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    Global Positioning System (GPS) : Satellites

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    abrar sabir
    The GPS system uses a constellation of 30 satellites orbiting the Earth to allow receivers to pinpoint their geographic location with accuracy ranging from 10 to 100 meters. The GPS is owned by the U.S. Department of Defense but available for public use worldwide. Each satellite broadcasts its position and time so receivers can triangulate their position from signals from at least three satellites. Scientists now use GPS data to track movement of ice sheets, tectonic plates, and volcanoes. Modern smartphones also use GPS to provide navigation instructions via maps and turn-by-turn directions.

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    Global Positioning System (GPS) : Satellites

    Uploaded by

    abrar sabir
    23 views2 pages
    The GPS system uses a constellation of 30 satellites orbiting the Earth to allow receivers to pinpoint their geographic location with accuracy ranging from 10 to 100 meters. The GPS is owned by the U.S. Department of Defense but available for public use worldwide. Each satellite broadcasts its position and time so receivers can triangulate their position from signals from at least three satellites. Scientists now use GPS data to track movement of ice sheets, tectonic plates, and volcanoes. Modern smartphones also use GPS to provide navigation instructions via maps and turn-by-turn directions.

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    Global Positioning System

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    Global Positioning System

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    The GPS system uses a constellation of 30 satellites orbiting the Earth to allow receivers to pinpoint their geographic location with accuracy ranging from 10 to 100 meters. The GPS is owned by the U.S. Department of Defense but available for public use worldwide. Each satellite broadcasts its position and time so receivers can triangulate their position from signals from at least three satellites. Scientists now use GPS data to track movement of ice sheets, tectonic plates, and volcanoes. Modern smartphones also use GPS to provide navigation instructions via maps and turn-by-turn directions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    23 views2 pages

    Global Positioning System (GPS) : Satellites

    Uploaded by

    abrar sabir
    The GPS system uses a constellation of 30 satellites orbiting the Earth to allow receivers to pinpoint their geographic location with accuracy ranging from 10 to 100 meters. The GPS is owned by the U.S. Department of Defense but available for public use worldwide. Each satellite broadcasts its position and time so receivers can triangulate their position from signals from at least three satellites. Scientists now use GPS data to track movement of ice sheets, tectonic plates, and volcanoes. Modern smartphones also use GPS to provide navigation instructions via maps and turn-by-turn directions.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    Global Positioning System (GPS)

    The GPS (Global Positioning System) is a "constellation" of approximately 30


    well-spaced satellites that orbit the Earth and make it possible for people with
    ground receivers to pinpoint their geographic location. The location accuracy
    is anywhere from 100 to 10 meters for most equipment. Accuracy can be
    pinpointed to within one (1) meter with special military-approved equipment.
    GPS equipment is widely used in science and has now become sufficiently
    low-cost so that almost anyone can own a GPS receiver.

    The GPS is owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense but is
    available for general use around the world. Briefly, here's how it works:

     21 GPS satellites and three spare satellites are in orbit at 10,600 miles
    above the Earth. The satellites are spaced so that from any point on Earth,
    four satellites will be above the horizon.

     Each satellite contains a computer, an atomic clock, and a radio. With an


    understanding of its own orbit and the clock, it continually broadcasts its
    changing position and time. (Once a day, each satellite checks its own
    sense of time and position with a ground station and makes any minor
    correction.)

     On the ground, any GPS receiver contains a computer that "triangulates"


    its own position by getting bearings from three of the four satellites. The
    result is provided in the form of a geographic position - longitude and
    latitude - to, for most receivers, within 100 meters.

     If the receiver is also equipped with a display screen that shows a map, the
    position can be shown on the map.

     If a fourth satellite can be received, the receiver/computer can figure out


    the altitude as well as the geographic position.
     If you are moving, your receiver may also be able to calculate your speed
    and direction of travel and give you estimated times of arrival to specified
    destinations.

    The GPS is being used in science to provide data that has never been
    available before in the quantity and degree of accuracy that the GPS makes
    possible. Scientists are using the GPS to measure the movement of the arctic
    ice sheets, the Earth's tectonic plates, and volcanic activity.

    Mobile GPS technology has enabled today's smartphones with convenient


    and highly efficient means for end users to receive navigating instructions via
    a global positioning system process called "trilateration." A phone's built-in
    GPS receiver also communicates with an array of satellites which
    provides navigation instructions for those either in an automobile or on foot.
    More technologically advanced phones can identify individual streets and
    attractions on maps, as well as provide narrated tracking capability.

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