04-26-2022, 06:37 PM
A digital sextant. Very interesting.
No sight reduction methods or almanac required.
They claim it can get you a line of position from a single shot of the sun. Or it can give you a position fix with two bodies, or a running fix from two sun sights take some time apart.
What I don't' see is an input for a dead reckoning or assumed position, so how can it work?
A built in ephemeris would give it the geographic position of the observed body and the digital observed altitude would give it a zenith distance, so it would have a circle of position -- but it still needs an azimuth or you could be anywhere on that circle of position.
It must have a flux compass to get an azimuth to the observed body but it doesn't mention it.
Link is below. Skip ahead to about 1:52 to see the digital part described.
I would be curious to hear what others think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C9-LMNNzH4
No sight reduction methods or almanac required.
They claim it can get you a line of position from a single shot of the sun. Or it can give you a position fix with two bodies, or a running fix from two sun sights take some time apart.
What I don't' see is an input for a dead reckoning or assumed position, so how can it work?
A built in ephemeris would give it the geographic position of the observed body and the digital observed altitude would give it a zenith distance, so it would have a circle of position -- but it still needs an azimuth or you could be anywhere on that circle of position.
It must have a flux compass to get an azimuth to the observed body but it doesn't mention it.
Link is below. Skip ahead to about 1:52 to see the digital part described.
I would be curious to hear what others think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C9-LMNNzH4