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[interdoc-y2k 316] GPS Meets Y2K
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GPS Meets Y2K
Time Rollover Could Affect Navigation Systems
By Michael J. Martinez
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/gpsrollover990331.ht
ml
In five months, the Global Positioning System (GPS) will get a
foretaste of the Y2K computer bug.
GPS is a satellite-based navigation system administered by the U.S.
military, primarily for naval and airborne navigation. In recent
years, small, inexpensive GPS receivers have been produced for
consumer use as well, finding their way into the hands of hikers,
private and commercial pilots, sailors and fishermen — even
luxury-car owners.
Due to the way the system keeps time, the GPS system will have a date
“rollover” on Aug. 22, 1999, much like the so-called millennium
bug. Most modern GPS receivers have accounted for the rollover. But
not all.
Certainly, there are old receivers out there that are still in use,”
says Richard Langley, professor of geodesy and precision navigation at
the University of New Brunswick. “[Fixing the problem] is easy
enough for receiver manufacturers to do, but the trick is finding all
the receivers in use.”
Finding Your Place in the World
Developed by the military as a precise navigation system for ships,
planes and ground troops, GPS navigation is used in everything from
Tomahawk cruise missiles and smart bombs to Coast Guard cutters and
tankers.
There are currently 27 GPS satellites in orbit 12,000 miles above the
Earth. Each satellite continuously broadcasts its position, and a
navigation receiver uses three such broadcasts to mathematically
deduce its latitude and longitude position on Earth. The system is
accurate to about 80 feet.
A time stamp on the satellite transmission is used to make sure that
the correct data from each satellite is used. Some GPS-based
navigation devices calculate the positions of GPS satellites using
the last known time stamp. Extrapolating from the last time stamp
and the satellite’s speed in orbit, such systems find the satellite
again for another reading.
The current GPS timekeeping system was inaugurated on Jan. 6, 1980.
To keep time, the system uses a 10-digit binary number, which means
that the system runs out of 10-digit numbers once every 1,024 weeks.
That will occur on 12:01 a.m. GMT on Aug. 22.
Looking for the Satellite
According to Pentagon spokeswoman Susan Hanson, the Defense
Department’s Y2K remediation efforts will fix the GPS rollover
problem prior to Aug. 22. U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Jack O’Dell
says Coast Guard ships are already compliant, and the Coast Guard is
now working to educate boaters about possible problems.
We’re ready to go, and most manufacturers have already taken care of
the problem,” O’Dell says. “But that doesn’t take away from
GPS users’ responsibility to contact the manufacturers and make sure
they check everything they’ve got.”
GPS experts say that most receivers will be upgraded or replaced by
Aug. 22, and should operate normally. But as with the Y2K issue, 100
percent compliance is unlikely. What will happen with the remaining
non-compliant receivers?
In many cases, the GPS receiver will function normally, but will have
a 19-year-old time stamp. If the time stamp is incorrect, the device
could be looking for the satellite at its location back on Jan. 6,
1980.
A GPS device with a faulty time stamp, in other words, could be
rendered useless; and a ship or a hiker with a faulty GPS device
could be lost.
Beyond Navigation
The time stamp on GPS transmissions has other uses aside from
navigation. The system uses composite readings from 230 atomic
clocks around the world, which allow it to keep time down to the
millisecond. Because of their accuracy, GPS receivers have been
placed in computer networks, ATM networks and cellular phone towers
to help keep track of time.
Datum, Inc., a San Jose, Calif.-based company that integrates GPS
timing devices into computer and banking networks, discovered the
problem early last year.
If this had been a perfect world, everybody would’ve read the
documentation and prepared for this,” says David Robinson,
technology specialist at Datum, Inc. “Some people knew about it, some
didn’t.”
Since then, Datum has been poring over its customer database,
informing as many people as it can about the potential problem.
We won’t be able to call all of them in time,” Robinson says, “but
we’ll have a 24-hour hotline set up and extra tech support on board
to deal with the problem.
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Also in this issue:
- The latest figure for How Many Online? From Nua is 158.5 million.
The breakdown is as follows:
Africa: 1.14 million.
Asia/Pacific: 26.97 million
Europe: 36.55 million.
Middle East: 0.88 million.
Canada & USA: 88.33 million.
South America: 4.63 million.
- NATO reinforces against Net attack from Serbs (Balkans)
NATO has started defensive measures to protect its e-mail and Web
site systems against a well-prepared propaganda campaign launched by
Serbian hackers.
- DOJ appeals child protection ruling (US)
The Justice Department today filed an appeal to a February 1 ruling
that blocked enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act, which
aimed to curb children's access to online material deemed "harmful"
to minors.
- Information On Your Site First, Please
While this year’s Webbies were being announced, NetStudio was
handing out its Mud Brick Awards for this year’s worst sites on the
Web.
- Fallout From Melissa Pits Security Against Integration
Now that corporate e-mail servers are humming their pre-Melissa
tunes and IT managers are breathing easier, some are looking back and
asking: “What hit us?” and “How can we prevent e-mail viruses from
infecting our systems again?”
- Study Says Internet Becoming a Force in Sexuality
SAN FRANCISCO -- An estimated 4.6 million daily Internet
users may end up having more sex with a mouse than a person,
according to a study published in a leading psychology journal.
- ACLU President Makes Plea To Keep Internet Uncensored (US)
Some conservatives side with her, she tells USU students
- GPS Meets Y2K
Time Rollover Could Affect Navigation Systems
In five months, the Global Positioning System (GPS) will get a
foretaste of the Y2K computer bug.
- Mexican bank toils with online mall (Mexico)
Banco Nacional de México (Banamex), one of Mexico's largest banks,
began to plan its online mall in 1993 with the belief that it would
be up and running less than 12 months later. Talk about wishful
thinking.
- ICanBuy.com Markets To Kids -- Carefully (US)
A San Francisco start-up is entering perhaps the most controversial
arena on the Web -- marketing to minors.
- Mozilla Evangelist Quits
Exactly one year after Netscape's Mozilla project was launched, its
founder has quit. In a release posted on his homepage, the outspoken
open-source proponent Jamie Zawinski writes that April 1 was his
last day, and expresses regret for Mozilla's unfulfilled promise.
- Businesses charged for Web sites they didn't order (US)
Wayne Holbrook, owner of Welcome Bait & Tackle in Oxford, N.C., was
perplexed and annoyed when he saw a $24.95 charge on his phone bill
for a Web site created for his business.
- Melissa spawns powerful, seemingly clairvoyant anti-virus programs
Stung by the fast-spreading Melissa computer virus, corporate
security experts are hoping to deploy new tools to protect networks
from intruders, including technology that automatically identifies
and expunges viruses before they cause widespread damage.
- New Lists and Journals
1) Computer Networks
2) Computer Standards and Interfaces
3) I-Mom
4) Korean Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
5) Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
6) Lasers in Medical Science
7) Lighting Magazine Online
8) Manufacturing Automation
9) Mathematical Programming
10) Mangrove
11) Gaming Planet Mailer
12) Youth Field Xpress
- Sunday Supplement
- SURVEYS THIS WEEK:
ADS/MARKETING :Report Ranks Top Advertisers and Banner Ads
BANKING/TRADING :Israeli Banks to Expand their Online Services
:Increase in US Banks Offering Online Services
:Online Lending Market Matures
BUSINESS USE :Top 500 Companies Online in Ireland
COMPUTER INDUSTRY :Software for Toddlers Worth USD13 Million
DEMOGRAPHICS :Over 3 Million Online in Taiwan
E-COMMERCE :French Ecommerce Topped USD66 Million
:Net Transactions Cause Credit Card Disputes
:Ecommerce to Hit Developing Countries
GOV/LEG :French CyberSenate Prepares to Convene
TELECOMMUNICATIONS :OECD Telecom Sector Worth USD1 Trillion
:China to Issue Internet Telephone Licenses
USAGE PATTERNS :Average US User Surfs for 6 Hours a Week
:Report Looks at Changing Face of the Net
MISCELLANEOUS :Report Lists Over 1,400 Hate Sites
:Web Broadcasts Defy Attempts to Censor
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