THE DEVELOPMENT OF LONG-RANGE HYPERBOLIC NAVIGATION IN THE UNITED STATES

The paper is derived primarily from the personal recollections of the authors, spanning the entire period in which navigation by the timing of radio signals has developed in this country. If there is a lesson to be learned from this fragmentary history, it is that the pressure of navigational requirements has always demanded more than our knowledge of the facts of radio wave propagation could supply. The systems reviewed have been constructed on the basis of, at best, empirical data or, at worst, guesses. Under these circumstances, new discoveries have, from time to time, brought forth new methods and new systems, while habit has tended to keep the older techniques in operation. These forces provide a partial explanation of a perhaps unfortunate proliferation, some of which might have been avoided had research provided sounder theories and more precise data in advance of the demand for navigation aids having larger service areas and improved accuracy. (Author)

• Corporate Authors:

  Harvard University

  Division of Engineering and Applied Science, 29 Oxford Street
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02138
• Authors:
  • Pierce, J A
  • Woodward, R H
• Publication Date: 1971-2

Media Info

• Pagination: 33 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Loran; Navigation; Navigational aids; Omega navigation system; Position fixing
• Old TRIS Terms: Loran navigation; Navigation techniques; Omega navigation; Position finding
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00016696
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: TR-620 Tech Rpt
• Contract Numbers: N00014-67-A-02980008
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 27 1971 12:00AM