GPS Principles
Dr.H J Chauhan
Assistant Professor, Civil Engg. Deptt.,
BVM Engg., College, V.V.Nagar
GPS Principles
At least four (4) satellites are required to
solve four (4) unknown parameters:
Latitude
Longitude
Height
Receiver time offset (difference between the
receiver clock's indicated time and a well-
defined time scale reference such as UTC
(Coordinated Universal Time), TAI
(International Atomic Time) or GPST (GPS
Time))
5 basic steps to obtain coordinates
All GPS satellites have synchronized atomic clocks
The coordinates of all satellites, acting as moving
control stations, are known precisely with the help
of system control.
Satellite coordinates and time signals are
transmitted to ground receiver.
These signals reach the ground delayed by
distance traveled.
Making use of simple resection principle and the
range information to each satellites, the receiver
computes its coordinates
Steps followed for GPS based positioning
Basic navigation point position can be calculated
like a resection in which satellites are the orbiting
control stations .
Range vectors are measured to each of the
satellites using a time dependent code based on
the times of transmission and receipt of the signals.
Since these times are biased by a common amount
due to offset between the satellite and receiver
clocks ; they are called pseudoranges .
Pseudorange measurements from four satellites
are needed to estimate the user position and the
corresponding receiver clock bias.
GPS signal structure
Satellites have highly precise oscillators with a fundamental
frequency of 10.23 MHz.
Two micro wave L-band (also called Carrier) waves
L1 carrier: 1575.42 MHz
L2 carrier: 1227.60 MHz
Ranging codes modulated on the carrier waves
C/A code, the clear/access or coarse/acquisition code modulated
at 1.023 MHz, degraded code for civilian users, modulated on L1
only
P (Y) code, the private, protected, or precise code modulated at
10.23 MHz. It is modulated on both L1 and L2 carrier waves, for
authorized military users
Navigation message
Modulated on both L1 and L2 and contains satellite positions
and constants
GPS signal structure
GPS Carriers
The carriers are pure sinusoids, they cannot be
used easily for instantaneous positioning
Therefore two codes are modulated onto them:
C/A (coarse acquisition) code
P (precise) code
GPS Carrier waves: The two carrier waves L1
and L2 are pure right handed circularly
polarized sinusoidal waves. Two frequencies
are useful to eliminate ionospheric effects.
GPS Codes
Binary sequence of information
Pseudo random noise (PRN) code
PRN codes allow range measurements,
accesses to underlying carrier signals, satellite
message, and time markers
CA Code- Available to Civilian User
P code - For authorized military users
Satellite or navigational message
Navigational message includes information on
Satellite time of transmission
Precise satellite position (ephemeris)
Satellite health
Satellite clock correction
Propagation delay effects (due to signal
propagation in ionosphere and troposphere)
Time transfer to UTC (Coordinated Universal
Time)
GPS satellite Constellation status
GPS Services
SPS (Standard Positioning Service)
Positioning accuracy that is provided by
GPS measurements based on the single L1
frequency C/A code .
PPS (Precise Positioning Service)
Highest level of dynamic positioning
accuracy that is provided by GPS
measurements based on the dual
frequency P-code.
