GPS-an overview

Divyanshu gupta

Ivsit, mathura

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27nov2010
 Executive Summary
        There are many current uses for the Global Positioning System (GPS) and many more
that have not yet been thought of or implemented . This report will demonstrate how much
GPS has improved navigation and explain some of its lesser known applications. A
comparison to other navigational systems and a section on how GPS works are included. The
research for this report was concentrated in the field of open-pit mining and so this
application of GPS will be explained in greater detail than the other areas of applicability.
Also explained is how society is being affected by these applications and what future
applications may be in store.

Introduction
        This report is about the Global Positioning System (GPS) and its many applications.
The history of navigation and how GPS works are important for understanding this report and
so each has its own section within the report. How it compares to other navigational systems
and its uses outside of navigation will be discussed as well. The goal of this report is to
explain how GPS technology is affecting society. This report is intended for anyone who:
- uses GPS in their job,
- uses GPS for leisure activities,
- is curious about the applications, or
- is curious about how it works,
Actually, this report is for everyone since GPS affects us all whether we directly use it or not.

        Ultimately, this report conveys that GPS is not just a navigational system. A good
analogy is the clock which was originally used as a navigational tool. Since stars look
different at different times, people who used celestial navigation needed to know what time
of night it was. The market forecasters shortly after the invention of the clock probably could
not have imagined the impact that timekeeping would have on the world or the other products
and services that this technology would someday make possible. The same situation can be
found now with GPS. In fact, it was first intended for military use but is now meeting
numerous civilian needs as well. We can only guess at some of the eventual uses that this
relatively new technology will bring about.

What is GPS?
GPS is a satellite-based navigation system originally developed for military purposes and is
maintained and controlled by the United States Department of Defense. GPS permits land,
sea, and airborne users to determine their three-dimensional position, velocity, and time. It
can be used by anyone with a receiver anywhere on the planet, at any time of day or night, in
any type of weather. This is an amazing capability!

There are two GPS systems: NAVSTAR - United State's system, and GLONASS - the
Russian version. The NAVSTAR system is often referred to as the GPS (at least in the U.S.)
since it was generally available first. Many GPS receivers can use data from both NAVSTAR
and GLONASS; this report focuses on the NAVSTAR system.

Segments
GPS uses radio transmissions. The satellites transmit timing information and satellite location
information. The system can be separated into three parts:

Space Segment

Control Segment

User Segment

This page includes several figures to help describe the system. The following figure
illustrates how the three segments fit together (Figure 1)

Figure 1 - GPS Segments

  

Space Segment
The space segment consists of the satellites themselves. According to the United States Naval
Observatory, there are currently 27 operational GPS satellites about 11,000 miles up in space.
This constellation (see Figure 2 below) provides between five and eight GPS satellites visible
from any point on the earth. The next scheduled launch is May 10, 2000.

Figure 2 - The Space Segment

It takes each satellite about twelve hours to orbit the earth. There are six orbital planes with at
least four satellites in each plane.

 
Control Segment
The control segment is a group of ground stations that monitor and operate the GPS satellites.
There are monitoring stations spaced around the globe and one Master Control Station
located in Colorado Springs, Colorado (see Figure 3 below). Each station sends information
to the Control Station which then updates and corrects the navigational message of the
satellites. There are actually five major monitoring systems, the figure below does not include
the Hawaiian station.
 Figure 3 - The Control Segment
 

 
User Segment
The user requires a GPS receiver in order to receive the transmissions from the satellites. The
GPS receiver calculates the location based on signals from the satellites. The user does not
transmit anything to the satellites and therefore the satellites don't know the user is there. The
only data the satellites receive is from the Master Control Station in Colorado. The users
consist of both the military and civilians.

History of Navigation
GPS is primarily a navigational system, so a background on navigation will give insight as to
how extraordinary the Global Positioning System is.

People first navigated only by means of landmarks - mountains, trees, or leaving trails of
stones. This would only work within a local area and the environment was subject to change
due to environmental factors such as natural disasters.

For traveling across the ocean a process called dead reckoning, which used a magnetic
compass and required the calculation of how fast the ship was going, was applied. The
measurement tools were crude and inaccurate. It was also a very complicated process.

When traveling over the ocean, people began using the stars as guidelines. The stars appear
different from different locations on Earth so analyzing the stars gave sailers the basic
direction to follow. Celestial navigation was our primary means of navigation for hundreds of
years. It was a time-consuming and complicated task of measuring the angles between stars -
a process of triangulation. The degree of precision was limited. The sextant was developed
during this time but since it only measured latitude, a timepiece was also invented so that the
longitude could also be calculated. This type of navigation only worked at night and in clear
weather which was a great disadvantage.

It was not until the 20th century that ground-based radio navigation systems were introduced.
Some are still in use today. GPS is a satellite radio navigation system, but the first systems
were ground-based. They work in the same way as does GPS: users (receivers) calculate how
far away they are from a transmitting tower whose location is known. When several towers
are used, the location can be pinpointed. This method of navigation was a great improvement,
yet it had its own difficulties. An example of such a system is LORAN. Each tower had a
range of about 500 miles and had accuracy good to about 250 meters. LORAN was not a
global system and could not be used over the ocean. Because ground based systems send
signals over the surface of the earth, only two-dimenstional location can be determined. The
altitude cannot be calculated so this system could not be applied to aviation. The accuracy of
such systems could be affected by geography as well. The frequency of the signal affected
accuracy; a higher frequency would allow for greater accuracy, but the user would need to
remain within the line of sight. The first global navigation system was called OMEGA. It was
a ground-based system but has been terminated as of 1997.

Satellite navigation systems can provide high frequency signals allowing for high accuracy,
as well as global access because the satellites are so high up that remaining within the line of
sight of the satellites is easy.

History of GPS
Prior to the development of the GPS system, the first satellite system was called Transit and
was operational begining in 1964. Transit had no timing devices aboard the satellites and the
time it took a receiver to calculate its position was about 15 minutes. Yet, much was learned
from this system. GPS is a great improvement over the Transit system. The original use of
GPS was as a military positioning, navigation, and weapons aiming system to replace not
only Transit, but other navigation sytems as well. It has higher accuracy and stable atomic
clocks on board to achieve precise time transfer. The first GPS satellite was launched in 1978
and the first products for civilian consumers appeared in the mid 1980's. It was in 1984 that
President Reagan announced that a portion of the capabilities of GPS would be made availabe
to the civil community. The system is still being improved and new, better satellites are still
being launched to replace older ones.

How does GPS work?

 Mathematical Basis
 

Each of the GPS satellites transmits radio signals. GPS receivers pick up these signals and
measure the distance to a satellite by multiplying the speed of the signal by the time it takes
the signal to get there. The speed of the signal is the speed of light and the time is encoded
within the signal. The satellites also send information on their exact location.

In order to find longitude, latitude, and altitude, four satellites are needed. If a measurment is
taken using just one satellite, then all that is known is that the receiver is on the surface of a
sphere with radius equal to the distance to the satellite. If two satellites are used, then the
receiver must be on the surface of both spheres which is the intersection of the two spheres or
the perimeter of a circle. If a third satellite is used, then the location of the user is narrowed
down to the two points where the three spheres intersect. Three measurements are enough for
land receivers since the lower of the two points would be selected. But when in the air or
space, four satellites are needed: the intersection of all four spheres will be the receiver's
location. When more than four satellites are used, greater accuracy can be achieved.

Services

There are two types of GPS services. Precise Positioning Service (P-code) is more accurate
and reserved for the U.S. military and select government agency users. The other service is
the Standard Positioning Service which is freely available to all users. The SPS code (C/A
code) has errors purposefully encoded into it for U.S. national security reasons and is used for
non-military applications. One source of error is Selective Availability (SA) and is
implenented into the signal in order to keep non U.S. military users from attaining high
accuracy. The errors in the signal are constantly changing. SA affects signals concerning the
satellite's clock and thereby gives false information on how far the satellite is from the user
which makes the receiver give less accurate values. The following table compares PPS and
SPS:

 Accuracy in: PPS SPS

 horizontal plane  22 meters 100 meters 
 vertical plane 27.7 meters 156 meters
time transfer 200 nanoseconds 340 nanoseconds

Augmentations
We have learned how to improve the accuracy that can be attained using the freely available
SPS signals.

A technique called differential GPS allows for greater accuracy of the civilian code by
removing the error. This requires two receivers with one stationary knowing its exact location
and the other probably roaming about. Both receivers calculate their positions and the
stationary receiver takes the difference of the calculated position with that of its known
position to calculate what the signal error is. Since the satellites are so far away, it can be
assumed that both receivers are acquiring the same errors. Once the error is found the
receivers can communicate with each other to find the location of the moving receiver.
Differential position accuracies of 1-10 meters are possible with DGPS.

Applications

The applications of the Global Positioning System fall into five categories: location,
navigation, timing, mapping, and tracking. Each category contains uses for the military,
industry, transportation, recreation and science.

Location
This category is for position determination and is the most obvious use of the Global
Positioning System. GPS is the first system that can give accurate and precise measurements
anytime, anywhere and under any weather conditions. Some examples of applications within
this category are:

1. Measuring the movement of volcanoes and glaciers.

2. Measuring the growth of mountains.
3. Measuring the location of icebergs - this is very valuable to ship captains
helping them to avoid possible disasters.
4. Storing the location of where you were - most GPS receivers on the market
will allow you to record a certain location. This allows you to find it again
with minimal effort and would prove useful in a hard to navigate place such as
a dense forest.

Navigation
Navigation is the process of getting from one location to another. This was the what the
Global Positioning System was designed for. The GPS system allows us to navigate on water,
air, or land. It allows planes to land in the middle of mountains and helps medical evacuation
helicopters save precious time by taking the best route.

Timing
GPS brings precise timing to the us all. Each satellite is equipped with an extremely precise
atomic clock. This is why we can all synchronize our watches so well and make sure
international events are actually happening at the same time.

Mapping
This is used for creating maps by recording a series of locations. The best example is
surveying where the DGPS technique is applied but with a twist. Instead of making error
corrections in real time, both the stationary and moving receivers calculate their positions
using the satellite signals. When the roving receiver is through making measurements, it then
takes them back to the ground station which has already calculated the errors for each
moment in time. At this time, the accurate measurements are obtained.

Tracking
The applications in this category are ways of monitoring people and things such as packages.
This has been used along with wireless communications to keep track of some criminals. The
suspect agrees to keep a GPS receiver and transmitting device with him at all times. If he
goes where he's not allowed to, the authorities will be notified. This can also be used to track
animals.

Many applications use a combination of the above categories. The following is a list of some
additional areas where the global positioning service is being applied:

1. precision farming
2. open-pit mining
3. oil exploration
4. airport and harbor approaches
5. animal migration and population studies
6. vehicle tracking
7. construction - tunnels, golf courses, roads, etc.
8. emergency services - the closest ambulance or fire truck is sent to an
emergency, thereby saving time.
9. atmospheric studies - ozone layer, air quality, etc.
10. archaeological explorations
11. recreational activities - camping, boating, etc.
12. astronomical telescope pointing
13. networking - speed is increased, the Internet is highly synchronized because of
GPS.
14. aiding the blind
 

Open-pit Mining
This is an area where very high precision is needed, regular DGPS techniques are not
accurate enough. DGPS improves the accuracy from hundreds of meters down to less than 10
meters, but a technique called Real Time Kinematic (GPS) can increase the accuracy to
within several centimeters. This RTK technique involves not only receiving signals from
satellites but also receives correction information from nearby reference points.

RTK GPS is used in many other areas other than mining, but why does open-pit mining
require such high accuracy? It can be used for measuring how steep a road should be, saving
construction time. It can also be used for high accuracy with drills and shovels. The main
reason the high accuracy is needed is used for ore control to make sure the different levels of
ore containing dirt go to the right places. Not all mines have the equipment to use RTK GPS
yet, but it may become necessary as the minerals become less abundant and better techniques
must be applied.

Conclusion
The technology of the Global Positioning 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 (See Figure 1 below).

GPS Update
On May 1, 2000 President Clinton announced that the government will no longer scramble
signals from the GPS satellites. This means that civilians will be able to enjoy the high
accuracy that the military has had for years. The DGPS techniques and the equipment needed
to use them will no longer be necessary to get the same effects on accuracy. The affects on
society will be:
more reliable and accurate measurements
less costly to corporations - since the error removing equipment will no longer be needed
more affordable and accessible to consumers
greater incentive for the development of new uses

The accuracy should increase ten-fold, from 100 meter to 10 meter accuracy. The $8 billion
dollar a year GPS industry should also see a much larger than expected increase in sales.

Glossary and Acronyms

C/A code -The standard (Course/Acquisition) GPS code. A sequence of 1023 pseudo-
random, binary, biphase modulations on the GPS carrier at a chip rate of 1.023 MHz. Also
known as the "civilian code."

Control segment - A world-wide network of GPS monitor and control stations that ensure
the accuracy of satellite positions and their clocks.

Differential positioning - Accurate measurement of the relative positions of two receivers

tracking the same GPS signals.

DGPS - Differential GPS

Ephemeris - The predictions of current satellite position that are transmitted to the user in the
data message. A table given for successive days the positions of heavenly bodies.

GLONASS - GLObal NAvigation Satellite System - Russian

GPS - Global Positioning System

Latitude - the location on the Earth measuring how far north or south of the equator one is.

Longitude - the location on the Earth measured east or west

LORAN - LOng RAnge Navigation

Nautical mile - length measurement used in navigation and is 1/60 of 1 degree of the
equator. One nautical mile is 6,080.2 feet whereas one mile is 5,280 feet.

NAVSTAR GPS - the Navigation Satellite Timing and Ranging GPS

P-code - The Precise code. A very long sequence of pseudo random binary biphase
modulations on the GPS carrier at a chip rate of 10.23 MHz which repeats about every 267
days. Each one week segment of this code is unique to one GPS satellite and is reset each
week.
Precise Positioning Service (PPS) - The most accurate dynamic positioning possible with
standard GPS, based on the dual frequency P-code and no SA.

Pseudolite - A ground-based differential GPS receiver which transmits a signal like that of an
actual GPS satellite, and can be used for ranging.

RTK - Real Time Kinematic

Satellite constellation - The arrangement in space of a set of satellites.

Selective Availability (SA) - A policy adopted by the Department of Defense to introduce

some intentional clock noise into the GPS satellite signals thereby degrading their accuracy
for civilian users.

Space segment - The part of the whole GPS system that is in space, i.e. the satellites.

Standard Positioning Service (SPS) - The normal civilian positioning accuracy obtained by
using the single frequency C/A code.

User segment - The part of the whole GPS system that includes the receivers of GPS signals.

Works Cited
 

Kaplan, E. (1996). Understanding GPS - Principles and Applications. Boston: Artech House.

U.S. Naval Observatory (2000). Current GPS Constellation.

http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/gpscurr.html

Trimble Navigation Limited (1998). Putting GPS to Work.

http://www.trimble.com/gps/puttinggps/gpsfram1.htm

The Aerospace Corporation (1999). GPS Elements.

http://www.aero.org/publications/GPSPRIMER/GPSElements.html

Dommety, G. and Jain, R. (1996). Potential Networking Applications of GPS Technical

report TR-24. http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/~jain/papers/gps.htm

Dana, P. (1999) Global Positioning System Overview.

http://www.colorado.Edu/geography/gcraft/notes/gps/gps_f.html

Critical Technologies Institute (1995). A Policy Direction for the Global Positioning
System: Balancing National Security and Commercial Interests.
http://www.rand.org/publications/RB/RB1501/RB1501.html

Holland, S. (2000, May 1). GPS Becomes 10X More Accurate. Reuters Limited.
http://live.altavista.com/scripts/editorial.dll?efi=980&ern=y&ei=1751558

Cover page

Table of Contents
Cover Page

Executive Summary 

Introduction

Basic Concepts
What is GPS?
Segments

History
History of Navigation - includes descriptions and shortcomingss
of other navigational systems
History of GPS

How does it work?    

Mathematical Basis
Services (PPS vs. SPS)
Augmentations

Applications
Application categories
Open-pit Mining   

Conclusion
GPS Update (May 2000)
Glossary

Works Cited