JAMES BOND, a well-known fictional secret agent, uses a gadget that looks like a pen to track the movements of terrorists by placing the pen in their car. He then tracks them on a small hand-held tracking device and finds out that they are heading for a warehouse in Paris. He is now able to discover their hideout and save the world from a nuclear holocaust. Although this story is fictional, there are some aspects of the story that are real. The reality is that anyone can track his or her vehicle anywhere in the world, but can this be done in Jamaica?
The fact is that, we are able to do this and have been for a while now. The essential component that makes this possible is the use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS). GPS is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defence. GPS was originally intended for military applications, but in the 1980s, the U.S. government made the system available for civilian use. GPS works in any weather condition, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day. There are no subscription fees or set-up charges to use GPS. Using GPS in its simplest form without modern techniques or error correction, we are able to find our location here on earth with accuracies in the region of meters.
With the use of GPS, we can track our vehicle's location anywhere in the world. A GPS tracking system uses GPS and some radio technology (usually a modem) to automatically track and record vehicles', people, or pets' movement and activities. This system is actually available in Jamaica and is offered by companies such as Clearchannel and Hawkeye. It is possible to track your car anywhere in Jamaica and also alert you to suspicious activity of your car.
NAVIGATION INFORMATION
GPS helps you determine exactly where you are, but sometimes it is more necessary to know how to get somewhere else. GPS was originally designed to provide navigation information for ships and planes, and is also very useful in land, sea, and air navigation. The main difference between tracking and navigation is that while in tracking a vehicle's location is constantly monitored, in the case of navigation, the GPS system is used to plot a route from one destination to another. This is what makes it possible for James Bond to fly from Paris back to London.
With the advent of the new European Global Navigation Satellite System called Galileo, the future looks even brighter. Even higher precision will be obtained by the use of a greater network of satellites (24 for GPS and 30 for Galileo), as the accuracy of the system depends on the number of satellites used. The integration of GPS and Galileo will result in greater error correction capabilities, reliability, and dependability. Modern development in the areas of real time kinematic (RTK) positioning (measuring the position of a moving object), will lead us to even more accurate positioning at all altitudes and speeds. These fields of study are under research by the GPS Group at the Physics Department, University of the West Indies.
Error correction, another area under research, utilises modern algorithms (some of which are used by NASA in the correction of spacecraft flight), and applying these algorithms to the GPS navigation system. In its most general sense, an algorithm is any set of detailed instructions which results in a predictable end-state from a known beginning. All these innovations open the door to even more applications, and enhance the fast growing tracking and navigation industries in Jamaica.
