Broadcast Companies Want to Use TV Towers as a GPS Backup

The Global Positioning System (GPS) outer web handles determination services for everything from phones to planes, but what if the web went offline? The over-the-air broadcasting manufacture has an idea: utilizing TV broadcast towers arsenic a fallback positioning system.

Sinclair Inc is showing disconnected the Broadcast Positioning System, oregon BPS for short, astatine the National Association of Broadcasters Show successful Las Vegas. The exertion uses eLoran, a method to execute long-range navigation with terrestrial towers alternatively of satellites successful Earth orbit. BPS turns tv broadcast towers into positioning stations for different devices, arsenic agelong arsenic the operation has been upgraded to broadcast ATSC 3.0, besides known arsenic NextGen TV.

The exertion was developed by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), utilizing a akin Enhanced LORAN (eLoran) method for land-based positioning that has been tested by China, South Korea, and different countries. LORAN was developed by the United States and United Kingdom during World War II for tracking the presumption of vessel convoys and patrol aircraft, and Enhanced LORAN takes vantage of modern transmitter and receiver exertion to amended accuracy. It has a reported accuracy of ±8 meters, which is comparable to the scope of roughly ±4.9 meters disposable to astir smartphones utilizing GPS, but not the millimeter-level borderline for mistake imaginable with upgraded receiver instrumentality and best-possible conditions.

The GPS Backup

BPS and each different Enhanced LORAN implementations are chiefly intended to beryllium backups for the imaginable nonaccomplishment of the GPS network. There are currently 31 GPS satellites successful orbit astir the Earth (seen below), and if capable of them abruptly halt working, the network’s accuracy drops oregon afloat stops working. That would wreak havoc connected civilian and subject transportation, arsenic good arsenic immoderate systems that usage GPS for clip synchronization. Even though GPS is owned and operated by the United States, it’s freely disposable to anyone astir the world.

NAB Executive Vice President, Technology and Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny said successful a property release, “Through technologies similar the Broadcast Positioning System, enabled by ATSC 3.0, broadcasters tin present a resilient solution to enactment America’s captious infrastructure successful the look of increasing threats to GPS. Combining BPS with eLoran provides a resilient, frequence diverse, and wholly terrestrial alternate to GPS.”

There are already backups to GPS, but they are mostly conscionable different outer constellations. Russia operates its ain autarkic GLONASS network, China has BeiDou, and the European Union has Galileo. Japan and India besides person outer networks with partial planetary coverage. Many devices that usage GPS tin besides link to those networks, and they sometimes usage Wi-Fi and different terrestrial systems to amended accuracy. For example, the iPhone 16 supports GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou, and accuracy tin beryllium further enhanced successful immoderate areas utilizing Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Importantly, BPS requires TV stations to rotation retired ATSC 3.0 support, and the ATSC 3.0 rollout hasn’t been going well. Most TVs, DVR boxes, and different TV tuners successful the United States are inactive utilizing ATSC 1.0, partially due to the fact that of botched DRM requirements successful ATSC 3.0. LG was a beardown protagonist of the caller standard, but aft an extended patent dispute, it stopped selling TVs with ATSC 3.0 successful the United States.

Broadcast companies, similar the ones showing disconnected the imaginable of BPS, are pushing the FCC to make rules requiring each TVs successful the US to enactment ATSC 3.0. The extremity end would beryllium shutting down ATSC 1.0 broadcasts, which would let ATSC 3.0 to scope its afloat imaginable with much bandwidth. However, anyone with older TVs and OTA boxes would person to bargain caller equipment, overmuch similar the modulation to integer tv successful 2009.

Source: BusinessWire