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Asteroid Flyby: Too Close For Comfort

April 17th, 2013

Asteroid 2012 DA14 passed by Earth on February 15, measuring 65 x 130 feet in size, roughly as big as an Olympic sized swimming pool. There was a lot of talk about how close this asteroid would come to Earth, especially among the doomsday crowd. Scientists assured people it would have no effect whatsoever, so people should not worry. Something it could have affected: GPS satellites.

The asteroid missed hitting Earth by 17,000 miles, which happens to be closer than the GPS satellites sit in orbit, about 500 miles further out in space. The asteroid’s passing was invisible to the naked eye.

Prior to the asteroid’s passing, Donald Yeomans of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasedena, CA said, “This asteroid seems to be passing in the sweet spot between the GPS satellites and the communication and weather satellites, so it’s really extremely unlikely that any of these satellites would be threatened.”

NASA’s predictions were accurate. They tracked the flight path of the asteroid to GPS satellite operators in order to figure out if there was reason to worry. Luckily, there wasn’t.

Those in the Satellite Industry Association didn’t appear worried either, taking no precautions to protect their spacecrafts from collision.

There was never a chance the asteroid would have hit the Earth. Yeomans pointed out, “Basketball-sized objects come in every couple of weeks. As you get to larger and larger sizes the number of objects out there is less and less, so the frequency of hits goes down.” Each day, roughly 100 tons of space rocks make their way through the Earth’s atmosphere.

If DA14 had struck Earth, experts say it could have done a significant amount of damage. An object of its size traveling at 8 miles per second has the same amount of force as 2.4 million tons of dynamite.

Could DA14 threaten Earth in the future? Experts think not. Said Yeomans, “The close approach will perturb its orbit so that actually instead of having an orbital period of one year it’ll lose a couple of months.” He added, “We ran it out for 100 years and there is no closer approach in the forseeable future. The Earth is going to put this one in an orbit that is considerably safer.”

GPS Data Shows Greek Volcano Expanding, Researchers Don’t Expect Eruption

September 29th, 2012

GPS technology is so precise that it can be used to measure geological movement. In this case, GPS devices are being used to detect a bloating volcano on the Greek island of Santorini. For the first time in 50 years, this volcano is signs of activity, causing locals to worry for their safety. Most of this volcano’s eruptions are relatively mild, but there is potential for devastation. Around 3,600 years ago, the Minoan settlements on the island of Crete were destroyed by an eruption. Fortunately, experts say there is no cause for alarm. “Now all registered activity is that of the ‘normal’ dormant state of the volcano,” said volcanologist Georges Vougioukalakis from the Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration in Athens.

A study of the seismic activity shows that the volcanic activity has been slowing down over the last few months. Michelle Parks, coauthor of the study from Oxford University’s Department of Earth Sciences, shared that “two guides told me they had felt an earthquake while they were on the volcano and that the motion of the ground had actually made them jump.” She began studying the volcano in 2011, after she heard the reports of seismic data. “Locals working in restaurants on the main island of Thera became aware of the increase in earthquake activity due to the vibration and clinking of glasses in their bars,” said Parks. The tour guides also shared stories of the water color changing in some areas, as well as observing a strong scent of gas near the volcano.

Enough magma filled the volcano to lift the surface almost 6 inches. “People were obviously aware that something was happening to the volcano, but it wasn’t until we saw the changes in the GPS, and the uplift on the radar images that we really knew that molten rock was being injected at such a shallow level beneath the volcano,” explained Dr. Juliet Biggs, another coauthor of the study, from Bristol University. “Many volcanologists study the rocks produced by old eruptions to understand what happened in the past, so it’s exciting to use cutting-edge satellite technology to link that to what’s going on in the volcanic plumbing system right now.”

Streamlining Communication When It’s Most Important

September 14th, 2012

Have you ever misunderstood a text message? Deleted an email because you thought it wasn’t important, when it actually was? Given up on a garbled phone message? These glitches are frustrating, but in the context of an emergency situation, they can mean the difference between preventing or failing to prevent tragedy. People in groups titled Critical Incident Response Teams (CIRTs) have to avoid misunderstanding in communication as much as possible if they are to function effectively, and a new GPS enabled software allows them to do so.

A CIRT can be a police force, a disaster response team, or emergency workers; the term simply describes a team of individuals that address a critical situation. The members of the team, and especially the leader, need frequent updates on positions, activities, and any problems that the team encounters, and in the past this has been done through walkie-talkies, text messages, and even emails. Besides the potential for error, all of these and the other common forms of communication have the disadvantage of taking the attention of team members off the emergency at hand. Even walkie-talkies must be held in one hand, and the simple act of talking out loud can be enough to distract a responder for a critical second.

Mobile Innovations has developed a GPS enabled, secure team coordination software that makes updates as simple and quick as possible. In its simplest version, a team member touches the screen of his or her Blackberry phone and the other members immediately receive an update, including the team member’s location on a map. This immediate action, prompted by the smallest of motions on the part of the team member, leaves the individual free to focus on his responsibility. Because the system works across the Blackberry phone network, it doesn’t matter how spread out the team is; instantaneous messages keep all team members notified of any changes.

The GPS system costs a force or company very little, making it even more attractive. The high security of the Blackberry network on which it operates makes it reliable, and the simple functionality reduces confusion stemming from fast typing or talking by team members in dire situations.

Using GPS to Predict a Tsunami

August 31st, 2012

Who can forget the devastation of the tsunami that hit Indonesia in 2004 or the one that swept over Japan in 2011? There were hundreds of thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars in damage sustained. Although these natural disasters cannot be prevented, people are asking if there is a better way to predict these events and thus prevent such catastrophic losses. Scientists see hope for a better warning system in the implementation of GPS technology to detect a tsunami in its infancy.

NASA researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California plan to use the GPS data gathered from specialized ground receivers capable of detecting even the minutest changes in the ionosphere, a part of the upper atmosphere. Even far out to sea, the rippling changes in sea level created by a tsunami send invisible waves through the atmosphere and into the ionosphere, nearly 217.5 miles above sea level, where they are recorded through global positioning system tracking. The scientists can then map these waves and anticipate the swell and power of a tsunami.

JPL actually had the opportunity to test its theories with the immense earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan. Reviewing data collected from 1,200 GPS receivers along the coast of Japan, researchers were able to distinguish the seismic waves of the earthquake and the effect they had on the ocean’s currents but not in time to provide adequate warning.

At the University of Hawaii—Manoa (UHM) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, researchers are looking at the possibility of getting GPS tracking systems placed on all commercial shipping vessels. One of the organization’s research vessels actually detected a tsunami initiated by an earthquake in Chili in 2010 on its voyage between Guam and Hawaii, and scientists believe that had ships in the Indian Ocean been equipped with this technology, the people of Indonesia may have had another hour to flee to safety before the 98-foot waves hit.

Surveyors and geodesists have long used GPS tracking in their fields of study for accuracy in measuring and analyzing. Now, advances are also being made in the early detection of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions as well as tsunamis. Researchers at JPL are working tirelessly to collect real-time GPS measurements from around the world in an effort to establish a global tsunami warning system that they hope will help save lives in the future.

Calling All First Responders

August 30th, 2012

One of the biggest challenges facing first responders and other emergency personnel is to determine the location of each other during times of crisis. Advancements have been made in modern GPS tracking technology to assist in this problem. One of the most recent developments couples GPS tracking technology with Blackberry’s PIN to PIN system to allow team members to locate each other by using their Blackberry. This new app, MPACIRT, will help communication among team members, and it will improve the effectiveness of their efforts to save lives.

Ease of Use

With this app, first responders will be able to pinpoint each other through the use of their Blackberry phone. There is no need to buy new expensive equipment or make sure each team has the exact same phone. The only thing needed to run this is a Blackberry. Leaders of CIRT (Critical Incident Response Team), if they use the Blackberry Playbook, will have a large picture of where responders are and how to best utilize the resources available. Some phones with similar capabilities require the use of a special server to get a similar benefit, but there is no need to purchase the use of another server for this app.

How it Works

MPACIRT can be described as a combination of two existing apps, MPAOfficerProtection and MPATracker, which use the PIN to PIN technology and GPS tracking to perform similar functions. Users can update their position using their Blackberries and in the process eliminate some of the unnecessary e-mails and other distractions that can hinder the ability to respond rapidly in an emergency. The app was designed with SWAT teams and highway patrol units in mind, but the broader application of the app will allow it to be a benefit to any first responder in a time of need.

Cost Benefits

There is no special hardware to purchase with this. The app itself is purchased per user, so there is no ongoing monthly cost involved. This app also saves time by reducing the effort placed in locating each other in an emergency. This GPS app can also help response teams save gas money as responders can be chosen based on their physical location and proximity to the emergency.

With the MPACIRT app, first responders will have the ability and technology needed to locate each other, and in doing so, better help those in need.

U.S. Volunteers Provide Japan Radiation Data Using GPS Technology

July 26th, 2012

After the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated much of Japan, including the meltdown of nuclear power plants in Fukushima, many are concerned about exposure to radiation. The Japanese government established a 12-mile evacuation radius around the power plant, but in the months following, Japanese citizens received mixed and confusing information about where it was safe to live, work, and/or go to school. Geiger counters, used to measure radiation were selling out all over Japan, as its citizens scrambled for some peace of mind. Sean Bonner, a computer expert from Los Angeles took notice of the lack of data and helped to found Safecast, an organization dedicated to providing public radiation information. “There was no data that was available anywhere, and we were rather surprised,” Bonner said. “We realized that we could help.”

It took the Safecast team a mere few weeks before they had a handmade Geiger counter equipped with GPS technology, called the “bGeigie,” named after Japanese “bento” lunch boxes. These devices were then attached to vehicles around Japan and take radiation readings every five seconds. Currently, there are around 30 to 35 bGeigies driving around Japan, and 320 stationary devices. The GPS technology and Geiger counter allowed Safecast to create a virtual map of the various levels of radiation around Japan. Safecast has collected more than 3 million measurements in Japan, and is considered “a global sensor network for collecting and sharing radiation measurements to empower people with data about their environments.”

Japanese citizens, including Toshikatsu Watanabe, head of a Fukushima-based marketing company, are grateful for the information provided by Safecast. “When you don’t know, you become afraid,” Watanabe explained. “I can only do what I can, and we don’t know for sure if the radiation is going to have a bad effect or what… The people of Fukushima are trying to cope, day by day, and it’s a long road ahead.” Safecast continues to grow, and have plans to expand the radiation maps on a global level. Perhaps soon there will be a Geiger counter equipped with GPS technology driving down your street. “Everything is radioactive all the time, but nobody was paying any attention to it,” Bonner explained. “Most of us have no point of reference for what radiation is.”

You Bring the Peanut Butter… GPS Haters Bring the Jam

July 19th, 2012

It’s no secret that GPS technology is quickly becoming ubiquitous. GPS devices are in our cars, on our boats, in our pockets. GPS mapping is performed by companies like Google and TomTom. It’s being crowd-mapped through a host of apps. It’s being amalgamated with WiFi, 3G and 4G signals to produce hyper-accurate mapping in real time. It’s also being jammed.

GPS Jammers a Big Problem
No doubt you’ve traveled once in a while, constantly looking for the next source of WiFi so you can check your email, boot up Mapquest, Facebook stalk that one special person you’re interested in. We’ve become a generation that is almost completely dependent on a constant stream of data. It’s becoming increasingly important for GPS devices as well. What good is a GPS is some jerk is jamming your GPS signal?

The Global Navigation Satellite System Vulnerability Conference recently studied how common GPS jamming is. In six months, a study presented at the conference listed 60 illegal GPS jamming signals.

Why Jam a GPS Signal?
Much has been written on this blog about the use of GPS tracking in law enforcement. The fact is, if a vehicle can jam a GPS signal, then law enforcement officials will have a much harder time tracking it. Individuals who steal vehicles may greatly depend on these small devices to ensure their vehicles are not tracked.

Accidental Jamming
GPS jamming isn’t always entirely done by nefarious criminals, however. Jamming of a GPS signal may occur by accident, especially if signals bleed over into the GPS’s airwaves. GPS satellites use similar frequencies to those used by radio and television (before cable); signals bleeding over is not an unrealistic scenario.

“Act of God” Jamming
GPS signals may also be jammed by an act of God, such as adverse weather conditions. Ensuring a GPS signal gets through in these conditions is a tech hurdle faced especially by GPS manufacturers in the military and marine sectors.

A Threat to Be Combatted
However, there is still an imminent threat when individuals maliciously, purposefully jam GPS signals. Not only may these jammers be used to facilitate illegal activities, they may result in collateral damage ranging from frustrated drivers to disruption of emergency services. For this reason, manufacturers continue to seek new ways to fight GPS signal vulnerability.

GPS: Threatened by Space Weather?

July 11th, 2012

It is likely that you rely more on GPS technology than you are aware. If you use your smartphone to “check in” on Facebook or Foursquare, find a decent restaurant when you are traveling, or tag your location on Instagram, it probably wouldn’t be a the end of the world if something happened to disrupt your GPS satellite signal. What if you are a farmer who relies on the autosteer device which we reported on last week? It too relies on the GPS satellites to keep farmers from seeding or fertilizing sections of a field twice, saving them time and money. If the autosteer device were to lose satellite signal, it would ultimately become useless. Smartphone users, the farmers using GPS technology, and even the military could soon face the possibility of a satellite outage thanks to an uncontrollable factor: the weather in space.

The sun is fast approaching the peak of its 11 year cycle of high sunspot and flare activity, expected in 2013. This increased activity means increased radiation, and although it means a stunning display of aurora borealis, it also may have an impact on radio waves, the electricity grid, and the satellites that the GPS technology relies on. Anything that uses GPS technology – airplanes, cell phone signal management, emergency response – could be disrupted, according to Anthony Russo, the director of the National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing.

Preparing for the Worst

No one knows for sure what will be affected by the solar activity, but in the worst case scenario, all electronics we use on a daily basis could become useless. Grid experts say a solar flare could send a large radiation burst that could lead to complete failure of the grid for months. As such, emergency management officials are attempting to plan for a situation such as this, and scientists are trying their hardest to predict this highly unpredictable event.

“I’m not sure the average emergency responder understands the complexity and the potential” of the impact solar weather has on Earth, Michael Fischer said, the director of operations for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). “The risk is high enough that it needs to be on our radar.”

Breaking Down the Solar Flare

As the solar flare happens, clouds of electrons, ions, and atoms are ejected from the surface of the sun, also known as coronal mass ejections. These particles make their way to Earth in only a day or two, soaking the satellites in radiation waves and starting geomagnetic storms that wreak havoc on power transformers with the large pulses of energy traveling through the air, ground, and even water. These pulses could even destroy the transformers.

Michael Gregg, an oceanographer with the University of Washington, lent a hand in writing a study on solar storms in 2011. He said, “Grid behavior is not understood well enough to predict solar storm damage accurately.” In 1989, there was a solar storm that left 6 million people in Quebec in the dark for 9 hours, but here in the US, there hasn’t been much activity to study and learn from.

Should We Be Concerned?

There is really no way to give advanced warning if a solar storm powerful enough to affect the GPS satellites occurs. According to Scott Pugh, the Department of Homeland security’s representative on the federal “smart grid” task force, NASA could only provide about 30 hours of advanced notice in the best case situation. The Advance Composition Explorer, the NASA satellite that detects solar particles, gives a warning anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes before the particles reach Earth. It is due to retire and be replaced with the proposed Deep Space Climate Observatory, expected to launch in 2014.

Maryland officials are looking to have solar storm-related emergency scenarios included as part of the county first-responder training programs by this fall, according to Fischer. MEMA also intends to have responders gather solar storm kits to help them carry on in a solar event – back-up satellite phones, computers, and other important electronic communication devices which are packed into metal boxes. The metal boxes protect the contents from being rendered useless by the dangerous surge in radiation.

It is impossible to tell what, if anything, will be affected by the next peak of solar activity. With so many relying on GPS location devices and apps, it would certainly affect the lives of many. While some will probably be able to live without it, there are those like emergency responders and the military who would be lost without it – literally.

GPS Dog Tracking Collars: Saving Pets During Hurricane Season

July 10th, 2012

It may be early, but it’s that time of year again, when the southeastern states begin to prepare their homes and families for another hurricane season. Sandbags and emergency supplies are stockpiled, plywood is purchased in preparation to board up windows on the coast, and an evacuation route is planned in the event of disaster. What about the pets? Oftentimes, the family pet is left out of the preparatory plan. Think back to Hurricane Katrina, and the images of those dogs wandering aimlessly through the city streets, and it’s easy to see why pets should not be overlooked. Love My Pets GPS is designed for these emergencies, quickly locating your pets or identifying them to those who may give the animal temporary shelter in the event of a disaster.

Love My Pets GPS was created just after Katrina when the owner of the company (Love My Pets GPS LLC), Mike Macatee, was witnessing the news footage of the pets wandering around searching for their families in vain. He wanted there to be a way to assure you can quickly and effectively locate your pet whether there is a disaster or your pet simply wanders away from home. He developed a dog collar that used GPS location technology to pinpoint the location of a lost pet, unlike the microchips implanted in a pet. “There is a misunderstanding regarding pet micro-chipping. Many pet owners think that a microchip will locate a pet, and that is just not true,” said Macatee. “With Pet Tracker, we can locate a lost pet in seconds and recover them. Our GPS dog trackers are available with a dog collar or a dog harness and are used by Police K-9 units due to their effectiveness and affordability.”

Other solutions geared toward pet safety in natural disasters during are offered by Love My Pets GPS, such as the Reflective Glow in the Dark collar and harness which do exactly as they say: glow in the dark. This makes the dog easier to see at night, which not only allows you quickly locate your pet, but also makes it safer for your dog to wander as oncoming vehicles will easily see the glowing collar or harness. The simplest and most economical choice is a personalized collar which lists your home address and/or phone number. This way, when someone comes across your dog, you can be notified immediately.

This hurricane season, please don’t forget about including your pet into your disaster plan. Most shelters do not accept pets due to public health risks, and as such, a plan for your pets is crucial. Find out if the shelters in your area accept pets or not and make arrangements in advance if need be, whether with friends, relatives, a kennel, or even your veterinarian. There are always hotels that allow pets, so call around and save the information for each hotel along your evacuation route that accommodate pets. Don’t forget a survival kit for your dog, things like food, medication, water, and vaccination records. You’d do it for your kids, and as such, should do it for your pet. They too are a member of your family, and cannot prepare themselves for the situations a disaster like a hurricane can throw at them.

Find more information on the GPS Dog Tracking Collar offered by Love My Pet GPS at www.lovemypetsgps.com/gps-dog-tracking-page.html

GPS-Equipped Ships Could Serve As Tsunami Warning System

May 24th, 2012

Tsunamis can be, and often are, devastating forces of nature. The faster and more accurately scientists can detect a tsunami, the better everyone’s chances are for survival. Much like tornados and hurricanes, when communities are provided enough warning that a tsunami is coming, they have a chance to protect themselves by heading for shelter, or higher ground. By chance, researchers have stumbled on a new and improved method of detecting and measuring tsunami’s before they hit shore with GPS technology.

A UH research ship happened to be traveling from Hawaii to Guam when the 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck Maule, Chile in February of 2010. The ship was equipped with GPS technology, and the researchers found that the GPS data recorded the changes in sea-surface height as the resulting tsunami made its way to land. “Our discovery indicates that the vast fleet of commercial ships traveling the ocean each day could become a network of accurate tsunami sensors,” said James Foster, Assistant Researcher and lead author at the UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology.

In the deep ocean, tsunamis are much smaller than their size by the time they reach land, making the process of detecting them quite difficult. The current method used to detect tsunamis is based on seismic data and deep ocean pressure sensors, which are incredibly expensive and difficult to maintain. With this latest discovery, existing GPS technology on sea vessels could potentially save thousands of lives by providing immediate and accurate tsunami warnings. “If we could equip some fraction of the shipping fleet with high-accuracy GPS and satellite communications, we could construct a dense, low-cost tsunami sensing network that would improve our detection and predictions of tsunamis — saving lives and money,” Foster said.