Gps, glonass...

[Nowhere Man 1966]

Originally Posted by Mohoender

I think that the subject has been addressed slightly before but not that much. Then here are the questions:

What would be the existing systems in the Twilight War?
- GPS (USA): fully active, accessible to US (and allies), NATO and China (depending on your background) : program launched in 1960, first satellites launched in 1978, second batch in 1989 and fully operational for the military by 1995.
- GLONASS (USSR/Russia): partially or fully active (T2013). used by the Warsaw Pact. Program launched in the 1980's, satellites launched in 1995 and operational by 1996. However, only 6 satellites remain functionnal by 2000 and a new batch is launched after 2003 and the system is now almost complete again. I think that I have seen somewhere that it suffers from some problems (but so does the GPS).
- GALILEO (EU): dream about it except may be if you play T2013. EU was still talking about it in 2000 and will not be fully functionnal before 2003.
- Beidou (China): Could be but it would certainly be limited to China (from what I understand). If you play T2013 it could be partially functionnal as an international system. The program started in 1983 but it was really started in 1993. With the tension of T2K it could be accelerated.
- IRNSS (India): regional only and still a project.
- Transit (USA): suspended in 1996 but with T2K I can easily imagine the system to be maintained as a kind of backup.

What would be the status of these systems in 2000 (or whatever date)?

My answer would be that GPS and GLONASS could still be partially functionning. Part of their respective 24 satellites could still be fuctionnal but not all. Regular decay would have disabled some of them, others would have been destroyed by possible antimissile systems and more would have been destroyed by EMPs.
For "Transit", it should be fun if it had been forgotten for sometimes and put back in line.
For Galileo, continue to dream about it, or it would be disabled in T2013.
Beidou is a matter of choice but I would suspect it to be destroyed: 4 satellites is not that much a target.

What do you think, especially those very numerous who know better than I do. Thanks

I think I've picked up the GLONASS signals on my police scanner, IIRC, they are in the 150.000 Mc range

[rcaf_777]

If your using it in a game I would sugguest the following table using 1 D10

1-3 Strong Signal - You arrive on traget
4-6 Weak Signal - You 2 D10 x 100 meters off of traget
7-9 Dead Batteries - Dos'nt work for one turn
10 - No Signal

*It should also be noted that the whole GPS system has a bulit in encryption that the US Military can active in war time, making useles to all civilian GPS units*

[Mohoender]

Originally Posted by rcaf_777

If your using it in a game I would sugguest the following table using 1 D10

1-3 Strong Signal - You arrive on traget
4-6 Weak Signal - You 2 D10 x 100 meters off of traget
7-9 Dead Batteries - Dos'nt work for one turn
10 - No Signal

*It should also be noted that the whole GPS system has a bulit in encryption that the US Military can active in war time, making useles to all civilian GPS units*

Very intersting, thanks. I would suggest another solution, however, made from yours:

1 Strong Signal - You 1 D10x10 meters off of target
2-4 Weak Signal - You 2 D10 x 100 meters off of target
5-6 Weak Batteries - Doesn't work for 1D10 turn
7-10 - No Signal

Thanks also for reminding us that the GPS would be available only to those holding military units. Mandatory for Glonass. The only exception would be Galileo for those playing T2013.

Tables by regions would be interesting too: Russia, Oceania, Europe, Asia, Americas, Africa.

[Marc]

As a curiosity, two weeks ago I began the studies to obtain the private pilot licence (a true dream come true for me). Today (I must assist to weekend classes), one of our instructors mentioned that the United States reduces the precision of the information supplied by their satellites for security and military reasons. Some GPS equipments, while the last war in Iraq, gave erroneous position readings of about 400m. It seems that it depends of each equipment. Some of them, specially some models mounted in cars, can correct such errors using "alternative ways", based in the known speed and an internal electronic compass.

[Canadian Army]

one of our instructors mentioned that the United States reduces the precision of the information supplied by their satellites for security and military reasons. Some GPS equipments, while the last war in Iraq, gave erroneous position readings of about 400m. It seems that it depends of each equipment. Some of them, specially some models mounted in cars, can correct such errors using "alternative ways", based in the known speed and an internal electronic compass.

One of the alternative ways is a Differential Global Positioning System. A Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) is an enhancement to Global Positioning System that uses a network of fixed, ground-based reference stations to broadcast the difference between the positions indicated by the satellite systems and the known fixed positions. These stations broadcast the difference between the measured satellite pseudoranges and actual (internally computed) pseudoranges, and receiver stations may correct their pseudoranges by the same amount. The correction signal is typically broadcast over UHF radio modem.