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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

History of GPS

By Abe S. Ford


Accurate navigation requires that you know where you're on the Earth's surface, and determining this precisely and reliably has long been a tricky proposition. In centuries past, positioning was determined by the location of stars in the sky, but the disadvantages there are obvious. Over the course of the 20th century, attempts had been produced to develop a indicates of navigating that was reliable in any weather, and accurate to within several meters.

Among the more productive of these was called inertial navigation. The principle was easy - in case you know where you're starting out, and you keep track of what direction you're going in and at what speed, you are able to keep track of where you're. But this still needed you to figure out your starting position using other means. It had been obvious to scientists since the 1960s that satellite navigation, or sat nav, would be the very best remedy. However it wasn't until decades later that an successful sat nav program was finally realized.

The US military began development of the Global Positioning Method, or GPS, in 1973. Following years of analysis and development, the very first satellite was launched in 1989. It had originally been intended solely for military use, but during its development President Ronald Reagan decided that, as soon as it was deployed, it should be produced available for civilian sat nav requirements too. In 1994, when the 24th GPS satellite was launched into orbit, the system became totally operational.

Its usefulness for civilians became right away apparent. The FAA rapidly adopted it to maintain track of commercial aircraft, along with a mere year soon after the GPS went online, the first sat nav devices for cars were introduced to the market. The Global Positioning Method has been improving ever given that. Developed to operate having a minimum of 24 satellites, it presently has 30 operational satellites in orbit.

Each and every 1 is created with a 10-year intended lifespan, and new, more modernized replacements are usually being developed. As just one example of the improvements that have been created, the GPS originally allowed for civilian devices to be accurate within 100 meters. Most civilian receivers are now accurate to an average of 15 meters or less. The Global Positioning Program has been an enormous success, and will no doubt continue to evolve and boost.




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