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The Telecom Digest for December 23, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 327 : "text" Format
====== 30 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
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Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:18:08 +1100
From: David Clayton <dcstarbox-usenet@yahoo.com.au>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Next wave of GPS promises stronger signals
Message-ID: <MOHg3B.A.58G.ToA9OB@telecom>
Next wave of GPS promises stronger signals
DAN ELLIOTT
December 19, 2011
The future of the Global Positioning System is taking shape in a vast
white room south of Denver, where workers are piecing together the first
of more than 30 satellites touted as the most powerful, reliable and
versatile yet.
The new generation of satellites, known as Block III, will improve the
accuracy of military and civilian GPS receivers to within about one metre,
compared with about three metres now, according to the Congressional
Budget Office.
Block III will also have additional signals for civilian use - one brand
new, others already in the first stages of deployment - offering more
precision and making more navigation satellites available to civilian
receivers.
"It's a really big jump," said Colonel Harold "Stormy" Martin of the Air
Force Space Command. "With these additional signals, the additional power
it's going to bring, it's quite a leap from the other systems."
Block III may not be a bigger advance than previous generations of GPS
satellites were, said Glen Gibbons, editor of the website and magazine
Inside GNSS, which tracks global navigation satellite systems.
"But I'm completely comfortable saying that it will be a very substantive
advance," Gibbons said.
GPS has spread into nearly every corner of civilian and military life.
Farmers use it for precision mapping and banks use it to record the
precise time of transactions. It has found wide use in transportation,
guided weapons, emergency response and disaster relief.
Block III satellites, which will begin replacing older orbiting GPS
satellites in 2014, offer a new, internationally agreed-upon civilian
signal that other nations' navigation satellites will also use.
That would allow civilian receivers to tap into Europe's budding Galileo
navigation system and others.
"So all of a sudden you've got 70, 80, 90 satellites up in orbit,"
compared with 30 operational satellites in the US system today, Gibbons
said. "It's giving you a much greater number of satellites to be
receiving."
GPS receivers need signals from at least four satellites to establish
their position, so having more satellites to tune into would improve
accuracy. It also makes it easier for a receiver to find enough
satellites.
Military receivers could also use the international signal, as well as the
other civilian signals and the encrypted, military-only signals the
satellites transmit, according to the US Air Force.
Block III will add to the number of satellites transmitting two other
relatively new civilian signals. One will likely be used for such
high-precision activities as surveying, Gibbons said.
The Federal Aviation Administration's GPS-based NextGen air traffic
control system, which is still under development, could benefit from at
least one of the new signals. But the system could also work with the
older, existing civil systems, said Hans Weber, president of TECOP
International, an aviation technology management firm.
It's not yet clear when enough satellites will be transmitting the
international signal and the other new civilian signals to make them
usable. It typically takes 18 satellites transmitting a signal to reach
initial operation and 24 to reach full capability, Gibbons said.
Block III will also widen the availability of two new, encrypted
military-only signals already being transmitted from a few satellites. The
US Air Force says they will have more power than older military signals,
making them harder for enemies to jam and allowing them to penetrate
deeper into urban canyons formed by skyscrapers, as well as through dense
foliage.
Nine of the 30 GPS satellites in operation transmit the new military
signals, but the US Defence Department is still testing it before putting
it into wide use.
Gibbons said it could be 2018 or 2020 before the military can take full
advantage of the military-only signals.
The Air Force, which controls all the US GPS satellites from Schriever Air
Force Base, Colorado, plans to buy and launch 32 of the new Block III
satellites over several years at a cost of about $US5.5 billion, including
upgraded ground control systems.
The Congressional Budget Office, which issued a report on GPS in October,
estimated the total costs much higher - $22 billion by 2025 - in part
because it says the Air Force will need 40 satellites, not 32, to take
advantage of all the capabilities planned for later GPS III models.
The CBO suggested the Air Force could save up to $US3 billion by foregoing
some of those later advancements and upgrading receivers instead.
The Air Force responded that it's still studying the CBO report.
Lockheed Martin was awarded a $US1.5 billion contract to build a
non-flying prototype of the GPS III satellites and the first two flight
versions, with options to build 10 more.
The last component of the prototype arrived at Lockheed Martin's $US80
million GPS facility south of Denver last week. In a sparkling white clean
room nearly as big as a football field, it will undergo final assembly and
months of testing designed to find and correct any problems before they
make it into any flying satellites.
The prototype will also help find any bugs in the assembly and testing
process, said Keoki Jackson, Lockheed Martin's program director for GPS
III.
"This (prototype) has allowed us to check out all of the designs, the
interfaces, all the test equipment," Jackson said. "It allows us to find
any issues long before they become any issues with flight hardware."
The Air Force plans to eventually begin launching two GPS III satellites
on the same rocket, Jackson said. A satellite launch typically costs about
$US250 million, and doubling up will bring significant savings, he said.
GPS III satellites are designed to operate for 15 years, compared to seven
to 12 years for many military satellites, Jackson said.
Associated Press
http://news.theage.com.au/digital-life/cartech/next-wave-of-gps-promises-stronger-signals-20111219-1p14y.html
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:19:49 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Protect Yourself from Intrusive Laptop and Phone Searches at the U.S. Border
Message-ID: <zkSYxB.A.f8G.SoA9OB@telecom>
December 20, 2011
Protect Yourself from Intrusive Laptop and Phone Searches at the U.S. Border
EFF's New Guide Helps Travelers Defend Their Data Privacy
San Francisco - Anytime you travel internationally, you risk a broad,
invasive search of your laptop, phone, and other digital devices -
including the copying of your data and seizing of your property for
an indefinite time. To help travelers protect themselves and their
private information during the busy holiday travel period, the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released a new report today with
important guidance for safeguarding your personal data at the U.S
border.
Thanks to protections enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, the
government generally can't snoop through your laptop for no reason.
But the federal government claims those privacy protections don't
cover travelers at the U.S. border, allowing agents to take an
electronic device, search through all the files, and keep it for
further scrutiny - without any suspicion of wrongdoing whatsoever.
For business travelers, that could expose sensitive information like
trade secrets, doctor-patient and attorney-client communications, and
research and business strategies. For others, the data at risk
includes personal health histories, financial records, and private
messages and photos of family and friends. EFF's new report,
"Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travelers Carrying
Digital Devices," outlines potential ways to protect that private
information, including minimizing the data you carry with you and
employing encryption.
...
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/protect-yourself-intrusive-laptop-and-phone-searches-us-border
For Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travelers
Carrying Digital Devices:
The EFF guide for travelers is at:
https://www.eff.org/wp/defending-privacy-us-border-guide-travelers-carrying-digital-devices
To take the border privacy quiz:
https://www.eff.org/pages/border-search-quiz
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