Radionavigation in a time of change

The dramatic reductions in the cost, size, weight and power consumption of electronic equipment during the last decade have had an especially profound effect on the practice of radionavigation. Traditional users of radio aids now have equipment of smaller size and increased reliability and performance which provide many additional functions by virtue of their greatly enhanced computing power. At the same a completely new consumer market has been created which has come to dominate the entire radionavigation industry. This process of change is illustrated by examining the development of low-cost receivers for three radionavigation systems: direction-finding, Loran-C and Decca Navigator. The paper then shows how the use of other marine and aeronautical navigation aids has changed and describes novel applications of radio techniques made possible by these technical developments