If you've experienced the frustration of a jammed GPS while driving, BAE Systems' new device will be good news. NAVSOP (Navigation via Signals of Opportunity) is an alternative to GPS that uses local-radio, mobile and TV-transmitter signals to locate itself. "Whereas GPS uses data from satellites orbiting Earth, NAVSOP builds up a database of satellites on the ground, which don't move," says the project's principal scientist, Ramsey Faragher. "If GPS is jammed, or fails due to adverse weather, NAVSOP kicks in at the same level of accuracy."
What's unusual is the way it calculates its location. "We wanted something that learns independently, so after a few days it doesn't need any external sources of data to work." The NAVSOP uses a learning algorithm that constantly corrects and recalibrates itself, based on confirmation from GPS. Quickly, it learns which signals to trust. "Eventually NAVSOP starts to treat GPS with suspicion and can tell if it's been tampered with," says Faragher. "All those signals can't lie to you."
By: Madhumita Venkataramanan, Edited by: David Cornish
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via Wired.co.uk
http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2013/01/start/finding-your-way-without-gps
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