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LORAN

After Loran C



A relatively new development in electronically-supported navigation systems, the Global Position Satellite system, seems destined to replace LORAN C. During the years from 1978 through 1995 the United States launched more than two dozen specialized navigational satellites that each orbit the earth twice every day. These satellites transmit data that permit even portable handheld receivers and decoders to display latitude and longitude with great accuracy. The Global Positioning Satellite system provides better information than can be achieved using LORAN so it seems likely that the GPS system will soon render the LORAN system obsolete. LORAN will someday be found only in the history of electronics-based navigational systems but it will have served the world well for better than a half century.



Resources

Books

The 1995 ARRL Handbook. The American Radio Relay League, 1995.

Jacobs, George, and Theodore J. Cohen. The Shortwave Propagation Handbook. Cowan Publishing Corp., 1970.

Now You're Talking. The American Radio Relay League, 1994.

Periodicals

Stix, Gary, "Aging Airways." Scientific American (May 1994).

Walker, Paul F., "Precision-guided Weapons." Scientific American (August 1981).


Donald Beaty

KEY TERMS

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AM

—Amplitude Modulation.

Coincident

—Events timed to have a constant time difference.

Global Positioning System (GPS)

—A system of satellites whose signals can be used to locate objects on Earth (including below sea level) very precisely.

Latitude

—Number of degrees north or south of the earth's equator.

Longitude

—Number of degrees east or west of the earth's prime meridian.

Microsecond

—One-millionth part of a second.

100 kHz

—100,000 Hz, radio-frequency with a 2-mi (3-km) wavelength.

Pulse

—Signal that rises to a peak abruptly, with a steep waterfront.

Synchronized

—Occurring with the same frequency.

Additional topics

Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Linear expansivity to Macrocosm and microcosmLORAN - The Principle Of Loran, Interpreting Loran Measurements, Sources Of Loran Measurement Error, After Loran C