book cover Fundamentals-Inertial-Navigation-Systems-Aiding

New Book! Fundamentals of Inertial Navigation Systems & Aiding

Dr. Michael Braasch held the Thomas Professorship in the Ohio University School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and was a principal investigator with the Ohio University Avionics Engineering Center, USA. He performed navigation system research for over 35 years and...
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A Remembrance on Memorial Day

On this Memorial Day we gratefully remember those who have given their lives in the defense of our country. In this post, however, I would like to direct your attention to an article about a hero of World War I who by all rights should have died in the war but amazingly did not....
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Inertial Breakthroughs Webinar

Michael Braasch will be presenting an overview of aided-inertial navigation as part of the webinar “Inertial Breakthroughs for the Autonomous Vehicle” hosted by InsideGNSS on Wednesday, November 20, 2019 starting at 1pm ET. As described in Alan Cameron’s online...
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A Tale of Four Constellations

During the 2018-2019 academic year, an Ohio University Electrical Engineering senior design team, under my supervision, created a website to archive the performance of the four global navigation satellite systems (GNSS): the U.S. GPS, the Russian Glonass, the European Galileo and...
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737 Deja Vu All Over Again

With Sunday’s crash of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 (Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302) following just four and a half months after a so-far unexplained crash of another 737 MAX 8 (Lion Air Flight 610), the public is understandably on edge. Two almost brand new airplanes crashing shortly...
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Drone Dome to the Rescue?

Media reports indicate the anti-drone system known as ‘Drone Dome,’ manufactured by Israeli defense company Rafael, was deployed at the U.K.’s Gatwick airport after repeated sightings of a drone, or drones, within the airport perimeter. The major components of...
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Two Celebrations: One Golden, One Diamond

De Havilland Comet: The First Transatlantic Passenger Jet Boeing 747 Over the past week we observed the 50th anniversary of the roll-out of the first Boeing 747 (September 28, 1968) and the 60th anniversary of the first transatlantic passenger jet flight (October 4, 1958). The...
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China’s Accelerating SatNav Program

For the third time in two months, China has launched a pair of Beidou satellites into orbit. This is light speed considering that launches of single satellites a few months apart is normally considered fast. GPS World reports that the recent pair, launched September 19, are the...
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A Salute to the Unsung Heroes

The successful evacuation of an enormous number of allied troops at Dunkirk (May 27 – June 4, 1940) might well be argued to be the first serious failure of the Nazi war machine. Although dramatized last year in the movie ‘Dunkirk’ and featured later last year in...
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Belleville, Illinois First Responders: Leveraging Drones for Safety

As reported yesterday by CBS-affiliate KMOV in St. Louis, first responders in the city of Belleville, Illinois (about 5 miles southeast of St. Louis) used drones to surveil rooftops as part of their investigation of ‘credible threats’ made against students at the...
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An ‘A’ for Drone Use and an ‘F’ for Public Relations

Earlier this week the CBS affiliate in Sacramento reported about residents in the Land Park neighborhood being unhappy about a drone flying over their homes at night. The culprit? The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) that manages two nearby housing communities...
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C-3PO is Here ! Meet Boston Dynamics’ Atlas

Three years ago I posted about a robotic mastiff created by Boston Dynamics. Last November, the company showed that its humanoid robot ‘Atlas’ can do back flips and last week added to its repertoire by showing that now it can run. Not just walk, but run. C-3PO is...
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Excellent Safety Record Reduces Safety?!?

There is much to be impressed by, and thankful for, in the news regarding the engine failure on Southwest flight 1380 this week. First there is the cool-as-a-cucumber response of the pilot. Captain Tammie Jo Shults exhibited ‘nerves of steel’ as she deftly handled the...
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The World of GNSS in Athens, Ohio: May 2018

I am pleased to announce the third annual International Seminars on Positioning & Navigation Technologies (GNSS 2018) to be held from May 14 – 25 on the campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. The seminars are jointly sponsored by Ohio University, École nationale de...
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Drone Battle: Local Government vs. Federal

A pair of news items that came out at the end of last month highlight the inadequacy of current regulations for safeguarding the public from careless operators of recreational drones. As reported by UAV Expert News, a guest at the Palms Place Resort in Las Vegas lost control of...
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The 55 Pound Headache: Drones vs. Humans

As reported by Alan Levin of Bloomberg News, researchers at Virginia Tech have concluded there is less than a 5% chance of catastrophic head injury if a person is hit by a drone weighing less than 2.6 pounds (1.2 kg). Although this may embolden some in an effort to loosen...
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Backing for International Drone Registry

As reported by Reuters with further coverage at PetaPixel, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), essentially the United Nations’ aviation agency, is endorsing the creation of a single international drone registry. Drone manufacturers have been pushing for a...
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Newest Space Hub: New Zealand?!?

New Zealand is known for its spectacular scenery (obvious to anyone who has seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy) and sheep farming. How about its commercial space launch industry? ‘No way!’ you say? That is about to change. Over the past decade a New Zealand start-up...
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Solar Solution: Make Wings from Cells

A father-and-son team from Adelaide, Australia may have solved one of the critical issues that has previously inhibited solar-powered flight. As reported by David Washington in Adelaide’s InDaily news service, Don and Cameron Donaldson of Praxis Aeronautics have discovered...
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Used Jet Prices Falling Like the Proverbial Stone

As reported by the Financial Times with additional reporting at Zero Hedge, used jet prices are falling like a rock. It’s a simple matter of too much supply and too little demand. This is evidenced also by new jet deliveries which have fallen by approximately 50% since the...
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DJI’s Safety Efforts Being Thwarted by Commercial Hacking Company

Image source: Motherboard Ben Sullivan published an article yesterday on Motherboard describing products offered by Russian company Coptersafe that jailbreak DJI drones and enable the purchasers to thwart the built-in no-fly zones. Coptersafe claims they did it out of necessity...
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How many injuries will it take before the nonsense stops?

As reported in an article by Fitz Tepper at TechCrunch, a personal drone was flown illegally in San Diego on Monday during an MLB game between the Padres and the Diamondbacks. The drone crashed into the stands and was recovered by officials. If you watch the video, it’s...
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Future of Drones: Braasch interviewed on The Matt Townsend Show

Michael Braasch was interviewed yesterday (March 21, 2017) on The Matt Townsend Show on BYUradio (simulcast on SiriusXM Channel 143). Matt asked Mike about the current status and future of civil use of drones and what challenges are currently being addressed. Click HERE to listen...
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Microsoft’s Drone Flight Simulator

Yesterday Peter Suciu published an article in ECT News regarding Microsoft’s announcement that it would be providing a high-fidelity open source drone flight simulator that would permit drone developers to test and evaluate their navigation software prior to field testing....
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Autonomous Drone Taxis: Pros and Cons

Image: EHang As has been reported by various media outlets this week (e.g., Fortune, The Telegraph, Engadget), Dubai has announced that it will begin single-passenger autonomous drone taxi operations this summer. The ability to fly to your destination across town, as opposed to...
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Drones to catch illegal mining in India

Photo reference: Business & Human Rights Resource Centre Illegal mining is having a devastating impact on the economy of India. They have recently deployed a satellite-based monitoring system and are now turning to drones to help with the surveillance. Bloomberg published an...
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Anti-Drone Guns in Davos

As reported by ZeroHedge and others, an anti-drone gun has been spotted in Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting will be held this week. Since the meeting hosts a wide variety of world leaders, the appearance of anti-drone guns is not terribly...
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Carrie Fisher/Leia Organa: We’ve Lost the Key Ingredient in Star Wars’ Secret Sauce

As their fans around the world mourn the loss of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds this week, I can’t help but dwell on how important Carrie Fisher and her character, Leia Organa, were to the success of the original Star Wars trilogy and, most importantly, the success of...
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Christmas Eve in Space and Communion on the Moon

In a commentary published today by the Wall Street Journal, Eric Metaxas tells the relatively unknown story of humans celebrating Christmas Eve in orbit around the Earth (Apollo 8, December 24, 1968) and Buzz Aldrin celebrating communion after the first moon landing (July 1969)....
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Obstacle Avoidance: The Challenge for Drone Package Delivery

Braasch authored a sense-and-avoid article on TheConversation.com. The article has since been picked up and republished by a number of additional news outlets. In the article, Braasch explains why obstacle detection is critical for long-distance drone operations and how small...
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Amazon Starts Drone Deliveries / Braasch quoted by Geek Wire

Braasch was quoted by Alan Boyle in his article “Amazon drone deliveries in England show how small steps add up to a big deal” published on Geek Wire and also republished on Yahoo! Tech. Braasch notes that radar and lidar technologies currently being researched will...
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Drone Delivery Still A Long Way Away

A recent article by Ben Sullivan at Motherboard highlights the challenges faced by those companies attempting to develop drone delivery services. Due to regulatory hurdles in the United States, even for research and development activities, Amazon has been performing tests in the...
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The Critical Element in Anti-Drone Technologies

Anti-drone technologies are making headlines as security concerns increase along with the proliferation of civilian drones. Some of the technologies are arguably low-tech (e.g., catch a drone with a net carried by another drone). Others seem straight out of Buck Rogers. Case in...
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Drone footage of 14Nov2016 New Zealand Quake

Image: GNS Science Although a 6.0 quake struck today just off the North Island of New Zealand, the big news continues to be the 7.8 quake that struck the South Island on November 14. Geoscience research company GNS Science released dramatic drone video of the approximately 30 km...
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Ohio’s New Drone Advisory Group

Michael Braasch was interviewed by Ryan Severance for his article “New drone advisory group comes to Ohio” in TheNewPolitical.com. The article discusses the advisory group that Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine has formed to create a policy for law enforcement use of...
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Highlights from the 2016 International Rotorcraft Safety Conference

I’ve been in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metro area for the past two days attending the 2016 International Rotorcraft Safety Conference. Approximately 400 folks from all parts of the helicopter industry are gathered in an effort to improve helicopter safety. Sadly, the biggest...
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Braasch interviewed for CNBC drone article

Image: cnbc.com Michael Braasch was quoted in a 15Sep2016 article “SkyDroner protects against an invading drone” by Uptin Saiidi on CNBC.com. SkyDroner uses cameras to track drones that are entering a region and claims to be able to take control of the drone and force...
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Update: Emirates EK521: Cabin-crew: A+ Passengers: ??

UPDATE: 08Aug2016 Sandy Murdock has an excellent article on the JDA Journal website detailing the high degree of professionalism by the Emirates EK521 cabin crew in evacuating the passengers from the plane prior to it being engulfed in flames. Passengers attempting to retrieve...
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Second Engine Fire Incident in Less Than a Year for Boeing 777

The pictures and video from this morning’s Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 engine fire are arguably among the most dramatic ever captured for a widebody civilian passenger jet. As reported by CNN and others, the window seat video was captured by passenger Lee Bee Yee. This...
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New Small Drone Rules: Lower Barrier to Entry

Braasch was interviewed by Luke Dormehl for his article “The FAA’s new rules for commercial drones will likely hinder drone-based delivery” at the website Digital Trends appearing June 22, 2016. Braasch noted that one of the major barriers-to-entry removed by the new...
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This Weekend’s Geomagnetic Storm Rating: 2 out 5 (5 is the worst)

NASA image As reported by Bloomberg and the Daily Mail, extra bursts of radiation from the Sun will hit the Earth this weekend. This kind of event is formally known as a geomagnetic storm. The popular press hints at the possibility of disruptions to GPS and bird migration but as...
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A Bird’s Eye View: Braasch interviewed by the Ohio University “Post”

Braasch was interviewed for an article by Sean Wolfe that appeared yesterday in the Ohio University student newspaper, The Post. Mr. Wolfe did an excellent job providing an overview of civilian drone usage and issues including the regulatory environment.
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Boston Dynamics is Making C-3PO a Reality

This past week Boston Dynamics released a YouTube video on the latest version of their Atlas robot. It is 5’9″ tall, weighs 180 pounds and is capable of walking (in snowy hilly terrain!), opening doors, lifting objects and … getting back up after being pushed...
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Drones for Christmas and Airspace Rights

The question over who owns the airspace immediately above your house has been brought to the national stage with Annie Sneed’s recent article in Scientific American, “So Your Neighbor Got a Drone for Christmas.” I have previously commented on the issue of a...
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The Power of Drone Journalism

Image Source: Aljazeera America (http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/photo-gallery/2015/12/photos-flooding-inundates-missouri-and-illinois.html) The tragedy of the flooding in Missouri has been brought into sharp focus by drone journalism. The Wall Street Journal posted a...
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Happy New Year Derivation

For all of us geeks out there, the following derivation of the traditional start-of-year message was provided to me by my colleague, Prof. Chris Bartone [Note: the original author of the derivation is unknown…]. Chris is a professor of electrical engineering at Ohio...
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Want to buy a cheap 747? Malaysia is looking to deal …

I’ve heard of people ‘walking away’ from houses they could neither afford nor sell, but how about one of the biggest planes on the face of the Earth? The classic housing example is Houston in the mid 1980s. From 1981 to 1986 the price of crude oil fell by...
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FAA Rules May Hover Over Drone Hobbyists

Braasch was interviewed by Theodore Decker for his article in the 30Nov2015 edition of the Columbus Dispatch, “FAA Rules May Hover Over Drone Hobbyists.” Selected quotes from Braasch include: “In terms of commercial applications, I think we very much are on the...
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It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane … It’s Yet Another Drone

Image Reference: The Morning Call (Allentown, PA) Braasch was interviewed by Scott Kraus of The Morning Call (Allentown, PA) for his article “It’s a bird, it’s a plane … it’s yet another drone” published in the November 22, 2015 edition. Here...
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Drones as Disruption

I attended a conference today entitled “Drones as Disruption: Who Regulates What?” The conference was held at the Ohio State University (OSU) College of Law. There were a wide variety of panelists and here are some excerpts: “We engineers are used to solving problems....
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The Double Standard of Drone Regulations

“… the FAA is actually focusing its regulation on the wrong group.” Ben Popper A recent tweet by Sally French of MarketWatch (@TheDroneGirl) led me to Ben Popper’s 13Nov2014 article on The Verge: “I almost killed someone with a drone – That...
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Arrested and then Invited to the White House

After spending his weekend doing something productive (as opposed to being glued to TV, video games or social media…), the 14 year-old was excited to go to school Monday morning (Sept 14) to show off the electronic clock that he built. By the end of the day, though, the...
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FAA’s Underutilized Enforcement Tool Against Reckless Drone Ops

The Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) released a report today analyzing the FAA’s data on recent drone sightings by manned aircraft. The report details how a 12Aug2015 FAA Press Release and the news media have been greatly exaggerating the numbers of near mid-air...
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Why it’s Good that Drones Sound Like Buzzing Bees to Elephants

Many of us are aware that drones can be used for a wide variety of surveillance purposes. Yesterday I posted about the use of drones to inspect oil and gas infrastructure. However, in an article published today on MarketWatch.com, Sally French writes about the use of drones to...
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Drone Inspections Increase as Oil Prices Plummet

As the price of oil plummets, drilling companies are looking for new ways to cut costs. Inspecting offshore oil rigs for damage, deterioration or just general condition has traditionally been accomplished by suspending a technician by ropes. Once suspended, the technician has a...
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Two More Galileo Satellites to be Launched Sept 10

Photo: ESA The next two full operational capability (FOC) satellites in the Galileo constellation are being prepared for launch next week. As reported by GPS World and by Inside GNSS, the two satellites are scheduled for launch on 10 Sept at 11:08pm (local time) from the European...
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How to Handle Drones over Prisons ?

Braasch was interviewed by Gannett News for an article regarding how to stop drones from overflying prisons and delivering contraband. Currently there are neither good technological solutions to solve the problem nor are there regulatory prohibitions against the drone overflights.
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Man Charged in Cincinnati Office Tower Drone Strike

As reported here by the Cincinnati Enquirer, a Louisville man was charged with criminal mischief after losing control of a recreational drone that subsequently crashed through a window of the Great American Tower in downtown Cincinnati. In his interview for the article, Michael...
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Rogue Drones a Growing Nuisance Across the U.S.

Braasch is quoted in a Washington Post article by Craig Whitlock published this week (“Rogue Drones a Growing Nuisance Across the U.S”): ‘Most new drone models are aimed at novice fliers who are often “blissfully unaware” of aviation safety practices, said...
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Civil Drone Use in Colorado

From surveying crops to monitoring mine headwalls, Colorado has a great interest in the use of drones for civilian missions. However, as detailed in today’s Denver Post article by Laura Keeney, the lack of much-needed government regulations is getting in the way. Keeney...
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UAVs and Homeland Security

What are the three roadblocks to the successful use of UAVs in Homeland Security missions? See Braasch’s article (“UAVs and Homeland Security”) in the June/July 2015 issue of Homeland Security Today Magazine.
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Drones Behaving Badly

Braasch was recently interviewed by Eric Niiler for his Discovery News article “Drones Behaving Badly: Tackling Clogged Skies.” I’m still waiting for the federal government to create and enforce a $25,000 fine for anyone caught flying an unauthorized drone near...
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Avatar Without Environmental Destruction

A space rock worth $5.4 trillion? That’s the estimated value (according to figures in an article by Myra P. Saefong on MarketWatch.com), of the precious metals and materials contained in asteroid 2011 UW-158 that passed close to Earth this past Sunday. As the detailed...
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Pluto Factoids

While those of us with a scientific bent are geeking out over the incredible images of Pluto and its moons being sent back by NASA’s New Horizon’s spacecraft (for example, HERE), an article published last October on dailyhop.com reveals some interesting facts about...
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Hobby Drones Still Being Flown Around Forest Fires !?!

The lack of meaningful penalties and an almost non-existent campaign to raise public awareness means that hobby drones are still being flown around forest fires. See the news report from KCRA 3 in California about the latest incidents. As reported by KCRA, a California lawmaker...
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Taipei Plane Crash UPDATE: Pilot Error Confirmed

According to a Reuters article, the captain of the TransAsia Airways airplane that crashed shortly after take-off in February inadvertently shut down the working engine after the other one had lost power. A report released by the Aviation Safety Council (ASC) showed that about 3...
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Hobby Drones plus Firefighting Do Not Mix

Fighting forest fires in the western part of the U.S. has always been a difficult and dangerous job. However, the proliferation of hobby drones, and lack of adequate enforcement action against those operating them recklessly, is making the situation much worse. Case in point: A...
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Russia’s ‘New’ Navigation System Has Been Operating in the West for 30 Years

Yesterday the International Business Times (IBT) published an article regarding a new navigation system being installed on Russia’s MiG-31 fighter planes. The navigation system was reported as being able to operate in arctic weather conditions and was able to operate...
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GPS ROI is Incredible

If you are over the age of, say, 15, then you probably remember that there was a time when instantaneous access to your (or a friend’s) location was difficult if not impossible. Did we get by somehow? Yes, of course we did. Are things better now? Yes, they certainly are....
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Sense-and-Avoid’s 1903 Moment Has Finally Arrived

As everyone well knows, the Wright Brother’s first flight of 1903 was merely the beginning of the development of the airplane. It would take the better part of a decade of research and development by numerous individuals and institutions around the globe before aircraft...
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5 Miles of Luck and an AWOL Drone Owner

Two articles in the news this past week showcased the dangers posed by drones in the hands of untrained hobbyists. As reported by Coral Garnick in her article in the Seattle Times, a drone was stuck in a high voltage transmission line running above houseboats on Lake Union (just...
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Drone Crash Injures 2 at Parade: Circle the Wagons???

A (fortunately) minor drone mishap over the weekend has sent the drone fanatics, er, I mean advocates, into a full-scale tizzy. As reported by various media outlets, the mishap occurred in the small coastal town of Marblehead, Massachusetts (approximately 18 miles north of...
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Memorial Day 2015

This month marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the U.S. Civil War and the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Let us take a moment today to remember and honor those who have given their lives in service to us in these and other conflicts.
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Drones Could Mitigate Terrorist Attacks

Michael Braasch was recently interviewed by Yasmin Tadjdeh of National Defense magazine for her article entitled “Drones Could Mitigate Terrorist Attacks.” Read the full article here.
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BVLOS with FPV? Better go slow…

Many in the civilian drone community were disappointed with the FAA’s requirement of flight only within visual line-of-sight (VLOS) in the small UAS notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). This week the FAA announced a partnership with BNSF Railway to research operations...
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How drones are helping relief efforts after Nepal earthquake

Michael Braasch was interviewed by Kristen Brown, Technology Reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, for her article entitled, “How drones are helping relief efforts after Nepal earthquake,” published yesterday (April 29, 2015). Although domestically there remain a...
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Drones + Helicopters = Damage

At a recent professional meeting, a colleague related to me a chilling tale told at last month’s Helicopter Association International (HAI) Heli-Expo meeting in Orlando: A helicopter cinematography crew was nearly struck by a multi-rotor drone while they were surveying an...
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Ultralights are NOT drones: Here’s Why

In February of this year, the FAA posted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Subsequently, 60-day comment period was opened in which the public is invited to provide comments regarding the proposed rules. Recently a prominent...
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Four Satellites Added Across Three Constellations

Over a span of four days at the end of March, the United States, Europe and India each launched satellites into their respective constellations. On March 25, a Block IIF satellite was launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station into the GPS constellation. On...
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FAA Opens the Doors Wide for LOS UAS

Today the FAA announced a new policy in which Section 333 exemption holders will receive blanket approval for day VFR (visual flight rules) LOS (line-of-sight) operations below 200 feet anywhere in the country (other than major cities and within a few miles of an airport)....
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A320 Crashes in the Alps

As has been widely reported in the media today, an A320 operated by Germanwings (the low-cost subsidiary of Lufthansa) has crashed in the French alps. The aircraft was carrying 150 people including the crew. As reported by The Telegraph in the UK, this is the first plane crash of...
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Visualizing Harmonic Oscillators

Harmonic oscillators form the basis of much of our modern technologies from cell phones to GPS to radio and TV. When multiple frequencies are present in a given signal, we typically rely on the frequency domain (e.g., FFTs) for characterization rather than the time domain....
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Ultimate PI Day: 3.14.15 9:26:53

Martin Armstrong has an excellent blog post about the date and time corresponding to one of the most important irrational numbers in all of mathematics, science and engineering. Of course, this only works for those countries in which the month number is placed before the day...
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Next Two Galileo Satellites to be Launched Mar 27

The European Space Agency has announced that the next two Galileo satellites are on schedule to be launched March 27. The first experimental Galileo satellite was launched in late 2005 and the second was launched in April 2008. Both were decommissioned in Summer 2012. The first...
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Robotic Mastiff Walks Like A Horse

Boston Dynamics’ latest creation is amazing for at least two reasons. First, it is easily able to traverse a variety of terrains (including hills and stairs), can ‘trot’ over flat surfaces and is able to maintain its balance despite severe disturbances. However,...
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Footage from Taiwan Air Crash Indicates Multiple Failures

The dash cam footage of the Taiwanese plane crash indicates a possible multiple-failure scenario. Initial reports indicate the plane lost power on one engine. This, by itself, might cause a loss of altitude but it does not explain the sharp left roll to 90 degrees just before the...
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Asteroid Near Miss Provides Incredible Viewing Opportunity

A large asteroid will pass by Earth on Monday/Tuesday (Jan 26-27) providing amateur astronomers a unique viewing opportunity. An asteroid is considered to be of considerable concern when it is larger than 100 meters and passes within 20 Earth-to-Moon distances. Asteroid 2004 BL86...
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ESA to Launch Six Galileo Satellites in 2015

European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain briefed the media on January 16, 2015 for the traditional start-of-year press conference on the activities and challenges for 2015. Dordain discussed the 22Aug2014 failure of the first two Galileo full-operational...
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Airlines: “Deployable Data Recorders Cost Too Much”

As of this writing, the search for the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 ‘black boxes’ is now entering the third week. Searchers are homing in on these data recorders (see my recent blog post here) but the difficulties are reminiscent of the two-year search needed to find the...
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Conflicting News about Air Asia Data Recorders

There has been conflicting news today regarding the so-called ‘black boxes’ (cockpit voice and flight data recorders) of AirAsia Flight QZ8501. A senior Indonesian government official was quoted as saying “The navy divers in Jadayat state boat have succeeded in...
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Insect Drones versus Marketing Hype

If you have seen the image of the robot mosquito, it looks very impressive. Various websites have described it as being perfectly camouflaged. It can spy on you without you even realizing that it is not an insect. There’s just one small problem. It is not real. It is not...
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The High Cost of Global Tracking

On December 30, 2014, prior to the discovery of the wreckage of Air Asia Flight 8501, Michael Braasch was interviewed by George Putic of the Voice of America (VOA) about aircraft disappearances in 2014. Braasch notes the key issues are cost and politics, not technological...
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Happy New Year 2015!

Although the season is somewhat artificial, the restart of the 12-month calendar has traditionally been a time both for reflecting on the past and looking ahead to the future. 2014 saw the sad disappearance of two transport jets: one for just a couple of days; the other still has...
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Missing Jet Highlights Urgent Need for Global Tracking

The news this morning regarding Air Asia Flight QZ8501 is both heartbreaking and infuriating. As has been widely reported in the media, the flight departed Surabaya, Indonesia for a routine two-hour flight to Singapore. Shortly after the pilot requested a route deviation for...
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Drone acceptance has a long way to go

Based on a recent poll conducted by the AP, the vast majority of Americans are skeptical about the use of drones for most commercial and recreational purposes. Privacy and safety issues are among the chief concerns. This is not unreasonable, but the fact that only 23% are in...
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Asiana Punished For Flight 214 Accident

As widely reported in the media today, South Korea-based Asiana Airlines has received a 45-day flight suspension from the South Korean government. Unless successfully appealed, the suspension will halt Asiana flights between Incheon and San Francisco for a 45-day period that will...
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Air New Zealand’s Safety Video is Fantastic

For those of us who travel way too much and have the pre-takeoff safety spiel completely memorized, this one from Air New Zealand is totally worth watching. Enjoy (especially you Middle Earth fans!)
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Phenomenal Response to Chicago ATC Fire

"Without being asked, dozens of Chicago air traffic controllers started driving to distant facilities in Minneapolis, Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Cleveland, which they knew would become inundated with redirected flights as soon as that afternoon ... 'They just got in their...
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Britain Stops Placing All Navigation Eggs in One Basket

It’s a lesson that we’ve all learned as children. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Why? Simple. If you drop the basket you lose everything. Essentially the lesson teaches us not to focus all [effort, resources, etc] into one thing. In engineering we might...
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Business Jet Collides with Snowplow in Moscow

As reported by various media outlets, a Falcon 50 business jet, carrying the CEO of the French oil company Total (Christophe de Margerie), collided with a snowplow on take-off close to midnight on the evening of Monday, October 20, 2014 at an airport near Moscow. Despite an...
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31 GPS Satellites in Orbit and More Are Being Launched: WHY?

The U.S Air Force launched a new GPS satellite on August 1 and, after the usual orbit insertion and check-out period, it was declared operational on September 17. Another satellite is scheduled for launch on October 29 and four more are scheduled for 2015 through early 2016....
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Why Helicopters Are Allowed to Do Things Drones Are Not (yet)

A recent Bloomberg News feature, about helicopters filming for Hollywood, sported shots of helicopters flying at a good clip close to skyscrapers, natural rock walls and other massive objects.
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Farmers Want Drones Too

The use of drones for precision cropdusting was pioneered by Yamaha in Japan back in the 1980s. These drones (small helicopters about half the size of a golf cart) have been commercially available since the early 1990s and there are approximately 2,400 operating throughout Japan...
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Drones Give You Superpowers

In his 06Oct2014 article in New York Magazine: “Drones and Everything After,” Benjamin Wallace-Wells richly describes the incredible power that drones provide to their human operators. The ability to see the world from a few hundred or a few thousand feet up in the...
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Drones and the Law of Unintended Consequences

Why is there an uproar over a hobby that has been around for over 50 years? Michael addresses the factors that aided in the safe operation of RC aircraft and why they do not exist anymore for modern hobby drones.
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Drones: Applications and Legal Questions

Radio interview of Michael Braasch by Ann Fisher on “All Sides with Ann Fisher,” WOSU Public Media, May 21, 2014 Description Journalists, farmers, and filmmakers see exciting potential in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or drones. But the FAA claims they are unsafe and violate the...
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Why It’s Never Been Safer To Fly

 Interview of Michael Braasch by Mark Huffman, CONSUMERaffairs.com, January 13, 2014 By Mark Huffman Mark Huffman has been a consumer news reporter for ConsumerAffairs since 2004. He covers real estate, gas prices and the economy and has reported extensively on negative-option...
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Drone Schools Suggest Inevitability Of Drones In Everyday Life

Braasch interview excerpt in: “Drone Schools Suggest Inevitability Of Drones In Everyday Life” by Frederick Reese, MintPress News, May 20, 2013 This week, the United States Navy launched its drone prototype, the X-47B, from the deck of the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush off the coast of...
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Looser FAA regulations to help drone expansion at universities

Braasch interview excerpt in: “Looser FAA regulations to help drone expansion at universities” by Stephanie Yang, Medill National Security Zone, March 18, 2013   Drones have become increasingly common at U.S. universities for research and career preparation. According to the...
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Drone U.

Braasch interview excerpt in: “Drone U.” by Allie Grasgreen, Inside Higher Ed, February 27, 2013   As Congress debates when and how the executive branch should be allowed to use drones for targeted killing in war zones, more universities here are seeking permission to use...
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Drone aircraft use spreads to Northeast Ohio

Braasch interview excerpt in: “Drone aircraft use spreads to Northeast Ohio, privacy advocates express concern” by Sabrina Eaton, Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 12, 2013   The use of unmanned drone aircraft is spreading from the battlefields of the Middle East to the...
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It’s a bird… it’s a plane… it’s a drone

OU researchers work to improve robotic aircraft Interview of Michael Braasch by Jim Phillips, The Athens News, April 29, 2012 At two big open fields – one near Belpre, the other about five miles southwest of Athens – kids and adults gather from near and far to fly their...
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Ohio University Expert – Michael Braasch

“Ohio University Expert – Michael Braasch”: Highlights of an interview in which Mike discusses the various civil uses of drones; OHIO Experts channel on YouTube, September 20, 2011
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Braasch named a Fellow of the U.S. Institute of Navigation in 2009

2009 Fellow Presented to: Dr. Michael S. Braasch Citation: For contributions to understanding of multipath error and its mitigation, and for GPS education. Dr. Michael S. Braasch, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Ohio University, is best known for his contributions which...
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Michael Braasch: Dr. Braasch’s Opus

Braasch’ work in the navigation field was highlighted in the column “Human Engineering” in the March 2006 issue of the trade journal Inside GNSS:   Michael S. Braasch is a professor of engineering at Ohio University’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,...
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