Return to the archive index

RE: Cell towers as GPS beacons? (was: reply)

From: Eugen Leitl <>
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 17:10:09 +0100 (CET)

On Fri, 6 Dec 2002, Christopher Allen wrote:

> Yes, it is possible. But not without accurate clocks located onsite at
> each of multiple beacons (or at each of multiple receivers, depending
> on whether one is measuring ping time from cell towers to vehicle or
> from vehicle to cell towers).

The clock doesn't have to be accurate as not much time passes during a
relativistic pingpong over ~km distances. After all, you're clocking 300 
Mm/s, after all...

> This is a mesh that doesn't know where it's nodes are if said nodes
> don't each and independently know exactly what time it is. "Gentlemen,

While it is possible to achieve a much higher aggregate precision by 
synchronizing a distributed cloud of oscillators this is strictly 
unnecessary. Even bad oscilators don't drift much during ms to us 
duration.

> let's syncronize our watches." Why do heavily choreographed
> organized-crime scenarios require each node to wear a syncronized
> watch if it isn't imperative for the successful execution of the crime
> scheme that each node at all times know exactly what time it is?

Because mutual positioning is a crime comitted in a very brief, immediate 
time slot.

> The onboard atomic clocks don't just tell us where -- with the help of
> precalculated, periodically calibrated, time-plotted trajectories --
> GPS satellites are. The atomic clocks tell us when their time code was
> launched, so we the receivers of the time code can figure out where we
> are, based on that and on the satellites' separately calculated
> positions. What are you going to do with a piece of time code or a
> ping, even if it was broadcast from a stationary beacon of known
> accurate location, if you don't know what _time_ it was broadcast?

Because it is not being broadcast. The ID of the node doing a pingpong is 
encoded in the signal. That signal is only visible in a very short range, 
and ideally only to the node you're pinging (directional aerials or optics 
for ~VIS range).

You're mired in the GPS old-think, which is based on expensive birds high 
above, which are centralistic and a single point of failure (are operated 
by people who can and do degrade service of make it unavailable at certain 
times in a certain area).

Check out http://www.aetherwire.com/

--
Subscription/unsubscription/info requests: send e-mail with subject of
"subscribe", "unsubscribe", or "info" to 
Wear-Hard Mailing List Archive (searchable): http://wearables.blu.org
Please, *PLEASE* don't subscribe through a forward/expander/false domain

+Previous Message in Thread | Next Message in Thread

From Wear-Hard Mailing list Archive (WH)
Maintained by R. Paul McCarty

Archive created with babymail