Loran (Long Range Navigation)

Loran (short for Long Range Navigation) is a radio-based navigation system that was developed in the early 1940s for use by the military during World War II. The system uses radio signals to determine a location and was primarily used by ships and aircraft.

The development of Loran began in the United States in the early 1940s, with the goal of creating a navigation system that could be used by the military to accurately determine a ship or aircraft's position over long distances, even in adverse weather conditions. The first Loran system was called Loran A and was developed by the US Coast Guard in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).

Loran A was first used by the US military in 1942 and was later adopted by the British and Canadian militaries as well. The system used two or more fixed ground stations that transmitted synchronized pulses of radio waves, which were received and measured by a Loran receiver on board the ship or aircraft. By measuring the time difference between the received pulses, the Loran receiver could calculate the distance to each of the ground stations and then use triangulation to determine the user's position.

In the 1950s, Loran B was developed, which used more advanced technology to improve the accuracy of the system. Loran C, the most widely used version of the system, was developed in the 1960s and provided even greater accuracy and coverage. Loran C was used extensively by the military and by civilian ships and aircraft for many years.

With the development of more advanced navigation systems, such as GPS (Global Positioning System), the use of Loran has declined. Loran C was officially decommissioned in 2010 in the United States, and many other countries have also discontinued their Loran systems.

Despite the decline of Loran, its development and evolution played a significant role in the advancement of radio-based navigation systems and helped pave the way for more advanced systems like GPS.

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AI Technical Trustability Update

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