12S56 Seminar: Where are you?

 

Contact information:

Prof. Thomas A Herring

Room 54-820A, MIT 

Phone (617) 253-5941; Fax (617) 258-7401

Email: tah@mit.edu

Web page for Seminar: http://www-gpsg.mit.edu/~tah/12S56

 

Associate Advisors:

Elizabeth Maroon                emaroon@mit.edu

Spencer Para                         sparr@mit.edu

 

Class meets 3:00-5:00 pm Mondays, Room 54-322.

 

Description

The use of Global Positioning System (GPS) in a wide variety of applications has exploded in the last few years. Hikers, sailors, and aviators use the system as a navigation aid but many others use GPS in ways that were not considered during its design. Some of the most stringent uses come from meteorology, where the system is used to track water vapor in the atmosphere, and from geophysics, where it is used to measure continental drift, deformation leading up earthquakes, and mean sea-level rise. In this seminar we explore how positions on the Earth were determined before GPS; how GPS itself works and the range of applications in which GPS is now a critical element. This seminar is followed by a UROP in the spring semester where results from precise GPS measurements will be analyzed and displayed on the web.

 

Thomas Herring is Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.  He uses GPS to measure millimeter-level motions of the EarthÕs surface in California, Central Asia, and China with the long-term aim of understanding earthquakes and other deformation processes.  He also studies the EarthÕs atmosphere with GPS through the refraction of GPS signals.

 

Seminar Content and Schedule

General: Every couple of weeks you will be asked to bring in reports on topics and projects assigned (e.g., the first of these will be to determine the latitude and longitude of MIT with out using a map or GPS).

You may work together on these projects, but you should submit your material. Grading in class will be based on attendance and submitting the project reports. We will spend the first 30-minutes of each seminar in general discussions

 

Schedule of seminars for 2009
(Links to the class notes are the Class number).

Class

Date

Topic

1 web pdf

9/21/2009

Introduction to Seminar and what we want to during the semester. Definitions of Latitude/Longitude and Height. Astronomical Latitude and Longitude determination. Set to have measurements done on 9/22 (equinox) ideally. Write up needed for next class (see exercises below)

 

09/28/2009

We examine the results from Exercise #1 – Determination of the latitude and longitude of MIT campus.

http://www.tecepe.com.br/scripts/AlmanacPagesISAPI.isa This is an online almanac that looks like the nautical almanac

3 web pdf

09/28/2009-
10/13/2009

Discussion of results and techniques used to measure positions geometrically. How do you measure position without gravity? Geometric systems that use distance measurement. How to do this. How do you make maps and what is significance. Exercise 2 is set.

4 web PDF

10/19/2009-10/26/2009

Start looking at how GPS works. Discuss student measurements of Circle (results due 10/26).  Look at EDM equipment

 

11/02/2009

Fieldwork in the circle. Use the theodolite to make the measurements. Students to reduce the results by the next class.  No seminar 11/09/09.  Exercise 3 is due 11/23/09

 

11/16/2009

Continued discussion of GPS methods.

 7 web

11/23/2009

Finish GPS discussions and visit by Lt Col Kurt Kuntzelman, USAF

8

11/30/2008

GPS candy hunt.

9 web pdf

12/07/2009

UROP discussions

Seminar exercises 2009:

 

EXERCISE 1: Due Monday September 28, 2009

Determine the latitude and longitude of the MIT campus using a method of your own choice without using GPS or a map (or any web resources that tell you the latitude and longitude).  Your submission should include:

(a) A discussion of your method and why you choose it.

(b) The data collected during your measurements

(c) Calculation of the latitude and longitude

 

 

EXERCISE 2: Due Monday October 26, 2009

Determine the radius of the circle outside the Green building.  There is a grass inner ring and a concrete outer ring. The radius of the outer edge of the concrete ring should be determined.  In the center of the circle is a sprinkler head, use an indirect method (i.e., no by direct distance measurement) to determine the distance from the sprinkler to the outer concrete edge.

 

EXERCISE 3: Due Monday November 23, 2009

Link to Data for Project 3:  Will be posted Nov 03, 2009.

The link above points to the data collected in the circle during seminar 5.  The results and student presentation of their results will be Monday Nov 23. From the measurements made you are to determine:
(a) Estimates of the radius from the main tripod measurements
(b) Estimates of the radius for each rod measurements.  Plot the radius as a function of angle around the center of the circle.

Solution: Web Page   PDF   Proj_3_09.m