[time-nuts] Slightly OT - GPS-Based Accurate Direction Finding

bg at lysator.liu.se bg at lysator.liu.se
Thu Aug 26 08:04:08 UTC 2010


> The nominal accuracy is no better than using the sun as a compass.

That is very wrong! With an open skyview, a 10 meter baseline, two decent
GPS receivers and antennas will outperform a northfinding gyro-solution
both in performance, measurement time and very much so in cost.

> Two GPS systems (say TBolts) have to be an amazingly great distance
> apart to give a decent azimuth.

Tbolts has no serial message giving carrier phase meassurements, but the
doppler measurements might be possible to use.

> Apart from star observations, a gyrocompass is the tool of choice if
> you want to add an azimuth to a GPS position.

If you are in an open environment, GPS is nowadays the best solution.

> Does anyone know how laser gyroscopes are developing?

Laser gyroscopes - as in Ring Laser Gyroscopes or as in Fiber Optic
Gyroscopes?

> cheers,
> Neville Michie
>
>
>
>
> On 26/08/2010, at 11:04 AM, David Smith wrote:
>
>> As a fair percentage of the discussion amongst the learned
>> gentlemen on this group involves GPS-based timing systems, I'd like
>> to ask a non-time related, but GPS-related question.
>>
>> As part of microwave radio experimentation, often on windy
>> hilltops, I have a need to find direction very accurately.  I have
>> seen advertised GPS-based Azimuth Pointing Systems such as this:
>> http://www.ascscientific.com/APS.html
>> However they are a little (lot) out of my budget range.
>>
>> The system seems to work by taking the raw satellite phase
>> information from two separate GPS systems and crunching the data to
>> come up with an azimuth figure.  Has anyone heard of a (Open
>> Source?) program that could be used to do these calculations?
>>
>> Regards,
>> David Smith
>>
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