Smartphone GPS Basics
Soon GPS will become almost as common as the telephone, or more likely included with every phone handset. GPS can determine positions accurate to a matter of. In fact, amazingly with advanced equipment it is possible to achieve measurements to better than a centimeter!
It’s just like assigning every square meter on the planet its very own address. GPS receivers have become very affordable through miniaturization to just a few integrated circuits. Nowadays days GPS is finding its way into cars, boats, planes, construction equipment, movie making gear, farm machinery, laptop computers and especially phone handsets.
Tracking mobile phones is a popular topic getting a lot of interest. A lot of the discussion surrounding cell tracking, mobile GPS and mobile phone tracker software programs would be more meaningful with a GPS Satellite primer and glossary.
GPS is an acronym for Global Positioning System. GPS satellites broadcast signals from medium earth orbit that GPS receivers use to calculate three-dimensional location (latitude, longitude, and altitude) plus precise time. The GPS system is made up of 3 main segments: Space Segment, Control Segment and User Segment.
The GPS Space Segment is composed of twenty-four to thirty-two satellites that orbit the earth in medium earth orbit MEO. These satellites are also known as as the GPS Constellation, and they make an orbit once every 12 hours. They are not geostationary, but rather move at over 7,000 mph. GPS satellites are solar powered but have battery backup for when they are on the dark side of the earth. They are positioned so that there are at least 4 satellites ‘visible’ from any point on earth. Small rocket boosters on each satellite keep them flying in the correct path. The satellites have a lifetime of about 10 years until all their fuel runs out.
GPS Satellites are not communications satellites. Geostationary or communications satellites are parked in space 22,300 miles above the equator. These satellites are used for weather forecasting, satellite TV, satellite radio and most other types of global communications. At exactly 22,000 miles above the equator, the earth's force of gravity and centrifugal forces are canceled and are in equilibrium. This is the best location to position a communications satellite. The earth rotates at about 1,000 miles an hour, and because of their high earth orbit the geo-synchronous satellites need to travel at about 7,000 mph to sustain position. This is approximately the same speed as GPS satellites, but since geo-synchronous satellites are 10,000 miles further away they stay in place relative to the earth.
The GPS Control Segment is comprised of Master Control Station, an Alternate Master Control Station, and a host of dedicated and shared Ground Antennas and Monitor Stations that work together to make sure the satellites are working correctly and the information they send to earth is accurate.
The GPS User Segment consists of of GPS receivers taking the shape of mobile phones and , laptops, in-car navigation devices and hand-held tracking units along with the people that use them, and the software programs that make them work.
GPS receivers calculate position by precisely timing the signals sent by GPS satellites. This information includes the time the message was transmitted, precise orbital information (the ephemeris), and the general system health and rough orbits of all GPS satellites (the almanac).
Consider that there is a fundamental difference between handset GPS Tracking and GPS Navigation. GPS phone tracking is usually associated with a third-party keeping records of either real-time or historical handset position, while Navigation deals with the handset user determining how to get from point A to point B. Neither use works without some kind of third-party software application.
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Global Satellite System Glossary of basic terminology.
The Global Positioning System consists of 24 GPS satellites, portable GPS receivers, and various ground-based support facilities.
The GPS receiver is either a standalone handset device or electronic unit mounted on a vehicle dashboard or other movable item such as an ocean freight container, and now particularly common to be included with cell phones . Abbreviated "GPS" in common use.
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