GPS Changed the Technology from Top to Bottom

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is the fully functional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) that can determine a location, speed/direction and time with the utilization of 24 medium Earth orbit satellites. Developed by the United States Department of Defense, officially baptized Navstar GPS, it is free for civilian purposes and activities bringing a revolution in the communication sector. Used widely around the world for navigation aids, GPS is very much useful for various activities including map-making, land surveying, commerce and scientific uses.

It is also an effective application tool for various scientific studies on earthquakes, and synchronization of telecommunications networks. It is by the measuring of distance between itself and three or more GPS satellites, that a GPS receiver calculates the position. The distance to each satellite is known by the measuring the time delay between transmission and reception of each GPS microwave as the signal travels at a speed almost same to the speed of light. Generally signals carry information on the location of the satellites location and general system health.

It is by the determination of the position and distance of minimum three satellites, the receiver comes to the computation of the position using trilateration. Generally GPS is divided into three major segments, namely a space segment (SS), a control segment (CS), and a user segment (US). The history of GPS takes back to the early forties, the period of World War II. But it was the cold war period that brought much technical advancements in the GPS system.

The sending of Sputnik to space by Soviet Union made the U.S scientists to develop a technology that could trace the movement of sputnik leading to the advanced GPS technology, which later became a common factor in the modern communication. Now this technology is used in various day to day communication modes like ship navigation, mobile phones and air traveling.

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by adam caitlin