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    Sample Technical Description: Cleveland State University

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    Imran Aslam
    The document provides a technical description of how GPS works in 3 sentences: GPS uses a network of satellites orbiting Earth that transmit radio signals to receivers, which calculate their position on Earth through trilateration by measuring distances to at least 3 satellites simultaneously; the GPS unit then plots a navigation course from its current position to a destination using stored map data and software. Understanding how GPS works will allow car rental employees to explain it to customers using rental cars with GPS units.

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    Sample Technical Description: Cleveland State University

    Uploaded by

    Imran Aslam
    52 views4 pages
    The document provides a technical description of how GPS works in 3 sentences: GPS uses a network of satellites orbiting Earth that transmit radio signals to receivers, which calculate their position on Earth through trilateration by measuring distances to at least 3 satellites simultaneously; the GPS unit then plots a navigation course from its current position to a destination using stored map data and software. Understanding how GPS works will allow car rental employees to explain it to customers using rental cars with GPS units.

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    The document provides a technical description of how GPS works in 3 sentences: GPS uses a network of satellites orbiting Earth that transmit radio signals to receivers, which calculate their position on Earth through trilateration by measuring distances to at least 3 satellites simultaneously; the GPS unit then plots a navigation course from its current position to a destination using stored map data and software. Understanding how GPS works will allow car rental employees to explain it to customers using rental cars with GPS units.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    52 views4 pages

    Sample Technical Description: Cleveland State University

    Uploaded by

    Imran Aslam
    The document provides a technical description of how GPS works in 3 sentences: GPS uses a network of satellites orbiting Earth that transmit radio signals to receivers, which calculate their position on Earth through trilateration by measuring distances to at least 3 satellites simultaneously; the GPS unit then plots a navigation course from its current position to a destination using stored map data and software. Understanding how GPS works will allow car rental employees to explain it to customers using rental cars with GPS units.

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    Cleveland State University

    From the SelectedWorks of Michael A Stanley

    2014

    Sample Technical Description


    Michael A Stanley, Cleveland State University

    Available at: https://works.bepress.com/michael_stanley/5/


    To: Car Rental Employees
    From: Michael Stanley, Manager
    Date: July 24, 2014
    Subject: Technical Description of GPS

    UNDERSTANDING THE GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS)

    Introduction
    The purpose of this memo is to explain how the technology known as GPS works. Upper
    management requires all car rental employees to be familiar with how the Global Positioning
    System (GPS) operates, from inputting data into handheld GPS units, to receiving navigation
    steps on the unit’s screen. Understanding this process will allow employees to explain the
    basics of GPS to car rental customers who will be using the GPS unit in the rental cars. This
    memo will explain how a GPS unit communicates with the network of GPS satellites orbiting the
    earth to target the GPS unit and the destination in order to plot a navigation course for the user.

    History
    During the 1970’s, the United States Military used a network of satellites to develop what is now
    called the Global Positioning System (GPS). There are about 30 separate satellites orbiting the
    earth that are constantly transmitting UHF radio signals towards the earth. Beginning in the
    1990’s, the general public were given access to those radio signal frequencies, and with special
    radio wave receivers such as hand held GPS receiver units, the signals can give the receiver
    unit the data it needs to locate its exact position on the earth. Recent advances in technology
    have allowed the receiver units to use downloadable map data to plot a course from the current
    location to a new destination using navigation software.

    The Process
    Satellites Transmit Radio Signals to the Earth. Each satellite orbits the earth twice a day and
    the network orbits in pathways that ensures there are at least 3 satellites above the horizon
    anywhere on the surface of the earth at any time (See figure 1 next page). This allows GPS
    receivers to collect data signals that tell the unit how far away the satellites are. When the
    receiver unit collects distances from at least three satellites, it can calculate its exact location on
    the surface of the earth mathematically.
    Figure 1 Network of satellites orbiting earth. Source: Garmin.com n.d. Web. 22 July 2014.

    Receiver Unit Calculates Position Through Trilateration. Each satellite has a highly accurate
    atomic clock onboard that keeps exact time, and sends time-codes to the earth at nearly the
    speed of light, but there is still a fraction of a second delay before the signal reaches the surface
    of the earth. The GPS unit picks up the signal, and finds the distance to the satellite by
    subtracting the current time from the time sent from the satellite. The difference between the
    time code signal sent from the satellite to the current time according to the GPS receiver allows
    the unit to calculate distance.

    Exact position is calculated by combining the distances of at least three satellite signals that are
    picked up simultaneously. Figure 2 shown below illustrates how trilateration is used to find exact
    position on a flat two-dimensional surface like a map, where the exact position can be
    calculated with three known distances. The distance from any single point (satellite A) creates a
    circle (circle A), any point on the edge of the circle is the same distance to the center. When two
    distances are combined, the position can be either of two points where the circles intersect
    (Circle A and Circle B intersections). With a third circle, the point at which all lines intersect is
    the exact position (red point, top of circle C). Finding a location in this way is called trilateration.

    Figure 2 Calculating Position Using Trilateration. Source: Physics.org n.d. Web. 22 July 2014.
    GPS operates in three dimensional space, so an extra distance is needed for the extra
    dimension. Instead of circles, the distances are calculated on three dimensional spheres. The
    first distance creates a sphere where all points on the sphere are equally far from the center.
    When a second sphere occupies some of the space in the first sphere, the intersection creates
    a circle. The third sphere creates two points of intersection on the circle, just like on the two
    dimensional model in figure 2, and the earth (blue sphere) eliminates one of those points
    because the GPS is located on the surface of the earth, and not in outer space. Using this
    method, only three satellites are needed, because the earth acts as the fourth distance point.
    Additional distance data from satellites improves the accuracy in finding current position.

    The GPS Unit Plots a Navigation Course. Once the GPS unit has calculated its exact current
    position, it is able to use stored map data and navigation software to plot a course to a new
    location. The user inputs a different place they would like to travel to, the software locates the
    new position from an address or coordinates, and the navigation software calculates a route
    from the current position to the destination. Newer GPS units like Garmin and TomTom have
    downloadable traffic maps that allow the unit to plot courses easily using roads and highways
    and are not limited to plotting straight lines from point to point.
    As long as the GPS unit remains turned on and is receiving distance data from at least three
    satellites, the unit can continuously update the current position and give turn by turn directions
    based on current location. Newer models are able to pick up traffic data from FM radio signals
    to avoid traffic jams and closed roads, and even provide estimated time of arrival.

    Conclusion
    A GPS unit operates by communicating with the network of satellites that orbit the earth. The
    satellites send information about how far away the unit is from the satellites using time codes to
    determine relative distance. When three or more satellites are above the horizon, the GPS is
    capable of using trilateration to pinpoint the exact location of the unit on the surface of the earth.
    The software installed in the GPS device and maps stored in the memory allow the GPS unit to
    plot a course of navigation from the current position to a new destination for the user.

    Works Cited
    Illustration. Garmin.com. n.d. Web. 22 July 2014. <<http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/>>
    Illustration. Physics.org. n.d. Web. 22 July 2014.
    <<http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=55>>

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