The Global Positioning System, otherwise known as GPS, is a radio-navigation mechanism created from a group of 24 satellites and their stations. The United States Department of Defense funds, maintains and controls GPS. Initially, the US created the GPS to supports its military operations; however, it has since been opened up to allow many civilian uses around the world. The DOD has given free access to the Standard Positioning Service of GPS to the public.
The GPS tracking mechanism involves pinpointing the geographical location of a person or thing. GPS allows users to track their vehicles or mobile phones by installing a tracking device or software. It also helps in providing the actual location of a community, industry, or environment. This means that organizations can use the GPS tracking mechanism to monitor the position and routes of their delivery vehicles.
The GPS tracking mechanism relies heavily on the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System). The GNSS is a network that uses microwave signals transmitted from several and received by ground-based GPS devices to pinpoint the location, speed, and direction of the device. This provides both historic and real-time navigation data from the device in which it is installed.
These specialized satellite microwave signals are processed by a receiver. The function of GPS receivers goes beyond finding the actual location of a device. Users can also access velocity and time using the GPS tracking mechanism. It takes only 4 GPS satellite microwave signals to determine the position of any device in a 3d format, hence, mimicking a natural environment for easy access. Check out Eyeride for premium and affordable GPS receivers.
The GPS system comprises of 27 GPS satellites orbiting around the Earth. 24 of these satellites are operational while the remaining 3 are backups. They orbit around the earth every 12 hours and transmit their signals to the GPS receiver.
There are several ground-based tracking stations across the world that control the positioning mechanism of the GPS. They help track the signals that are transmitted from the GPS satellites. GPS receivers help in converting these microwave signals to data that helps users identify the velocity, time, and actual location of a device.
Trilateration is the mathematical principle that governs the operation of the Global Positioning System. It consists of 2 categories which are: 3-dimensional trilateration and 2-dimensional trilateration. Any GPS receiver needs to understand the 2 major principles to accurately calculate using the trilateration principles.
Signals from at least 3 GPS satellites must be picked up by the receiver to determine the exact coordinates of the thing that the user intends tracking. Secondly, the receiver needs to understand the space between the GPS satellites transmitting the signals.
The radio waves transmitted from these satellites are electromagnetic waves and they travel at approximately three hundred million meters per second (the speed of light). Hence, allowing the transmission, calculation, and interpretation of these signals to occur in real-time.
