Author: MJT
Global Positioning System (GPS): Navigating the World Since
1978
The Global Positioning System (GPS), first developed in 1978
by the United States Department of Defense, has become a vital tool in
navigation, land-surveying, and map making.
Each year, the United States
government spends approximately 750 million dollars in upkeep to maintain the
system; however, despite this high cost, GPS services are free for residents to
use.
What is GPS and how does it Work?
So what is GPS anyway?
Global Positioning System is a collection of satellites that transmits
signals to receivers, from which the receiver’s direction, location, and speed
can be determined. Currently, there are
more than twenty-four of such satellites in orbit around the earth. The GPS
consists of three segments: the space segment, the control segment, and the
user segment.
The space segment refers to those GPS satellites that were
mentioned earlier. These satellites are
distributed equally throughout six orbital planes, which are centered on the
earth. Each of these satellites makes
two full orbits every sidereal day, meaning that it passes over the same region
of the earth once every day.
The control segment monitors and tracks the flight paths of
those segments. This tracking is done
from stations in Colorado, Kwaialein,
Hawaii, Ascension Island,
and Diego Garcia. Officials at these
locations provide the satellites with navigational updates, which provide the
GPS satellites with time and space weather data.
The user segments are the receivers of the system’s signals,
which come in many different formats.
However, one common feature of all GPS receivers is an antenna of some
sort. The number of channels a receiver
has describes the number of satellites it can receive signals from (a modern
receiver could have anywhere from five to twenty channels). Many receivers can send signals to cars and
personal computers.
What are Some Common Applications of the Global Positioning
System?
The GPS is used in many practical fields. For example, the technology is frequently
used by the military for targeting weapons and as nuclear detonation
detectors. This type of technology is
also used in airplanes, cars, and boats primarily for navigational purposes.
Outdoor sportsmen, such as hikers and bikers use the technology for the same
reason. There is even technology
available for the visually impaired.
Other common uses of GPS information include mapping, land surveying,
tracking, archeology, emergency services, weather prediction, and skydiving.
Global Positioning System technology has come very far since
the first experimental satellite was launched in 1978, and it shows potential
for being important to future generations as well.
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