How GPS
(Global Positioning System)
Works:
Imagine you are somewhere in
your town. You are TOTALLY
lost. You ask someone, “Where
am I?” They say, “You are 5
miles from the fire station.”
5 miles
This is nice, but it really doesn’t
help you. You could be
anywhere on a circle 5 miles
around the fire station!
You ask someone else where
you are. They say, “You are 7
miles from the library.” If you
combine this information with
the fire station information,
you have two circles that cross.
You now know that you must
be at one of these two points,
if you are 5 miles from the fire
station and 7 miles from the
library.
A third person tells you
that you are 4 miles from
home.
This circle will only cross
the other circles at one
point.
You know exactly where
you are. The only place
all these circles cross is
at the school!
GPS satellites
work to the
same way to
find the location
of a plane, ship,
car, or a person
lost in the city.
The system is based on the measurement of the
distance between the receiver and the satellites.
If we know our exact distance from a satellite in
space, we know we are somewhere on the
surface of an imaginary sphere with radius equal
to the distance to the satellite radius.
If we know our exact distance from two satellites,
we know that we are located somewhere on the
line where the two spheres intersect.
And, if we take a third measurement, there is
only one possible point where we could be
located.
What is GPS?
Global positioning system, a network
of satellites that continuously
transmit coded information, which
makes it possible to precisely identify
locations on the earth by measuring
distance from satellites
GPS satellites, 24 in all, orbit 11,000
nautical miles above the Earth. They
are continuously monitored by
ground stations located worldwide.
The satellites transmit signals that
can be detected by anyone with a
GPS receiver. Using the receiver, you
can determine your location with
great precision.
GPS has 3 parts:
The space segment
The user segment
and the control segment.
The space segment consists of 24
satellites, each in its own orbit
11,000 nautical miles above the
Earth.
Space Segment
Space Segment contd.,
As we’ve said, the complete GPS space
system includes 24 satellites, 11,000 miles
above the Earth, which take 12 hours to
go around the Earth once (one orbit) at
the speed of 7000 miles an hour.
Operating at such a high altitude allows
the signals to cover greater area.
They are positioned so that we can receive
signals from six of them nearly 100
percent of the time at any point on Earth.
You need that many signals to get the
best position information.
Satellites are equipped with very precise
clocks that keep accurate time to within
three nanoseconds; that’s 0.000000003,
or three billionths, of a second.
This precision timing is important because
the receiver must know exactly how long it
takes for its signal to get to each satellite
and return.
By knowing the exact amount of time the
signal has taken to get back from each
satellite, it can calculate its position
User Segment
The user segment consists of
receivers, which you can hold in your
hand or mount in your car.
What to look for and record
Elevation Satellites
Latitude Longitude
(location on (location on
the Earth the Earth
measured north measured east or
or south from west)
the equator)
Control Segment
The control segment consists of
ground stations that make sure the
satellites are working properly.
Applications
Initially GPS applications are limited for
military use only (like deploying troops,
navigation etc.,), but after 1980 it was
made available for civilian use also
GPS has a variety of applications at land,
sea and in air.
Most common land based application
include site surveys which drastically
reduce setup time and improves cost
savings.
