Global Positioning System (GPS)

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INTRODUCTION

It was developed by US Department of Defense in 1969 for military applications. The system was made available in 1980s for civil use a decade after it was developed. It is also called as NAVSTAR (Navigation System, Timing and Ranging). Orbiting navigational satellites are used in this system for transmitting position and time data to the handheld devices or receivers. The handheld devices or receivers calculates latitude, longitude, altitude and velocity itself based on the orbiting navigational satellites. The GPS system helps in navigating, routing, controlling. GPS works through the day, in any weather condition and anywhere in the world. The first four satellites were launched in 1978 through Delta rocket. The first satellite was named as NAVSTAR 1. The system became fully functional on 26th of June 1993 after the launch of 24th satellite. A minimum of 4 GPS satellite signals are required to locate position in three dimension. The accuracy and precision of data increases with more satellites.

Before GPS (Global Positioning System) Devices came into existence travelling to unknown locations was nothing less than going on an adventure, after these devices were commercialized the dependence of people on it has grown heavily and the transport system around the world advanced greatly by leaps and bounds. GPS Devices are used in our daily life for various purposes like Road navigation, finding locations, tracking, mapping etc. this report is for anyone curious or who uses GPS Devices to know how this devices came into existence, how they work and their reliability.

This report is about Global Positioning System (GPS) which is used in the GPS Devices and it contains details about what is GPS, its brief history, how...

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...y which is still evolving as it is being combined with several other technologies to be used in several other applications. This modern world is being more and more dependent on the GPS and the future without it is no longer possible. Though there are countries which are still a little behind in using GPS commercially in the daily lives there will definitely be a time where these countries too will develop and adapt to this modern technology, there are some countries which are reluctant to use GPS but have their own versions of the GPS like Galileo in Europe and GLUNAS in Russia. GPS is a perfect example of the statement “any war machine can be used for peaceful purposes” since GPS was initially developed for war purpose. GPS is revolutionary boon to the transport system which is being spread in various other fields and will continue to grow for a better tomorrow.

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