1GPS | Global Positioning Systems

GPS Basic Information

GPS or Global Positioning System is a fully functional Global Navigation Satellite System. This system uses an artificial constellation of 24 medium Earth orbit satellites. These satellites transmit microwave signals, thus enabling a GPS receiver to determine its location, speed, direction and time. This system was developed by United States Department of Defense and was named as NAVSTAR GPS which was given by Mr. John Walsh. NAVSTAR is not an acronym, as is widely believed.

This satellite constellation is managed by United States Air Force 50th Space Wing. The cost is approximately 750 US dollars every year, including the maintenance cost, replacement, research and development. After shoot down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in the year 1983, a directive was issued which made the GPS available for civilian use and has been used extensively since then. It has become a very useful tool for making maps, surveying landscapes, commerce and many scientific uses. It also provides time reference which can be used in many applications which include study of earthquake and telecommunication network synchronization.

A GPS receiver simply calculates the distance between itself and three more GPS satellite. Each satellite has an atomic clock in it continually transmits certain data containing its exact time, location of the transmitting satellite and the almanac. The receiver then measures the reception time of the signal. Thus the distance to each satellite is known. Knowing three such distances, a trilateration is formed. By using a fourth satellite, need for a clock at receiver is avoided.

The Global Positioning System is used in a variety of Military and Civilian Applications. It allows soldiers find their objectives in a dark or completely unfamiliar territory and coordinate troop movement and supplies. GPS receivers which military personnel use are called Commanders and Soldier Digital Assistants. A combination of GPS and communication through radio enables real time vehicle tracking.

It is also used in marking targets as hostile and enables the precision guided munitions to allow them engage these targets with high accuracy. Air to Ground roles of military aircrafts use GPS to find targets. GPS also allows targeting for military weapons like ICBMs, Cruise missiles, precision guided missile. Artillery based projectiles are embedded with GPS receivers and can withstand forces up to 12,000G. These are used for 155 mm Howitzers. Any Downed pilot can be easily located if he has GPS receiver. It is widely used by military for reconnaissance and mapping. Some GPS satellites also have nuclear detonation detectors.

GPS helps civilians a lot in surveying and navigation. Its ability to calculate local speed and orientation is extremely useful. Time transfer is possible because of its capability to synchronize clock. A widely used example of use of GPS is CDMA digital cell phone. Each base uses a GPS timing receiver to synchronize the codes with different base stations and thus making it easy inter-cellular hand off and thus support emergency phone calls and other many applications. GPS equipment has also revolutionized tectonics by measuring the fault motion during earthquakes.

The two GPS developers, Ivan Getting and Bradford Parkinson have received national academy of Engineering Charles Stark Draper prize during year 2003. Roger L Easton received National Medal for technology on February 13, 2006. Other similar tracking systems are Beidou, which has been developed by China and is proposed to be expanded into COMPASS; Galilieo, which is been developed by European Union along with many other countries like India and China; GLONASS, which is been developed by Russia is fully available in partnership with India; IRNSS is India`s proposed regional system and QZSS which has been proposed by Japan.

This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. However the author's name and all the URLs (links) mentioned in the article and biography must be kept.

This article can also be accessed in portuguese language from the Article section of page http://www.polomercantil.com.br/gps.php

Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for http://www.polomercantil.com.br

Golf GPS Products



Garmin Magellan TomTom

Click the little box...very cool!
Mister Linker

Sexy Hot Rod Market - GPS Products for Cars

MORE GPS ARTICLES:

GPS in our Everyday Life

test

Drubby search

Track your Partner by Cell Phone GPS
Based on repeater triangulation, the system tracks mobile phones using GPS and GSM technology. This is a free service courtesy of 1GPS.org.

Wiki Golf GPS Rangefinders
A wiki is a collaborative website which can be directly edited by anyone with access to it. Ward Cunningham, developer of the first wiki WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work".[1] Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis and this page focuses on GPS in Wikipedia.

test

aaaaaaa

gps auctions

GPS Golf Guru Announces GURU 4, the First Multi-Application GPS Rangefinder in Golf
The GURU 4, with its 3.5 inch touch-screen, lets users play with the most advanced features in golf, plus listen to music, view pictures, play movies and much more, all at an extremely competitive price. The GPS Golf GURU 4 provides more versatility and value than traditional GPS rangefinders by allowing the user to run many different applications in addition to the industry leading GPS Golf Guru software.

GPS Tracking Within the Government's Constellation
The Global Positioning System otherwise known as the GPS happens to be controlled by US Government since its conceptualization back in the 1950s The famous GPS Tracking was actually intended for military use and was designed to send signals regarding the commanded coordinates for operations

Mobile Cell Phone GPS: Free GPS Cell Phone Tracking
If you've done a lot of traveling, then you've probably heard about Cell Phone GPS. If you're unfamiliar with it, then let me give you some basic info. GPS or Global Positioning System is tool for navigation and precise-positioning that was first developed for national defense purposes. It was developed to help soldiers, military vehicles, ships and planes in determining their locations accurately.

GPS Golf Guru Introduces Color Guru
The makers of the GPS Golf Original Guru released their new Color Guru this week. With best-in-class functionality and a great introductory price the Guru is the most cost effective and functional color golf GPS device on the market.

GPS Tracking Device: Eye on You
Do you spend so much time on the road Well, the gps tracking device is best suited for you

Hotels to Go: TomTom and EarthBooker are Teaming Up
EarthBooker, the largest Hotel booking site for Google Earth, announced it is teaming up with TomTom, the world's largest navigation solutions provider, so users can search for and send hotels directly from the EarthBooker' website to TomTom devices. This results in a richer and more personalized navigation experience.