FLYING FOR GPS

About the Book

Most books on GPS are quite technical and concentrate on the satellites and/or receiver design. This book is about user equipment evolution from expensive, complex and voluminous military sets to today’s low-cost chips buried in our cell phones. It traces a system designed primarily for military and civilian aircraft, ships and land vehicles to an essential utility of everyday life, enabling new businesses, more safety and the ability to track everything that moves. In parallel with the evolution of GPS is the evolution of commercial air travel as experienced by the author, starting from a flight on a Pan Am 707 in 1963 to a recent one on an Air France A380. Part II is a memoir written for the GPS community, people who have met or been influenced or educated about GPS by the author and anyone else interested in this facet of GPS history. It describes the tribulations that accompanied the development GPS user equipment and some of their first applications. What makes the book an autobiography is the inclusion of Part I, which is for the author’s friends and family and anyone else interested in his early development.

About the Author

Over his career he spent 8 months of his life flying over 2 ½ million miles on commercial aircraft acting as a missionary for the Global Positioning System, (GPS) and as a developer of user equipment. With Bachelors and Masters Degrees in electrical engineering, he concentrated on communications and satellite navigation systems for over 30 years in industry rising to Vice President of a major electronics company. During the next 20 years he ran his own consulting company, Global Systems and Marketing Inc. His work took him all over the world to military and civilian potential users of GPS. He interacted with governments, scientists, NATO and other international organizations, and many other people intrigued by the revolutionary capability of GPS provided free to the world by the United States. He worked for several notable electronics companies including, ITT World Communications, Hughes Aircraft, Magnavox Research Laboratories and Interstate Electronics leading the efforts of the latter two companies to thrive in the GPS user equipment business. Starting from his appearance in 1993 as a consultant on CBS News “60 Minutes,” he served many industrial and government clients and as an expert witness on cases involved with the use of GPS. In his later years of working in the field he became aware of the other Global Navigation Satellite Systems, (GNSS) which led to his book, “GNSS Markets and Applications.” In retirement now, he maintains a presence in the Institute of Navigation as Vice President of the local chapter. He also teaches regularly about GPS, Communications Systems, the Space Program and the Intelligence Community at the Osher Lifelong Institute at Cal State University Long Beach.