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Articles

1969: Vol. XLVI, No. 2

Navigation using the Altitude and Azimuth of an Artificial Satellite

Submitted
August 11, 2015
Published
2015-06-29

Abstract

When a ship has a radio sextant and can measure the altitude and azimuth of an artificial satellite she can find her position by one observation. The ship does not need to radiate any electro-magnetic waves. The characteristics of a radio-wave from a satellite are simple, and any satellite whose position is accurately known can be used for this purpose. Navigation by distance measurement gives the maximum error on the line connecting two subsatellite points. Navigation by Doppler shift also gives the maximum error on the subsatellite track. Navigation by altitude and azimuth, however, gives a good position if the ship is at the subsatellite point. Therefore this method can also be used to complement the other two methods.