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34 views6 pages

History

hi

Uploaded by

HamedRaza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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G.P.

History

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a Global Navigation Satellite


System (GNSS) developed by the United States Department of Defense. It is the
only fully functional GNSS in the world. It uses a constellation of between 24 and
32 Medium Earth Orbit satellites that transmit precise microwave signals, which
enable GPS receivers to determine their current location, the time, and their
velocity. Its official name is NAVSTAR GPS. Although NAVSTAR is not an
acronym, a few backronyms have been created for it. The GPS satellite
constellation is managed by the United States Air Force 50th Space Wing. GPS is
often used by civilians as a navigation system.

The GPS is made up of three parts: satellites orbiting the Earth; control and
monitoring stations on Earth; and the GPS receivers owned by users. GPS
satellites broadcast signals from space that are picked up and identified by GPS
receivers. Each GPS receiver then provides three-dimensional location (latitude,
longitude, and altitude) plus the time.

Components of a GPS

The GPS is divided into three major components

 The Control Segment


 The Space Segments
 The User Segment

The Control Segment


The Control Segment consists of five monitoring stations (Colorado Springs,
Accession Island, Diego Garcia, Hawaii, and Kwajalein Island). Three of the
stations (Ascension, Diego Garcia, and Kwajalein) serve as uplink installations,
capable of transmitting data to the satellites, including new ephemeredes (satellite
positions as a function of time), clock corrections, and other broadcast message
data, while Colorado Springs serves as the master control station. The Control
Segment is the sole responsibility of the DOD who undertakes construction,
launching, maintenance, and virtually constant performance monitoring of all GPS
satellites. .

The Space Segment


The Space Segment consists of the Constellation of NAVASTAR earth
orbiting satellites. The current Defence Department plan calls for a full
constellation of 24 Block II satellites (21 operational and 3 in-orbit spares). The
satellites are arrayed in 6 orbital planes, inclined 55 degrees to the equator. They
orbit at altitudes of about 12000, miles each, with orbital periods of 12 sidereal
hours (i.e., determined by or from the stars), or approximately one half of the
earth's periods, approximately 12 hours of 3-D position fixes. The next block of
satellites is called Block IIR, and they will provide improved reliability and have a
capacity of ranging between satellites, which will increase the orbital accuracy.
Each satellite contains four precise atomic clocks (Rubidium and Cesium
standards) and has a microprocessor on board for limited self-monitoring and data
processing. The satellites are equipped with thrusters which can be used to
maintain or modify their orbits.

The User Segment


The user segment is a total user and supplier community, both civilian and
military. The User Segment consists of all earth-based GPS receivers. Receivers
vary greatly in size and complexity, though the basic design is rather simple. The
typical receiver is composed of an antenna and preamplifier, radio signal
microprocessor, control and display device, data recording unit, and power supply.
The GPS receiver decodes the timing signals from the 'visible' satellites (four or
more) and, having calculated their distances, computes its own latitude, longitude,
elevation, and time.

Sources of GPS signal error

1. Ionosphere and troposphere delays


2. Signal multi path
3. Receiver clock errors
4. Orbital errors

Working and Operation

When people talk about "a GPS," they usually mean a GPS receiver. The
Global Positioning System (GPS) is actually a constellation of 27 Earth-orbiting
satellites (24 in operation and three extras in case one fails). The U.S. military
developed and implemented this satellite network as a military navigation system,
but soon opened it up

to everybody else.Each of these 3,000- to 4,000-pound solar-powered satellites


circles the globe at about 12,000 miles (19,300 km), making two complete
rotations every day. The orbits are arranged so that at any time, anywhere on Earth,
there are at least four satellites "visible" in the sky.
A GPS receiver's job is to locate four or more of these satellites, figure out
the distance to each, and use this information to deduce its own location. This
operation is based on a simple mathematical principle called trilateration.GPS
receiver calculates its position on earth based on the information it receives from
four located satellites. This system works pretty well, but inaccuracies do pop up.
For one thing, this method assumes the radio signals will make their way through
the atmosphere at a consistent speed (the speed of light). In fact, the Earth's
atmosphere slows the electromagnetic energy down somewhat, particularly as it
goes through the ionosphere and troposphere. The delay varies depending on
where you are on Earth, which means it's difficult to accurately factor this into the
distance calculations. Problems can also occur when radio signals bounce off large
objects, such as skyscrapers, giving a receiver the impression that a satellite is
farther away than it actually is.

Differential GPS (DGPS) helps correct these errors. The basic idea is to
gauge GPS inaccuracy at a stationary receiver station with a known location. Since
the DGPS hardware at the station already knows its own position, it can easily
calculate its receiver's inaccuracy. The station then broadcasts a radio signal to all
DGPS-equipped receivers in the area, providing signal correction information for
that area.

G.P.S network
Fig 4.3 G.P.S receiver communicating with the satellite and sending information through
the wireless mobile phone

G.P.S data decoding

G.P.S receiver continuously sends data and the microcontroller receives the
data when ever it requires. The data sent by the G.P.S is a string of characters
which should be decoded to the standard format. This is done by the program
which we implement in the controller.

Factors that affect GPS

1. Number of satellites - minimum number required.


2. Multi path - reflection of GPS signals near the antenna
3. Ionosphere - change in the travel time of the signal
4. Troposphere - change in the travel time of the signal
5. Loss of Radio Transmission from Base
6. Radio Frequency (RF) Interference
7. Signal Strength - Quality of Signal

GPS Applications
1. Surveying and Mapping
2. Navigation
3. Military

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