Know More About the GPS Unit: Its Uses and Benefits
June 29th, 2009 | by Paul Julian |To see if GPS can help lower your insurance premiums visit: instant auto insurance quote.
Global Positioning System is another remarkable yet useful product of technology. It works for our own benefit,. There are many sad tales of being lost btold too many times. With a Global Positioning System unit, one can now where he or she is and can easily be located if lost.
The creation of the Global Positioning System was inadvertent, because its original function was not the one that is being utilized now. Global Positioning System was originally intended for military applications, but in the 1980s, the government made the system available for civilian use. GPS works in any weather conditions, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day.
One thing good is, there are no subscription fees or setup charges to use Global Positioning System.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Take an initial glimpse on some facts and uses of the Global Positioning System unit:
- Global Positioning System is funded by and controlled by the U. S. Department of Defense (DOD). While there are many thousands of civil users of Global Positioning System world-wide, the system was designed for and is operated by the U. S. military.
- Global Positioning System provides specially coded satellite signals that can be processed in a GPS receiver, enabling the receiver to compute position, velocity and time.
- Four GPS satellite signals are used to compute positions in three dimensions and the time offset in the receiver clock.
Now, to give you the overview on how the Global Positioning System works,
Global Positioning System satellites circle the earth twice a day in a very exact orbit and transmit signal information to earth. Global Positioning System receivers take this information and use triangulation to calculate the user’s exact location. Most importantly, the GPS receiver compares the time and signals that was transmitted by a satellite with the time it was received. The time difference tells the GPS receiver how far away the satellite is. Now, with distance measurements from a few more satellites, the receiver can determine the user’s position and display it on the unit’s electronic map.
Aside from that, A Global Positioning System receiver must be locked on to the signal of at least three satellites to calculate a 2D position (latitude and longitude) and track movement. With four or more satellites in view, the receiver can determine the user’s 3D position (latitude, longitude and altitude). Once the user’s position has been determined, the Global Positioning System unit can calculate other information, such as speed, bearing, track, trip distance, distance to destination, sunrise and sunset time and more.
To answer any uncertainties regarding the accuracy of the Global Positioning System unit and to gauge how precise it is:
Today’s Global Positioning System receivers are extremely accurate, thanks to their parallel multi-channel design. New Global Positioning System units have 12 parallel channel receivers that are quick to lock onto satellites when first turned on and they maintain strong locks, even in dense foliage or urban settings with tall buildings. Certain atmospheric factors and other sources of error can affect the accuracy of GPS receivers. Latest Global Positioning System units are accurate to within 15 meters on average.
If you are thinking of the best choice in choosing the kind of Global Positioning System unit you want to have, it’s all up to you! Just as there is no “best choice” of an all around vehicle for flying, marine use, road driving and moving across rough terrain, there is no “best” unit for these multiple applications in the GPS department. “BEST” is highly dependent on your application, money you want to spend, and the features that you need and want.
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