GPS Presentation Essay

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GPS Presentation Introduction to GPS GPS stands for Global Positioning System. The system consists of three components: 1. A Spatial Component: 24 NAVSTAR (NAVigation System with Time And Ranging) Satellites. These Satellites orbit around the earth every 12 hours, at an altitude of 10.200 km. Each satellite has atomic clocks, that transmit two radio signals, L1 (1575.42 MHz) and L2 (1227.60 MHz). Modulated onto these signals are two codes: the C/A code (Course/Acquisition) and the P-Code (Precise). 2. A Monitoring Component: four Ground-Based Monitor Stations. One is the master control station, which calculates satellite paths and clock correction coefficients. These are send to the three upload stations, which send them to the satellites to correct any errors. 3. A User Component: a GPS receiver. Measuring the position Radio signals and codes Each GPS satellite transmits two radio signals, L1 (1575.42 MHz) and L2 (1227.60 MHz). The L1 signal is modulated with two pseudo-random noise (PRN) ranging codes, P-code and C/A code. The Precision or P-code can be encrypted for military use. The Coarse/Acquisition or C/A code is not encrypted. The L2 signal is modulated with the P-code only. Most civilian receivers use the C/A code to obtain GPS information. To establish when a signal left a satellite the same PseudoRandom code is generated at the same time in both the receiver and satellite. The receiver examines the incoming code from the satellite and then looks at how long ago it generated the same code. This time difference multiplied by the speed of light (300,000 km/sec) gives the distance. Exact coordinates can be calculated for any position on earth by measuring the distance from a group of satellites to the position. When the distance to one satellite is known, the position can be narrowed down to the surface of a sphere surrounding that

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