Jade Morton News

Engineers transform smartphones into instruments for studying space

Jeff Zehnder — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 18:19:53 +0000

Engineers transform smartphones into instruments for studying space Jeff Zehnder Fri, 11/15/2024 - 11:19

That ordinary smartphone in your pocket could be a powerful tool for investigating outer space.

In a new study, researchers at Google and CU ��«��Ƶ have transformed millions of Android phones across the globe into a fleet of nimble scientific instruments—generating one of the most detailed maps to date of the uppermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere.

The group’s findings, published Nov. 13 in the journal Nature, might help to improve the accuracy of GPS technology worldwide several-fold. The research was led by Brian Williams of Google Research and included Jade Morton, professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at CU ��«��Ƶ.

“These phones can literally fit in your palm,” Morton said. “But through crowdsourcing, we can use them to change the way we understand the space environment.”

She and her colleagues used the GPS sensors that come standard in every smartphone to collect data on how Earth’s atmosphere warped signals coming from satellites. In the process, they were able to view phenomena in the atmosphere, such as blobs high above the planet known as “plasma bubbles,” in never-before-seen detail.

The group released its data publicly so that anyone can watch how the atmosphere swirled and shifted over about eight months.“Collaboration is central to scientific progress and to our scientific research at Google,” said Lizzie Dorfman, product lead for Science AI in Google Research. “Dr. Morton’s expertise was essential to this research, and it has been an absolute pleasure working with her as a visiting researcher and collaborator.”

Eye on the ionosphere

The study puts new focus on the ionosphere, a wispy layer of the atmosphere that stretches more than 350 miles above Earth’s surface.

It’s a volatile arena: Here, rays from the sun constantly beat down on the atmosphere, splitting its molecules and atoms into a soupy mix of charged particles—what scientists call a plasma. It also never stays still.

“At 2 o'clock in afternoon, there are a lot more charged particles in the ionosphere because the sun is at its strongest,” Morton said. “But at night, the sun is on the other side of the planet, so we have very few charged particles.”

That fluctuation can play havoc with GPS technology.

Morton explained that the technology works through a sort of stopwatch in space: Satellites thousands of miles from Earth first beam radio waves to the planet. Your phone then pinpoints your location by measuring how long it takes those signals to reach the ground.

Scientists try to account for how the ionosphere might shift that timing by mapping this region of space using radar dishes on the ground. Currently, however, they can only observe about 14% of the ionosphere at any one time. As a result, GPS devices may miss your exact location by anywhere from a few to several dozen feet.

“There are a lot of applications that require a lot of accuracy—for example, landing aircraft,” Morton said.

Bubbling up

In the current study, the researchers landed on an unusual idea: Rather than rely on expensive radar dishes, they could map the ionosphere using a suite of sensors that already existed in every country on Earth: Android phones.

The ionosphere maps are created using aggregated measurements of the radio signals between satellites and the receivers in some Android devices. Privacy protections ensure these measurements do not identify any contributing individual devices.

In particular, the group used the phones to track in real time how the ionosphere stretches out radio waves coming from satellites.

The team reported that, on its own, this worldwide fleet could observe roughly 21% of the ionosphere—potentially doubling the accuracy of GPS devices worldwide.

“Millions of phones together can do a much better job of monitoring the atmosphere than our ground network,” Morton said.

The group’s maps also capture the ionosphere in brilliant detail.

In May 2024, for example, a powerful solar storm struck Earth just as the group’s cell phones were looking up. In the hours that followed, huge regions of atmosphere, or “plasma bubbles,” containing low concentrations of charged particles formed above parts of South America. Those bubbles then rose through the ionosphere like wax in a lava lamp.

Morton, for her part, says the study shows the untapped potential of the everyday technologies that many people take for granted.

“I have spent my lifetime building dedicated instruments to do scientific research,” Morton said. “But as technology advances in our society, we see all these sensors at our disposal that have a lot more power than we ever imagined.”

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Morton honored by American Geophysical Union

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 16:55:09 +0000

Morton honored by American Geophysical Union Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/13/2022 - 10:55

Jade Morton has been announced as the recipient of the 2022 American Geophysical Union Space Physics and Aeronomy Richard Carrington Education and Public Outreach (SPARC) Award.

The SPARC Award is presented annually to a senior scientist for significant impact on the public’s understanding of space physics and aeronomy through education or outreach activities.

Morton is the Helen and Hubert Croft Professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and director of the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research (CCAR).

Her research interests lie at the intersection of satellite navigation technologies and remote sensing of the Earth’s space environment, atmosphere, and surface.

She is an author/co-author of over 300 technical publications, an advisor and mentor for numerous graduate students and post-docs, and undergraduate researchers. Morton has delivered more than 50 short courses and tutorials on satellite navigation and remote sensing technologies for government labs, industry partners, at professional conferences and workshops, and international outreach events.

Deeply honored and humbled to be selected for the SPARC Award, Morton dedicates the award to Patricia Doherty, the 2018 SPARC award winner and an inspirational researcher, leader, and educator in space weather phenomena and its impact on technology and society.

The award is named for Richard Carrington, an English amateur astronomer who was the first person to observe a large solar flare in 1859.

Morton will be formally recognized during AGU's 2022 Fall Meeting in Chicago in December.

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Seminar: GNSS As Signals-of-Opportunity for Ionosphere, Atmosphere, Ocean Surface, and Land Cover Remote Sensing - April 11

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 06:00:00 +0000

Seminar: GNSS As Signals-of-Opportunity for Ionosphere, Atmosphere, Ocean Surface, and Land Cover Remote Sensing - April 11 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/04/2022 - 00:00

Jade Morton
Professor and Director of CCAR, Smead Aerospace
Monday, April 11 | 3:30 P.M. | Hybrid: AERO 111 and Zoom - Register Now

Abstract: GPS/GNSS has impacted nearly every aspect of our modern society. Yet, it relies on extremely low power signals traversing a vast space to reach receivers on the Earth surface. Numerous factors interfere with the signals along their propagation path, including ionosphere plasma, moisture in the lower troposphere, and multipath reflections from Earth surface. Understanding these effects on navigation signals is the pre-requisite for developing robust navigation technologies. Moreover, these effects enable satellite navigation signals to function as signals-of-opportunity for low cost, distributed, passive sensing of the signal propagation environments.

This presentation will discuss the effects of the space and local environments on satellite navigation signals, followed by the latest technology development to mitigate these effects, and finally case studies demonstrating the powerful applications of the satellite navigation signals for space weather monitoring, atmospheric profiling, ocean wind retrieval, and precision altimetry measurements over ocean, sea ice, inland water bodies, and land cover.

Bio: Dr. Jade Morton is a Helen and Hubert Croft Professor and Director of the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research at the ��«��Ƶ. Her research expertise lies at the intersection of satellite navigation technologies and remote sensing of the ionosphere, troposphere, and Earth surface. She received her PhD in EE from Penn State and was an Electrical Engineering Professor at Colorado State University and Miami University before she joined CU. Dr. Morton is a recipient of the IEEE Richard Kershner award, and Institute of Navigation’s Burka, Kepler, Thurlow, and Distinguished Service award. She is a fellow of the IEEE, the Institute of Navigation, and the Royal Institute of Navigation.

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Jade Morton's Position, Navigation, and Timing Technologies in the 21st Century published

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 17:46:44 +0000

Jade Morton's Position, Navigation, and Timing Technologies in the 21st Century published Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/11/2021 - 10:46

Professor Jade Morton's new book has been published.

Morton is the lead editor of Position, Navigation, and Timing Technologies in the 21st Century (PNT21), now available from Wiley-IEEE Press.

The textbook follows more than five years of work by 131 authors from 18 countries. It offers comprehensive coverage of the latest developments in the field of PNT by world-renowned experts.

The two-volume set covers the latest developments in PNT technologies, including integrated satellite navigation, sensor systems, and civil applications.

Volume 1 focus on satellite navigation systems, technologies, and applications.
Volume 2 address PNT using alternative signals and sensors and integrated PNT technologies for consumer and commercial applications.

The textbook is designed to appeal to industry professionals, researchers, and academics involved with the science, engineering, and application of PNT technologies. A companion website also provides additional material, including downloadable code examples, data, and select high-resolution figures.

Morton is a full professor and the Thomas F. Austin Faculty Fellow in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and is director of the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research.

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Morton earns 2020 Institute of Navigation Kepler Award

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 18:25:11 +0000

Morton earns 2020 Institute of Navigation Kepler Award Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 09/25/2020 - 12:25

Professor Jade Morton has been named the 2020 recipient of the Institution of Navigation Johannes Kepler Award.

The honor is bestowed annually in recognition of sustained and significant contributions to the development of satellite navigation. Morton is being recognized for advancing scientific and navigation receiver technology, automated data collection, robust carrier phase tracking, remote sensing, and for her profound impact as an educator and author.

She has made pioneering contributions to the advancement of Global Navigation Satellite System receiver technology and utilization of these enhanced capabilities for scientific discovery. Her work brings together scientific rigor with state-of-the-art engineering innovations to simultaneously improve Positioning, Navigation and Timing, while revealing remarkable new applications for GNSS.

Morton the joined the ��«��Ƶ's Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences in 2017 and is the current Thomas F. Austin Faculty Fellow. Morton is also the director of the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research.

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Morton earns 2020 IEEE Kershner award

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 21:03:00 +0000

Morton earns 2020 IEEE Kershner award Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/28/2020 - 15:03

Professor Jade Morton is receiving a 2020 Richard B. Kershner award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

The honor was established in 1986 and is given every two years to recognize outstanding achievement of an individual who have made a substantial contribution to the technology of navigation and position equipment, systems or practices.

The official citation is "for her contributions to the advancement of navigation receiver technology including event-driven multi-GNSS data collection systems, robust tracking under scintillation, reduction of errors due to oscillator frequency offsets, multipath, and interference; and as an educator whose passion for teaching and mentoring has benefited students throughout the world."

Morton is the first woman to receive the honor since its creation.

The award will be presented at the Institute of Navigation (ION) Global Navigation Satellite Systems + (GNSS+) conference in September 2020.

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Morton elected fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 16:50:29 +0000

Morton elected fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/22/2019 - 10:50

Morton shaking hands with Princess Anne as RIN President Prof Terry Moore looks on.

Professor Jade Morton has been elected a fellow of the United Kingdom's Royal Institute of Navigation in a ceremony that featured Princess Anne.

Morton's selection is in recognition of her significant contributions to the understanding of ionospheric effects on navigation satellite signals, development of several innovative signal processing algorithms and excellence in navigation education.

"It's an honor to be elected and be recognized on the international stage," Morton said. "It was very exciting to be in the same room with Princess Anne and other colleagues from RIN. On stage and at the receiption immediately following the event, she chatted with me and other award winners. I was very impressed about the research she has done on every one of us."

The Princess Royal Highness Anne presented the fellowship to Morton at the 2019 RIN Annual Meeting in London on July 16, 2019.

Princess Anne is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

Professor Jade Morton has been elected a fellow of the United Kingdom's Royal Institute of Navigation in a ceremony that featured Princess Anne.

Morton's selection is in recognition of her significant contributions to the understanding of ionospheric effects on navigation satellite signals, development of...

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