COSMIC uses for GPS … Turning Problems into Opportunities
… Called COSMIC (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate) in the United States and FORMOSAT-3 in Taiwan, the $100 million satellite network is the product of an agreement between the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States. The array is based on a system design provided by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)… Full Article Here:
Every system designed by man has some sort of problem. It’s inherit in our nature to be incapable of solving all difficulties, a successful system is one whose benefits outwiegh its faults … none are faultless. There’s a principle of salesmanship that assures us that custome robjections are really only assurances that the customer really wants to buy. Some believe this.
One objection voiced about GPS is due to the low strength of it’s signals, and their place in the elctromagnetic spectrum, the signals sometmes suffer from bending, delay or other distortion from the atmosphere. It’s often noted that GPS reception suffers badly in heavy rainstorms and that even when reception appears to be good, GPS positional error is affected by moisture and storms. Make sure you check on this for yourself when buying GPS equipment.
But here’s a clever system that will make good use of this physical fact. The weather satellites normal used today use mainly phoitgraphic sensors. They can tell alot about cloud cover and temperature but they can’t tell a lot about the inside of the clouds. COSMIC will use the bending and refraction of GPS signals to measure moisture content … a great examople of turning a supposed weakness into a strength. Along the way, I’m sure the COSMIC data will give alot of engineers a lot of ideas for improving GPS pefromance as well. Good Stuff.