Global Positioning System (GPS) – Brief History & Use

Below is some general information and some history of the use of the global positioning system.

What is a global positioning system? The world would not be as it is today without the extensive use of a global positioning system. Navigators and explorers have constantly searched for a system that would enable them to locate their position on the globe. It was on June 26 1993 that this search was ended. It was on this date that the U.S. Air Force launched the 24th Navstar satellite into orbit around the Earth. This satellite completed a network of 24 satellites, which is known as the global positioning system. Global positioning system receivers can be purchased for less than a couple of hundred pounds, with one of these receivers you can learn your location on the planet, and they can tell your latitude, longitude and even altitude.

GPS-Satellite-Receiver

This incredible technology known as the global positioning system was made possible by a combination of scientific and engineering advances. This technology would not have been possible without the development of atomic clocks, which are the world’s most accurate timepieces. The global positioning system is used in our world in so many ways, many of the things that we take for granted would not be possible without the global positioning system. The global positioning system is helping to save lives, generating over 100,000 jobs and much more.

The global positioning system was developed by the US Department of Defense to provide all weather round the clock navigation capabilities for military ground, sea, and air forces. Since the implementation of the global positioning system it has become an integral asset in numerous civilian applications and industries around the globe, including recreational uses such as boating, aircraft and hiking and corporate vehicle fleet tracking, and surveying.

Global positioning system receivers use the triangulation of the satellites navigational signals to determine their position on the earth. There are 2 different signals that are transmitted by the satellites, civilians use one and the military the other. The civilian signal is downgraded so it is not as accurate as the signal used by the military. Global
positioning system
receivers can even be found in some cars that are on the market. They are the modern equivalent of the map book, but much more accurate and you don’t need someone in the passenger seat to give you directions. They can even be set so that the computer in your car tells you when and where to turn so you don’t even need to look at the
computer screen.