Page 12 - AAA OCTOBER - DECEMEBER 2023 Latest Magazine | GBP

to detect and track MH370 in
The flight track of MH370 detected using WSPR technology. ©Richard Godfrey
a WSPR link (amateur radio
signal) it disturbs the signal
and that signal and the result-
ing disturbances have been
stored in a global database
since 2009.
Godfrey has been assisted
by academics Dr Hannes
Coetzee and Prof. Simon
Maskell and the findings were
published in a 232-page report
in October.
The new location is 1,560km
or 842nmi west of Perth (277
degrees) – slightly north of
that previously thought with
the aircraft believed to be rest-
ing at a depth of up to 4,000m.
WSPR technology has been
refined over the past three
years by Godfrey and his
colleagues and the results rep-
resent credible new evidence
in the search for MH370 and
could finally give closure to
the families of the 239 people
on-board.
From the last known radar
12 | OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2023
position, the report presents
67 positions for MH370 over
the next 6 hours and 27 min-
utes of flight, as detected by a
total of 125 anomalous WSPR
links.
The results of report align
with the analyses by Boeing
and Inmarsat and the drift
analysis by the University
of Western Australia of the
MH370 floating debris that has
been recovered from around
the Indian Ocean.
An Inmarsat satellite over the
Indian Ocean tracked MH370
every hour with “are you there
pings.”
However, the last ping at
8.19am local, came from
MH370 indicating fuel star-
vation and a reboot of the
transmitter once the RAT
deployed.
Dr Robert Westphal, an
expert in passive radar sys-
tems, first proposed the idea
of using WSPR transmissions
July 2020. Dr. Westphal pre-
sented his ideas in a paper
titled “Geocaching in the
Ionosphere” at the HamSCI
conference in 2021.
Dr Westphal had previously
written a paper in 2015 pro-
posing the use of GPS satellite
signals as a passive radar
system and holds several
related patents.
The crash area is 70nmi by
40nmi or 130 km by 74km
and about 46 per cent of the
new area has been searched
before.
The Inmarsat returns from
the Boeing 777-200ER had
given investigators a line that
MH370 must be located on,
however Boeing’s end-of-flight
simulations suggest that the
777 could have, depending on
a range of factors, glided up to
58nmi (107 km) east or west
of the line.
About 40% of the new pro-
posed crash area shown in the
graphic was searched before
by Ocean Infinity on May 10,
2018.
“
The breakthrough
tracking of MH370
has created enor-
mous interest”…..’
in a new search with Ocean
Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett
telling Asian Airlines and
Aerospace in 2022 that
MH370 is “unfinished
business.”
AAA is also privy to two other
search companies that want
to search but have requested
anonymity.
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