SATELLITE
POSITIONING WITH
GPS
Introduction
Introduction
GPS -Global Positioning System (GPS)
It is a satellite-based navigation system
Developed by the U.S. Department of
Defense (DoD) in the early 1970s.
GPS provides continuous positioning and
timing information
GPS is a one-way-ranging (passive)
system (i.e. users can only receive the
satellite signals)
Anatomy of the term’GPS’
i, Global-almost any where on the earth
but not
inside the building
Under ground
Under heavy tree canopy
The radio waves that GPS satellites
transmit have very short
lengths(20cm),they are good for
measuring and follow a straight path and
they are not penetrate matters very well.
Cont..
ii. Positioning-Answers where are you?
(provide coordinates that specify where
you are)
iii. System-refers different components
connected with connection links.e.g
space segment,control segment and
user segment.
GPS satellite orbit
Satellite revolves at a speed of 3.9 km/s, 11 h 58
min.
The height is 26560 km from the center of the
earth. The height of the orbits above the earth is
then about 20200 km.
Satellites are arranged on 6 planes, each at least 4
slots where satellites can be arranged equidistantly.
Today, typically more than 24 satellites orbit the
earth, improving the availability of the system.
The inclination angle of 55°, the planes are rotated
in the equatorial plane by 60° against each other.
Orbits of GPS satellite
Inclination of orbital plane
The number
and
constellation of
satellites
guarantees
that the signals
of at least four
satellites can
be received at
any time all
over the world.
Satellite Ground Track – 24
hr
GPS Segments
Space
segment
Control
segment
User segment
Space Segment
The space segment consists of the 24-
satellite constellation
Each GPS satellite transmits a signal, which
has a number of components:
two sine waves (also known as carrier frequencies),
two digital codes, and
a navigation message.
The carriers and the codes are used mainly
to determine the distance from the user's
receiver to the GPS satellites.
Cont…
The navigation message contains
The coordinates (the location) of the satellites
as a function of time.
Satellite health
The transmitted signals are controlled by
highly accurate atomic clocks onboard
the satellites.
Control Segments
Consists of a worldwide network of tracking
stations, with a master control station (MCS)
located in the United States at Colorado Springs,
Colorado.
Their primary task is tracking the GPS satellites
in order to determine and predict satellite locations
system integrity
behavior of the satellite atomic clocks
atmospheric data
the satellite almanac
This information is then packed and uploaded into
the GPS satellites through the S-band link.
Cont..
Cont…
Each satellite passes over at least one
monitor station twice a day.
Control and Monitor
Stations
Tracking station in Hawaii
User segment
The user segment includes all military
and civilian users.
With a GPS receiver connected to a GPS
antenna, a user can receive the GPS
signals, which can be used to determine
his or her position anywhere in the
world.
GPS is currently available to all users
worldwide at no direct charge.
GPS: the basic idea for position
determination
Coordinates of 3 satellite and distances to the
receivers are known then the location of the receiver
can be calculated by the concept of resection .
But how we get distances from satellite to receiver
and satellite locations?
Distance from two carriers, two codes
Location of satellite from navigation message.
Theoretically, only three distances to three satellites
are needed.
By resection method we can calculate the user
position.
From the practical point of view, however, a fourth
satellite is needed to account for the receiver clock
Resection
2D position determination with 3 satellites
and corrected clock error
Coordinate and Time Systems
To describe the GPS observation
(distance) as a function of the GPS orbit
(satellite position) and the measuring
position (station location), suitable
coordinate and time systems have to be
defined.
Coordinate System
a space-fixed, conventional inertial
reference system (CIS) for the
description of satellite motion, and
an Earth-fixed, conventional terrestrial
reference system (CTS) for the positions
of the observation stations and for the
description of results from satellite
geodesy.
Geocentric Earth-Fixed Coordinate
Systems
It is convenient to use the Earth-Centred
Earth-Fixed (ECEF) coordinate system to
describe the location of a station on the
Earth’s surface.
The ECEF coordinate system is a right-
handed Cartesian system (x, y, z).
Its origin and the Earth’s centre of mass,
while its z-axis and the mean rotational axis
of the Earth; the x-axis is pointing to the
mean Greenwich meridian, while the y-axis is
directed to complete a right-handed system
ECEF
World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS
84)
WGS 84 is a geocentric terrestrial reference
system.
It is the official GPS reference system.
In other words, a GPS user who employs the
broadcast ephemeris in the solution process
will obtain his or her coordinates in the WGS
84 system.
However, if a user employs the precise
ephemeris obtained from the IGS service, his
or her solution will be referred to the ITRF
reference system.
Datum transformations
In the past, positions with respect to
horizontal and vertical datums have been
determined independent of each other.
In addition, horizontal datums were
nongeocentric and were selected to best
fit certain regions of the world(local
datum).
Therefore there must be a transformation
parameter between GPS global 3-D
geocentric datum and local datum.
Time system
Three basic groups of time scales are of importance in satellite
geodesy:
(1) The time-dependent orientation of Earth with respect to the
inertial space is required in order to relate the Earth-based
observations to a space-fixed reference frame. The appropriate time
scale is connected with the diurnal rotation of Earth, and is called
Sidereal Time or Universal Time.
(2) For the description of the satellite motion we need a strictly
uniform time measure which can be used as the independent
variable in the equations of motion. An appropriate time scale can be
derived from the orbital motion of celestial bodies around the Sun. It
is called Ephemeris Time, Dynamical Time, or Terrestrial Time.
(3) The precise measurement of signal travel times, e.g. in satellite
laser ranging, requires a uniform and easily accessible time scale
with high resolution. The appropriate measure is related to
phenomena in nuclear physics and is called Atomic Time.
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and the GPS Time are the most
important to GPS users. UTC is an atomic time scale based on the
International Atomic Time (TAI).
In surveying and navigation, however, a time system with relation to
the rotation of the Earth, not the atomic time, is desired. This is
achieved by occasionally adjusting the UTC time scale by 1-second
increments, known as leap seconds, to keep it within 0.9 second of
another time scale called the Universal Time 1 (UT1) , where UT1 is a
universal time that gives a measure of the rotation of the Earth.
GPS Time is the time scale used for referencing, or time tagging, the
GPS signals. It is computed based on the time scales generated by the
atomic clocks at the monitor stations and onboard GPS satellites. There
are no leap seconds introduced into GPS Time, which means that GPS
Time is a continuous time scale.
The difference between GPS and UTC time scales is given in the GPS
navigation message. It is worth mentioning that both GPS satellite and
receiver clocks are offset from the GPS Time, as a result of satellite and
