What is GPS? When GPS was Launched?

What is GPS?

GPS is a network of 30 satellites that are in the continuous orbit of the Earth at an altitude of about 20,000 meters. It is a system of satellites, the computer that is able to calculate the longitude and latitude of a particular point.
It uses a triangulation technique to determine the position. The user does not need to transmit any data, it works independently on its own. The U.S has all its rights and can deny access to anyone whenever they want, thus many companies are in the process to develop their own GPS.

GPS stands for Global Positioning System

Origin of GPS

Since the beginning of civilizations, the human has strived to find sophisticated ways to navigate. The early humans used stars, sun, and moon as their guide but as we started to get more and more advance newer techniques and ways were discovered. These ways were ingenious in their time and they all got a lot of attention. They had a huge price tag but the problem was none of those inventions were able to pinpoint the place they were trying to go and tell the directions.

The compass, for example, was very advanced at its time but was only able to tell you the 4 directions North, South, East, and West. It was only used by a group of individuals who knew how to use it. It was very hard to go to the desired place by only using a compass. The need for a device to show the precise location grew as the interconnectivity increased. The development in this field led to the invention of GPS.

When was GPS launched and where?

The U.S navy used a system to track its submarines carrying nuclear missiles. The U.S Department of Defense (DOD) wanted to create a precise positioning system. The ideas were taken from the navy scientist and using those ideas satellites were used put into use to support their idea of a positioning system.

It was invented by Ivan A. Getting, Bradford Parkinson, and Roger L. Easton. The DOD then launched its first Navigation system with timing and ranging in 1978. It was initially called NAVSTAR and it was a 24 satellite operational system and it became fully functioning in 1993. It is currently known as GPS (Global Positioning System). In the beginning, only the U.S government used it but in the 1980s the civilians were given the right to use it.

What are the uses of GPS?

The major use of GPS is as we know to locate positions but over the time it has gone through development has different uses.

It is used in google maps to show you directions to your destination.
It is used on your mobile phone so that if you are in a remote place you can call for help.
This is used in the car in the form of a tracker to prevent it from getting stolen.
The police and detectives nowadays use GPS tracking to catch the culprit.
Collars for pets are developed by different companies that are GPS enabled so that if your pet is missing you can find it without stressing over it.
Miners use GPS to locate minerals in different layers.
The expensive painting has a micro tracker planted into them to prevent theft.
Activities like hiking and backpacking are highly dependent on GPS if it does not work the hiker will get lost without a clue where he is.
Our transport system is based on GPS without GPS the planes will get lost, accidents may happen all of this can happen just by losing GPS.
GPS is also used in marking the sport where you find a fish in the field of hunting. This easily portrays our dependence on GPS.

Without it, everything in our current system will be in chaos.

What are the elements of a GPS system?

GPS is based on three components. I know it’s surprising that a thing so sophisticated has only 3 components but trust me these components are pretty sophisticated themselves. So the three components of GPS are

Space segment,
Control segment, and
User segment.

Space segment: Space Segment consists of 30 satellites that are operated by U.S air force and the three to four decommissioned satellites that can e activated whenever they want to, at all times at least 24 satellites are orbiting the Earth on a designated orbit. This orbit ensures that there are four satellites at all times to pinpoint any location on the globe the complete coverage of these satellites ensures the accuracy of your GPS and makes it reliable.
Control Segment: The Control Segment is made up of a series of stations that interprets the signals and relay these signals to different GPS enabled objects. Ground Station includes a master control station, an alternate control station, 12 ground antennas, and 16 monitoring stations.
User Segment: The User Segment of GPS system includes GPS enabled devices all over the world and are used in all fields.

How GPS works?

As I told before that GPS is a system of 30 satellites that are orbiting the Erath at the altitude of 20,000 meters are always sending signals to a GPS enabled device. No matter where you are on the Earth at least four satellites are always visible to your device. Each of those satellites transmits signals carrying information about its position and the current time at different intervals. These signals travel at the speed of light are intercepted by your GPS device which calculates your position by the time it took the signals to arrive at your position which through the triangulation technique determines your position.

You may wonder how a satellite is able to keep track of time and is so precise. It is due to the atomic clocks that are overboard. These clocks are fully accurate and have no margin of mistakes.

GPS, we can say is the fruit of our analytical thinking and our aim to achieve betterment. We can’t say that it has no space for improvement, surely the development in this field will be very beneficial as we still have not discovered our own planet so we can hope for amazing discoveries by development in this particular system.

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