GPS which is known as Global Positioning System in full is a device that lets you know the almost exact latitude and longitude you are in at that moment of time. GPS was originally developed by the United States Department of Defense for military use (for accurate navigation in unfamiliar area, target tracking etc) but now as there is no cold war, the GPS technology is now available for use by everyone who can afford a GPS receiver. There are a lot of practical uses for the GPS systems like map making, land surveying but the most now a days GPS is widely used for traveling like Car Navigation and to find location while going on hikes. Car Navigation GPS systems are the widely used GPS function today as most of the cars and other automobiles in the United States has a Car navigation system installed. Here are the very basic details on how a GPS system works.
- GPS receiver calculates its position using four or more GPS satellites (Three satellites to calculate the distance and the fourth one to provide accurate time for that particular location)
- For finding out just the location, three satellites can be used.
- GPS consists of three things, on earth orbit satellites, a controlling and monitoring station and a GPS receiver.
- GPS satellites broadcast its signal through space which are picked up and identified by GPS receivers and receives latitude, longitude, altitude and time
This is basically how a GPS works. Ordinary people can Buy GPS receiver at most electronic retailers. One of the first uses of GPS when it was readily available to the public was its application in the aviation. The price of a GPS receiver was still quite high and not many people could afford it. As time passsed by the price of a GPS receiver dropped a lot ( as does all electronic device). Now it is readily available at stores and the price is very affordable. Now GPS receivers are even used as a Fish Finders for large fishing boats and ships. GPS has come a long way since its conception. GPS is a US based technology and now lots of other countries and continents have developed their own like the Galileo Positioning system by Europe, GLONASS by Russia, Compass navigation system by China and IRNSS by India but US based GPS is the widely used one.
Tags: Global Positioning System, GPSRelated Posts
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February 15th, 2008 at 7:45 am
In a few years GPS chips will be so inexpensive we will see them included in most IT products like phones, laptops, PDAs etc.
Take this example of a 70% drop in GPS chip price as an example -
http://gpstekreviews.com/2007/12/07/aclys-gps-receiver-chip-70-cost-reduction-breakthrough/
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
I thing these portible GPS systems are so much better then the overpriced GPS you get installed in the cars.