10/12/98 TABLE: Another Date to Remember

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Another Date to Remember

Global Positioning Satellite receivers could go haywire on Aug. 22, 1999.

CONSUMER RECEIVERS:
Navigational aids, including handheld GPS guides for hikers, onboard GPS boating and routing devices, and landing systems for recreational aircraft.
WHAT COULD GO WRONG: Devices emit erroneous data or shut down, causing users to get lost or run into hazards.
THE FIX: Contact the manufacturer. Some of them are offering free or discounted software fixes. Top makers of GPS consumer products include Magellan (www.magellan.com), Trimble (www.trimble.com), and Garmin (www.garmin.com), which have information about the problem on Web sites.

COMMERCIAL RECEIVERS:
Precision timing devices used to help companies synchronize factory equipment, monitor and enable financial-services transactions, coordinate digital cell-phone capabilities, and handle landing and navigational data for aircraft.
WHAT COULD GO WRONG: Cell phones malfunction; financial transactions are misdated, lost, or miscalculated, causing interest-income or payment failures; purchasing orders are made based on 1980 data.
THE FIX: Determine whether these timers are dependent on GPS signals. If so, contact the manufacturer if the receiver needs upgrading.

UTILITIES RECEIVERS:
Automated power systems that rely on GPS signals to synchronize power allotments to customers and that also help locate and fix power outages caused by storms or other sources of damage.
WHAT COULD GO WRONG: Some generators could shut down or malfunction, causing temporary brownouts. Also, there might be delays in locating and repairing downed power lines.
THE FIX: Public utility commissions are urging local power companies to determine whether their receivers depend on GPS technology and whether these systems need to be upgraded.

DATA: DATUM INC., DEFENSE DEPT., COMMERCE DEPT., FROST & SULLIVAN, GARMIN, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS-AUSTIN, STANFORD UNIVERSITY

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