Military and Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Military and Technology - Essay Example Politics is another major factor that determines the acceptance of a certain technology. Military technology is associated with various engineering fields like the mechanical, chemical, mechatronics etc. And the use of this technology requires basic military training as result; some of these harmful gadgets are not left to the civilians like the bombs, guns, missiles etc. However, some technologies were meant for the militants but with time and advancements the government allowed the civilians to be in their possessions (General Books LLC, 2010). My work focuses on the global positioning system (GPS) technology. GPS is space technology that helps in locating objects directed by the satellites. It also indicates the surrounding weather. A GPS receiver is the gadget that uses the space technology to give locations among other benefits. The signals received by the GPS receiver from the satellite is analyzed accompanied by some calculations then the receiver gives feed back in terms of t he transmit time and the distance to the satellite all displayed on the receivers’ screens hence can be used by the militants to locate positions. This technology was developed in 1973 to solve the problems associated with navigation. Man had a problem with locating places and this made navigation-a very important aspect in the military so difficult. Before this invention, man tried to solve the positioning and navigation problems by using the stars which were not reliable as they only existed during some nights. The star pattern kept changing, giving wrong information in terms of positioning. Pendulums on the other hand were used to indicate time and they were not only slow but also cumbersome to carry and count the swings. It was also not accurate hence could not be relied on. Design and the principles behind this space technology were not original but were adopted from some radio based systems of navigations that include the Loran as well as the Decca technology which were found in 1940. Atomic clocks used the gravitational forces to indicate time and this solved part of navigation problems however, it gave vague information to the militants as it only showed time but not positioning hence some innovations were still required. Another prior related innovation was the omega system of navigation and it also had several limitations as it was not accurate. The greatest need that led GPS technology innovation was during the cold war ant the United States wanted to use the nuclear bombs for attack. The submarines were to be accurately positioned before releasing their missiles. The air force had to navigate accurately to get the correct positions to release their missiles. The weight and urgency of these needs led to innovation of GPS but the first technology was in adequate as it’s slow to the fast moving air force planes. The technology was advanced to assist in timing too and by around 1974 it had atomic clock. A better product was attained by in corporating the ideas of navigation, and timing hence a better GPS. This was further advanced to Navistar GPS. The invention was based on scientific knowledge i.e. the effect of time in a strong electromagnetic region. It was found that time is slowed and this could be used to indicate time as well as navigation. However, the experiments were based on trial and error method and this cost the government a lot of cash until some positive feedback was attained. The combination of timing and the navigation component was basically on trial