Global Positioning System - Applications

Global Positioning System - Military. The primary military purposes are to allow improved command and control of forces through improved locational awareness, and to facilitate accurate targeting of smart bombs, cruise missiles, or other munitions. The satellites also carry nuclear detonation detectors, which form a major portion of the United States Nuclear Detonation Detection System. < ...

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Read more here: » Global Positioning System: Encyclopedia II - Global Positioning System - Applications

Global Positioning System - Military. The primary military purposes are to allow improved command and control of forces through improved locational awareness, and to facilitate accurate targeting of smart bombs, cruise missiles, or other munitions. The satellites also carry nuclear detonation detectors, which form a major portion of the United States Nuclear Detonation Detection System. Commercial civilian GPS receivers are required to have limits on the velocities and altitudes at which they will report coordinates; this is to prevent them from bei ...

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Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System - Applications, Global Positioning System - Military, Global Positioning System - Civilian navigation, Global Positioning System - GPS for the visually impaired, Global Positioning System - Geocaching, Global Positioning System - GPS on airplanes, Global Positioning System - Precise time reference, Global Positioning System - History, Global Positioning System - Satellites, Global Positioning System - Technical description, Global Positioning System - GPS and relativity, Global Positioning System - Awards, Global Positioning System - Sources of GPS measurement errors, Global Positioning System - Techniques to improve GPS accuracy, Global Positioning System - Selective availability, Global Positioning System - GPS jamming, Global Positioning System - Other systems

Read more here: » Global Positioning System: Encyclopedia II - Global Positioning System - Applications

The system consists of a constellation of at least 24 satellites in 6 orbital planes. The GPS satellites were initially manufactured by Rockwell and now manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The first was launched in February 1978, and the most recent was launched September 25, 2005. Each satellite circles the Earth twice every day at an altitude of 20,200 kilometres (12,600 miles). The satellites carry atomic clocks and constantly broadcast the precise time according to their own clock, along with administrative information including the orbital elements of thei ...

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Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System - Applications, Global Positioning System - Military, Global Positioning System - Civilian Navigation, Global Positioning System - Precise Time Reference, Global Positioning System - GPS for the visually impaired, Global Positioning System - Geocaching, Global Positioning System - GPS tracking, Global Positioning System - GPS on airplanes, Global Positioning System - Technical description, Global Positioning System - GPS Time, Global Positioning System - Sources of GPS measurement errors, Global Positioning System - Clocks, Global Positioning System - Ionosphere, Global Positioning System - Multipath, Global Positioning System - GPS Jamming, Global Positioning System - Selective Availability, Global Positioning System - Techniques to improve GPS accuracy, Global Positioning System - System reliability, Global Positioning System - GPS and Relativity, Global Positioning System - GPS is free for private and commercial use, Global Positioning System - Awards, Global Positioning System - Other systems

Read more here: » Global Positioning System: Encyclopedia II - Global Positioning System - Technical description

A GPS receiver compares time signal transmissions from four or more satellites to calculate the precise time and its current position (latitude, longitude, elevation), using trilateration. The receiver computes the distance to each of the four satellites from the difference between local time and the time the satellite signals were sent (this distance is called a pseudorange). It then decodes the satelli ...

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Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System - Applications, Global Positioning System - Military, Global Positioning System - Civilian navigation, Global Positioning System - GPS for the visually impaired, Global Positioning System - Geocaching, Global Positioning System - GPS on airplanes, Global Positioning System - Precise time reference, Global Positioning System - History, Global Positioning System - Satellites, Global Positioning System - Technical description, Global Positioning System - GPS and relativity, Global Positioning System - Awards, Global Positioning System - Sources of GPS measurement errors, Global Positioning System - Techniques to improve GPS accuracy, Global Positioning System - Selective availability, Global Positioning System - GPS jamming, Global Positioning System - Other systems

Read more here: » Global Positioning System: Encyclopedia II - Global Positioning System - Technical description

When it was first deployed, GPS included a feature called Selective Availability (or SA) that introduced intentional errors of up to a hundred meters into the publicly available navigation signals, making it difficult to use for guiding long range missiles to precise targets. Additional accuracy was available in the signal, but in an encrypted form that was only available to the United St ...

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Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System - Applications, Global Positioning System - Military, Global Positioning System - Civilian navigation, Global Positioning System - GPS for the visually impaired, Global Positioning System - Geocaching, Global Positioning System - GPS on airplanes, Global Positioning System - Precise time reference, Global Positioning System - History, Global Positioning System - Satellites, Global Positioning System - Technical description, Global Positioning System - GPS and relativity, Global Positioning System - Awards, Global Positioning System - Sources of GPS measurement errors, Global Positioning System - Techniques to improve GPS accuracy, Global Positioning System - Selective availability, Global Positioning System - GPS jamming, Global Positioning System - Other systems

Read more here: » Global Positioning System: Encyclopedia II - Global Positioning System - Selective availability

A large part of modern munitions, the so-called "smart bombs" or precision-guided munitions, use GPS. GPS jammers are available, from Russia, and are about the size of a cigarette box. The U.S. government believes that such jammers were used occasionally during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Some officials believe that jammers could be used to attract the precision-guided munitions towards noncombatant infrastructure, other officials believe that the jammers are completely ineffective. In either case, the ja ...

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Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System - Applications, Global Positioning System - Military, Global Positioning System - Civilian navigation, Global Positioning System - GPS for the visually impaired, Global Positioning System - Geocaching, Global Positioning System - GPS on airplanes, Global Positioning System - Precise time reference, Global Positioning System - History, Global Positioning System - Satellites, Global Positioning System - Technical description, Global Positioning System - GPS and relativity, Global Positioning System - Awards, Global Positioning System - Sources of GPS measurement errors, Global Positioning System - Techniques to improve GPS accuracy, Global Positioning System - Selective availability, Global Positioning System - GPS jamming, Global Positioning System - Other systems

Read more here: » Global Positioning System: Encyclopedia II - Global Positioning System - GPS jamming

European concern about the level of US control over the GPS network and commercial issues has resulted in the Galileo positioning system, planned to be in operation by 2010. Russia operates an independent system called GLONASS (global navigation system), although with only twelve active satellites as of 2004, the system is of limited usefulness. See other satellite navigation systems, for a list of all systems. ...

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Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System - Applications, Global Positioning System - Military, Global Positioning System - Civilian navigation, Global Positioning System - GPS for the visually impaired, Global Positioning System - Geocaching, Global Positioning System - GPS on airplanes, Global Positioning System - Precise time reference, Global Positioning System - History, Global Positioning System - Satellites, Global Positioning System - Technical description, Global Positioning System - GPS and relativity, Global Positioning System - Awards, Global Positioning System - Sources of GPS measurement errors, Global Positioning System - Techniques to improve GPS accuracy, Global Positioning System - Selective availability, Global Positioning System - GPS jamming, Global Positioning System - Other systems

Read more here: » Global Positioning System: Encyclopedia II - Global Positioning System - Other systems

The GPS system is made up of a satellite constellation of at least 24 satellites in an intermediate circular orbit (ICO), in 6 orbital planes. Each satellite circles the Earth twice every day at an altitude of 20,200 kilometres (12,600 miles). The satellites carry atomic clocks and constantly broadcast the precise time according to their own clock, along with administrative information including the orbital elements of their own motion, as determined by a set of ground-based observatories. The ground stations around the world monitor ...

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Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System - Applications, Global Positioning System - Military, Global Positioning System - Civilian navigation, Global Positioning System - GPS for the visually impaired, Global Positioning System - Geocaching, Global Positioning System - GPS on airplanes, Global Positioning System - Precise time reference, Global Positioning System - History, Global Positioning System - Satellites, Global Positioning System - Technical description, Global Positioning System - GPS and relativity, Global Positioning System - Awards, Global Positioning System - Sources of GPS measurement errors, Global Positioning System - Techniques to improve GPS accuracy, Global Positioning System - Selective availability, Global Positioning System - GPS jamming, Global Positioning System - Other systems

Read more here: » Global Positioning System: Encyclopedia II - Global Positioning System - Satellites

The inspiration for the GPS system came when the Soviets launched the first Sputnik in 1957. A team of U.S. scientists led by Dr. Richard B. Kershner were monitoring Sputnik's radio transmissions. They discovered that, due to the Doppler effect, the frequency of the signal being transmitted by Sputnik was higher as the satellite approached, and lower as it continued away from them. They realized that since they knew their exact location on the globe, they could pinpoint where the satellite was along its orbit by measuring the Doppler distort ...

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Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System - Applications, Global Positioning System - Military, Global Positioning System - Civilian navigation, Global Positioning System - GPS for the visually impaired, Global Positioning System - Geocaching, Global Positioning System - GPS on airplanes, Global Positioning System - Precise time reference, Global Positioning System - History, Global Positioning System - Satellites, Global Positioning System - Technical description, Global Positioning System - GPS and relativity, Global Positioning System - Awards, Global Positioning System - Sources of GPS measurement errors, Global Positioning System - Techniques to improve GPS accuracy, Global Positioning System - Selective availability, Global Positioning System - GPS jamming, Global Positioning System - Other systems

Read more here: » Global Positioning System: Encyclopedia II - Global Positioning System - History

The GPS signal is more fragile than might be supposed. A network of at least 24 satellites is required for full coverage. Satellites cannot be repaired and have a limited life. As of 2005: there are 28 satellites in orbit, of which 16 are already beyond their design life—the oldest have nearly reached twice their design life. The failure rate is about two satellites per year.

Two GPS developers have received the National Academy of Engineering Charles Stark Draper prize year 2003: Ivan Getting, emeritus president of The Aerospace Corporation and engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology established the basis for GPS, improving on the World War II land-based radio system called LORAN (Long-range Radio Aid to Navigation). Bradford Parkinson, teacher of aeronautics and astronautics ...

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Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System - Applications, Global Positioning System - Military, Global Positioning System - Civilian Navigation, Global Positioning System - Precise Time Reference, Global Positioning System - GPS for the visually impaired, Global Positioning System - Geocaching, Global Positioning System - GPS tracking, Global Positioning System - GPS on airplanes, Global Positioning System - Technical description, Global Positioning System - GPS Time, Global Positioning System - Sources of GPS measurement errors, Global Positioning System - Clocks, Global Positioning System - Ionosphere, Global Positioning System - Multipath, Global Positioning System - GPS Jamming, Global Positioning System - Selective Availability, Global Positioning System - Techniques to improve GPS accuracy, Global Positioning System - System reliability, Global Positioning System - GPS and Relativity, Global Positioning System - GPS is free for private and commercial use, Global Positioning System - Awards, Global Positioning System - Other systems

Read more here: » Global Positioning System: Encyclopedia II - Global Positioning System - Awards

For a list of other systems, see satellite navigation system. ...

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Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System - Applications, Global Positioning System - Military, Global Positioning System - Civilian Navigation, Global Positioning System - Precise Time Reference, Global Positioning System - GPS for the visually impaired, Global Positioning System - Geocaching, Global Positioning System - GPS tracking, Global Positioning System - GPS on airplanes, Global Positioning System - Technical description, Global Positioning System - GPS Time, Global Positioning System - Sources of GPS measurement errors, Global Positioning System - Clocks, Global Positioning System - Ionosphere, Global Positioning System - Multipath, Global Positioning System - GPS Jamming, Global Positioning System - Selective Availability, Global Positioning System - Techniques to improve GPS accuracy, Global Positioning System - System reliability, Global Positioning System - GPS and Relativity, Global Positioning System - GPS is free for private and commercial use, Global Positioning System - Awards, Global Positioning System - Other systems

Read more here: » Global Positioning System: Encyclopedia II - Global Positioning System - Other systems

Ideally, GPS receivers would easily be able to convert the C/A and P(Y)-code measurements into accurate positions. However, a system with such complexity leaves many openings for errors to affect the measurements. The following are several causes of error in GPS measurements. Global Positioning System - Clocks. Both GPS satellites and receivers are prone to timing errors. Ground stations throughout the world monitor the satellites to ensure that their atomic clocks are kept synchronized. Receiver clock err ...

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Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System - Applications, Global Positioning System - Military, Global Positioning System - Civilian Navigation, Global Positioning System - Precise Time Reference, Global Positioning System - GPS for the visually impaired, Global Positioning System - Geocaching, Global Positioning System - GPS tracking, Global Positioning System - GPS on airplanes, Global Positioning System - Technical description, Global Positioning System - GPS Time, Global Positioning System - Sources of GPS measurement errors, Global Positioning System - Clocks, Global Positioning System - Ionosphere, Global Positioning System - Multipath, Global Positioning System - GPS Jamming, Global Positioning System - Selective Availability, Global Positioning System - Techniques to improve GPS accuracy, Global Positioning System - System reliability, Global Positioning System - GPS and Relativity, Global Positioning System - GPS is free for private and commercial use, Global Positioning System - Awards, Global Positioning System - Other systems

Read more here: » Global Positioning System: Encyclopedia II - Global Positioning System - Sources of GPS measurement errors