GLOBAL POSITIONING

SYSTEM
SYLLUBUS

TOPIC
Global Positioning Systems(GPS)
OBJCTIVES
demonstrate knowledge on how GPS measure location
mark location using GPS
navigate using GPS
identify possible error in GPS
SYLLUBUS

CONTENT
Trilateration
Sources of GPS error

Possible error in GPS position

SYLLUBUS

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
Marking location using GPS in the field
Navigating in the field using GPS
Collecting data in the field using GPS
Displaying collected vector data in a GIS
The Global Positioning System was conceived in 1960 under the auspices of the U.S. Air
Force, but in 1974 the other branches of the U.S. military joined the effort.
The first satellites were launched into space in 1978. The System was declared fully
operational in April 1995.
The Global Positioning System consists of 24 satellites that circle the globe once every 12
hours, to provide worldwide position, time and velocity information. GPS makes it
possible to precisely identify locations on the earth by measuring distance from the
satellites.
GPS allows you to record or create locations from places on the earth and help you
navigate to and from those places
There are currently three "public" GPS systems
The NAVSTAR system is owned by the United States and is managed by
the Department of Defense (Navigation System with Time and Ranging)
The GLONASS system is owned by the Russian Federation (Global
Navigation Satellite System of Russia)
A European Satellite Navigation System (GALILEO)
THREE SEGMENTS OF A GPS SYSTEM
The Space segment:
The space segment consists of 24 satellites circling the earth at 12,000 miles in altitude.
This high altitude allows the signals to cover a greater area.
The satellites are arranged in their orbits so a GPS receiver on earth can always receive a
signal from at least four satellites at any given time. Each satellite transmits low radio
signals with a unique code on different frequencies, allowing the
GPS receiver to identify the signals. The main purpose of these coded signals is to allow
for calculating travel time from the satellite to the GPS receiver.
The travel time multiplied by the speed of light equals the distance from the satellite to
the GPS receiver. Since these are low power signals and won’t travel through solid
objects, it is important to have a clear view of the sky.
The Control segment:

The control segment tracks the satellites and then provides them with corrected orbital
and time information. The control segment consists of four unmanned control stations
and one master control station.

The four unmanned stations receive data from the satellites and then send that
information to the master control station where it is corrected and sent back to the GPS
satellites
The User segment: The user segment consists of the users and their GPS receivers.
The number of simultaneous users is limitless.
How GPS Works
When a GPS receiver is turned on, it first downloads orbit information of all the satellites.
This process, the first time, can take as long as 12.5 minutes, but once this information is
downloaded, it is stored in the receivers’ memory for future use.
Even though the GPS receiver knows the precise location of the satellites in space, it still
needs to know the distance from each satellite it is receiving a signal from.
That distance is calculated, by the receiver, by multiplying the velocity of the transmitted
signal by the time it takes the signal to reach the receiver. The receiver already knows the
velocity, which is the speed of a radio wave or 186,000 miles per second/299 460 km/s
(the speed of light).
To determine the time part of the formula, the receiver matches the satellites transmitted
code to its own code, and by comparing them determines how much it needs to delay its
code to
match the satellites code. This delayed time is multiplied by the speed of light to get the
distance.
The GPS receiver’s clock is less accurate than the atomic clock in the satellite, therefore,
each distance measurement must be corrected to account for the GPS receivers’ internal
clock error.
Triangulation
Once both satellite and position are known for at least 4 satellites, the receiver can
determine a position by triangulation.
• There are several factors to consider when taking a GPS position. Some
of these include: 1. Number of Visible Satellites 2. Satellite Dilution of
Precision (DOP) 3. GPS Error Sources 4. GPS Limitations
 The Dilution of Precision is a measure of the strength of satellite geometry and is related to
the spacing and position of the satellites in the sky.
 Four types of DOP Dimensions:

1. HDOP –Horizontal Only

2. VDOP –Vertical Only
3. PDOP –Positional in 3D
4 . GDOP –Geometric in 3D and Time
 The most useful DOP is the GDOP, since this a combination of all the factors…vertical,
horizontal, 3D and time.
 The lower the DOP value, the better the satellite geometry.
HORIZONTAL DILUTION OF PRECISION
VERTICAL DILUTION OF PRECISION
POSITION DILUTION OF PRECISION
SOURCES OF GPS ERROR

GPS receivers have potential position errors due to some of the following sources:
User mistakes account for most GPS errors. Incorrect datum and typographic errors
when inputting coordinates into a GPS receiver can result in errors up to many
kilometres.
Unknowingly relying on less than four satellites for determining position coordinates can
also result in unreliable position fixes that can easily be off by a distance in excess of a
mile.

Even the human body can cause signal interference. Holding a GPS receiver close to the
body can block some satellite signals and hinder accurate positioning.
If a GPS receiver must be hand held without benefit of an external antenna, facing to the
south can help to alleviate signal blockage caused by the body because the majority of
GPS satellites are oriented more in the earth's southern hemisphere. A GPS receiver has
no way to identify and correcting user mistakes.
Satellite clock errors: Caused by slight discrepancies in each satellite’s four atomic clocks.
Errors are monitored and corrected by the Master Control Station.
Orbit errors: Satellite orbit (referred to as “satellite ephemeris”) pertains to the altitude,
position and speed of the satellite. Satellite orbits vary due to gravitational pull and solar
pressure fluctuations. Orbit errors are also monitored and corrected by the Master Control
Station.
Ionospheric interference
The ionosphere is the layer of the atmosphere from 50 to 500 km altitude that consists
primarily of ionized air. Ionospheric interference causes the GPS satellite radio signals to
be refracted as they pass through the earth’s atmosphere – causing the signals to slow
down or speed up.
This results in inaccurate position measurements by GPS receivers on the ground. Even

though
the satellite signals contain correction information for ionospheric interference, it can only
remove about half of the possible 70 nanoseconds of delay, leaving potentially up to a ten
meter horizontal error on the ground.
GPS receivers also attempt to “average” the amount of signal speed reduction caused by
the atmosphere when
they calculate a position fix. But this works only to a point.
by atmospheric conditions is usually less than 10 meters.
This source of error has been further reduced with the aid of the Wide Area Augmentation

System (WAAS), a space and ground-based augmentation to the GPS (to be covered
later) 24
Tropospheric interference
The troposphere is the lower layer of the earth’s atmosphere (below 13 km) that
experiences the changes in temperature, pressure, and humidity associated with weather
changes.
 GPS errors are largely due to water vapor in this layer of the atmosphere. Tropospheric

interference is fairly insignificant to GPS.

Receiver noise is simply the electromagnetic field that the receiver’s internal
electronics generate when it’s turned on. Electromagnetic fields tend to distort radio waves.
This affects the travel time of the GPS signals before they can be processed by the
receiver. Remote antennas can help to alleviate this noise. This error cannot be corrected
by the GPS receiver.
•Multipath interference is caused by reflected radio signals from surfaces near the GPS

receiver that can either interfere with or be mistaken for the true signal that follows an

uninterrupted path from a satellite. An example of multipath is the ghosting image that
appears on a TV equipped with rabbit ear antennas.
Multipath is difficult to detect and sometimes impossible for the user to avoid, or for the

receiver to correct.
Common sources of multipath include car bodies, buildings, power lines and water. When
using GPS in a vehicle, placing an external antenna on the roof of the vehicle will
eliminate most signal interference caused by the vehicle. Using a
GPS receiver placed on the dashboard will always have some multipath interference.