GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

GPS

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 ▶COURSE
 Introduction to GPS.

Brief History
Elements of GPS.
GPS Data
 Sources of errors, correcting of error‐accuracy in GPS.
Differential GPS.
 GPS for mapping.
 Route tracking with GPS.
 Applications of GPS in Disaster Management, Human and vehicle
tracking, Transportation and Military.
 Converting GPS data to GIS software’s.
 Integrating GPS with GIS and Remote Sensing.
 Integrating GPS with GIS and Remote Sensing
 Stages of GPS project (Planning, implementation and evaluation).
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 ▶WHY GPS?
▶ What does they all needs to know?

▶Location?

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 MAPPING AND SURVEYING
 First maps were metal maps, moons and stars at night and sun at the
day.
 Babylonians, Egyptians on rocks and clay tablets.
 Greeks, Romans Surveyed and mapped their settlements with a great
degree of precisions.
 Instruments like chain, tape, theodolites and compass etc need clear
line of sight between the two points in this scenario GPS is the best tool
used for navigation etc, which does not require any line of sight
 BRIEF HISTORY OF NAVIGATION
▶ Prehistory- Present: celestial navigation, which was ok of
latitude but was poor for longitude until accurate clock
was invented in 1960
▶ 13th century : magnetic compass
▶ 1907: Gyrocompass
▶ 1912: radio direction finding
▶ 1930’s: Radar and inertial Nav
▶ 1940: Loran-A ( with Loren-C are ground based system
supporting navigation in Oceans, and are paid system}
▶ 1960: Omega and Transit (giving support to the US
military and was not global)
▶ 1970’s: Loran-C
▶ 1980: GPS
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 EARLY SPACE-BASED RADIO
NAVIGATION SYSTEM

▶ Launch of Sputnik – Tracking Altitude 985 Km revolution 98

minutes….
▶ Frank McClure of the applied physics lab made
suggestion….. Would it be possible to invert the problem?
Giving rise to the TRANSIT… US –DoD with 6 satellites,
1100 km, 108 min revolution.
▶ TSYKLON (USSR-10 sat: 6- PARUS: Military 4- TSIKDA
commercial…not covering global)
▶ TRANSIT-the navy navigation satellite system was in place
till 1996. a fix of 40 minutes was required.

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 SATELLITE NAVIGATION
▶ A satellite navigation system is a system that uses satellites to
provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning. e.g.
▶ GLOBAL

▶ NAVSTAR- GPS:
▶ GLONASS: RUSSIAN
▶ BEIDOU: CHINA (REGIONAL, FOR CHINESE REGION)
▶ GALILEO: EU– UNDER PROCESS

REGIONAL IRNSS… INDIA

QZSS… JAPAN

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NAVSTAR GLOBAL POSITIONING
SYSTEM
▶ In 1973 the US DoD decided to establish, develop, test, acquire
and deploy a space-born GPS, resulting in the NAVSTAR
(NAVigation Satellite Timing And Ranging Global System).
▶ It is an all weathers pace based navigation system developed by
the US DoD to satisfy the requirement of the military forces to
accurately determine their position, velocity, and time in a
common reference system, anywhere on or near the earth on
continuous basis.
▶ 1980: development of GPS
▶ 1993/95: GLONASS
▶ 2006: GNNS (GALILEO, NAVSTARGPS, GLONASS, Beiduo
▶ GPS gives us a common reference frame all over the globe

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▶SPACE VS GROUND-BASED
NAVIGATION SYSTEM
▶ The ground based Navigation system we are dealing with certain
towers which are sending and receiving high frequency radio
signals. So, we might have breakages in the signals…. Cell
phones…
▶ The space-based system do not require the line of sight etc

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ADVANTAGE OF GNSS

▶ The use of GLONASS in addition to GPS provides very

significant advantges:
▶ Increased availability of satellite & signals
▶ Markedly increased spatial distribution of visible
satellietes
▶ Reduced HDOP and VDOP factors
▶ Better atmospheric correction
▶ A large satellite constellation also improves real-time
carrier phase differential positioning performance
▶ Less expensive high-end srvices

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 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GPS
▶ Developed by US DOD
▶ Provides
o Accurate navigation up to 10-20m, velocity
~10cm/s, time ~ 0.1 microseconds
o 6/3 orbits
o Worldwide coverage
o Available 24 hours 365
o Common coordinate system
o WGS 84

Designed to replace existing navigation systems

Accessible by civil and military 11
 WHAT IS GPS?
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a constellation of 24 satellites that
orbit the Earth.
This constellation, when used with a GPS receiver, makes it possible for a
person to pinpoint their geographic position.
The NAVSTAR (GPS) satellite system is set up and maintained by the US
Dept. of Defence
Providing 3 Dimensional Positioning for 24 hrs a day to military and civilian
users.
Provide unequal accuracy, flexibility of positioning for navigation,
surveying and GIS data capturing.

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T HREE S EGMENTS OF THE GPS

Space Segment

User Segment

Control Segment

Ground
Antennas
Master Station Monitor Stations
C ONTROL S EGMENT

US Space Command

Cape Canaveral
Hawaii
Kwajalein Atoll

Diego Garcia
Ascension
Is.

Master Control Station Monitor Station Ground Antenna

 Space Segment

The Control segment is made up of User Segment

Ground
 Master Control Station (MCS), Master Station Monitor Stations
Antennas

 four monitor stations, and

three ground antennas
 (plus a reserve antenna at Cape Canaveral used
primarily for pre-launch satellite testing) used to
uplink data to the satellite.
Monitor Stations continuously receive GPS satellite transmissions, and
relay this information in real time to the Master Control Station in
Colorado.
The user segment also receives these same transmissions.
Monitor stations (MS) are located at Schriever Air Force Base, Hawaii,
Kwajalein Atoll, and Diego Garcia, and Ascension islands. unmanned remote
sensors that passively collect raw satellite signal data and re-transmit it in
real time to the MCS for evaluation.

US Space Command

Hawaii Cape Canaveral

Kwajalein Atoll
Diego Garcia
Ascension Is.

Master Control Station Monitor Station GroundAntenna

Monitor stations basically function as very precise radio receivers, tracking each
satellite as it comes into view.

Ground antennas are remotely controlled by the MCS.

Located at Ascension, Diego Garcia, Kwajalein Atoll, as well as Cape Canaveral,
Florida.

Ground antennas transmit data commands received from the MCS to GPS satellites
within their sky view. They also collect telemetry data (the transmission of data from
space vehicles to receiving stations on the ground) from the satellites.

Space Segment

US Space Command

Hawaii Cape
Canaveral Kwajalein Atoll
Diego
Garcia
Ascension User Segment
Is.

Ground
Antennas
Master Station Monitor Stations

Master Control Station Monitor Station Ground

Antenna
The MCS uplinks data to GPS satellites which includes:
 Clock-correction factors for each satellite; necessary to insure that all
satellites operate at the same precise time (GPS Time”).
 Atmospheric data (to help correct most of the distortion caused by the GPS
satellite signals passing through ionosphere).
 Almanac, a log of all GPS satellite positions and health, and allows GPS
receiver to identify which satellites are in its hemisphere, and at what
times.
 Ephemeris data is unique to each satellite, and provides highly accurate
satellite position (orbit) information for that GPS satellite alone. It does
not include information about the GPS constellation as a whole.
Ephemeris information is also transmitted as a part of each satellite’s
time signal.
 By using the information from the GPS satellite constellation almanac in
conjunction with the ephemeris data from each satellite, the position of
a GPS satellite can be very precisely determined for a given time.
 S PACE S EGMENT
An earth-orbiting constellation of 24 active and five spare GPS satellites circling the earth
in six orbital planes.
Each satellite is oriented at an angle of 55 degrees to the equator.
The nominal circular orbit is 20,200-kilometer (10,900 nautical miles) altitude.
Each satellite completes one earth orbit every twelve hours (two orbits every 24 hours).
That's an orbital speed of about 1.8 miles per second, so that each satellite travels from
visible horizon to horizon in about 2 hours.
Each satellite has a design life of approximately 10 years,
weighs about 2,000 pounds,
about 17 feet across with its solar panels extended. Older satellites (designated Block
II/IIA) still functioning are equipped with 2 cesium, and 2 rubidium atomic clocks.
Newer satellites (designated Block IIR) are equipped with rubidium atomic clocks. All
satellites also contain 3 nickel-cadmium batteries for backup power when a satellite is
in earth eclipse.

SOLAR PANELS RUBIDIUM ATOMIC CLOCK

Each satellite transmits the following information, as part of its signal, to ground
stations and all users:

1. Coded ranging signals (radio transmission time signals that allow receivers to
triangulate their positions).
2. Ephemeris position information (a message transmitted every 30 seconds
containing precise information on the location of the satellite in space).
3. Atmospheric data (necessary to help correct signal interference from the
satellites to the receiver).

Clock correction information defining the precise time of satellite signal

transmission (in GPS Time), and a correction parameter to convert GPS Time to
UTC.

An almanac containing information on the GPS constellation, which includes

location and health of the satellites.
U SER S EGMENT
 Military.
 Search and rescue.
 Disaster relief.
 Surveying.
 Marine, aeronautical and terrestrial navigation.
 Remote controlled vehicle and robot guidance.
 Satellite positioning and tracking.
 Shipping.
 Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
 Recreation.
P OSITION IS B ASED ON T IME

Signal leaves satellite

at time “T”

Signal is picked up by the

T+3 receiver at time “T + 3”
Distance between satellite
and receiver = “3 times the
speed of light”
 Receiver Position is Based on Time

 The Global Positioning System allows a GPS receiver to determine its position
by using a simple formula: Velocity x Time = Distance

 GPS satellites continuously transmit digital radio pulses at precise, known

times.

 So by measuring the exact instant when the pulses arrive, the receiving GPS
equipment can determine the distance to each satellite.

 The clocks on board the satellites are all extremely accurate, while the clock
in the GPS receiver is not.

 So a GPS receiver calculates what are called pseudo-ranges (“false” ranges),

which are approximate calculated distances (as a measurement of time) to
every satellite the receiver has acquired.
▶ EVENTUALLY, THE GPS RECEIVER WILL HAVE TO GET ITS OWN CLOCK
SYNCHRONIZED WITH THE SATELLITE CLOCKS.

▶ A clock error in the GPS receiver of as little as a few

nanoseconds (billionths of a second) can translate into a
position error on the ground of as much as 300 meters.

▶ For example, if a GPS satellite transmits its signal at precisely

T+ 0 nanoseconds, travels at 186,000 miles per second (light
speed) to the earth, and arrives at the receiver at precisely T+
645,160 nanoseconds later, then the signal traveled 12,000
miles (12,000 miles at 186,000 miles per second = 64.516
milliseconds, or 645,160 nanoseconds). The receiver does this
for every satellite signal it acquires, tracking each satellite’s
code by its unique pseudo random noise (PRN) number.

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PSEUDO RANDOM NOISE CODE

Time
Difference

Satellite PRN

Receiver PRN
Each satellite transmits a Navigation Message,
downloaded by GPS receivers.

 GPS constellation status (all the satellites)

 satellite ephemeris and health data
(individual satellites)
 GPS Time and UTC time transfer parameters, and
ionosphere interference correction parameters.
 The GPS currently uses two frequencies to accomplish
data transmission, L1 and L2. The NAV Message and
coarse acquisition information are provided on the L1
frequency.

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 The pseudo random noise (PRN) code is a fundamental part of the GPS.
 It's a very complicated digital code unique to each satellite. It’s a complex sequence of "on"
and "off" digital pulses. The signal looks like random electrical noise (similar to the “snow”
you might see on a TV), but is actually a very precise code. Hence the name “pseudo-
random noise.”
 When a GPS receiver acquires a GPS signal it examines the satellite’s incoming PRN and
begins generating a matching digital signal to mimic the satellite’s signal.
 The receiver matches each satellite’s PRN code with an identical copy of the code contained
in the receiver’s database. Its next task is to try and determine how long ago the signal was
generated by the satellite. But there’s a problem. As explained earlier, each satellite is
equipped with atomic clocks; clocks which are constantly monitored for accuracy by the
Master Control Station. The GPS receiver on the other hand is equipped only with a single
digital clock comparable to a cheap wrist watch. The only way for the receiver to calculate an
accurate position is if it can accurately measure the precise travel time of the satellite radio
signal. A discrepancy of just a few nanoseconds between satellite and receiver will translate
into a large position error on the ground.
Space Segment

User Segment
Ground
Antennas
Master Station Monitor Stations
So the GPS receiver uses a clever technique to calculate the precise time it took
for the GPS signal to reach it. By shifting its own generated copy of the satellite’s
PRN code in a matching process, and by comparing this shift with its own internal
clock, the receiver can calculate how long it took the signal to travel from the
satellite to itself.
By comparing the time difference between the two, and multiplying that time by
the 186,000 miles per second travel speed of the signal, the receiver can roughly
determine the distance separating it from the satellite. This process is repeated
with every satellite signal the receiver locks on to.
The distance between satellite and receiver derived from this method of
computing distance is called a pseudo-range (“false range”) because the
receiver’s clock is not synchronized with the satellites clocks. Pseudo-range is
subject to several error sources, such as delays caused by the atmosphere, and
multipath interference.

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Here’s a simplified example of how a GPS receiver synchronizes itself to
GPS Time for precise positioning. Imagine that the GPS satellite PRN signal
is a song being broadcast by a radio station. The GPS receiver is a record
player which is playing the same song, but it’s not synchronized to the
broadcast song. Both songs are playing, but at different places in the song
and at different speeds. By speeding up or slowing down the turntable, the
two songs can be precisely matched. They become synchronized.
Similarly, the GPS receiver synchronizes its digital signal to match
that of each satellite’s signal.
Once the receiver has its internally generated PRN code in synch
with the satellite’s code it can determine a pseudo-range distance to the
satellite. It does this for every satellite signal it receives. As will be
explained later, under ideal conditions.
Four satellites are used to calculate a precise position.

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SINCE GPS TIME IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF THE
SYSTEM, IT’S IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT GPS TIME ACTUALLY IS. GPS TIME IS
MEASURED IN WEEKS AND SECONDS FROM [Link], JANUARY 5, 1980 AND IS ADJUSTED TO
WITHIN ONE MICROSECOND OF UNIVERSAL COORDINATED TIME (UTC).
 Universal Coordinated Time is the international standard for time, and is tied
to the earth’s rotation. Because of this it must be periodically adjusted to
compensate for the slowing of the earth’s rotation – these adjustments are
called leap seconds. But because GPS Time has no leap seconds, it is not
adjusted, which puts it ahead of UTC time by several seconds.
 Universal Coordinated Time is computed from GPS Time using the UTC
correction parameters sent by the Master Control Station to the satellite
constellation as part of the navigation message. At the transition between
[Link] UTC on June 30, 1997 and [Link] UTC on July 1, 1997, UTC time
was retarded one additional second, putting GPS Time ahead of UTC time by
thirteen seconds. A GPS receiver will use the GPS Time to UTC time correction
parameter to provide the user with UTC time on the receiver’s display.
 It’s important to note that setting an incorrect time zone in a GPS receiver
has no effect on the receiver’s ability to provide an accurate position. An
incorrect time zone merely provides different time on a receiver’s display, not
inaccurate time.
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