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Dead-Reckoning Position

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Advance an initial position by a course and speed for a given elapsed time - the basic DR calculation.

Formula

$$ d\text{Lat} = D \cdot \cos C, \quad \text{Dep} = D \cdot \sin C, \quad d\text{Lon} = \tfrac{\text{Dep}}{\cos L_m} $$

Symbol legend

SymbolMeaningUnitSource
$C$True course°Tcourse order
$D$DistancenmSOG × time
$L_m$Mid-latitude°averaging
$Dep$Departure (east-west distance in nm)nmderived

Sources

  • Bowditch - American Practical Navigator.