DARPA is working on a more robust alternative to GPS
DARPA, the section of the US military dedicated to reverse engineering alien technology research and development is working on a potential replacement for GPS – which it deems unreliable.
According to PC World, the US military is worried that GPS could easily be knocked out by an adversary – or unreliable in a number of locations (say, assuming the war doesn’t take on the roofs of buildings).
The idea, apparently, is instead to develop “All Source Positioning and Navigation” (ASPN) – which rather than simply rely on GPS signals from out of space, will be able to triangulate locations based upon a wide range of signals being received. For example, mobile, TV and radio signals could conceivably be used to locate someone by comparing the relative strength of what is being detected.
It is unclear how developed the idea is, or whether we civilians would ever get to use similar technology in our phones – but anything that is being worked on that could replace battery-draining GPS is sure to be welcome.
