What is GPS?

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense. GPS was originally intended for military applications, but in the 1980s, the government made the system available for civilian use. GPS works in any weather conditions, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day. There are no subscription fees or setup charges to Components of the GPS: GPS has 3 parts the space segment, the control segment, and the user segment. Space Segment (GPS Satellites) The complete GPS space system includes 24 satellites, 10,900 nautical miles (20187 km) above the Earth, which take 12 hours each to go around the Earth once (one orbit). They are positioned so that we can receive signals from six of them nearly 100 percent of the time at any point on Earth. GPS satellites are equipped with very precise clocks that keep accurate time to within three nanoseconds. This precision timing is important because the receiver must determine exactly how long it takes for signals to travel from each GPS satellite. The receiver uses this information to calculate its position. The first GPS satellite was launched in 1978. The first 10 satellites were developmental satellites, called Block I were launched by 1985. From 1989 to 1993, 23 production satellites, called Block II, were launched. The launch of the 24th satellite in 1994 completed the system. Name: NAVSTAR Manufacturer: Rockwell International Altitude: 10,900 nautical miles Weight: 1900 lbs (in orbit) Size: 17 ft with solar panels extended Orbital Period: 12 hours Orbital Plane: 55 degrees to equatorial plane Planned Lifespan: 7.5 years Current constellation: 24 Block II production satellites Future satellites: 21 Block II satellites developed by Martin Marietta Control Segment (Ground Stations) The GPS control, or ground segment consists of the following unmanned monitoring stations located around the world which track and monitor the GPS satellites:

Hawaii and Kwajalein in the Pacific Ocean Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean; and Colorado Springs, Colorado

Apart from these, a master ground station at Schriever (Falcon) Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and four large ground antenna stations broadcast control signals to the satellites. These stations monitor the GPS satellites, checking both their operational health and their exact position in space. The master ground station receives and analyses satellite signals and transmits corrections for the satellite's ephemeris constants and clock offsets back to the satellites themselves. The satellites can then incorporate these updates in the signals they send to GPS receivers. User Segment (GPS Receivers) GPS receivers vary greatly in size and complexity. They can be hand carried or installed on aircraft, ships, tanks, submarines, cars, and trucks. These receivers detect, decode, and process GPS satellite signals. Although more than 100 different receiver models are presently in use, their 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. This is a continuous process and generally the position is updated on a second-by-second basis, output to the receiver display device and, if the receiver display device provides data capture capabilities, stored by the receiver-logging unit. The typical hand-held receiver is about the size of a cellular telephone, the newer models are even smaller. The hand-held units distributed to U.S. armed forces personnel during the Persian Gulf War weighed only 28 ounces.

How does GPS Work GPS works in 5 logical steps: 1. The basis of GPS is "triangulation" from satellites. 2. To "triangulate," a GPS receiver measures distance using the travel time of radio signals. 3. To measure travel time, GPS needs very accurate timing, which it achieves (with some tricks) with its own and satellite clocks. 4. Along with distance, you need to know exactly where the satellites are in space. High orbits and careful monitoring are the secret. 5. Finally you must correct for any delays the signal experiences as it travels through the atmosphere.

Applications
GPS has a variety of applications on land, at sea and in the air. Basically, GPS is usable everywhere except where it's impossible to receive the signal such as inside most buildings, in caves and other subterranean locations, and underwater. The most common airborne applications are for navigation by general aviation and commercial aircraft. At sea, GPS is also typically used for navigation by recreational boaters, commercial fishermen, and professional mariners. Land-based applications are more diverse. The scientific community uses GPS for its precision timing capability and position information. Surveyors use GPS for an increasing portion of their work. GPS offers cost savings by drastically reducing setup time at the survey site and providing incredible accuracy. Basic survey units, costing thousands of dollars, can offer accuracies down to one meter. More expensive systems are available that can provide accuracies to within a centimeter. Recreational uses of GPS are almost as varied as the number of recreational sports available. GPS is popular among hikers, hunters, snowmobilers, mountain bikers, and cross-country skiers, just to name a few. Anyone who needs to keep track of where he or she is, to find his or her way to a specified location, or know what direction and how fast he or she is going can utilize the benefits of the global positioning system. GPS is now commonplace in automobiles as well. Some basic systems are in place and provide emergency roadside assistance at the push of a button (by transmitting your current position to a dispatch center). More sophisticated systems that show your position on a street map are also available. Currently these systems allow a driver to keep track of where he or she is and suggest the best route to follow to reach a designated location.

GPS signals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS) broadcast radio signals to enable GPS receivers on or near the Earth's surface to determine location and synchronized time. The GPS system itself is operated by the U.S. Department of Defense for both military use and use by the general public. GPS signals include ranging signals, used to measure the distance to the satellite, and navigation messages. The navigation messages include ephemeris data, used to calculate the position of each satellite in orbit, and information about the time and status of the entire satellite constellation, called the almanac.

Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) is an enhancement to Global Positioning System that provides improved location accuracy, from the 15-meter nominal GPS accuracy to about 10 cm in case of the best implementations. DGPS uses a network of fixed, ground-based reference stations to broadcast the difference between the positions indicated by the satellite systems and the known fixed positions. These stations broadcast the difference between the measured satellite pseudoranges and actual (internally computed) pseudoranges, and receiver stations may correct their pseudoranges by the same amount. The digital correction signal is typically broadcast locally over ground-based transmitters of shorter range. The term can refer both to the generalized technique as well as specific implementations using it. For instance, the United States Coast Guard and Canadian Coast Guard run one such system in the US and Canada on the longwave radio frequencies between 285 kHz and 325 kHz near major waterways and harbors. A similar system that transmits range corrections from orbiting satellites instead of ground-based transmitters is called a Satellite Based Augmentation System. Different versions of this system include the Wide Area Augmentation System, European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, Japan's Multi-Functional Satellite Augmentation System, Canada's CDGPS and the commercial VERIPOS, StarFire and OmniSTAR.

Urban Mapping / Utility Mapping

Micronet Solutions offer AM/FM/GIS services to various utility companies. Any Utility mapping project involves precision field surveys for data collection. Micronet Solutions utilizes Advanced Mobile Mapper GPS receivers for mapping Water Pipeline Networks, Sewage Networks, Electrical Networks etc... Digital Map extracted from Satellite Images is updated in the field using advanced Precision Mobile Mapper DGPS receivers. Today, most utilities that haven't considered AM/FM/GIS in the past are now doing so because of the threat of competition and being able to respond to public, regulatory and legislative inquiries that are geographic in nature. A GIS utility mapping system can arm utilities with the tools to compete efficiently, identifying where revenue is coming from compared to where facilities are located. We can implement data conversion, satellite image processing, GIS database creation, analysis and modeling for your utility mapping project. Micronet Soutions has been awarded work for "Creation of large scale database using high resolution satellite images" by Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre (MRSAC), Nagpur. The work involves Creation of large-scale database in GIS environment using high-resolution satellite images pertaining to Approx. 300 towns and cities of Maharashtra state. Besides geo-referencing of city cadastral maps including DP sheets and available infrastructure/utility/facility/amenity maps, the updation has been carried out by feature extraction from high-resolution satellite image. Physical site verification as well as collection of attribute data for spatial features using Mobile Mapper GPS receiver in differential mode with sub-meter accuracy of spatial feature was carried out under this project.

GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

GPS (Global Positioning System) is the only system today able to show you where your exactly position on the earth at 20,200 kms. above the earth. The satellites are placed into six different orbital planes and 55 degree inclination. They

anytime and any weather condition. 24 satellites are all orbit around the earth at 11,000 nautical miles or approximately

are continuously monitored by ground stations located worldwide.

GPS ELEMENTS We can divide GPS system into three segments.

SPACE SEGMENT USER SEGMENT

CONTROL SEGMENT

SPACE SEGMENT The space segment comprises a network of satellites . The complete GPS space system

includes 24 satellites, 11,000 nautical miles above the earth, take 12 hours each to go around the earth once or one orbit. They are orbit in six different planes and 55 degrees inclination. These positions of satellites, we can receive keep accurate time to within three nanoseconds ( 0.000000003 of a second or 3e-9) signals from six of them nearly of the time at any point on earth. Satellites are equipped with very precise clocks that

This precision timing is important because the receiver must determine exactly how long it takes for signals to travel from each GPS satellite to receiver. positioning errors. Each satellite contains a supply of fuel and small servo engines so that it can be moved in orbit to correct for Each satellite contains four atomic clocks. These clocks are accurate to a nanosecond . SOME SPECIFICATION OF SATELLITE 930 kg.(in orbit)

Each satellite emits two seperate signals , one for military purposes and one for civilian use. Weight

 Size

Travel Velocity Receive at Clocks

5.1 m.

Transmit Signals

4 km/sec

Design life

2 Cesium and 2 Rubidium

1783.74 MHz

1575.42 MHz and 1227.60 MHz

7.5 year (later model BlockIIR 10 years)

USER SEGMENT As the pilot fly , the GPS receiver continuously caculates the current position and display the
correct position / heading.The GPS unit listen to the satellite's signal and measure the time between the satellites transmission and receipt of the signal. By the process of triangulation among the several satellites being received, the unit computes the location of the GPS receiver. GPS receiver has to see at least four satellites to compute a three dimensional position (it can compute position with only three satellites if know altitude). Not only latitude and tuning is required , as the frequency of the satellite transmissions are already known by the receiver.

Longitude , but altitude as well. There are numerous forms of display among the various manufacturer. No frequency

CONTROL SEGMENT The control Segment of GPS consist of:

Master Control Station ( one station ): The master control station is responsible for overall managment of the

remote monitoring and transmission sites. As the center for support operations , It calculates any position or clock errors for each individual satellite from monitor stations and then order the appropriate corrective information back to that satellite.

Monitor Stations ( four stations ): Each of monitor stations checks the exact altitude , position , speed , and overall each station as the satellites go around the earth.

of the orbiting of satellites. A station can track up to 11 satellites at a time. This check-up is performed twice a day by

OPERATION The principle of GPS is the measurement of distance between the receiver and the satellites. The

satellites also tell us exactly where they are in their orbit above the earth . The receiver knows our exact distance from satellite , knows the distance between satellites. GPS receivers have mathematical method by computer to compute exactly where the GPS receiver could be located.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS_signals