Global Positioning Without GPS 82
GadgetMike sends word of an award to Boeing for work on a Robust Positioning System that could make use of cell signals, television transmissions, and other clues to provide position information when GPS is unavailable. (Wonder if they've heard about Skyhook Wireless, which does a similar job based on Wi-Fi hotspots, for 2500 US cities and towns.) The work is being sponsored by the US military, so it's not surprising that they don't want to rely on upcoming GPS enhancers or replacements from France, China, and Russia. Here is the Boeing press release.
Manual navigation sucks (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Not a new idea really (Score:3, Interesting)
Second, there's really no issue with acquiring a GPS lock in an airplane, since you have unobstructed access to no less than 10 signals at any one time. Where GPS fails is in cities, forest, indoors, etc. But those are absolutely swimming in radio, TV and cell signals. If this system really works, it would be a boon to hikers and drivers who are plagued by spotty GPS reception.