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Introduction toGPS

satellite-based navigation system

The Global Positioning System (GPS) isa
developed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in the early
that was
Initially, GPS was developed as a military system to fulfill U.S. mili
1970s. civilians, and is now a
tary needs. However, it was later made available to users [1].
dual-use system that can be accessed by both military and civilian
any
GPS provides continuous positioning and timing information,
serves an
where in the world under any weather conditions. Because it
unlimited number of users as well as being used for security reasons, GPS is
receive the
a one-way-ranging (passive) system (2]. That is, users can only
satellite signals.This chapter introduces the GPS system, its components,
and its basic idea.

1.1 Overview of GPS

GPS consists, nominally, of aconstellation of 24 operational satellites. This
constellation, known as the initial operational capability (IOC), was com
pleted in July 1993. The official IOC announcement, however, was made
on December 8, 1993 (31. To ensure continuous worldwide coverage, GPS

1
 2 Introduction to GPS

placed in each of six orbital

satellites are arranged so that four satellites are
geometry, four to ten GPS sat
planes (Figure 1.1).With this constellation angle of 10° is
ellites will be visible anywhere in the world, if an elevation provide the
considered. As discussed later, only four satellites are needed to
positioning, or location, information. a maxi
GPSsatellite orbits are nearly circular (an elliptical shape with
of about 55° to the
mum eccentricity is about 0.01), with an inclination
the sat
equator. The semimajor axis of aGPS orbit is about 26,560 km (í.e., corre
ellite altitude of about 20,200 km above the Earth's surface) (4].The
spondingGPS orbital period is about 12sidereal hours (~11 hours, 58
minutes). The GPS system was officially declared to have achieved full
operationalcapability (FOC) on July 17, l995, ensuring the availability of
at least 24 operational, nonexperimental, GPS satellites. In fact, as shown in
Section 1.4, since GPS achieved its FOC, the number of satellites in the GPS
constellation has always been more than 24 operational satellites.

sigrol
1.2 GPS segments
GPSconsists of three segments: the space segment, the control segment,
Sinewaves and the user segment (Figure 1.2) [5). The space segment consists of the
24-satellite constellation introduced in the previous section. Each GPS sat
ellite transmits a signal, which has a number of components: two sine
t waves (also known as càrrier frequencies), two digital codes, and a naviga
Narigatin

tion message. The codes and the navigation message are added to the carri
ers as binary biphase modulations [5]. The carriers and the codes are used
mainly to determine the distance from the user's receiver to the GPS

L-band antenna
Solar panel
S-band antenna

Figure 1.1 GPS constellation.

 Introduction to GPS 3

Space
segment

GPS
signal
Download
(L-band)

Upload
(S-band)

Control segment
User segment

Figure 1.2 GPS segments.

satellites. The navigation message contains, along with other inform

ation, the coordinates (the location) of the satellites as a function of
time, The transmitted signals are controlled by highly accurate atomic
clocks onboard the satellites. More about the GPS signal is given in
Chapter 2.
The control segment of the GPS system consists of a worldwide net
work of tracking stations, with amaster control station (MCS)located in
the United States at Colorado Springs, Colorado. Theprimary task of the
operational control segment is tracking the GPSsatellites in order to deter
mine and predict satellite locations, system integrity, behavior of the sat
ellite atomic clocks, atnmospheric data, the satellite almanac, and other
considerations. This information is then packed and uploaded into the
GPS satellites through the S-band link.
The user segment includes all military and civilian users. With a GPS
receiver connected to a GPS antenna, a user can receive the GPS signals,
which can be used to determine his or her position anywhere in the world.
GPS iscurrently available to all users worldwide at no direct charge.
 Introduction to GPS
4

generations
/1.3 GPS satellite
constellation buildup started with a series of 11 satellites
GPS satellite 1.3). The first satellite in this series (and
known as Block Isatellites (Figure
system) was launched on February 22, 1978; the last was
in the GPS Block I satellites were built mainly for experi
launched on October 9, 1985.
inclination angle of the orbital planes of these
mental purposes. The
to the equator, was 63° which was modified in
satellites, with respect of
following satellite generations (6]. Although the design lifetime
the remained in service for more than
Block I satellites was 4.5 years, some November 18,
Thelast Block Isatellite was taken out of service on
10years.
1995. generation of the GPS satellites is known as Block II/IIA
The second version of Block II, with an
4s
satellites (Figure 1.3). Block IIA is an advanced
capability from (4 days for
{increase in the navigation message data storage
means that Block II and Block IIA
Block IIto 180 days for Block IIA. This
support, for periods
satellites can function continuously, without ground
1oyrs

of 28 Block II/IIA satellites were

of 14 and 180 days, respectively. A total to November 1997. Of
launched during the period from February 1989 orbital plane of Block
I, the
these, 23 are currently in service. Unlike Block The design
II/IIA satellites are inclined by 55° with respect to the equator.
exceeded by most
lifetime of aBlock II/IIA satellite is 7.5 years, which was
security features,
Block II/IIA satellites. To ensure national security, some
added to Block
known asselective availability (SA) and antispoofing were
II/IIA satellites (3, 6]. epeisheit R
is currently
A new generation of GPS satellites, known as Block IIR,
back
being launched (Figure 1.3). These replenishment satellites will be
ward compatible with Block II/IIA, which means that the changes are
transparent to the users. Block IIR consists of 21 satellites with a design life
of 10 years, In addition to the expected higher accuracy, Block IIR satellites
have the capability of operating autonomously for at least 180 days without
ground corrections or accuracy degradation. The autonomous navigation
capability of this satellite generation is achieved in part through mutual
satellite ranging capabilities. In addition, predicted ephemeris and clock
data for a period of 210 days are uploaded by the ground control segment
to support the autonomous navigation. More features will be added to the
last 12 Block IIR satellites under the GPS modernization program, which
will be launchedat the beginning of 2003 [7]. As of July 2001, six Block IIR
satellites have been successfully launched.
 Introduction to GPS 5

Block I Block I|/|IA Block |R

Figure 1.3 GPS satellite generations. (From http:\\www2.geod.hrcan.gc.cal

wCraymer/gps.html.)
Buk- F

Block IIR will be followed by another system, called Block IIE (for
"follow-on"), consisting of 33 satellites. The satellite life span will be 15
years. Block IIF satellites will have new capabilities under the GPS mod
ernization program that will dramatically improve the autonomous GPS
positioning accuracy (see Chapter 2 for details). The first Block IIF satellite
isscheduled to be launched in 2005 or shortly after that date. A-4
B-6
5
C-5
1 blocs IIR
1.4 Current GPS satellite constellation 1 TRM
E-5
12,
F -6
The current GPS constellation (as of July 2001) contains five Block II, 18
Block IIA, and six Block IIR satellites (see Table l.1). This makes the total
number of GPS satellites in the constellation to be 29, which exceeds the
nominal 24-satellite constellation by five satellites [8].All Block I satellites F6
are no longer operational.
The GPS satellites are placed in six orbital planes, which are labeled A D6
through F. Since more satellites are currently available than the nominal C 5
24-satellite constellation, an orbital plane may contain four or five satel
lites. As shown in Table 1.1, all of the orbital planes have five satellites, B5

except for orbital plane G, which has onlyfour. The satellites can beidenti A 4
fied by various systems. The most popular identification systems within the
GPS user community are the space vehicle number (SVN) and the pseu
dorandom noise (PRN); the PRN number will be defined later. Block
IIIA satellites are equipped with four onboardatomic clocks. two cesium
(Cs) and two rubidium (Rb). The cesium clock is used as the primnary tim
ing source to control the GPS signal. Block IR satellites, however, use
 6
Introduction to GPS

2001
TABLE 1.1 GPS Satellite Constellation as of July
ORBITAL
ORBITAL
SEQUENCE SVN PRN PLANE CLOCK
SEQUENCE SVN PRN PLANB CLOCK
II-21 39 A-1 Cs
13 2 B-3 Cs
II-2
II-22 35 5 B-4 Cs
19 19 A-5 Cs
II-4
II-23 34 4 D-4 Rb
17 17 D-3 Cs
II-5
II-24 36 6 C-1 Cs
21 21 E-2 Cs
II-8
II-25 33 3 C-2 Cs
II-9 15 15 D-5 Cs
Cs II-26 40 10 E-3 Cs
II-10 23 23 E-5
II-27 30 30 B-2 Cs
II-11 24 24 D-] Cs

A-2 Cs II-28 38 8 A-3 Rb

II-12 25 25
Rb IIR-2 43 13 F-3 Rb
II-14 26 26 F-2
Cs IIR-3 46 11 D-2 Rb
II-15 27 27 A-4
Cs IIR-4 51 20 E-1 Rb
II-16 32 1 F-4
Rb IIR-5 44 28 B-5 Rb
II-17 29 29 F-5
Rb IIR-6 41 14 F-1 Rb
II-18 22 22 B-1
Cs IIR-7 54 18 E-4 Rb
II-19 31 31 C-3
|II-20 37 7 C-4 Rb

rubidiumn clocks only. It should be pointed out that two satellites, PRNO5
laser
and PRN06, are equipped with corner cube reflectors to be tracked by
ranging (Table 1.1).
9ov

j1.5 Control sites

The control segment of GPS consists of a master control station (MCS),
a worldwide network of monitor stations, and ground control stations
(Figure 1.4). The MCS, located near Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the
central processing facility of the control segment and is manned at all
times (9).
There are five monitor stations, located in Colorado Springs (with the
MCS), Hawaii, Kwajalein, Diego Garcia, and Ascension Island. The pos0
tions (or coordinates) of these monitor stations are known veryprecisely.
 processing
ispredicted data
the parameters,
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receivers thethe transmitted satel
uploading
sat information,
navigation
GPS andoperated
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remotely GPS
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Ground
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with _of_time,
All the încludes, and
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Ascension of
equipped (The function
aas
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O
Colorado
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are processing. ground
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Three observations
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satellite
S-band
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control are the
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and RTK about (more method GPS
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techniques conventionalcould GPS wiintg,h
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and revolutionized
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was This level).
probability (95%
component vertical the for 156m and
component horizontal the for 100m of
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and worldwide, users
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Introduction
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