Milestone-Proposal:LORAN: Difference between revisions
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{{ProposalEdit|a1=LORAN|a2a=Cambridge MA|a2b=Boston Section|a3=1940 to 1946|a4=WHAT IS LORAN? Loran is a hyperbolic system of navigation by which difference in distance from two points on shore is determined by measurement of the time interval between reception of pulse- modulated synchronized signals from transmitters at the two points. Both ground waves and sky waves can be used to provide coverage over an extensive area with few stations, depending on design frequencies. An important advantage of loran at the time of its development during WW2, was that a ship could use loran without breaking radio silence. Loran transmitting stations work in pairs. Synchronization is achieved by letting the signals of the master station, control those of the slave station. To help overcome the disadvantage of requiring two transmitting stations for a single family of hyperbolic lines of positions, loran forms a chain of stations, so that each station except the end ones operate with the station on either side to form an intersecting lattice of position lines. To find their way, loran navigators must have an radio receiver-indicator, a time piece, and a set of loran nautical charts or loran tables. Standard loran was initially developed primarily for navigation over water. It was also used for air-borne navigation. | {{ProposalEdit|a1=LORAN|a2a=Cambridge MA|a2b=Boston Section|a3=1940 to 1946|a4=What exactly is proposed? Not for any one single invention but for the design, development, building and launching a near global radio navigation system in the 1940s that helped turn the course of the war in Europe and in the Pacific. Within a matter of years, a complex radio navigation system called loran went on the air to create e a network for ship- borne navigators to find their way across the North Atlantic. In the same manner, the radio navigation system built to provide coverage in the Pacific Ocean. | ||
The milestone credits both the engineers, academics, and scientists associated with the MIT Radiation Laboratory, both civilians and military persons assigned to the high frequency navigation .. Especially the USCG who played a major role throughout the initial operations of loran. There ... continued ever since... Pierce stated | |||
“In the summer of 1943, the United Coast Guard made the first independent installation of LORAN transmitting stations in the Aleutian Island. The equipment in this case had been constructed in the Radiation Laboratory, as Naval procurement had not yet come into effect. Since then, the Coast Guard has installed some twenty-five stations in the Pacific, climaxing its efforts with stations at Jima and Okinawa, which were erected closely on the heels of the invading forces. Of special significance in the Pacific warfare were stations in the Mariannas, which provided very effective guidance for the 20th Air Force in its bombing of Japan.” | |||
“At the end of the war some seventy loran transmitting stations were in operations providing nighttime service over 60 million square miles or three tenths of the earth’s surface”. (see figure attached). “ Pierce | |||
“About 75,000 ship-borne and air-borne navigator’s receivers had been delivered by a number of manufactured. The Hydrographic Office, which had been preparing loran charts since the early days of naval use of the system, had shipped two-and-a-quarter million charts to various operating agencies. Pierce | |||
“The total cost of the loran research, development and procurement of the Radiation Laboratory…. Charges for R&D which produced the loran system can be assessed at no more than 2% of the investment in equipment…. Demonstrate that R&D can exists and be efficient under difficult conditions obtaining in wartime | |||
WHAT IS LORAN? Loran is a hyperbolic system of navigation by which difference in distance from two points on shore is determined by measurement of the time interval between reception of pulse- modulated synchronized signals from transmitters at the two points. Both ground waves and sky waves can be used to provide coverage over an extensive area with few stations, depending on design frequencies. An important advantage of loran at the time of its development during WW2, was that a ship could use loran without breaking radio silence. Loran transmitting stations work in pairs. Synchronization is achieved by letting the signals of the master station, control those of the slave station. To help overcome the disadvantage of requiring two transmitting stations for a single family of hyperbolic lines of positions, loran forms a chain of stations, so that each station except the end ones operate with the station on either side to form an intersecting lattice of position lines. To find their way, loran navigators must have an radio receiver-indicator, a time piece, and a set of loran nautical charts or loran tables. Standard loran was initially developed primarily for navigation over water. It was also used for air-borne navigation. | |||
DESCRIPTION | DESCRIPTION | ||
Loran consist of three components: 1. a chain of radio transmitters creating an electronic lattice or grid upon the surface of the earth. 2. a loran receiver-indicator, something like an electronic timer with a cathode ray tube and 3. loran nautical and aeronautical charts or tables published, for example, by the US Navy Hydrographic Office. | Loran consist of three components: 1. a chain of radio transmitters creating an electronic lattice or grid upon the surface of the earth. 2. a loran receiver-indicator, something like an electronic timer with a cathode ray tube and 3. loran nautical and aeronautical charts or tables published, for example, by the US Navy Hydrographic Office. | ||
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Jack Pierce's epic article published by the IEEE in 1946 is the prime source for the information here. | Jack Pierce's epic article published by the IEEE in 1946 is the prime source for the information here. | ||
THE LORAN PROJECT WAS A GREAT ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ACCOMPLISHMENT. | THE LORAN PROJECT WAS A GREAT ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ACCOMPLISHMENT. | ||
Pierce | Pierce | ||
Pierce, who was intimately involved with the project from the very beginning, had this to say about loran: | Pierce, who was intimately involved with the project from the very beginning, had this to say about loran: | ||
“In less than 5 years, loran, the American embodiment of a new method of navigation, has grown from a concept into service used by tens of thousands of navigators over three tenths of the surface of the earth. Even under the stress of military urgency, the direct cost of this system has been less than two percent of the seventy-five million dollars so far spent for operational equipment. ” JA Pierce 1946. | “In less than 5 years, loran, the American embodiment of a new method of navigation, has grown from a concept into service used by tens of thousands of navigators over three tenths of the surface of the earth. Even under the stress of military urgency, the direct cost of this system has been less than two percent of the seventy-five million dollars so far spent for operational equipment. ” JA Pierce 1946. | ||
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Hyperbolic Radionavigation systems compiled by Jerry Proc VE3FAB | Hyperbolic Radionavigation systems compiled by Jerry Proc VE3FAB | ||
http://www.loran-history.info/ | http://www.loran-history.info/ | ||
WEBSITES | WEBSITES | ||
THE COAST GUARD AT WAR. IV LORAN VOLUME II | THE COAST GUARD AT WAR. IV LORAN VOLUME II | ||
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Alexander A. McKenzie, “LORAN-THE LATEST IN NAVIGATIONAL AIDS,” QST, Part I , vol. 29. pp. 12-16. December, 1945; part 2. vol. 30, pp. 54-57. January, 1946; part 3, vol. 30, pp, 62-65, February, 1946 | Alexander A. McKenzie, “LORAN-THE LATEST IN NAVIGATIONAL AIDS,” QST, Part I , vol. 29. pp. 12-16. December, 1945; part 2. vol. 30, pp. 54-57. January, 1946; part 3, vol. 30, pp, 62-65, February, 1946 | ||
_|a5=In mid-1942, R. J. Dippy, who had invented the Gee system, was sent to the USA for eight months to assist in Loran development. The gee system (dippy) operated on the same but ultra -high frequency principal. | _|a5=Launch of Loran and the industrial buildout of a great hyperbolic navigation system that played a key role in the naval and air campaigns during 1943 to 1945. Once the war was ended, the loran system was so well founded that authorities found a way to modernize and keep it in place for nearly a half a century. | ||
Some historians overstate the contributions made by RJ Dippy, inventor of the Gee system in England, while he worked in the US early in the 1940s. | |||
Allies were not going to launch the gee system; instead there was cooperation among British and US military to launch loran. | |||
The determination and sacrifice required get loran up and running on the air early in 1943 to help with naval convoys crossing the Atlantic with supplies to the UK and Russia (Allies) is well documented in the USCG ..... | |||
Then soon following in tre Pacific, to engineer and develop, equip and supply, train radio techs , and get the radio navigation system called loran, on the air to help air-born ./ bombers navigate . . | |||
Both of these accomplishments are the same landmark project, executed one after the other within the first few years of the WW2. The nomination for IEEE milestone makes no claim for having conceived has being the first to have conceptualize the idea of finding your position within a network of lines .. | |||
In mid-1942, R. J. Dippy, who had invented the Gee system, was sent to the USA for eight months to assist in Loran development. The gee system (dippy) operated on the same but ultra -high frequency principal. | |||
Engineering projects of this magnitude required money, technology, staff, and ... | Engineering projects of this magnitude required money, technology, staff, and ... | ||
Pierce acknowledges the existance of the British gee system under development in the early 1940s. Gee operated on the same principal. He also acknowledges that "Loran copied gee's concepts rather than techniques and may be said to have been invented in America in the sense in which Galileo is said to have invented the telescope". | Pierce acknowledges the existance of the British gee system under development in the early 1940s. Gee operated on the same principal. He also acknowledges that "Loran copied gee's concepts rather than techniques and may be said to have been invented in America in the sense in which Galileo is said to have invented the telescope". | ||
