![OmegaStationADistances](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/OmegaStationADistances.png)
![Accuracy of Navigation Systems](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Accuracy_of_Navigation_Systems.svg)
OMEGA was the first global-range
radio navigation
Radio navigation or radionavigation is the application of radio frequencies to determine a position of an object on the Earth, either the vessel or an obstruction. Like radiolocation, it is a type of radiodetermination.
The basic principles a ...
system, operated by the United States in cooperation with six partner nations. It was a
hyperbolic navigation
Hyperbolic navigation is a class of radio navigation systems in which a navigation receiver instrument is used to determine location based on the difference in timing (phase) of radio waves received from radio navigation beacon transmitters.
Su ...
system, enabling ships and aircraft to determine their position by receiving
very low frequency
Very low frequency or VLF is the ITU designation for radio frequencies (RF) in the range of 3–30 kHz, corresponding to wavelengths from 100 to 10 km, respectively. The band is also known as the myriameter band or myriameter wave a ...
(VLF) radio signals in the range 10 to 14 kHz, transmitted by a global network of eight fixed terrestrial
radio beacon
In navigation, a radio beacon or radiobeacon is a kind of beacon, a device that marks a fixed location and allows direction-finding equipment to find relative bearing. But instead of employing visible light, radio beacons transmit electromagnet ...
s, using a navigation receiver unit. It became operational around 1971 and was shut down in 1997 in favour of the
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...
.
History
Previous systems
Taking a "
fix" in any navigation system requires the determination of two measurements. Typically these are taken in relation to fixed objects like prominent landmarks or the known location of radio transmission towers. By measuring the angle to two such locations, the position of the navigator can be determined. Alternately, one can measure the angle and distance to a single object, or the distance to two objects.
The introduction of radio systems during the 20th century dramatically increased the distances over which measurements could be taken. Such a system also demanded much greater accuracies in the measurements – an error of one degree in angle might be acceptable when taking a fix on a
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
a few miles away, but would be of limited use when used on a radio station away. A variety of methods were developed to take fixes with relatively small angle inaccuracies, but even these were generally useful only for short-range systems.
The same electronics that made basic radio systems work introduced the possibility of making very accurate time delay measurements, and thus highly accurate distance measurements. The problem was knowing when the transmission was initiated. With
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
, this was simple, as the transmitter and receiver were usually at the same location. Measuring the delay between sending the signal and receiving the echo allowed accurate range measurement.
For other uses,
air navigation
The basic principles of air navigation are identical to general navigation, which includes the process of planning, recording, and controlling the movement of a craft from one place to another.
Successful air navigation involves piloting an air ...
for instance, the receiver would have to know the precise time the signal was transmitted. This was not generally possible using electronics of the day. Instead, two stations were synchronized by using one of the two transmitted signals as the trigger for the second signal after a fixed delay. By comparing the measured delay between the two signals, and comparing that with the known delay, the aircraft's position was revealed to lie along a curved line in space. By making two such measurements against widely separated stations, the resulting lines would overlap in two locations. These locations were normally far enough apart to allow conventional navigation systems, like
dead reckoning
In navigation, dead reckoning is the process of calculating current position of some moving object by using a previously determined position, or fix, and then incorporating estimates of speed, heading direction, and course over elapsed time. ...
, to eliminate the incorrect position solution.
The first of these
hyperbolic navigation
Hyperbolic navigation is a class of radio navigation systems in which a navigation receiver instrument is used to determine location based on the difference in timing (phase) of radio waves received from radio navigation beacon transmitters.
Su ...
systems was the UK's
Gee and
Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...
, followed by the US
LORAN
LORAN, short for long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UK's Gee system but operated at lower frequencies in order to provide an improved range u ...
and
LORAN-C
Loran-C is a hyperbolic radio navigation system that allows a receiver to determine its position by listening to low frequency radio signals that are transmitted by fixed land-based radio beacons. Loran-C combined two different techniques to p ...
systems. LORAN-C offered accurate navigation at distances over , and by locating "chains" of stations around the world, they offered moderately widespread coverage.
Atomic clocks
Key to the operation of the hyperbolic system was the use of one transmitter to broadcast the "master" signal, which was used by the "secondaries" as their trigger. This limited the maximum range over which the system could operate. For very short ranges, tens of kilometres, the trigger signal could be carried by wires. Over long distances, over-the-air signalling was more practical, but all such systems had range limits of one sort or another.
Very long-distance radio signalling is possible, using longwave techniques (low frequencies), which enables a planet-wide hyperbolic system. However, at those ranges, radio signals do not travel in straight lines, but reflect off various regions above the Earth known collectively as the
ionosphere
The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an ...
. At medium frequencies, this appears to "bend" or refract the signal beyond the horizon. At lower frequencies, VLF and ELF, the signal will reflect off the ionosphere and ground, allowing the signal to travel great distances in multiple "hops". However, it is very difficult to synchronize multiple stations using these signals, as they might be received multiple times from different directions at the end of different hops.
The problem of synchronizing very distant stations was solved with the introduction of the
atomic clock
An atomic clock is a clock that measures time by monitoring the resonant frequency of atoms. It is based on atoms having different energy levels. Electron states in an atom are associated with different energy levels, and in transitions betwee ...
in the 1950s, which became commercially available in portable form by the 1960s. Depending upon type, e.g.
rubidium
Rubidium is the chemical element with the symbol Rb and atomic number 37. It is a very soft, whitish-grey solid in the alkali metal group, similar to potassium and caesium. Rubidium is the first alkali metal in the group to have a density higher ...
,
caesium
Caesium (IUPAC spelling) (or cesium in American English) is a chemical element with the symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft, silvery-golden alkali metal with a melting point of , which makes it one of only five elemental metals that a ...
,
hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...
, the clocks had an accuracy on the order of 1 part in 10
10 to better than 1 part in 10
12 or a drift of about 1 second in 30 million years. This is more accurate than the timing system used by the master/secondary stations.
By this time the
Loran-C
Loran-C is a hyperbolic radio navigation system that allows a receiver to determine its position by listening to low frequency radio signals that are transmitted by fixed land-based radio beacons. Loran-C combined two different techniques to p ...
and
Decca Navigator
The Decca Navigator System was a hyperbolic radio navigation system which allowed ships and aircraft to determine their position by using radio signals from a dedicated system of static radio transmitters. The system used phase comparison of tw ...
systems were dominant in the medium-range roles, and short-range was well served by
VOR
VOR or vor may refer to:
Organizations
* Vale of Rheidol Railway in Wales
* Voice of Russia, a radio broadcaster
* Volvo Ocean Race, a yacht race
Science, technology and medicine
* VHF omnidirectional range, a radio navigation aid used in a ...
and
DME. The expense of the clocks, lack of need, and the limited accuracy of a long wave system eliminated the need for such a system for many roles.
However, the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
had a distinct need for just such a system, as they were in the process of introducing the
TRANSIT
Transit may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film
* ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world
* ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...
satellite navigation
A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning. It allows satellite navigation devices to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude/elevation) to high pr ...
system. TRANSIT was designed to allow measurements of location at any point on the planet, with enough accuracy to act as a reference for an
inertial navigation system
An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (dire ...
(INS). Periodic fixes re-set the INS, which could then be used for navigation over longer periods of time and distances.
It was often believed that TRANSIT generated two possible locations for any given measurements one on either side of the orbit subtrack. Since the measurement is the Doppler shift of the carrier frequency, the rotation of the earth is sufficient to resolve the difference. The surface of the earth at the equator moves at a speed of 460 meters per second—or roughly 1,000 miles per hour.
OMEGA
![Kaneohe Omega Transmitter with CH-53 1987](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Kaneohe_Omega_Transmitter_with_CH-53_1987.JPEG)
Omega was approved for development in 1968 with eight transmitters and the ability to achieve a accuracy when fixing a position. Each Omega station transmitted a sequence of three very low frequency (VLF) signals (10.2 kHz, 13.6 kHz, 11.333... kHz in that order) plus a fourth frequency which was unique to each of the eight stations. The duration of each pulse (ranging from 0.9 to 1.2 seconds, with 0.2 second blank intervals between each pulse) differed in a fixed pattern, and repeated every ten seconds; the 10-second pattern was common to all 8 stations and synchronized with the carrier phase angle, which itself was synchronized with the local master atomic clock. The pulses within each 10-second group were identified by the first 8 letters of the alphabet within Omega publications of the time.
The envelope of the individual pulses could be used to establish a receiver's internal timing within the 10-second pattern. However, it was the phase of the received signals within each pulse that was used to determine the transit time from transmitter to receiver. Using hyperbolic geometry and radionavigation principles, a position fix with an accuracy on the order of was realizable over the entire globe at any time of the day. Omega employed
hyperbolic
Hyperbolic is an adjective describing something that resembles or pertains to a hyperbola (a curve), to hyperbole (an overstatement or exaggeration), or to hyperbolic geometry.
The following phenomena are described as ''hyperbolic'' because they ...
radionavigation techniques and the chain operated in the VLF portion of the spectrum between 10 and 14
kHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...
. Near the end of its service life of 26 years, Omega evolved into a system used primarily by the civil community. By receiving signals from three stations, an Omega receiver could locate a position to within using the principle of phase comparison of signals.
Omega stations used very extensive antennas to transmit at their very low frequencies (VLF). This is because wavelength is inversely proportional to frequency (wavelength in metres = 299,792,458 / frequency in Hz), and transmitter efficiency is severely degraded if the length of the antenna is shorter than 1/4 wavelength. They used grounded or insulated guyed masts with umbrella antennas, or wire-spans across both valleys and fjords. Some Omega antennas were the tallest constructions on the continent where they stood or still stand.
![OmegaTowerLiberia-ctr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/OmegaTowerLiberia-ctr.jpg)
When six of the eight station chain became operational in 1971, day-to-day operations were managed by the
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
in partnership with
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, Norway,
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
, and France. The Japanese and Australian stations became operational several years later. Coast Guard personnel operated two US stations: one in
LaMoure, North Dakota
LaMoure is a city in LaMoure County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 764 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of LaMoure County.
LaMoure was founded in 1882 and was named after Judson LaMoure, a territorial legislator (LaMo ...
and the other in
Kaneohe
Kāneohe () is a census-designated place (CDP) included in the City and County of Honolulu and located in Hawaii state District of Koolaupoko on the island of Oahu. In the Hawaiian language, ''kāne ohe'' means "bamboo man". According to an a ...
,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
on the island of
Oahu
Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...
.
Due to the success of the
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...
, the use of Omega declined during the 1990s, to a point where the cost of operating Omega could no longer be justified. Omega was shut down permanently on 30 September 1997. Several of the towers were then soon demolished.
Some of the stations, such as the LaMoure station, are now used for
submarine communications.
Court case
In 1976 the
Decca Navigator
The Decca Navigator System was a hyperbolic radio navigation system which allowed ships and aircraft to determine their position by using radio signals from a dedicated system of static radio transmitters. The system used phase comparison of tw ...
Company of London
sued
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
the United States government over
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
infringements, claiming that the Omega system was based on a proposed earlier Decca system known as DELRAC, ''Decca Long Range Area Coverage'',
that had been disclosed to the US in 1954. Decca cited original US documents showing the Omega system was originally referred to as DELRAC/Omega. Decca won the case and was awarded $44,000,000 in damages. Decca had previously sued the US government for alleged patent infringements over the
LORAN C
Loran-C is a hyperbolic radio navigation system that allows a receiver to determine its position by listening to low frequency radio signals that are transmitted by fixed land-based radio beacons. Loran-C combined two different techniques to p ...
system in 1967. Decca also won that case, but as the LORAN C navigation system was judged to be a military one without commercial use, no damages were paid by the US.
OMEGA stations
![Reunion Omega antenna site 20](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Reunion_Omega_antenna_site_20.975S_55.2873E.png)
There were nine Omega stations in total; only eight operated at one time. Trinidad operated until 1976 and was replaced by Liberia:
Bratland Omega Transmitter
Bratland Omega Transmitter (station A – ) situated near
Aldra
Aldra is an island in the municipality of Lurøy in Nordland county, Norway. It is located just off the mainland coast, north of the village of Haugland and west of Brattland. The island is separated from the mainland by the Aldersundet. The ...
was the only European Omega transmitter. It used a very unusual antenna, which consisted of several wires strung over a fjord between two concrete anchors apart, one at and the other at . One of the blocks was located on the Norway mainland, the other on
Aldra
Aldra is an island in the municipality of Lurøy in Nordland county, Norway. It is located just off the mainland coast, north of the village of Haugland and west of Brattland. The island is separated from the mainland by the Aldersundet. The ...
island. The antenna was dismantled in 2002.
Trinidad Omega Transmitter
Trinidad Omega Transmitter (station B until 1976, replaced by station in Paynesville, Liberia) situated in
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
(at ) used a wire span over a valley as its antenna. The site buildings are still there. On April 26, 1988 the building which housed the omega transmitters was destroyed by an explosion caused by a bush fire which ignited explosives. There were severe casualties and six persons died in the blast.
On April 26, 1988, a brush fire in the vicinity of Camp Omega, Chaguaramas, quickly spread to the nearby Camp Omega Arms and Ammunition Bunker resulting in the explosion. Four firefighters and two soldiers died while attempting to bring the situation under control. Several National Security Officers suffered injuries as a result of the explosion. This explosion was recorded on the
Richter Scale
The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...
and parts of the bunker were found hundreds of metres away from ground zero. The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago dedicated April 26 each year as National Security Officers Day of Appreciation for the dead.
Paynesville Omega Transmitter
Paynesville Omega Transmitter (station B – ) was inaugurated in 1976 and used an umbrella antenna mounted on a 417-metre steel lattice, grounded
guyed mast
A guyed mast or guyed tower is a tall thin vertical structure that depends on guy lines (diagonal tensioned cables attached to the ground) for stability. The mast itself has the compressive strength to support its own weight, but does not ha ...
. It was the tallest structure ever built in Africa. The station was turned over to the Liberian government after the Omega Navigation System shutdown on 30 September 1997. Access to the tower was unrestricted, and it was possible to climb the abandoned mast until it was demolished on 10 May 2011. The area occupied by the transmitter will be used to build a modern market complex that will provide additional space for local merchants and reduce congestion at Paynesville's Red Light Market, Liberia's largest food market.
[
]
Kaneohe Omega Transmitter
Kaneohe Omega Transmitter (station C – ) was one of two stations operated by the USCG. It was inaugurated in 1943 as a VLF-transmitter for submarine communication. The antenna was a wire span over
Haiku
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...
Valley. At the end of the 1960s it was converted to an OMEGA transmitter.
La Moure Omega Transmitter
La Moure Omega Transmitter (station D) situated near
La Moure, North Dakota, USA at ) was the other station operated by the USCG. It used a 365.25 metre tall
guyed mast
A guyed mast or guyed tower is a tall thin vertical structure that depends on guy lines (diagonal tensioned cables attached to the ground) for stability. The mast itself has the compressive strength to support its own weight, but does not ha ...
insulated from ground, as its antenna. After OMEGA was shut down, the station became
NRTF LaMoure, a
VLF
Very low frequency or VLF is the ITU designation for radio frequencies (RF) in the range of 3–30 kHz, corresponding to wavelengths from 100 to 10 km, respectively. The band is also known as the myriameter band or myriameter wave as ...
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
communications site.
Chabrier Omega Transmitter
Chabrier Omega Transmitter (station E ) near Chabrier on
Réunion
Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...
island in the Indian Ocean at used an umbrella antenna, installed on a 428-metre grounded
guyed mast
A guyed mast or guyed tower is a tall thin vertical structure that depends on guy lines (diagonal tensioned cables attached to the ground) for stability. The mast itself has the compressive strength to support its own weight, but does not ha ...
. The mast was demolished with explosives on 14 April 1999.
Trelew Omega Transmitter
Station F, Trelew, Argentina. Demolished in 1998.
Woodside Omega Transmitter
Station G, near Woodside, Victoria. Ceased Omega transmissions in 1997, became a submarine communications tower, and was demolished in 2015.
Omega Tower, Tsushima
Shushi-Wan Omega Transmitter (station H) situated near Shushi-Wan on
Tsushima Island
is an island of the Japanese archipelago situated in-between the Tsushima Strait and Korea Strait, approximately halfway between Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula. The main island of Tsushima, once a single island, was divided into two in 1671 b ...
at used as its antenna a 389-metre tall tubular steel mast, insulated against ground. This mast, which was built in 1973 and which was the tallest structure in Japan (and perhaps the tallest tubular steel mast ever built) was dismantled in 1998 by crane. On its former site, an approximately 8 metre-tall memorial consisting of the mast base (without the insulator) and a segment was built. On the site of the former helix building there is now a playground.
OMEGA test locations
In addition to the nine operational Omega towers, the tower at
Forestport, NY
Forestport is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 1,535 at the 2010 census.
The Town of Forestport is located in the northeastern corner of Oneida County. The northern part of the town is in the Adirondack Park.
...
was used for early testing of the system.
Forestport Tower
Cultural importance
The towers of some OMEGA-stations were the tallest structures in the country and sometimes even in the continent where they stood. In the German science-fiction novel "Der Komet" ( http://www.averdo.de/produkt/72105959/lutz-harald-der-komet/ ) a large comet, which threatens to hit the Earth, is defended against by a technology developed in Area 51 on the area of the abandoned OMEGA-transmission site Paynesville in Liberia, for which it delivers a required low-frequency electromagnetic field.
The Season Two finale of
True Detective
''True Detective'' is an American anthology crime drama television series created and written by Nic Pizzolatto. The series, broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States, premiered on January 12, 2014. Each season of the ...
is called "Omega Station".
See also
*
Alpha
Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whic ...
, the Russian counterpart of the Omega Navigation System, still partially in use .
*
Decca Navigator
The Decca Navigator System was a hyperbolic radio navigation system which allowed ships and aircraft to determine their position by using radio signals from a dedicated system of static radio transmitters. The system used phase comparison of tw ...
Decca had earlier proposed a system known as Delrac that Omega was subsequently based on.
*
LORAN
LORAN, short for long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UK's Gee system but operated at lower frequencies in order to provide an improved range u ...
, low frequency terrestrial radio navigation system, still in use (US and Canadian operations terminated 2010).
*
CHAYKA
Chayka (russian: Чайка, lit. "seagull") also known as Radioteknicheskaya Systema Dalyoloiy Navigatsii abbreviated as RSDN (lit. Russian Hyperbolic Radio Navigation System) is a Russian terrestrial radio navigation system, similar to Loran ...
, the Russian counterpart of LORAN
*
SHORAN
SHORAN is an acronym for SHOrt RAnge Navigation, a type of electronic navigation and bombing system using a precision radar beacon. It was developed during World War II and the first stations were set up in Europe as the war was ending, and was op ...
*
Oboe (navigation)
Oboe was a British bomb aiming system developed to allow their aircraft to bomb targets accurately in any type of weather, day or night. Oboe coupled radar tracking with radio transponder technology. The guidance system used two well separated ...
*
G-H (navigation)
Gee-H, sometimes written G-H or GEE-H, was a radio navigation system developed by Britain during World War II to aid RAF Bomber Command. The name refers to the system's use of the earlier Gee equipment, as well as its use of the "H principle" or ...
*
GEE (navigation)
Gee, sometimes written GEE, was a radio navigation system used by the Royal Air Force during World War II. It measured the time delay between two radio signals to produce a fix, with accuracy on the order of a few hundred metres at ranges up ...
Bibliography
* Scott, R. E. 1969. ''Study and Evaluation of the Omega Navigation System for transoceanic navigation by civil aviation''. FAARD-69-39.
* Asche, George P. USCG 1972. Omega system of global navigation. ''International Hydrographic Review'' 50 (1):87–99.
* Turner, Nicholas. 1973. Omega: a documented analysis. ''Australian Journal of International Affairs'':291–305.
* Pierce, J.A. 1974. ''Omega: Facts, Hopes and Dreams''. Cambridge Mass: Harvard Univ Div of Engineering and Applied Physics.
* Wilkes, Owen, Nils Petter Gleditsch, and Ingvar Botnen. 1987.'' Loran-C and Omega : a study of the military importance of radio navigation aids''. Oslo; Oxford ; New York: Norwegian University Press/Oxford University Press.
* Gibbs, Graham. 1997. ''Teaming a product and a global market: a Canadian Marconi company success story''. Reston, VA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. ;
case study of the commercial development of the Omega Navigation System
References
External links
*
The Omega Navigation System (1969) – USN Training Filmオメガ鉄塔建設工事の記録("Record of the Tsushima Omega tower construction"), Japanese, 1974* http://www.jproc.ca/hyperbolic/omega.html
Photo story of Haiku Omega stationViews of all eight Omega stations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omega (Navigation System)
Radio navigation
Omega navigation system
Military equipment introduced in the 1970s