GPS Declassified Read online

  GPS

  DECLASSIFIED

  GPS

  DECLASSIFIED

  From Smart Bombs to Smartphones

  Richard D. Easton and Eric F. Frazier

  Foreword by Rick W. Sturdevant

  © 2013 by Richard D. Easton and Eric F. Frazier

  Foreword © 2013 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska

  Letter from Arthur C. Clarke in chapter 3 reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agents, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency, Inc.

  All rights reserved. Potomac Books is an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press.

  Manufactured in the United States of America.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Easton, Richard D.

  GPS declassified: from smart bombs to smartphones / Richard

  D. Easton and Eric F. Frazier; foreword by Rick W. Sturdevant.

  pages cm

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-1-61234-408-9 (cloth: alk. paper)

  1. Global Positioning System—History. I. Title.

  G109.5.E37 2013

  910.285—dc23 2013023507

  Set in Lyon Text by Laura Wellington.

  Designed by J. Vadnais.

  To my father, Roger Easton, for his support and kind assistance in creating a field for me to write about; to my mother, Barbara Easton, for fostering in me a love of history; and to my wife, Kathleen, for her support and assistance.

  —RICHARD D. EASTON

  To my father, Arvel Frazier, who gave me his love of geography and history; to my mother, Isabel Frazier, who gave me her penchant for accuracy and thoroughness; and to my wife, Margie, whose support and encouragement made it possible for me to undertake this project.

  —ERIC F. FRAZIER

  Contents

  List of Illustrations

  Foreword by Rick W. Sturdevant

  Acknowledgments

  List of Abbreviations

  Introduction

  1. New Moons Rising: The Satellite Age Arrives

  2. Weather Permitting: A Brief History of Navigation

  3. Success Has Many Fathers: Early Concepts for Satellite Navigation

  4. One System, Two Narratives: Recollections and Documents

  5. Invisible Stars: How GPS Works

  6. Going Public: The Roots of Civilian GPS Use

  7. Going to War: GPS Aids Military Success in the Persian Gulf

  8. Going Mainstream: A Consumer Industry Is Born

  9. Where Are We? GPS and GNSS Today

  10. Going Forward: The Future of GPS

  Notes

  Selected Bibliography

  Index

  Illustrations

  1.1. Vanguard TV-3 satellite

  1.2. Minitrack technique, using angles of signals

  1.3. William H. Guier, Frank T. McClure, and George C. Weiffenbach

  3.1. Roy E. Anderson, Richard L. Frey, James R. Lewis, and Axel F. Brisken

  3.2. Roger L. Easton

  3.3. Map of the Space Surveillance System

  3.4. Capt. David C. Holmes

  3.5. Transforming celestial navigation to satellite ranging

  4.1. Timation Development Plan, 1971

  4.2. Illustration of an airplane using Timation signals

  4.3. Col. Bradford W. Parkinson

  4.4. Holmes’s presentation on GPS origins, slide 13

  4.5. Diagram of NTS-2 satellite

  4.6. NTS-2 satellite and first GPS demonstration constellation

  4.7. NRL NTS-2 team

  5.1. GPS constellation, circa 2012

  5.2. Instantaneous navigation math

  6.1. Generalized development model by Rockwell Collins

  6.2. TI 4100 and antenna by Texas Instruments

  6.3. GPS Block IIA satellite

  6.4. GPS Block IIR satellite

  6.5. GPS Block IIR(M) satellite

  6.6. GPS Block IIF satellite

  6.7. Trimpack GPS receiver by Trimble

  7.1. AGM-86C/D conventional air-launched cruise missile (CALCM)

  7.2. AGM-84 standoff land attack missile (SLAM)

  7.3. Manpack GPS receiver by Rockwell Collins

  7.4. AN/PSN-11 PLGR by Rockwell Collins

  10.1. GPS III satellite

  10.2. GPS constellation, circa 2015

  Foreword

  For one who has been writing a portion of the official history of Global Positioning System (GPS) operations since the 1980s, it is startling to realize that young people entering college in 2013 have never known a world without GPS. Even those who are aware of the system’s transparent presence on their personal phone devices, in their daily business transactions, or amid their recreational activities undoubtedly take its benefits for granted. It would be surprising if more than a few could explain, at even a rudimentary level, how this amazing space-based positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) system works. How many know GPS is the world’s only global utility? Who stops to remember that its signals are available free of charge to anyone with a GPS receiver?

  Here, at last, Richard Easton and Eric Frazier present in plain, simple language how a PNT system originally developed for military purposes—one that Air Force Space Command continues to operate and maintain—became essential for countless civil and commercial activities around the world. The authors deftly place the concept and development of GPS within two broader historical contexts: navigation and robotic spaceflight. Their description of the dissimilar problems that compelled visionaries in each of the military services to pursue a three-dimensional positioning and navigation system substantiates the adage, sometimes attributed to Plato, that necessity is the mother of invention.

  On the way to fostering what emerged as GPS, however, ample participation occurred to justify multiple paternal claims. Eventually, different individuals garnered high-level recognition based on, and bolstering, their respective claims. One (Roger Easton) received the 2004 National Medal of Technology from President George W. Bush. The National Academy of Engineering awarded two others (Ivan Getting and Brad Parkinson) the 2003 Charles Stark Draper Prize. All three, in recognition of their seminal GPS roles, became inductees to the National Inventors Hall of Fame. In 2012 the National Space Club named the same trio among the “GPS Originator Team ” that received the prestigious Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy. Numerous others also contributed, without fanfare or subsequent recognition, to the conceptualization and development of GPS.

  Easton and Frazier explore the debatable parentage of GPS through sources previously ignored by or unavailable to other scholars. While not the definitive history of the origins of GPS and its place in the centuries-old panoply of navigational systems, their study certainly advances our knowledge of the “who, what, when, where, why, and how ” behind this amazing technological accomplishment. This book represents a solid foundation upon which future scholars can build their research and writing about GPS, or what has become more broadly identified as global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technology.

  Beyond the origin of GPS and how it works, these authors deliver an impressive survey of the historical evolution of GPS applications among military, civil, and commercial users, not to mention private individuals. Although certainly not all-inclusive, their astounding coverage of the many ways in which people rely on precise PNT from outer space boggles the mind. When the authors describe the system’s vulnerability to interference, whether intentional or natural, the potentially devastating military, societal, economic, and political effects of GPS disruption take on sinister proportions.

  Whenever historians venture into the future, bas
ed on their understanding of the past and their perception of the present, they generally fare no better than nonhistorians. All confront largely incomprehensible terrain. Nonetheless, Easton and Frazier dare to conclude their GPS study with an overview of possibilities. Indeed, advocates of vector analysis in history might perceive that these two authors discern probabilities based on chronological patterns or trends—scientific, technological, economic, political, military, and social. Still, they recognize that if history teaches us anything, it is to remain watchful for unexpected twists and unanticipated turns. That is precisely what keeps past, present, and future particularly interesting and occasionally controversial, as the following narrative demonstrates.

  Rick W. Sturdevant, PhD

  Deputy Director of History

  HQ Air Force Space Command

  Acknowledgments

  The authors would like the thank the following people who shared information through interviews or correspondence, provided documents or images, read portions of the manuscript, and offered suggestions or otherwise aided the research and writing of this book:

  Roy Anderson (now deceased), radio-navigation pioneer at General Electric, and his wife, Gladys; Jonathan Betts, senior curator of horology, Royal Observatory, Greenwich, UK; Veronique Bohbot, PhD, professor of psychiatry at McGill University and Douglas Institute in Montreal; Walter Boyne, author/ historian; Michael Buckley, public information officer, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; Alan Cameron, publisher and editor-in-chief, GPS World; Glen Gibbons, editor, Inside GNSS; David Gosch, senior public relations specialist, Rockwell Collins; Mike Gruntman, professor of astronautics, University of Southern California; R. Cargill Hall, historian emeritus, National Reconnaissance Office; Robert Kern, president, Kernco Inc., and builder of atomic frequency standards for the GPS program; Jason Kim, senior advisor, National Coordination Office for Space-Based PNT; Chester Kleczek (now deceased), former engineer at Naval Air Systems Command, who was the original program manager and sponsor of Timation; Arthur McCoubrey, cofounder of Frequency and Time Systems, which built early atomic frequency standards for the GPS program; Keith D. McDonald, former scientific director of the Navigation Satellite Executive Steering Group and executive secretary of the Defense Navigation Planning Group; Kimberly Morgan, corporate communications, Texas Instruments; Dian Moulin, daughter of Navy captain David Holmes (deceased); Harold Rosen, former vice president at Hughes Aircraft; Dava Sobel, author; Harry Sonnemann, former chairman of the Navigation Satellite Executive Steering Group; Rick Sturdevant, deputy command historian, U.S. Air Force Space Command, Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Martin Votaw, former engineer at the Naval Research Laboratory; Phil Ward, president, Navward GPS Consulting; and current or former Naval Research Laboratory staffers Jonna Atkinson, Jamie Baker, Ron Beard, James Buisson, Dean Bundy, Gayle Fullerton, Lee Hammarstrom, Vijay Koweth, Thomas McCaskill, Kathy Parrish, Leo Slater, Richard Thompson, Jim Tugman, Joe White, Robert Whitlock, and Peter Wilhelm.

  Additionally, Eric Frazier would like to thank his daughter, Carolyn Frazier, for sparking his initial interest in writing a book about GPS and his son, Will Frazier, for providing research assistance. Richard Easton would like to thank his father, Roger Easton, and his sister, Ruth Easton, for their assistance in locating pertinent documents.

  Abbreviations

  2SOPS: 2nd Space Operations Squadron

  ABMA: U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency

  ALCM: air-launched cruise missile

  APL: Applied Physics Laboratory

  ARPA: Advanced Research Projects Agency

  ASAT: antisatellite

  AVL: automatic vehicle location

  BCCI: Bank of Credit and Commerce International

  CALCM: conventional air-launched cruise missile

  CBO: Congressional Budget Office

  CDMA: code division multiple access

  CPU: central processing unit

  CSEL: Combat Survivor Evader Locator

  CTIA: Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association

  DARPA: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

  DART: Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology

  DGPS: differential GPS

  DNSDP: Defense Navigation Satellite Development Plan

  DNSS: Defense Navigation Satellite System

  DOD: Department of Defense

  DSARC: Defense Systems Acquisition Review Council

  DSP: Defense Support Program

  EASCON: Electronics and Aerospace Systems Convention

  EGNOS: European Geostationary Overlay System

  EOSAT: Earth Observation Satellite Inc.

  ESA: European Space Agency

  EU: European Union

  FAA: Federal Aviation Administration

  FBCB2: Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below

  FCC: Federal Communications Commission

  FDMA: frequency division code modulation

  FOC: Full Operational Capability

  GAGAN: GPS-Aided Geo-Augmented Navigation

  GAO: General Accounting/Accountability Office

  GBAS: ground-based augmentation system

  GDM: Generalized Development Model

  GIS: geographic information systems

  GNSS: global navigation satellite system

  GPS: Global Positioning System

  ICAO: International Civil Aviation Organization

  ICBM: intercontinental ballistic missile

  IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

  IGEB: Interagency GPS Executive Board

  iGPS or HIGPS: High Integrity GPS

  IGY: International Geophysical Year

  INS: inertial navigation systems

  IOC: Initial Operational Capability

  IONDS: Integrated Operational Nuclear (Detonation) Detection System

  IRBM: intermediate-range ballistic missile

  IRNSS: Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System

  ISS: inertial surveying systems

  JPO: joint program office

  LBS: location-based service

  MBOC: multiplex binary offset carrier

  MSAS: Multifunctional Transport Satellite Augmentation System

  NANU: Notice Advisory to Navstar Users

  NAPA: National Association of Public Administration

  NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  NAVCEN: Navigation Center

  NAVSEG: Navigation Satellite Executive Steering Group

  NAVSMO: Navigation Satellite Management Office

  NAVSPASUR: Naval Space Surveillance System

  NDAA: National Defense Authorization Act

  NDGPS: Nationwide DGPS

  NES: Navigation Experimental Satellites

  NNSS: Naval Navigation Satellite System

  NORAD: North American Aerospace Defense Command

  NRC: National Research Council

  NRL: Naval Research Laboratory

  NTIA: National Telecommunications and Information Administration

  NTS: Navigation Technology Satellite

  OCS: Operational Control System

  OCX: Operational Control Segment

  PDAS: personal digital assistants

  PLGR: precision lightweight GPS receiver

  PND: personal navigation device

  PNT: positioning, navigation, and timing

  PPC: Portable Professional Computer

  PPS: Precise Positioning Service

  PRN: pseudorandom noise

  QZSS: Quasi-Zenith Satellite System

  RAIM: Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring

  RAM: random access memory

  READI: Real-Time Earthquake Analysis for Disaster

  SAMSO: Space and Missile Systems Organization

  SBSS: Space Based Space Surveillance

  SDI: Strategic Defense Initiative

  SLAM: standoff land attack missile

  SLGR: small, lightweight GPS receiver (“Slugger ”)

 
; SLVS: space launch vehicles

  SPS: Standard Positioning Service

  SVN: space vehicle number

  SVS: space vehicles

  TERCOM: terrain contour matching

  TLAM: Tomahawk land attack missile

  UAV: unmanned aerial vehicle

  UTC: Coordinated Universal Time

  V2I, V2X: vehicle-to-infrastructure

  V2V: vehicle-to-vehicle

  VMT: vehicle-miles-traveled

  WAAS: Wide Area Augmentation System

  WGS-84: World Geodetic System 1984

  GPS

  DECLASSIFIED

  Introduction

  There is no “middle of nowhere ” anymore, Agent Scully.

  The Shadow Man in “Trust No. 1 ,” X-Files, season 9, originally broadcast January 6, 2002

  The stolen 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe was pushing 100 mph on a residential street in Visalia, California, by the time Sgt. Randy Lentzner and his partner, Officer Robert Gilson, got their police cruiser into position behind it.1 High-speed chases often end in collisions and always endanger innocent bystanders, so the time—about 3:30 a.m.—was in their favor. But on this morning, October 18, 2009, the police had another advantage. Some 12,500 miles overhead, a network of satellites was helping to track the vehicle’s exact position, and new technology was in place to eliminate the need for hazardous spike strips or bumping tactics traditionally used in police pursuits.

  Minutes after a shotgun-wielding assailant forced the Tahoe’s owner, Jose Ruiz, and his cousin out of the vehicle, Ruiz reported the theft to police and told them it was equipped with General Motors’ OnStar navigation, communication, and security system. A call to OnStar quickly provided police with the location of the vehicle, and when the officers confirmed they were ready, OnStar call-center advisors transmitted a wireless signal to the Tahoe, activating its “Stolen Vehicle Slowdown ” feature.

  Behind the wheel of the Tahoe, the driver pressed the accelerator harder. To his surprise, the pedal became unresponsive, and the SUV’s engine gradually slowed to idle speed. He jumped out and ran but was soon in handcuffs—roughly fifteen minutes after Ruiz reported his vehicle stolen. Twenty-one-year-old Albert Roman Romero became the first person caught and charged with carjacking as a direct result of GPS technology.2