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University Mourns Death of Longtime Professor, Researcher
NJIT Global Positioning System Aiding Recovery Efforts
Civil Engineer Examines Damaged Area
NJIT To Honor Alumni, Faculty, Staff
Proposals Sought For Research Experience For Undergraduates
NJIT Global Positioning System Aiding Recovery Efforts
NJIT is playing a key role in the Twin Tower's recovery effort, helping the government monitor and map the disaster site.
A civil engineering unit at NJIT is helping to position planes hovering above the wreckage. The planes are taking 3-D aerial photos and maps, which recovery crews then use to assess the damage and orchestrate the clean up.
An antenna at NJIT's Global Positioning System (GPS) Center tracks the planes and downloads the data into a computer at the university. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hourly taps into the computers and uses the data to track planes and record precise images.
Joshua Greenfeld, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at NJIT who manages the GPS Center, said for the past two years the center has helped the government monitor the Earth's crust for earthquakes. But after hijackers attacked and destroyed the Twin Towers, the government asked for aerial assistance, which Greenfeld was happy to provide.
The planes are equipped with advanced LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging System) technology, which must work along with the GPS Center, founded two years ago at NJIT and located 10 miles from the World Trade Center site.
"What NJIT is doing is a great help to the recovery workers," said Richard Snay, a manager at the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), a division of NOAA.
Snay lauded NJIT for increasing the speed with which it records the locations of the planes. Every second, Snay said, NJIT retrieves data on the satellites and sends it on to the government.
"The increased data collection rates," said Snay, "are critical for accurately positioning the aircraft used to map the disaster sites."
A private firm was hired to produce the 3-D maps, which are "extremely helpful to recovery teams trying to clean up the rubble and identify unstable structures," said Snay.
EarthData, a leader in airborne imaging, mapping and geographic information systems, is rapidly collecting and processing remote-sensing data for the site. EarthData maintains expertise in integrating airborne GPS and inertial measurement technologies with LIDAR laser terrain modeling systems. NGS assisted EarthData by recovering existing survey control points, establishing a base station for aircraft operations and collecting kinematic GPS data in order to calibrate EarthData's LIDAR.
The GPS data collection rate was increased from 30-second to 5-second intervals at a CORS site maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard near Sandy Hook, N.J., and increased from 5-second to 1-second intervals at a CORS site maintained by NJIT. The increased data collection rates are critical for accurately positioning the aircraft used to map the disaster sites.
INFO: Richard Snay, (301) 713-3202, ext. 154;
Richard.Snay@noaa.gov
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