Tracking a Visit to One of Europe's Greatest Attractions

Mont-Saint-Michel, rising out of the sea off the coast of Normandy, France, is one of the most striking sights that Europe has to offer. To provide a dramatic illustration of the SwRI worldwide tracking capability, co-author Castles carried one of the SwRI-developed satellite tracking beacons in his luggage on a recent vacation in Europe.

One interesting excursion began at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris as the beacon was activated on a rental car. A miniature GPS receive antenna and a transmit antenna for communication to a LEO satellite were placed on the car's roof. The beacon was programmed to record a GPS location every 10 minutes and transmit the stored data when a LEO satellite was visible. It was also equipped with an audible device to identify the number of GPS satellites being received as the vehicle traveled through crowded Paris urban areas and finally through the French countryside to Mont-Saint-Michel.

As our traveler guided his rental car, satellite-transmitted data were monitored and plotted on computer-generated maps by SwRI staff members in San Antonio, Texas. The plot shows closely-spaced points through Paris, indicating slower movement in heavy traffic. After leaving Paris, the plot shows higher-speed travel through northern France to Rouen and Caen before heading south toward Saint Malo and Mont-Saint-Michel.

Upon arrival near the Normandy coast, the island abbey could be seen from a great distance as a fortified gothic structure perched on a rocky inlet and surrounded by massive walls and bastions. The island is noted for its tides, considered the highest on the continent of Europe. At low tide, it is possible to walk around the island on foot, while at high tide, which can rise by 50 feet, the waves surge up to the walls and may even wash over cars parked at the foot of the hill.

After touring the sights at Mont-Saint-Michel, Castles returned to his hotel in Paris, where he received a faxed plot of his five-hour trip through the French countryside from his fellow staff members at SwRI. (He noted that the satellite tracking system was accurate enough to identify an embarrassing wrong turn and travel delay at Caen.)

Worldwide Tracking via Satellite
Signal Exploitation and Geolocation Division SwRI Brochures