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Global Positioning System

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system consisting of 24 satellites orbiting Earth. GPS uses triangulation of satellite signals to determine location on Earth. A GPS receiver calculates its distance from at least 3 satellites to determine its precise position, with accuracy down to centimeters. Originally developed for military use, GPS is now widely used for navigation, mapping, and tracking applications both civilian and military.

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Ankit Bhatt
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51 views25 pages

Global Positioning System

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system consisting of 24 satellites orbiting Earth. GPS uses triangulation of satellite signals to determine location on Earth. A GPS receiver calculates its distance from at least 3 satellites to determine its precise position, with accuracy down to centimeters. Originally developed for military use, GPS is now widely used for navigation, mapping, and tracking applications both civilian and military.

Uploaded by

Ankit Bhatt
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Global Positioning

System
Background

 In the past, humans had to go to pretty extreme


measures to keep from getting lost.

 They erected monumental landmarks, laboriously


drafted detailed maps and learned to read the stars
in the night sky.
Background (Cont’d)
 Things are much, much easier today.

 For less than $100, you can get a pocket-sized


gadget that will tell you exactly
where you are on Earth at any
moment. As long as you have
a GPS receiver and a clear
view of the sky, you'll never be
lost again.
What is it?
 GPS: Global Positioning System is a worldwide
radio-navigation system formed from a constellation
of 24 satellites and their ground stations.

 A simplistic explanation:
GPS uses these “man-made
stars” as reference points to
calculate positions accurate
to a matter of meters.
What is it? (Cont’d)
 Advanced forms of GPS make measurements to
better than a centimeter.

 Devised by the U.S. Department of Defense for


fleet management, navigation, etc.

 Although the U.S. military developed and


implemented this satellite network as a military
navigation system, it soon opened it up to
everybody else.
Three Segments of the GPS

Space Segment

User Segment

Control Segment

Ground
Antennas
Master Station Monitor Stations
More Background
 Each satellite is expected to last approximately 7.5
years and replacements are constantly being built
and launched into orbit.

 Each satellite transmits on three frequencies.

 Civilian GPS uses the L1 frequency of 1575.42


MHz.
Background (Cont’d)
 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.
Triangulation
 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 triangulation or trilateration.

 Triangulation in three-dimensional space can be a


little tricky, so we'll start with an explanation of
simple two-dimensional trilateration.
An Example of 2D
Triangulation
 Imagine you are somewhere in the United States
and you are TOTALLY lost -- for whatever reason,
you have absolutely no clue where you are.

 You find a friendly local and ask, "Where am I?" He


says, "You are 625 miles from Boise, Idaho."

 This is a nice, hard fact, but it is not particularly


useful by itself. You could be anywhere on a circle
around Boise that has a radius of 625 miles
Where in the U.S. am I?

 To pinpoint your location better, you ask somebody else


where you are.

 She says, "You are 690 miles from Minneapolis,


Minnesota.“ If you combine this information with the
Boise information, you have two circles that intersect.
Where in the U.S. am I?
(Cont’d)

 If a third person tells you that you are 615 miles from
Tucson, Arizona, you can eliminate one of the
possibilities, because the third circle will only intersect
with one of these points. You now know exactly where
you are…
Where in the U.S. am I?
(Cont’d)
 You are in Denver, CO!

 This same concept works in three-dimensional


space, as well, but you're dealing with spheres
instead of circles.
3D Triangulation
 Fundamentally, three-dimensional trilateration is not
much different from two-dimensional trilateration, but
it's a little trickier to visualize.

 Imagine the radii from the examples in the last


section going off in all directions. So instead of a
series of circles, you get a series of spheres.
GPS Triangulation
 If you know you are 10 miles from satellite A in the
sky, you could be anywhere on the surface of a huge,
imaginary sphere with a 10-mile radius.

10 miles

Earth
GPS Triangulation (Cont’d)
 If you also know you are 15 miles from satellite B,
you can overlap the first sphere with another, larger
sphere. The spheres intersect in a perfect circle.

15 miles
10 miles
GPS Triangulation (Cont’d)
 The circle intersection implies that the GPS
receiver lies somewhere in a partial ring on
the earth.
Perfect circle formed from
locating two satellites

Possible
Locations of
GPS Receiver
GPS Triangulation (Cont’d)
 If you know the distance to a third satellite, you get a
third sphere, which intersects with this circle at two
points.
GPS Triangulation (Cont’d)
 The Earth itself can act as a fourth sphere -- only
one of the two possible points will actually be on the
surface of the planet, so you can eliminate the one in
space.

 Receivers generally look to four or more satellites,


however, to improve accuracy and provide precise
altitude information.
GPS Receivers
 In order to make this simple calculation, then, the
GPS receiver has to know two things:

 The location of at least three satellites above you


 The distance between you and each of those
satellites

 The GPS receiver figures both of these things out by


analyzing high-frequency, low-power radio signals
from the GPS satellites.
GPS Receivers (Cont’d)
 Better units have multiple receivers, so they can pick
up signals from several satellites simultaneously.

 Radio waves travel at the speed of light (about


186,000 miles per second, 300,000 km per second
in a vacuum).

 The receiver can figure out how far the signal has
traveled by timing how long it took the signal to
arrive. (Similar to foghorn example.)
Position is Based on Time
Signal leaves satellite
at time “T”

Signal is picked up by the


T+3 receiver at time “T + 3”
Distance between satellite
and receiver = “3 times the
speed of light”
Transponder
 Some satellites have (hundreds of) transponders
for communication purposes.

 A transponder
1) receives transmissions from earth (uplink);

2) changes signal frequency;

3) amplifies the signal; and

4) transmits the signal to earth (downlink).


User Segment
 Military.
 Search and rescue.
 Disaster relief.
 Surveying.
 Marine, aeronautical and terrestrial navigation.
 Remote controlled vehicle and robot guidance.
 Satellite positioning and tracking.
 Shipping.
 Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
 Recreation.
CONCLUSION
 System is allowing for huge changes in society. The
applications using GPS are constantly growing. The cost of
the receivers is dropping while at the same time the
accuracy of the system is improving. This affects everyone
with things such as faster Internet speed and safer plane
landings.

 Even though the system was originally developed for


military purposes, civil sales now exceed military sales .

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