history

etting lost is no longer easy nowadays since we have an invention that revolutionized the way we find places and locate ourselves anywhere at any time in any weather called global positioning system (GPS) which is a system of positioning, navigation and timing. Car GPS navigation existed long time ago, but it was not implemented until after 1983 when a tragedy happened. In the meantime, Drivers relied on fold-out maps whenever they had to make a trip. Thus, they had to pull over and open a giant map to locate themselves. Nowadays, you can find GPS applications that can be installed in any smartphone, and many are voice guided. In addition, there are cars that have their GPS integrated in their dashboard, but what did it take the GPS to become what it is today? Along with people, the new automated cars are benefitting from this technology, but we must know the story behind the scenes to obtain a clear picture of what the needs and challenges were.

The GPS Technology was invented after inspiration from Sputnik, the first Soviet satellite, that in October 4th, 1957, scientist from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) noticed that the Sputnik was causing a Doppler effect, the radio signals becoming stronger as the satellite approached the receiver and weaker as it moved away. Therefore, the MIT scientists realized that satellites can be monitored and tracked from the ground by just measuring the frequencies that they emit from their radio signals, and in the same way, the position of the receiver can be revealed. Thus, this idea became the first brick towards the global positioning system. Next, in 1959, The U.S Department of Defense and Ivan Getting from MIT created TRANSIT, tested by the U.S Navy, and it became t...

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...ps have become easier since they no longer have to carry a map around when they can only pull an application from their phones. There were many improvements of the GPS throughout the years after Sputnik was introduced to track a satellite, and a tragedy led to a change to make GPS available to airports for safety and civilians. This new technology has become more accessible since over the years as well because technology has evolved and become more efficient. GPS can obtain information about the receiver’s user in case of emergencies, and so far, it’s been the greatest invention ever, and its introduction to automated vehicles can allow them to follow directions on their own despite the know factors that can make it fail. Therefore, knowing where this technology came from and what it had to go through to become what it is today give us an insight of its applications.