Inmarsats new math feats face online critics

Inmarsat, the operator of the satellite communication systems (ACARS) for Flight 370 has released more details about how they tracked the mysterious flight to the southern Indian Ocean. The following is from Aviation Week:

A key calculation done by Inmarsat was determining the “Doppler shift” in the ping, or the slight change in the frequency of the signal caused by the movement of the aircraft relative to the satellite in space.

“From that process – a compression or an expansion of the wavelengths – you can determine whether the aircraft is getting closer or farther away,” McLaughlin explains. “It’s been a groundbreaking but traditional mathematics-based process that was then peer-reviewed by others in the space industry, and indeed contributed to by Boeing.”

Unfortunately for the concept of "peer review", it seems that not all of the peer reviewers in the comments section of Aviation Week imediatelly agreed with the validity of Inmarsats calculations. The following is from Mr.

MylesFmNowhere

5:30 PM on 3/25/2014

It seems to me that the key time period where the doppler readings would determine North vs South route is in the portion of the journey shortly after the left-turn and crossing Malaysia. At that point, if the plane headed north, it already being in the North several degrees, the GEO satellite would see a faster 'approaching' plane if it were heading South than if it were heading North. But what gets me is the numbers. Even if you assumed a net approaching speed of 300meters/second reltative to the sattelite (probably a stretch), the amount of frequency shift would be only 1ppm. Are we to believe that this satellite resolves EACH and EVERY frequency source it's monitoring to 1ppm? Are they saving raw signals or does the satellite itself count cycles per second & save it? Curious.
 

Bill O'Reilly congradulates himself on solving the mystery in the face of a sea of charlatan aviation experts

Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly has lashed out at his counterparts (presumably CNN) for behaving as "charlatans" with respect to the coverage of the Flight 370 mystery.

Finally, you guys watch this broadcast to get the truth,” he said. “I gave you the truth last week, seven full days before the announcement today. By doing that, I got hammered by dishonest contemptible media people… I’m proud we got the story right, as usual. We will always tell you the truth on ‘The Factor’ and we will always present facts.”

What is particularly curious is that "scientists" at Inmarsat produced an novel experiment subject to "instant peer review" in order to conclude that the airliner was truly lost only this week. As such, O'Reilly's "mentalist" ability and consequent priviledge as a pundit allowed him to beat the authorities to the conclusion by a full week. Good job Bill!

Freescale semiconductor of Austin Texas announces they had twenty employees on flight 370

Freescale Semiconductor, which formally spun off of Motorola in 2004, has announced that they had twenty employees on Flight 370.  Condolences to their co-workers and survivors.

Flight altitude data comes from secondary radar

CNN has now been reporting altitude changes after Flight 370 terminated contact with flight control for hours, if not days on end. Kindly, the BBC has provided a tutorial on modern aircraft tracking with particular relevance to Flight 370.

Of particular note is the method of altitude tracking. Altitude data on the controllers display comes from "secondary" radar, or signals received from the aircrafts transponder. The radar set then fuses the transponder data with primary returns ( from the skin of the aircraft.)
If there is one thing that seems certain, it is that the cockpit turned off the transponder and ACARS before it began its deviant maneuvers. It is questionable, based upon physics, that CNN could have new altitude data if the transponder and ACARS were disabled.

U.S. base at Diego Garcia enters investigation as a result of captains flight simulator data

Although the sighting of a suspicious jumbo jet buzzing the Maldive Islands in the hours after the hijacking of Flight 370 has been discounted, it may have received a much dreaded revival of interest.
Airstrips in both the Maldive Islands and the U.S. military base in Diego Garcia were found on the captains now famous flight simulator. According to the Malay online:

Although Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein denied yesterday that the plane had landed at US military base Diego Garcia, the source told the daily that this possibility will still be investigated based on the data found in Zaharie’s flight simulator software.

The base at Diego Garcia is the most unusual entry among the Indian Ocean airstrips because it accepts no commercial or private traffic. The entire atoll, what there is of it, is a U. S. military base.

Although Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein denied yesterday that the plane had landed at US military base Diego Garcia, the source told the daily that this possibility will still be investigated based on the data found in Zaharie’s flight simulator software.
The police had seized the flight simulator fro
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/cops-find-five-indian-ocean-practice-runways-in-mh370-pilots-simulator-bh-r#sthash.HaGd8Tzw.LBk6uyNM.dpuf

Although Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein denied yesterday that the plane had landed at US military base Diego Garcia, the source told the daily that this possibility will still be investigated based on the data found in Zaharie’s flight simulator software.
The police had seized the flight simulator fro
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/cops-find-five-indian-ocean-practice-runways-in-mh370-pilots-simulator-bh-r#sthash.HaGd8Tzw.LBk6uyNM.dpuf

Inmarsat reception is cellular

There has been some controversy concerning the ability of Inmarsat to tract the position of moving targets. In the following graphic from an Inmarsat system manual, we see that in fact signals are received along a matrix of directional beams, providing coverage similar to cells.

Of course, the implication is that better information on the location of 370 is just around the corner.

 

Maldivian Island sighting of Flight 370 narrows search area.

The widely witnessed overflight of the Maldivian Islands by Flight 370 drastically narrows the search area of potential landing. Because it had already flown numerous hours, and its flight speed had to be reduced due to cruising at low altitude, presumably to evade radar, the search radius can be drastically reduced. In addition there needs to be a new focus on the countries of the Persian Gulf.

Saudi Royals were vacationing in Maldive Islands during overflight by 370

 Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud rented three complete resorts in the Maldive Islands from February 19 to March 15 for thirty million dollars as reported by The Mail Online. During this period, on The morning of March 8,  Maldivians reported a unique sighting of a low flying jumbo jet resembling Malaysian flight 370. The Saudi extended Royal Family apparently reported no such sighting on their "Holiday".

Flight reportedly overflew tha Maldivian Islands

It has now been reported by the Maldivian daily HaveeruOnline that the jet a large low flying jet resembling Malaysian 370 was seen in the early hours of the morning after 370 disappeared. The plane was described as a "jumbo jet" which would have been a rarity in the remote and sparsely populated islands. According to a witness.

I've never seen a jet flying so low over our island before. We've seen seaplanes, but I'm sure that this was not one of those. I could even make out the doors on the plane clearly," said an eyewitness.

The new sighting of the plane places the west of the Indian peninsula, and enroute to Saudi Arabia or a Persian Gulf nation. The reported low altitude of the plane means that it would have been below the capability of any military or civilian radar in the region.

Flight 370

In the late evening of March 8, 2014, Malaysian Airlines flight 370 departed Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 on board. Approximately 40 minutes after departure, the transponder of the plane was turned off and a voice from the cockpit bid Kuala Lumpur good night.
  A week after the reported loss of the plane, it was determined conclusively that the aircraft was hijacked, and not the victim of a catastrophic mechanical failure. It was reported conclusively that the aircraft's onboard communication systems were attempting to communicate with satellites up to seven hours after initial contact loss, and the plane changed directions multiple times during that period.