KEEPING THE SHIPS IN THE CHANNEL - Update on Prof. Emeritus Al Frost

by Ron Clark

Al has recently been asked to join a team at the US Department of Transportation Center for Navigation, Cambridge MA, which is developing improved navigation systems on both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of Central America. Under the support of a contract from the COmision CentroAmericana de Transporte Maritmo, Project COCATRAM will design, procure, and install LF beacon transmitters augmenting currently available GPS satellite data and will also assist in subsequent harbor and channel surveys.

The Commission, organized as a joint effort by Port Directors in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama will identify selected harbors needing support and will facilitate the installation of equipment to improve the quality and availability of coastal and harbor-to-harbor navigation. In many cases pre-existing navigation aids in this region have suffered damage or been totally destroyed as a consequence of regional conflicts or recent severe hurricanes. Al will be working on LF propagation, ambient noise levels, predicted signal coverage and proposed reference transmitter/receiver site locations. This contract is a result of the success of the DOT Volpe Team in providing Enhanced GPS navigation aids and an on-board pilot navigation laptop display systems for the Panama Canal Commission.

Al continues to serve as editor of "Loran Lines", the newsletter of the International Loran Association (ILA). At a recent joint conference and workshop held by the ILA and the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) in London, England, Prof. Frost was awarded an ILA Outstanding Service Award. Conference attendance included representatives from fifteen countries, USA, Europe, Russia and the far east (Japan, Korea and China), all of which have an active interest in terrestrial (ground based) and satellite radio navigation systems. The text of the award is as follows:

"By virtue of his excellence in editing and publishing "Loran Lines", the news letter of the International Loran Association, he has significantly fostered the aims and purposes of the International Loran Association."

Background: Dr. Frost has been active since 1980 as a consultant in a wide range of radio navigation topics with the US Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration, for both the US Coast Guard and the FAA. This work has involved analysis and field surveys throughout the USA for applications of Loran C and GPS, and has included from time to time UNH student-related projects on signal propagation levels and a master’s thesis on the influence of the aurora on LORAN performance in Alaska. For this project, real time data were collected and analyzed at UNH (Kingsbury) from a remote receiver located near Nome, Alaska. Most recently, Dr. Frost has participated in a DOT team effort to implement a differential GPS system related to the Panama Canal as part of a pilot program for vessel guidance and traffic management.