Your Telephone Connecting To the GPS Satellite
The US military forces launched the first GPS satellite in 1978. More than thirty other satellites have been launched ever since for military, aviation and individual usage worldwide. In the history of the Global Positioning System, more than just one GPS satellite has been lost during launches or afterwards. Some orbiting devices were taken out of service, others required replacements for technical purposes, but but no effort was spared for making GPS usage top quality. A GPS receiver decodes the signal sent by the satellite and gives the exact location based on latitude, longitude and altitude.
Presently, almost any smartphone includes a form of GPS satellite navigation with different mapping support and applications. The GPS seems to have become an integrated part of people’s life, but one has to wonder what will happen in a couple of years when the now orbiting satellites will have to be replaced. At present, there are management and funding issues that impair the proper reconditioning of the Global Positioning System. The US Air Force is in charge of the entire GPS satellite structure, the economic difficulties put a lot of stress on the managers who lack funds to invest in reconditioning.
At present there are some 31 satellites in service and since only four are necessary to get a fix on the position, the average user will not feel a change if some of the orbiting devices fail to work. There is a certain redundancy in the way information is provided, because sometimes, six up to eight satellites can get connected to a GPS receiver for the same tasks. In the absence of GPS satellite real-time positioning, consumers would have to start using maps all over again. The transportation systems, the maritime and military forces would be the most affected if the satellites are not reconditioned.
The European states are preparing the launch of an independent satellite navigation system in 2010 that would be an alternative to the American GPS satellite applications that are now most popular. Besides the USA, other countries that have GPS satellite dominance are Russia, China and India, that operate their own Global Positioning systems. No matter how things are sorted out in terms of policy, implementation and administration at the global level, the average user will not be affected by the different modifications in the way the GPS satellite communication works. In fact, the number of GPS users will get higher because of people’s attempt to improve the efficiency of navigation.
—————————
When the author isn’t being tracked, she has a collection of interests in psychic readings, Seattle HCG diet, and BMW Z4 windscreen windblocker wind deflector.
Mail this post
Tags: Car Toys, Cell Phone, Global Position Satellite, GPS, Map, Navigation, Personal Navigation System