NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: GPS accuracy
From: E.R.Kooi
Date: 2000 Jul 05, 10:37 AM
From: E.R.Kooi
Date: 2000 Jul 05, 10:37 AM
Q: Are you living in the neighborhood of an airfield? Maybe an airplane intercepts one of the satellite signals, causing a temporary decrease in accuracy. Greetings, Eppo R. Kooi. > -----Original Message----- > From- Navigation Mailing List > [mailto:NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM]On Behalf Of geoffrey butt ...... snip ...... > In the days of Selective Availability I observed the anticipated > dance of the > instantaneous position around the long-term average position; routinely > observing displacements of 100-200 metres. What I also recorded however > were major 'excursions' where the position readings would track in a fixed > direction away from the average position - steadily moving up to > 2-3 NM away > - and then tracking steadily back along the same radial plot to > the vicinity > of the average position. > > These 'excursions' would take between 10 and 30 seconds to complete. > They occurred at random times, but typically there might be up to > 2 or 3 per > hour. > They were directed randomly around the compass; the long-term plot would > show them apparantly uniformly distributed. > Some days - when SA seemed to be particularly 'quiet' - there would be no > major excursion for many hours, but sooner or later they would restart. > The same phenomena were recorded in different locations with unobstructed > sky aspects. > On passage at sea I have observed similar spikes recorded on the track > display of the unit. > ...... snip ...... > Since May I have again tried the set-up out at different locations - again > observing similar results - and have again observed erratic spikes on the > set's track screen when at sea. > The frequency of excursions and their uniform distribution in direction > remain the same, but I have noted a reduction in the magnitude of the > maximum displacement. (Statistics at the end of this note) > > Has anyone observed similar phenomena? > - plots of readings I have found now on the web show beautifully > compact areas; just as predicted! > Is there a well-understood explanation?