THE GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based radio navigation system provided by the United States Department of Defence. It provides unequalled accuracy and flexibility in positioning for navigation, surveying and GIS data collections. GPS is the shortened form of NAVSTAR GPS. This is an acronym for NAVigation System with Time And Ranging Global Positioning System. One can easily locate oneself with respect to the objects that surround him and position oneself relative to them. But doing that in the middle of a desert or in the middle of an ocean where there are no reference objects, is a problem. _____ For many centuries, the sun and the stars were used _ | for navigation. On land, surveyors and explorers used familiar reference points to base their measurements or find their way. These methods worked well within certain limitations like the non- visibility of the Sun and stars when it is cloudy. For two-dimensional definition of any point on the surface of earth, we require two parameters, the latitude and longitude (geographical ellite coordinates). The three-dimensional positional value includes height from a reference datum in addition to latitude and longitude. By observing celestial bodies like the sun, the moon and the stars with the help of an astronomical theodolite or navigational sextant, one can fix a positional value on the surface of earth. For establishing Scanned with CamScannerarth, the above method was being useq SN eee ee von could not be determined very accurately i ecise ae i Ities, in the . But the precise posi 1 Oe eae aifficulties, y eae of eel seiner e ie S Seibabe spe je ras dlevised—t Yel >yste ey Os a new project was = ene ce ihe t promised to fulfill all the cere ee ding a bie es ecurately at any point on the earth's i ositional values 2 rate ina “ conditions. ae fo and in all wer hee based system that uses 2 constellation of 24 stl st i ee accurate position on earth. A GPS receiver (ust ea ely adios Is from these GPS satellites and from the receiv ignals See ect ion on earth. It is important at this point to it is calculate its positi int t r fi a eeuney" To a soldier in a desert accuracy means 15 m and to a ship lefin : Bi accuracy means in coastal waters accuracy means 5 m. But to heat ee in el these 1 cm or less. GPS can be used to achieve all thes d relevanttechniques applications, by employing sulle type Fee ae eens ere PS igi designed for milit 3 Peres cae! it ee clear that the civilians could also use GPs. The first two major civilian applications to emerge were Marine Navigation and Surveying. Since then GPS has demonstrated a significant benefit to the civilian community who are applying it to a rapidly expanding number of applications. The advantages of GPS are ¢ Relatively high positioning accuracies, from tens of meters down to millimeter level. ¢ Capability of determining velocity and time, to an accuracy commensurate with position. © Signal availability to users anywhere on the globe: in air, on the ground, or at sea, * It is a positioning system with no user charges and uses relatively low cost hardware. ¢ It is an all-weather system, available 24 hours a day. © The position information is in three dimensions, that is, vertical as well as horizontal information is provided. Application of GPS in civilian surveying was not part of the original concept of GPS. The civilian use of GPS grew up considerably in the public, private and academic organizations. In the early stages, even when the military was | testing its first receivers, GPS was already in use by civilians. The number of civilian users is already significantly greater than the military users, Geodetic surveys were on its way in early 1980s with the commercially available receivers. In 1982 a research group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States tested an early GPS receiver and achieved accuracy to the centimeter level, Over a decade, extensive testing and experiments were conducted around the world that confirmed and improved Scanned with CamScannerthe accuracy. In 1984 a GPS network (network of points same as in topographic surveying) in the United States provided accuracy to the millimeter level. The GPS system was designed to replace the large variety of navigational systems already in use, and great emp! was placed on the system's reliability and survivability. In short, a number of following stringent conditions had to be met by the Gp ¢ Itshould be sui ple for I 's of platform: aircraft Get to helicopter), ship, land (vehicle-mounted to handheld) and space (missiles and satellites), ¢ It should be able to handle a wide variety of dynamics, It should provide the user with rea determi |-time positioning, velocity and time ion to an appropriate accuracy, The positioning results should be available on a single global geodetic datum, Highest accuracy should be restricted to a certain class of users, It should be resistant to jamming (blocking of radio signals), intentional and unintentional, Itshould have sufficient redundancy provisions to ensure the survivability of the system, The system should be a passive positioning system (one-way ranging system) that does not require the transmission of signals from the user to the satellite(s), It should be able to provide the service to an unlimited number of users, The system must be low cost and should have low power consumption, e It should act as total replacement of the “TRANSIT 1” (first satellite based navigational system provided by US Navy in 1960s) satellite and other terrestrial navigational aid systems. Scanned with CamScannerSYSTEM OVERVIEW The total GPS configuration is comprises three distinct segments: e The Space segment—Comprising satellites orbiting the earth. e The Control segment—Consisting of control stations positioned at various locations to control the satellites. e The User segment—Anybody who receives and uses the GPS signal comes under this segment. 1.2.1 The Space Segment The Space Segment consists of a constellation of GPS satellites and the signals broadcast by them, which allows users to determine position, velocity and time. The basic functions of the satellites are Scanned with CamScanner—_— e To receive and store data transmitted by the control segment stations, ¢ To maintain accurate time by means of several on-board atomic clocks, © To transmit information and radio signals to users on two L-band frequencies. ® To provide a stable platform and orbit for the L-band transmitters, The space segment consists of all GPS satellites in orbit. It is designed to have 24 satellites well placed approximately at an altitude of 20,200 km orbiting the earth every 12 hours. At present there are 28 operational satellites (24 operative and 4 operating spares) orbiting the earth. The spare satellites will be transparent to the user on the ground such that the user will not be able to tell which are operational satellites and which are spares. The satellites are travelling at speeds of 11,500 kilometers per hour, which allows them to circle the earth once every 12 hours. They are powered by solar energy and are built to last about 10 years. If solar energy fails during eclipses etc., they have backup batteries on board to keep them running. They also have small rocket boosters to keep them orbiting in the correct path. The first GPS satellite was launched into space in 1978. A full constellation of 24 satellites was achieved in 1994, thereby completing the system. The two orbits per day requirement falls 15 minutes short of completion, producing a small gap at the end of each orbit. The constellation orbits in six orbital planes, with each plane inclined to the equator by 55° and with four satellites in each orbit. | Scanned with CamScanner1.2.2. Control Segment The control segment consists of one master station, five monitor Stations ang four ground antennas distributed amongst five locations on earth, The Contr Segment tracks the GPS satellites, updates their orbiting position and calibrates and synchronizes their clocks. Another important function of the orbit of each satellite and predict it’s p be a possibility of satellites travelling slightly out of orbits. So the ground Monitor stations keep track of the satellite orbits, altitude, location, and speed, The ground stations send the orbital data to the master control stations, which in turn send corrected data to the satellites. This corrected and exact Position data is called the “Ephemeris’ (pronounced: I-‘fe-me-res’) data which is valid for about six hours, and transmitted in coded form to the GPS receivet. control segment is to determine the ath for the next 24 hours. There may Scanned with CamScannerThe Master Control Station is located at the Consolidated Space Operations Center (CSOC) at Schriever Air Force Base near Colorado Springs, Colorado (USA). The monitoring stations track the navigation signals of all the satellites. This information is then processed at the Master Control Station and is used to update the satellite navigation messages. The Master Control Station sends updated navigation information to the satellites through ground antennas. The ground antennas are also used to transmit commands to the satellites and to receive the satellites’ telemetry. The Master Control Station computes the clock corrections derived from about one week’s tracking information it collected from five monitoring stations around the world. The Master Control Station also initiates satellite repositioning when it becomes necessary. The monitoring stations are located at Ascension Island, Colorado Springs, Diego Garcia, Hawaii and Kwajalein Atoll. They track all GPS satellites in view and collect ranging and satellite clock data using the P-Code pseudo- range and integrated Doppler measurements from all available satellites (P- code pseudo-range and Doppler measurements are explained in Chapter 2). This data is passed to the Master Control Station through Defense Satellite Communication System. Operators in the Master Control Station calculate the status, ephemeris and clock data. This information for each satellite is then sent to monitoring stations, from where the data is uploaded to each satellite for inclusion in their broadcast message. Scanned with CamScanner1.2.3 The User Segment The user segment comprises GPS receivers used to receive the GPS signal for determination of position and time. Typical applications within the user segment are land navigation, marine navigation, surveying, and aerial navigation. GPS has a variety of applications on land, at sea and in the air. Basically GPS allows recording or creation of locations on the earth’s surface and helps to navigate between locations. GPS can be used anywhere except where it is impossible to receive the signal, such as inside buildings, in Scanned with CamScannercaves, in parking garages, and other subterranean locations and underwater, The most common airborne application of GPS is navigation by general and commercial aviation. At sea, GPS is typically used for navigation by mariners and fishermen. | Land-based applications of GPS are more diverse. The scientific community uses GPS for its precision timing capability and a myriad of other applications, Surveyors use GPS in vast area of survey operations. GPS offers an incredible cost savings by drastically reducing setup time at the survey site and also provides amazing accuracy. The most important aspect of GPS-based survey is that it does not depend on line of sight between the survey points. Basic survey units can offer accuracies down to one meter. More expensive systems can provide accuracies within a centimeter. Recreational uses of GPS are as many as the number of recreational sports. Just to name a few, GPS is becoming increasingly popular in hiking, hunting, yachting, canoeing, skiing, etc. If one is involved in an activity where he needs to keep track of where he is, find his way to specified location or know what direction and how fast he is going, he can benefit from the Global Positioning System. GPS is rapidly becoming commonplace in automobiles as well. Some basic systems are already in place like providing emergency roadside assistance at the push of a button (by transmitting the current position to a dispatch center). More sophisticated systems can show the vehicles position on an electronic map display, allowing drivers to keep track of where they are and look up street address, restaurants, hotels and other destinations. Some systems can even automatically create a route and give turn-by-turn directions to 4 designated location. et ' to aetin Scanned with CamScannerSate Mite Bubits > q Low Eoxth Oxbit (LEO) Sattalites) Ds ke Vind with ralad ey > spy sabellites ; Wieotoy satellifes ~> Lis ther lvoo bw Sor pax O® Madi. 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FT mdaleted CIN & P edt Pere eh Parada handow Narre (PRY) Locte - ed UE > Pes pam he secur & fed phtio~ Ado compule — & Compare Hu Hime Framsniivelon - > PAN code ovks URE oo reins Giquall . , Scanned with CamScannerTIME CALCULATION The GPS receiver needs to determine the time taken by the radio signal to travel from the GPS satellite to the receiver. This is done using the coded signals that the satellite transmits. The transmitted code is called pseudo- random code because it looks like a noise signal. When a pseudo-random code generated by a satellite reaches the GPS receiver, it generates the same code and tries to match it with the satellite’s code. The receiver then compares the two codes to determine how much delay (or shift) is required in it’s code to match the satellite code. This delay time (shift) is multiplied by the speed of light to get the distance (see Fig. 2.2). As stated earlier the satellite signal has two codes modulated upon it, the coarse/acquisition code and the precision code. The coarse/acquisition code is based upon the time given by an accurate atomic clock. It is a digital code that appears to be random but is repeated thousand times in a second. The receiver also contains a clock that is used to generate a matching coarse/acquisition code. The GPS receiver is able to “match” or correlate the incoming satellite code to the receiver- generated code. Scanned with CamScannergecever LT LILI ri Satetite_[7] J Time Taken Signal for Signal to Fig. 2.2 Reach Receiver Code Correlation This is how the time taken for the radio signal to travel from the satellite to the GPS receiver is calculated. Scanned with CamScanner