An algorithm which can locate soldiers and hardware, such as robots, when GPS is not available has been developed by researchers at the US Army Research Laboratory. In a military situation where satellites have been disabled, or in an environment with obstacles, GPS may be ineffective for localising personnel. The latest technology makes use of the received signal strength of a radio frequency source to determine its direction of arrival. A team led by Dr Michael Smith from the University of California, Berkeley, US, used this information to create a system that could identify people using only their position on a map.
An algorithm which can locate soldiers and hardware, such as robots, when GPS is not available has been developed by researchers at the US Army Research Laboratory. In a military situation where satellites have been disabled, or in an environment with obstacles, GPS may be ineffective for localising personnel. The latest technology makes use of the received signal strength of a radio frequency source to determine its direction of arrival. By taking a number of readings from the signal, the algorithm can ascertain the geographic location of the source, in a technique known as spatial sampling.