact spot - a special waypoint that will keep the exact location, time of day and elevation where the animal performed certain activity such as has found its prey. The tracker page allows to view a compass pointing to most current animal location. Astro tracking system lets the researcher save other special waypoints, such as location of the vehicle and base camp for each trip in the field.      
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GPS tracker plugs into Road Sign inventory and asset management system

by Russel 2012-01-09 14:43
Leading providers of GPS tracking systems are developing new GPS tracking technologies which enable automatic tracking on the road vehicles, on the water vessels and valuable assets from any Internet connected device.  GPS tracking technology integrates information received from multi-GNSS and Glonass satellite constellations with distributed client server cloud computing web services, providing front end applications with universal intuitive GPS tracking interface. This multi-tiered approach enhances user efficiency while tracking assets from GPS handheld navigator or smartphone.  Mobile GPS tracking has become an invaluable asset to users by enabling efficient tracking, regardless of the track-able asset or tracking user location. The web-based portal is just a front end of the distributed GPS tracking application which uses the cloud computing database and provides an enhanced operation for traditional uses, and for the wide variety of unusual applications, such as an automated tracking of  inventory of geographically distributed objects, such as road signs.  High precision of GPS tracking information provided by GPS satellite constellation about each and every item in the inventory offers new way to perform highly routine duties by adding the missing object positioning component into automated inventory management matrix. The new uses of the tracking system allow optimization of traditionally difficult task of tracking the county road signs and keeping their inventory up to date. Highway and roadway superintendents are testing new features of multi-tiered GPS tracking technology and its enhanced software to take inventory of each and every road sign, to map each location using high precision GPS coordinates in the inventory database, for real time generation and  automatic  rendering of two and three dimensional topographic maps. The new approach will allow the road and highway managers to keep an eye on the condition of the road signs, including their retroreflectivity qualities. This is important for road safety as the Federal Highway Administration has instituted new minimum requirement for retroreflectivity levels. The strict deadlines and gives highway management agencies until the end of this month to figure out a plan for assessing the condition of their county road signs.  Road signs are a vital part of national roadways and highways.  They are critical for road safety warning of road condition and hazards helping drivers day and night to find the safest way to destination. All signs must meet the new minimum retroreflectivity levels for signs directly on the roadway which are ground mounted, and for overhead road signs as well by strict deadlines. The GPS tracking system and its GPS navigation hardware and software components have been reviewed by Risk Management Services for applicability. The GPS tracking solution for road sign inventory management will save countless hours and  pay for itself, automating the manual process of checking each and every sign. The new road sign management system relies on the GPS Intelligence tracker algorithms designed to provide objects inventory tracking capabilities via the multi-GNSS Glonass Online Inventory Tracking Cloud Computing Services and dedicated web portal. The tracking services and web portal are available for the mobile GPS users by logging in from any internet enabled desktop or portable device.  The suite of tracking devices include GPS trackers with improved sensitivity quad helix antennas coupled with multi-GNSS GPS receivers and rugged outdoor design for reliable continuous service-free work in heavy cover areas and all weather conditions. Spectrum of GPS tracking devices is available in hard-wired, solar panel and battery-operated designs.  The tracking devices easily acquire GPS satellite constellation and are suitable not only for the inventory applications but for for multiple applications including fleet tracking, asset tracking and people tracking. The next generation GPS tracking devices feature extended features such as live tracking at wide variety of polling intervals from seconds to hours, locate anytime ability, cell tower triangulation, 3D motion sensing, proximity alerts, Geofence boundary alerts, battery and solar panel condition alerts, tamper alerts, indoor tracking, weather-resistant designs, text messaging and email alerts. Transportation engineers are envisioning the enhanced integrated solution to interconnect the GPS tracking inventory technology with the Enterprise Asset Management systems. The innovative approach will allow for the integrated GPS enabled asset management inventory system to effectively manage street sign assets on the roads and in the city, as well as automatically assign and track work orders for all street, sign, and other right-of-way assets on the roads and streets. New vision for the GPS tracking technology adds highly secure radio communications to give priority to the traffic control systems which are communicating with emergency vehicles, on the road hazard alert and safety support systems.
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In-Vehicle Cloud Computing and Networking platform at a heart of the next generation Safe Car

by Rus Abz 2012-01-06 12:25
  Cars are rapidly becoming fully networked inside and out computing platforms. General Motors, BMW, Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, Renault-Nissan, Ford and other automotive manufacturers are working on making an automobile a fully integrated computing platform with full networking capabilities. In-vehicle application landscape has been shaped by innovative design approaches of most talented engineering force in the automotive, communication and computing industries over past decade with close collaboration among car designers. As a result of breakthrough integration of car safety, GPS navigation, autopilot and entertainment systems the new generation of automobile world’s most complete and modular In-Vehicle Cloud Computing solution possibly imaginable. Voice and data communications, on the road GPS navigation and vehicle tracking, management of vehicle telemetry are fully integrated on a single powerful platform. The cloud category consists of car application platform that keeps itself accurately updated in real time. It utilizes the vehicle's onboard high speed network, GPS and satellite communications system and virtually represents a fully integrated vehicle virtual model created in the computer memory. The in-vehicle cloud cloud computing services manage interoperability of the suite of the vehicle onboard systems and applications. It knows how to separate front and backseat content areas, GPS navigation, autopilot and diagnostic instrumentation controls for the driver. The three dimensional maps are transparently rendered on the windshield for the safer driving, the mapping services and 3D topographic maps database includes thousands of include points of interest and receives real time information from the GPS satellite constellation. The back seat infotainment content area serves radio, video and entertainment features for all passengers.  On the road safety applications are an integral part of the in-vehicle cloud services. They interact with vehicle lightweight electronic onboard sensors and controls that run and monitor vehicle diagnostics services, use GPS satellite constellation information to locate and connect to the car service shop and to the infrastructure-to-car stationary services. Safety sensor arrays include laser, ultrasonic and infrared object detection technologies as well as front-mounted cameras on car bumpers and side mirrors. Safety system applications run at the highest priority among in-vehicle cloud services. The safety weather alert control and reporting service is interacting with global positioning satellites, weather alert system and depending on the changing traffic and weather conditions takes care of timely engaging the car's fog lights, night vision system, advice on adjusting the traction control settings or activate car's rain-sensing wipers. Interoperation of GPS enabled safety services allows clusters of vehicles traveling together track each other along the journey. The route is shared among the vehicles and fellow travelers, the participating users can see each vehicle telemetry including fuel level and speed, track each vehicle, map routes, send alerts about stops along the way and send voice and text notifications about road conditions and hazards. It also collects data about road and traffic conditions generating and sharing advance notice about poor road conditions or accidents. With the automobile rapidly becoming a powerful mobile computing platform, the driver and passenger's personal communicators, handheld GPS navigators, smartphones and other mobile devices seamlessly connect to the in-vehicle cloud networking services, as their owners take seats in the car. Pervasive computing allows friendly interfaces for better integration of any personal device into the car virtual environment. The driver and passengers become a team of networked travelers with multiplied power of several handheld personal GPS navigators and communicators. The team can easily find an open parking space and reserve it using the smartphone. Interacting with the social networks a collaborative ride-sharing feature connects drivers with potential carpool passengers in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The app is connected through in-vehicle cloud to social networks friendly interface matching friends who need rides with destinations entered by the driver and also allowing the driver or passenger to invite friends to ride.  The in-vehicle cloud computing and networking platform employs wide variety of task specific applications and services. Its synchronization service performs the real time timely updates of the integrated components firmware and software to the most current version. The synchronization service also exposes easily pluggable interfaces to connect to the stationary diagnostics and maintenance systems which take care of keeping all onboard systems, instruments and controls healthy, reprogram the car serviceable computerized and electronic components and update it with newest diagnostic applications.
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Sporty Wristwatch GPS Personal Trainer improves swimmer, biker and runner efficiency

by gps4us news 2012-01-04 11:30
Technology innovation for swimmers, bikers, runners and health and fitness sport enthusiasts continue to improve allowing to collect and transmit most critical for sport athlete performance data in real-time. While an athlete swims, bikes or runs every second counts therefore highly precision timing and location information delivered by GPS navigation technology is the key for success. Sportsmen need perfect training partner which is lightweight, waterproof, portable and reliable to collect and monitor sports performance and GPS positioning data with attention to every detail. It also adheres to common data exchange interface fully supporting the ANT+ enabled wireless health and fitness devices. The challenging sport enthusiasts requirements are answered by an advanced GPS navigation personal trainer wristwatch, the Forerunner 910XT. The wearable GPS navigator and personal trainer is integrated into the end-to-end sports monitoring and training management platform. The integrated solution represents an efficient approach to make fitness more motivating, social and fun by turning your mobile communicator into a full-fledged personal trainer using advanced sports performance monitoring data application. The Sports Tracker Applications become available for smartphones and come to the solution enriching the athlete user experience. Multi-Sports trackers and Personal trainers support the unified ANT+ wireless sensor network of millions ANT+ interface compatible health and fitness sensors and devices from wast variety of manufacturers. ANT+ wireless technology allows the Sports Tracker and Personal Trainer applications running on mobile platforms to communicate with various ANT+ compatible health and fitness devices. The task of collecting from sensor arrays and transmitting athlete power performance data happens in real time. ANT+ enabled application establishes a new interoperability standard of fast data interchange for athlete's personal trainer device. The Sports Tracker application collects majority of real time data from athlete riding a bike, swimming or running. The data includes bike speed, bike cadence, and athlete's heart rate provided by an Forerunner 910XT with an embedded heart rate monitor or wirelessly paired ANT+ compatible sensor. Access to sports community and social features allow athlete to challenge friends and share achievements and training results among mobile users of almost any mobile device running iOS, Android, RIM, Symbian and Windows Phone-Mobile platforms. The Multi-Sports Tracker application best runs on GPS enabled mobile phone with a built-in ANT+ micro-chip.  Smartphone personal sports trainer works fine for cycling and running athlete. But when it comes to swimming you need something quite smaller, lighter and completely waterproof, a wristwatch size training partner device, bringing together ANT+ wireless technology, health and fitness sensor connectivity and extending performance monitoring swimmer specific functionality. Swimming is as much about efficiency as it is about power output. More efficient swimmers are able to swim faster while using less strokes per lap. Calculation of swimmer’s efficiency involves finding a swimming golf or Swolf score, which combines a swimmer’s 25-yard swim time with the number of actual strokes.   Fortunately ANT+ wireless micro-chip technology is embedded in line of Garmin  personal trainer devices with GPS and heart rate monitor capabilities. Bright representative of the waterproof GPS enabled personal trainer wristwatch is the Forerunner 910XT. The ANT+ enabled sports tracker personal trainer wristwatch gives athletes an easy way to collect their training data and track their performance while swimming, biking or running. Just dive in as the new Forerunner 910XT is designed for open water and pool swimming.  The wristwatch personal trainer has easy-to-read display, comfortable wristband and the Forerunner multisport wristwatch device is water resistant to 50 meters. The multisport wristwatch offers extensive swim metrics. Monitor your swim distance, stroke identification, stroke count and the pool lengths. The Forerunner will compute your Swolf score, for optimization of swimming efficiency. With mere seconds separating the winner from competition the lightweight wristwatch which accurately alerts the swimmer, runner or biker with timely vibration alerts makes the winning difference. With up to 20 hours of battery life the Forerunner 910XT delivers suite of advanced feature so an athlete can get a silent nudge when you hit a split or it’s time to take nutrition. Sports enthusiasts can keep an eye on their readings of beats per minute and zone with an embedded  heart rate monitor, or easily pair the Forerunner 910XT with an existing ANT+ compatible heart rate monitor. Effortless transition allows an athlete to jump out of the water and onto the bike as Forerunner 910XT and Forerunner 310XT move easily from wrist to bike quickly and conveniently making the transition between sports effortless. Forerunner 310XT categorizes multisport activities in one workout and also can log transition time in the process, so you can analyze your performance from start to finish.
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First Galileo constellation satellites undergo tests of high precision triple-frequency GPS measurements and Safety-of-Life Service signals

by Russel 2012-01-03 12:58
    First two orbital members of Europe’s Galileo global positioning satellite constellation appear to be functioning as expected during initial In-Orbit Validation phase after their recent launch by Russian rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana last year. Researchers of the European Space Agency ground station in Redu, Belgium, conducting the Galileo satellites support and flight management operations are analyzing the spectrum and quality paremeters of the test signals. Galileo satellites are currently in the midst of a rigorous checks and balances campaign to ensure that their highly sophisticated navigation satellite payloads are operating as planned. The sensitive instrumentation and GPS navigation equipment has been delivered to the orbit safely and were not affected by the strains of launch. Testing is centered on the first Galileo satellite payload for now, and expected to progress to the second satellite as all staged procedures will be completed across the whole range of devices responsible for transmitting all assigned radio spectrum.  The Galileo satellite constellation global positioning system orbiters offer various groups of GPS signal consumers a total of ten different modulated signals for variety of GPS personal navigators and commercial equipment. These GPS signals are spread across three spectral bands identified by the receiving equipment as E1, E5 and E6. The advanced modulation technology allows incorporation of the Safety-of-Life Service signals, precision timing and robust Open Service  GPS signals for advanced commercial navigation services, such as course compass autopilots and other on the water and on the road GPS navigation systems. Early adopters of Galileo services include Test and Development Environment in Germany which supports the Galileo Safety-of-Life Service, the Galileo Commercial Service and a Galileo Public Regulated Service signals.  All Galileo GPS navigational and precision timing signals were activated simultaneously across these bands for the first time, during the In-Orbit Validation phase and following the initial preliminary  testing of the E1, E5 and E6 spectrum band platforms. Each spectrum band signals formation amplification and transmittal of the is supported  by independent instrumentation arrays which required staged process of initiation. The switch-on readiness procedure of each spectrum power amplifying and transmitting equipment went through the corresponding stages of warming up to vent potentially harmful vapors and establish the ideal onboard working environmental parameters for power amplifiers and GPS signal transmitters.  The receiving GPS devices capable of handling the Galileo E1, E5 and E6 spectrum bands work in the same way as new generation of GPS operational receivers will once Galileo satellite constellation begins its initial services in 2014. During currently conducted testing procedures the high precision Galileo GPS signals were received by several geographically distributed test user devices, in the field and at stationary receiver stations, the first one deployed at the Redu ground station in Belgium, as well as by the ESA Navigation Laboratory, equipped with the identical Galileo spectrum receivers, and by the European Space Agency ground station technical center in the Netherlands. There are several advantages the Galileo satellite constellation will bring to the worldwide GPS operations platform. Galileo spectrum bands E1, E5 and E6 combine multi-frequency signals with the most accurate atomic clocks in the history of orbital space navigation. The new atomic clocks are accurate to one second in three million years. Additionally the new generation of GPS receivers are capable of processing the Open Service, which is the commercial navigation GPS Service and Safety-of-Life Service signals from the Galileo constellation. By combining the unprecedented accuracy of new atomic clocks with the increased reliability of dual frequency and triple frequency measurements the Galileo GPS signals should open up a large number of internationally available commercial applications. The GPS receivers and quad helix antennas embedded in most advanced GPS navigators for personal use, commercial and government operators feature the multi-GNSS capabilities. The GPS navigator receiver circuitry used in most sophisticated GPS devices can use full variety of Galileo signals to efficiently meet the needs of most demanding GPS applications, such as three dimensional elevated high precision topographic maps.  The multi-GNSS systems can also combine the processing of Galileo signals with US GPSS and Russian GLONASS signals to offer uninterrupted positioning information in challenging environments such as city center urban canyons, forests and mountain valleys.

An  innovative new trends sparkle colorful rainbow of Technology News connecting the ends of the world's ocean of innovation. From robots to satellites, from cloud computing to internet security, from global positioning navigation to sea exploration, we cover technology news for restless explorer, cycling and hiking enthusiast, runner, swimmer, moto biker, car and truck driver, hunter and dog trainer, power boat and sail yacht captain, marine engineer, geologist and scientist, fisherman and kayaker, geocaching enthusiast and mountain adventurer.

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