GPS World, July 2017

OUT IN FRONT Perfection might exist in space but it 8 GPS WORLD WWW GPSWORLD COM JULY 2017 WWW GPSWORLD COM EDITORIAL Editor in Chief Group Publisher Alan Cameron editor@ gpsworld com 541 984 5312 Managing Editor Tracy Cozzens tcozzens@ northcoastmedia net 541 255 3334 Digital Media Manager Joelle Harms jharms@ northcoastmedia net 216 706 3780 Digital Editor Allison Barwacz abarwacz@ northcoastmedia net 216 706 3796 Art Director Charles Park CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Innovation Richard Langley lang@ unb ca Defense PNT Michael Jones mjones@ gpsworld com European GNSS Tim Reynolds treynolds@ gpsworld com Professional OEM UAV Tony Murfin Geospatial Eric Gakstatter egakstatter@ gpsworld com GeoIntelligence William Tewelow wtewelow@ gpsworld com Survey Tim Burch and Dave Zilkoski tburch@ gpsworld com and dzilkoski@ gpsworld com Wireless LBS Janice Partyka jpartyka@ gpsworld com BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNT MANAGER Michelle Mitchell mmitchell@ northcoastmedia net 216 363 7922 DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT Bethany Chambers bchambers@ northcoastmedia net 216 706 3771 WEB DEVELOPER Jesse Malcmacher jmalcmacher@ northcoastmedia net 216 363 7925 MARKETING MANAGER Scott Gebler sgebler@ northcoastmedia net 216 363 7932 PUBLISHING SERVICES Manager Production Services Chris Anderson canderson@ northcoastmedia net 216 978 5341 Senior Audience Development Manager Antoinette Sanchez Perkins asanchez perkins@ northcoastmedia net 216 706 3750 Reprints Permissions Brett Petillo bpetillo@ wrightsmedia com 877 652 5295 Circulation Subscriber Services gpsworld@ omeda com USA 847 513 6030 NORTH COAST MEDIA LLC 1360 East 9th St Suite 1070 Cleveland OH 44114 USA President CEO Kevin Stoltman kstoltman@ northcoastmedia net 216 706 3740 Vice President of Finance Operations Steve Galperin sgalperin@ northcoastmedia net 216 706 3705 Editorial Directors Marisa Palmieri mpalmieri@ northcoastmedia net 216 706 3764 Marty Whitford mwhitford@ northcoastmedia net 216 706 3766 VP Graphic Design Production Pete Seltzer pseltzer@ northcoastmedia net 216 706 3737 MANUSCRIPTS GPS World welcomes unsolicited articles but cannot be held responsible for their safekeeping or return Send to 1360 East 9th St Suite 1070 IMG Center Cleveland OH 44114 USA Every precaution is taken to ensure accuracy but publishers cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy of information supplied herein or for any opinion expressed REPRINTS Reprints of all articles are available 500 minimum Contact 877 652 5295 Brett Petillo Wrights Media 2407 Timberloch Place The Woodlands TX 77380 SUBSCRIBER SERVICES To subscribe change your address and all other services e mail gpsworld@ omeda com or call 847 513 6030 LIST RENTAL Contact 800 529 9020 Brahm Schenkman bschenkman@ inforefinery com The Information Refinery Inc PERMISSIONS Contact 877 652 5295 Brett Petillo Wrights Media 2407 Timberloch Place The Woodlands TX 77380 INTERNATIONAL LICENSING E mail gpsworld@ gpsworld com ACCOUNTING OFFICE AND OFFICE OF PUBLICATION 1360 East 9th St Suite 1070 IMG Center Cleveland OH 44114 USA GPS WORLD does not verify any claims or other information appearing in any of the advertisements contained in the publication and cannot take any responsibility for any losses or other damages incurred by readers in reliance on such content Published monthly Nearly Perfect Not Nearly BY Alan Cameron EDITOR IN CHIEF AND GROUP PUBLISHER W hen someone utters the words Im nearly perfect get on your toes Such sel f appraisal usually masks something It could be insecurity denial ignorance or simply fear At the very least some level of illusion if not delusion is involved With that precept in mind lets examine a June 16 press release from the U S Air Force under the headline New reports confirm near perfect performance record for civil GPS service The press release actually says The U S Air Force released two technical reports demonstrating that the Global Positioning System GPS continues to deliver exceptional performance to civilian users around the world The 2014 and 2015 performance reports confirm that the GPS Standard Positioning Service SPS satisfied nearly all measurable performance commitments documented in the GPS SPS Performance Standard Fair enough Those are demonstrable facts Nowhere does the release other than in its headline employ the words perfect or near perfect The problem is as current events repeatedly show people remember only the headline That may be all that they read or register in the first place Affixing the label near perfect to GPS is potentially dangerous points out Dana Goward of the Resilient PNT Foundation because it could exacerbate the publics growing overreliance on and often blind faith in GPS Even if GPS did always perform perfectly all kinds of things can happen to signals after they leave the satellites and before they get to receivers Personal privacy devices other jammers spoofers solar activity other electromagnetic interference even the local geography can significantly degrade or disable a receivers performance Thats why in the GPS System Performance Standard the Air Force specifically says its responsibility ends once signals are in space Perfection might exist in space but it doesnt down here Even in space accidents sure will happen The Air Force release documents GPS performance for 2014 and 2015 This conveniently draws up short of January 2016 when several GPS satellites broadcast a timing error that triggered equipment faults and failures globally for nearly 12 hours Thus demonstrating something far from perfection Issuing a statement in the manner done on June 16 perpetuates a dangerous myth keeps users in the dark about the actual state of affairs cultivates a What Me Worry approach to positioning navigation and timing and abets the lack of political will and understanding of GNSS vulnerabilities We have expanded the focus of this magazine to cover other technologies relevant and applicable to the field precisely because GPS and by extension GNSS great though they may be are not perfect Not even nearly doesnt down here