Text 10854, 117 rader
Skriven 2010-09-29 18:36:58 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
     Kommentar till en text av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: If wishes were horses... 
=================================
Hello Robert,

On Tuesday September 28 2010 18:43, you wrote to me:

 MV>> There has been some delay. For a variety of reasons.

 RB> The main one being _money_.

 MV>> The problems have been solved though.

 RB> So who pays? ;-)))

Mostly the tax payers of the participating countries. The industry also
contributes.

 RB>>> Now all you need is a few ten or hundred million others who would
 RB>>> be willing to do that

 MV>> Of course they will.

 RB> Is that why NTFS lasted so long in the States? I think you
 RB> underestimate the inertia of an established base.

I think you underestimate the "latetst gadget hunger" of the younger
generation.

 RB> And of course, there's still the question of money. Even assuming the
 RB> EU countries put up billions of Euro to pay for and maintain the
 RB> system,

It IS what is happening, that's easely verifiable.

 RB>  they're going to want something back. Fees for using it?

The standerd accuracy will be free. For higher resolution one has to pay. Don't
tell me there is no market for that. The success of DGPS (Differential GPS)
proves that there is.

DGPS is a kludge to increase the resolution of the GPS system. It works as
follows: One places a GPS receiver at a point of which the position is known
with high accuracy. To be determined by classical means. Next to it a beacon
transmitter that transmits the difference between the measured GPS position and
the actual known position. When one is within the range of the beacon
transmitter, one can us the signal to correct the position retreived from the
local GPS receiver. It is - among other things - used for agricultural robot
vehicles. It is commercially exploited, hence not for free and it sells.

 RB> Might well be. And then there's the question of _why_ someone would
 RB> use a new and untried system (even assuming it costs nothing for the
 RB> use) rather than a system that has been in use, and has been stable,
 RB> for many years.

1) "new gadgert hungry"
2) New features.

 RB> Which gets us back to the big WHY anyone would throw away their old
 RB> PND and buy a new one that's incompatible with GPS.

It is not incompatible wit GPS.

 RB> There would have to be more of an advantage than mere European
 RB> nationalism.

There is. See above.

 MV>> The Gallileo system will offer more than just being European. Much
 MV>> better resolution for one. Also usable at higher lattitudes.

 RB> Better resolution than a couple of feet or a yard?

millimetres.

 RB> May interest some people,

A few metres is not good enough to let a robot plow a field. Gallileo will do
away with the DGPS kludge and its limitations.

 RB> but except for a PND for pedestrians

Precision navigation can make a blind person van find his/her way in an unknown
environment. I can make a helicopter do a blind landing on an oil rig.

 RB> I can't think of any real need.

Then you have a lack of imagination.

 RB> And what are "higher latitudes"? And how many people live and work
 RB> there? We're not talking about the bulk of the population there.

You focus too much on the man in the street. There is more than that. How about
aircraft taking the polar route? How about the new shipping lanes in the arctic
waters that will open up when the polar ice melts?

 MV>> Working until the US military decides to switch it off. Or reduce
 MV>> the resolution again. The NAVSTAR system - unlike the internet -
 MV>> CAN be shut down or crippled by the US government. And we do not
 MV>> trust them enough to not do that when it suits their agenda. Not
 MV>> any more.

 RB> Which interests you, might interest some of us in fido, but doesn't
 RB> interest the general population

In think you underestimate the man in the street. Other than that, the
engineers will surely take a wider view.

As it is, GPS is not allowed in the air as the main means of navigation. For
precisely the reason that the Pentagon can kill it at will. What if that
restriction can be lifted? That would make the aircraft boys very happy.

Plus of course that when new technology becomes available, new applications
will emerge.


Cheers, Michiel

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