The upcoming hypersonic technologies pose a difficult task for air navigation systems. The article presents a designed model of elastic interaction of penetrating acoustic radiation with flat isotropic suspension elements of an inertial navigation sensor in the operational conditions of hypersonic flight. It has been shown that the acoustic transparency effect in the form of a spatial-frequency resonance becomes possible with simultaneous manifestation of the wave coincidence condition in the acoustic field and equality of the natural oscillation frequency of a finite-size plate and a forced oscillation frequency of an infinite plate. The effect can lead to additional measurement errors of the navigation system. Using the model, the worst and best case suspension oscillation frequencies can be determined, which will help during the design of a navigation system.

The paper presents methods of on-line and off-line estimation of UAV position on the basis of measurements from its integrated navigation system. The navigation system installed on board UAV contains an INS and a GNSS receiver. The UAV position, as well as its velocity and orientation are estimated with the use of smoothing algorithms. For off-line estimation, a fixed-interval smoothing algorithm has been applied. On-line estimation has been accomplished with the use of a fixed-lag smoothing algorithm. The paper includes chosen results of simulations demonstrating improvements of accuracy of UAV position estimation with the use of smoothing algorithms in comparison with the use of a Kalman filter.

The paper presents a method of developing a variable structure measurement system with intelligent components for flight vehicles. In order to find a distinguishing feature of a variable structure, a numerical criterion for selecting measuring sensors is proposed by quantifying the observability of different states of the system. Based on the Peter K. Anokhin’s theory of functional systems, a mechanism of “action acceptor” is built with intelligent components, e.g. self-organization algorithms. In this mechanism, firstly, prediction models of system states are constructed using self-organization algorithms; secondly, the predicted and measured values are compared; thirdly, an optimal structure of the measurement system is finally determined based on the results of comparison. According to the results of simulation with practical data and experiments obtained during field tests, the novel developed measurement system has the properties of high-accuracy, reliable operation and fault tolerance.

This paper presents integration of ultrasonic and inertial approaches in indoor navigation system. Ultrasonic navigation systems allow to obtain good results whilst there are at least three beacon transmitters in the range of mobile receiver, but in many situations placement of large number of transmitters is not economically justified. In such situations navigation must be aided by other technique. This paper describes research on supporting ultrasonic system by inertial system based on Magnetic, Angular Rate and Gravity sensor. This can measure current orientation of the receiver and allows to estimate the length of the path by pedometer functionality.

The aim of the present study was to investigate inline lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) dynamic changes based on different cow factors – different number and stages of lactation, milk yield, and the status of reproduction in clinically healthy dairy cows.

In the Herd Navigator system, LDH activity levels (μmol/min per litre) were measured using dry-stick technology. A total of 378 cows were selected. According to their reproductive status, the cows were classified as belonging to the following groups: Fresh (1 – 44 days after calving); Open (45 – 65 days after calving); Inseminated (1 – 35 days after insemination); Pregnant (35 – 60 days after insemination and pregnant). According to their productivity, the cows were classified into the following groups: <15 kg/day, 15 – 25 kg/day, 25 – 35 kg/day and >35 kg/day. The cows were milked with a DeLaval milking robot (DeLaval Inc. Tumba Sweden) in combination with a Herd Navigator analyser (Lattec I/S. Hillerød Denmark).

In conclusion inline dynamic changes in the milk LDH concentration may increase together with the rise in the lactation period frequency. The highest LDH level determinated in the group of the fresh cows ranged from 5 to 10 DIM, while the highest LDH concentration level was found in the fresh cow milk. Thus, there was a positive relationship between the milk concentration of LDH and the milk yield.

This study investigated changes in the real-time measured levels of milk β-hydroxybutyrate according milk yield, lactation number and status of reproduction in dairy cows. A total of 378 cows were selected. According to their reproductive status the cows were classified as belonging to the following groups: Fresh (1 – 44 days after calving. n=43). Open (45 – 65 days after calving. n=78), Inseminated (1 – 35 days after insemination. n=133). Pregnant (35 – 60 days after insemination and pregnant (relatively pregnant) (n=124). The cows were milked with DeLaval milking robot (DeLaval Inc., Tumba, Sweden) in combination with a Herd Navigator (Lattec I/S. Hillerød. Denmark) analyser. We observed that milk β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) had a tendency of increasing with an increase of lactation number. The average BHB in multiparous cows was 11.111% higher in comparison with primiparous cows (p<0.001). We found higher BHB concentration in the multiparous cows in all reproduction status groups (p<0.001). A strong positive statistically significant (p<0.001) relationship has been found between BHB and the average milk yield within all groups of primiparous cows although we found a statistically unreliable coefficient of correlation (from -0.202 to 0.057) between highest milk yield and BHB in primiparous and multiparous cows.

The cold start of the space GPS receiver, i.e. the start without any information about the receiver position, satellite constellation, and time, is complicated by a large Doppler shift of a navigation signal caused by the satellite movement on the Earth orbit. That increases about five times the search space of the navigation signals compared to the standard GPS receiver. The paper investigates a method of the acceleration of the GPS receiver cold start time designed for the pico- and femto-satellites. The proposed method is based on a combination of the parallel search in Doppler frequency and PRN codes and the serial search in code phase delay. It can shorten the cold start time of the GPS receiver operating on LEO orbit from about 300 to 60 seconds while keeping the simplicity of FPGA signal processor and low power consumption. The developed algorithm was successfully implemented and tested in the piNAV GPS receiver. The energy required for the obtaining of the position fix was reduced five times from 36 on to 7.7 Joules. This improvement enables applications of such receiver for the position determination in smaller satellites like Pocket Cube or femto-satellites with a lower energy budget than the Cube Satellite.

This article presents a system of precise navigation for a visually impaired person which uses GPS navigation and an infrared sensor in the form of an infrared matrix. The presented system allows determining the orientation and distance of a blind person relative to a selected object, e.g. a wall or road edge. The application of the above solution facilitates a significant increase in the accuracy of determining the position of a blind person compared to the accuracy offered by commonly used ground satellite devices. The system uses thermal energy accumulated in the environment without the need to generate additional signals. The main parts of the system are a simple infrared matrix, data processing system and vibrating wristband. Messages and navigation warnings are sent to a blind person in the form of a vibration code. The article describes the method of determining the path of a specified width and distance from the wall of a building, curb, etc., along which a blind person should move. The article additionally describes the method of determining the orientation of a blind person depending on the selected object. Such a method facilitates verifying whether the visually impaired person is moving according to the indicated direction. The method can also be used to navigate mobile robots. Due to the use of natural energy for data registration and processing, the mobile navigation system can be operated for a long time without the need to recharge the battery.

Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks came into force on 14th April 2015 and has been ratified by now by over 40 states across the world (among them Australia, China, India, South Africa and most of the EU countries). The convention provides legal framework for action taken by the Coastal States aiming at removal of wrecks posing danger or impediment to navigation, as well as to the marine environment, or damage to the coastline or related interests of one or more States.

The Convention fills the existing legal gap by enabling the States to remove wrecks beyond their territories (as well as within if States decide so). Beside the existing international regulations like Intervention Convention or UNCLOS, the Nairobi Convention clarifies the Costal State’s rights to remove wrecks from its EEZ if they pose a danger for safe navigation or marine environment. The Convention corresponds with mentioned conventions but also equips Coastal States with new legal instruments to deal with hazardous wrecks beyond their territory. The aim of the paper is to analyse the new rights and duties of states, as well as scope of the notion of navigational and environmental threats causes by wrecks. It will refer also to regulatory problems faced by the states implementing the Convention. Even if the Convention is to be applied to territorial sea, its multiple provisions are not. Moreover, the Convention leaves many important aspects unregulated. Those issues will be analysed from the perspective of a country which has not yet ratified the Convention, and will be confronted with the experience from other jurisdictions.

The study addresses the challenges facing the law of the sea. Although UNCLOS is rightly described as a constitution of the law of the sea, it does not and cannot give answers to all problems and doubts that arise in practice and that are related to global warming, protection of biodiversity, legal status of genetic resources, controversy concerning shipping, delimitation of areas or the protection of underwater cultural heritage. Hence the question arises, what the ways and means of further development of the law of the sea are. Undoubtedly, one of the possibilities is to develop implementation agreements, of which the third devoted to the protection and sustainable use of marine biodiversity outside national jurisdiction is the subject of an international conference convened by the General Assembly, whose resolutions in the area of the law of the sea play an important role. Undoubtedly, also the importance of the organization of the United Nations system, such as the IMO, FAO, UNESCO, UNEP is significant. There is also the possibility of accepting agreements addressing the issues left by UNCLOS without solution or definition. Not without significance is the soft law and the practice of states as well as the position of the organs appointed by UNCLOS.