GLOBAL
POSITIONING SYSTEM
(GPS)
The Global Positioning System (GPS) employs
trilateration to calculate the coordinates of positions at or
near the Earth's surface. Trilateration refers to the
trigonometric law by which the interior angles of a triangle
can be determined if the lengths of all three triangle sides are
known. GPS extends this principle to three dimensions.
A GPS receiver can fix its latitude and longitude by
calculating its distance from three or more Earth-orbiting
satellites, whose positions in space and time are known. If
four or more satellites are within the receiver's "horizon," the
receiver can also calculate its elevation and even its velocity.
The U.S. Department of Defense created the Global
Positioning System as an aid to navigation. Since it was
declared fully operational in 1994, GPS positioning has been
used for everything from tracking delivery vehicles, to
tracking the minute movements of the tectonic plates that
make up the Earth's crust, to tracking the movements of
human beings.
Sonia Akter, Department of Civil Engineering, AUST 1/23/2022 1
GIS Segments
Consists of three segments:
I. The Space Segment
II. The Control Segment. and
III. The User Segment
2
Sonia Akter, Department of Civil Engineering, AUST 1/23/2022
Space Segment
The space segment of the Global Positioning System currently consists of approximately 30 active
and spare NAVSTAR satellites (new satellites are launched periodically, and old ones are
decommissioned).
"NAVSTAR" stands for "NAVigation System with Timing And Ranging." Each satellite circles the Earth
every 12 hours in sidereal time along one of six orbital "planes" at an altitude of 20,200 km (about
12,500 miles).
The satellites broadcast signals used by GPS receivers on the ground to measure positions.
The satellites are arrayed such that at least four are "in view" everywhere on or near the Earth's
surface at all times, with typically up to eight and potentially 12 "in view" at any given time.
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Control Segment
❑The CS consists of 3 entities:
• Master Control System
• Monitor Stations
• Ground Antennas
1. MASTER CONTROL STATION The master control station responsible for overall management of the
remote monitoring and transmission sites.
[Link] STATIONS Checks the exact altitude, position, speed, and overall health of the orbiting
satellites. The control segment ensures that the GPS satellite orbits and clocks remain within
acceptable limits. A station can track up to 11 satellites at a time.
[Link] ANTENNAS • Ground antennas monitor and track the satellites from horizon to horizon.
They also transmit correction information to individual satellites. Communicate with the GPS satellites
for command-and-control purposes.
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USER SEGMENT
❑GPS receivers are generally composed of 1.
an antenna( tuned to the frequencies
transmitted by the satellites), 2. receiver-
processors, and 3. highly-stable clock(
commonly a crystal oscillator).
❑They can also include a display for showing
location and speed information to the user.
❑A receiver is often described by its number of
channels ( this signifies how many satellites it
can monitor simultaneously).
❑As of recent, receivers usually have between
twelve and twenty channels.
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WORKING PRINCIPLE
Geometric Principle: You can find one’s location if you know its distance from other,
already-known locations.
•Things which need to be • Current Locations of GPS Satellites.
• The Distance Between Receiver’s Position and the GPS
determined: Satellites.
[Link] LOCATIONS OF GPS SATELLITES: The orbits, and the locations of the satellites, are
known in advance. • GPS receivers store this orbit information for all of the GPS satellites in an
ALMANAC*.
* The Almanac is a file which contains positional information for all of the GPS satellites
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2. DISTANCE B/W RECEIVER’S POSITION AND GPS SATELLITES:
❑A GPS receiver can tell its own position by using the position data of itself and compares
that data with 3 or more GPS satellites. To get the distance to each satellite,
❑By measuring the amount of time taken by radio signal (the GPS signal) to travel from the
satellite to the receiver.
❑Radio waves travel at the speed of light, i.e. about 186,000 miles per second.
❑The distance from the satellite to the receiver can be determined by the formula
“distance = speed x time”.
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Control Point:
❑Land surveyors measure horizontal positions in geographic or plane coordinate systems
relative to previously surveyed positions called control points.
❑Control points are those whose position and coordinates are already known before start of
survey. The control point is used to enable to plot a map based on GPS data. Good site
characteristics of a control point for GPS observation include:
❖A clear view of the sky;
❖No obstructions above the cut-off angle (say 15°);
❖No reflecting surfaces that could cause multi-path;
❖ Safe, away from traffic and passers-by;
❖ Possibility to leave the receiver unattended;
❖ No powerful transmitters (radio, TV antennas etc.) in the vicinity .
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SOURCES OF GPS SIGNAL ERRORS
[Link] clock : One nano second of inaccuracy in a satellite clock results in about 30 cm • (1 foot) of
error in measuring the distance to that satellite.
[Link] clock : • Any error in the receiver clock causes inaccuracy in distance measurement.
However, it is not practical to equip receiver with very accurate atomic clocks. Atomic clocks weigh
more than 20 kgs, cost about US$ 50,000. [Link] Jamming : • It limits the effectiveness of the GPS
signal. • GPS jammer is a low cost device to temporarily disable the reception of the civilian coarse
acquisition (C/A) code.
3. Atmospheric errors • Speed of GPS signal is affected by ionosphere & troposphere. • Which cause a
deviation of 0 to 30 m. from the actual position of receiver.
[Link]-path error : • Bouncing of GPS signal due to a reflecting surface before reaching to receiver
antenna. • Which cause a deviation of 0 to 1 m. from the actual position of receiver.
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APPLICATIONS
[Link]: Surveyors use absolute locations to make maps and determine property boundaries.
[Link]: GPS technology integrated with computers and mobile communications technology in
automotive navigation systems.
[Link] TRACKING.
[Link]-track-spy
[Link]- MILITARY • GPS integrated into fighters, tankers, helicopters, ships, submarines,
tanks, jeeps, and soldiers' equipment. • Target tracking. • Search and rescue.
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Procedure
Video Tutorial Step by Step
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