Sunday, March 16, 2014

Technology being used to search for missing plane.

As I watch the world try to figure out where this missing Malaysian plane has gone, I always thought there was enough technology that they would know exactly where it went.  I have so much to learn as I listen to the confusion and watch as no one seems to know where it went.  The clues seem to be slow to be uncovered but I also see some progress.  I know there is a lot of technology being engaged but most is probably classified or unknown to most of the public because we normally have no interest in those "out of sight, out of mind" technologies. 

While listening to CNN and scanning the internet for more information, I was intrigued to see how civilian technology is being engaged to aid in the search.  The article http://news.msn.com/science-technology/using-crowdsourcing-to-search-for-flight-mh-370-has-both-pluses-and-minuses highlights how the use of commercial satellite imagery is being utilized to aid in the search.  This is not even the first time this type of technology has been employed to aid in a disaster. As people search the individual pieces of imagery, anything they find that may be identified as wreckage is passed onto an expert for additional review.  Although this is a massive area that needs to be search, the searching is being done by citizens from around the world.  The resources that can be brought to bear on this search can help to eliminate areas where no wreckage can be found and allows search crews to work on other areas.

I'm sure this event will lead to advances in the ability to track aircraft before and after tragedy.  Another article posted mentioned the push to increase the battery life of the the transponder from 30 days to 90 days.  But who would have thought that all of the advances in technology, all the satellites floating in the sky tracking, and all the countries watch all the other countries that the world cannot find one plan over week after it disappeared.  

The article goes on to mention how this type of technology has been used in the past to include Somalia and the Philippines.  

 

2 comments:

  1. Here is another great overview of what we know so far: http://www.antderosa.com/2014/03/16/what-you-need-to-know-about-missing-malaysian-airlines-flight-mh370/

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