What is GPS? The Global Positioning System (GPS) was developed by the Department of Defense and consists of a group of 24 satellites which are monitored by five ground stations. It essentially allows you to pinpoint your location anywhere on the surface of the Earth, even in cloudy weather, with the use of a GPS receiver. The GPS receiver is a navigational device that uses these satellites as reference points to calculate your position on the ground. It does this by triangulating your position between at least 3 satellites. The GPS receiver uses the time it takes the coded radio signal to get from the satellite to the receiver to calculate the distance it is from that satellite. So, by accurately measuring the distance from the ground to these satellites, it can triangulate your position. GPS consists of 3 basic parts: 1. Control The control part is the central part of GPS. This is where the satellites are monitored and adjustments (atmospheric corrections, timing corrections, etc.) are made. There are 5 stations located worldide and each satellite passes over a monitoring station twice a day. 2. Space The space part is the NAVigation Satellite Timing And Ranging (NAVSTAR) group of satellites that bradcast the GPS signals. There are 24 satellites orbiting at about 20,200km above the Earth. They each make one revolution approximately every 12 hours. 3. User Consists of a user and a GPS receiver. The possible applications of GPS are limitless. Satellite Ranging GPS is based on satellite ranging. This technique of measurement is based on timing how long it takes a radio signal to travel from the satellite to the GPS receiver a... ... middle of paper ... ...or short, consists of both satellites and ground based stations that supply correction information for your GPS receiver. This correction information can provide an improvement in positional accuracy of up to five times greater. It corrects for GPS signal errors caused by atmospheric disturbances, timing, and other errors. WAAS was developed by the FAA in order to help increase the accuracy of precision flight approaches. The corrected information is broadcast through two geostationary satellites that are located at a fixed location over the equator. Works Cited Trimble: http://www.trimble.com/gps/ The Aerospace Corporation: http://www.aero.org/publications/GPSPRIMER/index.html CMT: http://www.cmtinc.com/gpsbook/index.htm Garmin: http://www.garmin.com/aboutGPS/ GPS Mapping for GIS., 2001, Trimble Navigation Limited.
14. George A. Chidi Jr., Qualcomm turns Cell Phones into GPS Systems. 16 Jan 2002. < http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,80085,00.asp>
Jane Rogers the financial manager at Plants Inc. a landscaping business in Chicago concurs that employers should ethically implement the use of GPS tracking in their companies. Rogers uses GPS to track and monitor outfield workers during working hours and argues that it increases efficiency and promotes confidence in prompt services to clients. Rogers supports the need for restrictive and regulative legislation in GPS tracking to create parameters within which employers can operate and be held accountable. She points out that she passively tracks employees during working hours and only resorts to active monitoring of employees after she has received complaints from clients. Rogers also states that she reminds her employees to turn-off their
Mary Babb was in her SUV last year when her estranged husband slammed into her with his pickup truck. The crash overturned Babb’s vehicle and left her suspended upside-down by her seat belt. As she hung there helplessly, Thomas Babb fired two rounds from a shotgun, killing his wife in front of horrified witnesses outside the office where she worked. Babb had filed for divorce and moved out just before her death. She changed jobs and obtained a court order protecting her from her husband. But he kept following her. According to her family, she did everything the law provided her, and it wasn’t enough. These are just two examples of convicted offenders and that sometimes the law is just not enough. In 1995, Iowa passed the Iowa Sex Offender Registry Law. Any person convicted of a criminal offense against a minor with a sexual element, an aggravated offense with a sexual element, a sexually violent offense, or any other relevant offense in Iowa, or in any other state, or in any federal, military, tribal, or foreign court, must register as a sex offender. As of August 1st 2005, there were 6,004 people on the sex offender registry. A person who is required to register as a sex offender and whose underlying criminal offense was committed against a minor is prohibited from residing within 2,000 feet of the real property comprising a public or non-public elementary or secondary school or a child care facility. A sex offender who resides within 2,000 feet of a public or non-public school or child care facility commits an aggravated misdemeanor. BUT, an offender who had an established residence prior to July 1, 2002, resides within 2,000 feet of a newly established school or child care facility does not violate the restriction (Iowa - A Taliban State). So, you could have a twice convicted sex offender living next to you and your family. What good is the law then? Since this new law came into effect, registered sex offenders have became less and less. Not because they’re not committing the crimes, but because they’re not registering. Out of the 6,000 offenders in Iowa, over 500 of them are listed as “unconfirmed whereabouts.” It has forced many of the offenders to become homeless, or sleeping in their cars or trucks (Davey). National surveys have shown that about one-fourth of all sex offenders who are on the streets have moved, failed to report new addresses to police and eluded detection.
NSSS states a few current trends in space as being “congested and contested” (NSSS, 8), which is shaping our space strategic environment as well as fueling debates for space weapons. “Congested” trend refers to the current “60 nations and government consortia that own and operate satellites and the expectation to have 9000 satellite communication transponders in orbit by 2015.
Christopher Columbus was known as a “dead reckoning navigator”[2]. Dead Reckoning Navigation, or also known as Deduced Navigation, was used by an umpteen of sailors. In Dead Reckoning Navigation the helmsman can find his locus by measuring the distance he has sailed to a known point. Each day, the ending position was the starting point for the next day. However, this method is not as elementary as it sounds. In order for this tactic to work, the helmsman needs to measure his course and distance sailed. Therefore, a course is measured by a magnetic compass, and distance with a time and speed calculation. One can conclude then that this was a nettlesome process. Of course, since then humans have immensely improved in this area. Today, there is a way to know where one is at while at sea that is much less problematic.
The invention of the GPS started with Dr. Ivan Getting leaving his position at Raytheon Company, and armed with the knowledge of what was at the time the most advanced navigational technology in the world, they began developing the Global Positioning System. He, Roger L. Easton, and Bradford Parkison began in the 60’s with a constellation of 24 satellites (placed in six orbital planes) orbiting the earth at a very high altitude (about
Geographers plan new communities, decide where new highways should be placed, and establish evacuation plans. Computerized mapping and data analysis is known as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a new frontier in geography. Spatial data is gathered on a variety of subjects and input onto a computer. GIS users can create an infinite number of maps by requesting portions of the data to plot.
A beacon is a device designed to obtain information of a specific location. Important information such as the status of an airport based on the colour and rotational pattern of its airport beacon as well as weather information as indicated by weather beacon on top of a high building can be obtained by combining beacons with semaphoric indicators. Also, when used in such fashion, beacons can be considered a form of optical telegraphy.
Google Places – Google’s free local platform used by consumers to search for local businesses online.
The GPS is sensing knowledge to help with navigation with the car and destinations. Autonomous cars are not yet available on a large scale of the world such as out of the United States of America, but have been programmed and developed to travel along the roads of America. Most autonomous cars are programmed only for American roads, we have made a big step towards the future with autonomous cars, with them being only available mainly in America, they are a luxury. They are making their way to larger scale autopilot features, and will eventually be available on a larger scale.(Ali
Of all these spacecraft only about 900 are operational and all of the rest are space debris. This population of satellites and rocket bodies’ account for about 99% of the debris orbiting the Earth are estimated to be around 5000 metric tons. There are more than 20,000 pieces of debris larger than a softball orbiting the Earth. This debris can travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph. Even a relatively small piece of space debris can damage a satellite or a spacecraft at these speeds.
There was a time a person would use a roadmap to get from one location to another. Some also would stop and ask for directions. Today, you seldom see paper maps and people stopping at a local gas station for directions. Many vehicles come with a navigation system that provides a real-time map of the vehicle’s current location as well as systematic directions to requested destination.
According to NASA, more than 500,000 pieces of debris, or “space junk,” are tracked as they orbit the Earth- just hundreds of miles above us. Space junk-which is also known by the names space and orbital debris, are made up of a mixture of natural (meteorites) and man-made materials that no longer serves a further purpose or function.
GPS is a system of satellites radio-transmitters that orbit the planet in great numbers; their purpose is to be able to pinpoint the exact location of an individual or any type of vessel that is equipped with a receiver transmitter within a very small radius. GPS navigation has had a great impact upon society in general as well and its commercial and military applications. Global Positioning is made available at no cost to anyone who has a GPS receiver unit anywhere on the planet. A GPS unit is able to give the user longitude/latitude information as well as, altitude, traveling speed, distance traveled, distance remaining and time in any type of weather conditions imaginable.