Global Positioning System (GPS)

Introduction
The current global positioning system (GPS) is the culmination
of years of research and unknown millions of dollars.
The current system is managed by the U.S Air Force for the
Department of Defense (DOD).
The current system became fully operational June 26, 1993
when the 24th satellite was lunched.

http://www.trimble.com/gps_tutorial/

Introduction--cont.
GPS provides specially coded satellite signals that can be
processed with a GPS receiver, enabling the receiver to
compute position, velocity and time.
A minimum of four GPS satellite signals are required to compute
positions in three dimensions and the time offset in the receiver
clock.

Accuracy and precision of data increases with more satellites.

Three Parts
Space segment
Control segment
User segment

Space Segment

Space Segment--Information
The GPS uses a constellation of 24 satellites that orbit the earth
at about 11,000 nautical miles, once every 12 hours.
The orbital position is constantly monitored and updated by the
ground stations.
Each satellite is identified by number and broadcasts a unique
signal.
The signal travels at the speed of light.
Each satellite has a very accurate clock, 0.000000003 seconds

Space Segment--Satellite Signals

Because the GPS receiver calculates its location by
trilateration, he task of the receiver is to determine its distance
from multiple satellites.
The GPS system uses two types of signals to calculate
distance.
Code-phase ranging
Carrier-phase ranging

Space Segment--Satellite Signals--Code-Phasing

Ranging
Each satellite has a unique signal.
It continuously broadcasts its signal and also sends out a time
stamp every time it starts.
The receiver has a copy of each satellite signal and determines
the distance by recording the time between when the satellite
says it starts its signal and when the signal reaches the receiver.

Space Segment--Satellite Signals--CodePhasing Ranging cont.

Distance is calculated using the velocity equation.

Distance
Velocity =
Rearranging the equation for distance:
Time
Distance= Velocity x Time
If the system knows the velocity
of a signal and the time it takes
for the signal to travel from
the sender to the receiver, the
distance between
the sender and the receiver can be
determined.

Distance ExampleCode Phase Ranging

The signals from the GPS satellites travel at the speed of light-186,000 miles/second.
How far apart are the sender and the receiver if the signal travel
time was 0.23 seconds?
Distance (ft)= Velocity (mi/sec) x Time (sec)
mi
ft
= 186,000
x 5208
0.23 sec= 2,257,8400 ft
sec
mi

It should be clear that this system requires very accurate

measurement of time and synchronization of clocks.
These time errors limit the precision of this system.

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Space SegmentCarrier-Phase Ranging

Surveying quality
receivers use the
underlying carrier
frequency.
Easy to determine
number of cycles.

The proportion of a partial cycle is difficult to determine.

This is called phase ambiguity.
Phase ambiguity error is resolved by comparing multiple signals
from multiple receivers.
More precise system.

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Receiver Segment

12

Receiver
The receiver collects, decodes and processes the satellite
signals.
The basic receiver does not include a transmitter.
Different levels of precision are available.
The receiver determines its location by trilateration.

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GPS Trilateration
Each satellite knows its position
and its distance from the center of
the earth.
Each satellite constantly
broadcasts this information.
With this information and the
calculated distance, the receiver
calculates its position.
Just knowing the distance to one
satellite doesnt provide enough
information.

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GPS Trilateration--cont.
When the receiver knows its
distance from only one satellite, its
location could be anywhere on the
earths surface that is an equal
distance from the satellite.
Represented by the circle in the
illustration.
The receiver must have additional
information.

15

GPS Trilateration--cont.
With signals from two satellites, the
receiver can narrow down its location to
just two points on the earths surface.
Were the two circles intersect.

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GPS Trilateration--cont.
Knowing its distance from three
satellites, the receiver can
determine its location because
there is only two possible
combinations and one of them is
out in space.
In this example, the receiver is
located at b.
The more satellite that are used,
the greater the potential
accuracy of the position location.

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Factors Influencing Position Accuracy

The number of satellites (channels) the receiver can track.
The number of channels a receiver has is part of its design.
The higher the number of channels---the greater the potential accuracy.
The higher the number of channels---the greater the cost.

The number of satellites that are available at the time.

Because of the way the satellites orbit, the same number are not available at
all times.
When planning precise GPS measurements it is important to check for
satellite availability for the location and time of measurement.
If a larger number of channels are required (6-10), and at the time of
measurement the number available was less than that, the data will be less
accurate.

The number of different systems that the receiver can track.

WAAS [Wide Area Augmentation System] FAA & DOT
GLONASS [GLObal'naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema] Russian

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Factors Influencing Position Accuracy--cont.

The system errors that are occurring during the time the receiver
is operating.
The GPS system has several errors that have the potential to
reduce the accuracy.
To achieve high levels of precision, differential GPS must be used.

Differential GPS uses one unit at a known location and a rover.

The stationary unit compares its calculated GPS location with the
actual location and computes the error.
The rover data is adjusted for the error.
Real Time Kinematic (RTK)
Post processing

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Location
Once the GPS receiver has located its position it is usually
displayed in one of two common formats:
Latitude and longitude
Universal transverse Mercator (UTM).

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Latitude and Longitude

Latitudes and
longitudes are
angles.

Both use the center of the earth as the vertex, but they use a different
zero reference.

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Latitude
Latitude gives the location of a place on the
Earth north or south of the Equator.
Latitude is an angular measurement in
degrees (marked with ) ranging from 0 at
the Equator to 90 at the poles (90 N for
the North Pole or 90 S for the South Pole)
The earths circumference is approximately
24,859.82 miles around the poles.
Miles
24859.82 miles
=
= 69.05 miles/degree
Degree
360 degrees

Each degree of latitude 69 miles

Stillwater has a latitude of 36.026o. This puts Stillwater

2,485.79 miles north of the equator.

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Latitude--Equator
The Equator is an imaginary circle drawn around the planet at a
distance halfway between the poles.
The equator divides the
planet into a Northern
Hemisphere and a
Southern Hemisphere.
The latitude of the
equator is, by definition,
0.

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Latitude--cont.
Four lines of latitude are named because of the role they play in
the geometrical relationship with the Earth and the Sun.

Arctic Circle 66 33 39 N
Tropic of Cancer 23 26 22 N
Tropic of Capricorn 23 26 22 S
Antarctic Circle 66 33 39 S

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Longitude
Longitude describes the location of a
place on earth east or west of a northsouth line called the Prime Meridian.
Longitude is given as an angular
measurement ranging from 0 at the
Prime Meridian to +180 eastward and
180 westward.
In 1884, the International Meridian
Conference adopted the Greenwich
meridian as the universal prime meridian
or zero point of longitude.

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Longitude--cont.
The circumference of the earth at the
equator is approximately 24,901.55
miles.
Miles
24901.55 miles
=
= 69.17 Miles Degree
Degree
360 degrees

Each degree of longitude 69 miles

Stillwater has a longitude of -97.086. This puts Stillwater 6,698.934

miles west of the prime meridian, at the equator.

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Longitude--cont.

There is an important difference between latitude

and longitude.
The circumference of the earth declines as the
latitude increase away from the equator.
This means the miles per degree of longitude
changes with the latitude.
This makes determining the distance between
two points identified by longitude more difficult.

Latitude
(o)

Miles/deg.

69.17

10

68.13

20

65.03

30

59.95

40

53.06

50

44.55

60

34.67

70

23.73

80

12.05

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Mercator Projection

A Mercator projection is a
pseudocylindrical conformal
projection (it preserves shape).

Points on the earth are transferred,

on an angle from the center of the
earth, to the surface of the cylinder.

What you often see on poster-size

maps of the world is an equatorial
Mercator projection that has
relatively little distortion along the
equator, but quite a bit of distortion
toward the poles.

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Mercator Projection-cont.

In this illustration it can

be seen the the projected
distance is greater than
the earth distance.
Within a few latitudes of
the equator the distortion
is very small, but the
distortion increases as
latitude increases.

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Transverse Mercator Projection

Transverse Mercator projection
rotates the earth 90 degrees
with in the cylinder.
In this projection a small
increases in longitude are
relatively undistorted.

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Transverse Mercator Projection

This illustration shows
that when transverse
Mercator is used, narrow
vertical slices of the
earth have little
distortion.

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UTM Zones
The world is divided into 60
zones of latitude, each 6o wide
at the equator, that extend from
84o N to 80o s.

These zones begin at 180o longitude and are numbered

consecutively eastward.

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UTM Zones--cont.

The conterminous United

States is covered by 10 UTM
grid zones.
In the Northern Hemisphere
each zone's northing
coordinate begins at the
equator as 0,000,000 and is
numbered north in meters.

The easting coordinates are measured from an artificial reference

line drawn perpendicular to the equator and centered in the zone at
the equator.

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UTM--cont.
The UTM system uses a different grid for the polar regions.
These areas are covered by a different conformal projection
called the Polar Stereographic.
Since compass directions have little meaning at the poles, one
direction on the grid is arbitrarily designated "north-south" and
the other "east-west" regardless of the actual compass direction.
The UTM coordinates are called "false northing" and "false
easting.

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Using Location Information

Each system has its advantages and disadvantages.
UTM

Latitude and longitude

Advantages

With the proper

instruments, a person can
determine their position at
the site without using GPS.
Used by most maps

Advantages
Best method for determining
distances between two points.

Disadvantages
Not as useful for finding a

Disadvantages
Difficult to determine
distances between two or
more points.

location.

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Determining UTM Zone

Treat west longitude as negative and east as positive.
Add 180 degrees; this converts the longitude to a number
between zero and 360 degrees.
Divide by 6 and round up to the next higher number.
Example:
The location of the intersection of Hall of Fame and Virginia on
OSU campus is 56 7 23.71 N and 97 05 16.079 W.

-97.088 +

180 = 82.912

82.192
= 13.8 = 14
6

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Determining a UTM Grid Value for a Map Point

The UTM grid is shown on all
quadrangle maps prepared by
the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS).
On 7.5-minute quadrangle
maps (1:24,000 and 1:25,000
scale) and 15-minute
quadrangle maps (1:50,000,
1:62,500, and standardedition 1:63,360 scales), the
UTM grid lines are indicated at
intervals of 1,000 meters,
either by blue ticks in the
margins of the map or with full
grid lines.

The 1,000-meter value of the

ticks is shown for every tick or
grid line.

http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/factsheets/fs07701.html

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Determining a UTM Grid Value

for a Map Point--cont.
To use the UTM grid, you can place
a transparent grid overlay on the
map to subdivide the grid, or you
can draw lines on the map
connecting corresponding ticks on
opposite edges.
The distances can be measured in
meters at the map scale between
any map point and the nearest grid
lines to the south and west.
The northing of the point is the
value of the nearest grid line south
of it plus its distance north of that
line; its easting is the value of the
nearest grid line west of it plus its
distance east of that line.

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Determining Distance Using UTM

In the illustration the UTM
coordinates for two points are
given.
The distance can be determined
using Pythagorean Theorem
because UTM is a grid system.

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UTM Example--cont.
Subtracting the easting proved the
length of the horizontal side:
208,000 meters.
Subtracting the northing proves the
length of the vertical side: 535,000
meters.
The distance between the two points
is:

Distance =

535,0002 208,0002

= 574011.32... or 574,000 meters

Note: this is the plane distance. To find surface distance
a curve equation must be used.
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Ground Segment
The ground segment has one master control, one alternative master
control station, 12 command and control antennas and 16 monitoring sites.

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GPS Errors

Satellite geometry

Satellite orbits

Multipath

Atmospheric effects

Clock

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Error-Satellite Geometry
Describes the position of the satellites with each other.
The best geometry, and least error, occurs when the satellites
are equally distributed.
Satellite geometry error occurs when the satellites are
concentrated in on quadrant or in a line.
The Positional Dilution of Precision (PDOP) is an indication of
the quality of the 3D coordinate satellite geometry.
General surveys PDOPs should be less than 3.

Satellite geometry error is not measureable, it tends to enhance

other errors.

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Error-Orbits
Even though the satellites are positioned in very precise orbits,
slight shifts are possible do to the gravitational influences of the
sun and moon.
Orbit errors can be as high as 2 meters.

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Error-Multipath
Multipath errors are caused by satellite signals reflecting off of
objects.
Increase chance of occurrence when around tall buildings.

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Error-Atmospheric
Radio signals travel at the speed of light in space, but are
slowed down by the atmosphere.
The majority of this effect can be eliminated by the receiver.
Lower frequency signals are slowed down more that high
frequencies.
The receiver can determine the difference in the arrival time of high
and low frequency signals and calculate a correction.

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Error-Clock
In spite of the synchronization of the satellite and receiver
clocks, and small amount of inaccuracy in timing remains.
This can result in errors up to 1 meter.
To keep clock errors to 1 meter or less, the time error must be
be limited to 20-30 nanoseconds.

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Using GPS

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Availability
Because GPS satellites are not stationary above one point of
the earth, like telecommunication satellites, the number of
satellites available at any one time is not constant.
The satellite availability should be checked before scheduling a
GPS survey. Especially when high precision is required and /or
you know that some stations may be partially blocked.

One site is: http://www.calsky.com/cs.cgi

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Example of Satellite
Availability

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Global Navigation Satellite System

(GNSS) Terms

As the size of the area increases the dilution of precision increases.

The dilution of precision is given in multiple measurements.

GDOP Geometric dilution of Precision A combination of navigational

position and time error

PDOP Positional Dilution of Precision The spatial geometrical

quality of the positional solution.
HDOP Horizontal Dilution of Precision Measure of the quality of the
horizontal position.

VDOP Vertical Dilution of Precision Measure of the quality of the

vertical position

TDOP Time Dilution of Precision Mean error of the time estimation.

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DOP
DOP

Rating

Ideal

Highest possible. Required for surveys requiring the

highest precision.

23

Excellent

Positional measurements are sufficient for all but the

most stringent surveys.

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Good

Minimum level appropriated for business decisions.

78

Description

Moderate Sufficient for calculations, but a more open sky view

is recommended.

9-20

Fair

Positional information should only be used to indicate

rough locations.

20
50

Poor

Measurements are +- 150 feet and are probably

useless.

Values below 2 will produce acceptable results for most surveys. Values
over three should not be used.
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Static Time
Because the receiver continuously calculates its position,
increasing the time it is stationary improves the precision.
Static time can be divided into three categories.
Static
Fast static
Kinematic

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Static Surveys
The recommended time is related to the distances being
surveyed.
Static times of 30 minutes to 2 hours are recommended for
distances of 1 to 20 miles.

To qualify for a static survey, both receivers must observe a

minimum of the same four satellites for the duration of the time.
Data is post processed.
Static surveys have the highest precision and can be used for
any surveys.

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Fast Static
Uses the same procedures as static surveys, just shorter
observation times.
Five (5) to 10 minutes are usually sufficient for surveys that do not
require the highest level of precision.

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RTK
Requires two receivers recording observations simultaneously.
RTK requires receivers that can use the dual frequency L1/L2
observations.
Can lock onto satellites while on the move.
Must have radio or other link to transfer data and calculate error
in real time.
Accuracy can be as good as 0.02 to 0.05 feet, 0.24 inches to 0.6
inches.

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Questions?

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