GPS in Schools – How GPS Works

How GPS Works

FAST FACTS
Over the years, people have used a variety of techniques
to navigate across the globe. Traditionally, people relied 1. The GPS system became fully
on stars and landmarks to travel between various locations, operational in 1994.
while maps and compasses helped to prevent people from 2. On average, it costs the US
getting lost. The advent of the Global Positioning System, or Government $2 million every
‘GPS’ for short, means people no longer have to rely on day to run, but it is free for
these traditional (and often complex) positioning techniques public use.
to find their way around. 3. A typical GPS satellite travels
through the sky at nearly
The GPS project first began in 1973 and became fully
14,000 km per hour!
operational in 1994. The system is run by the United States
Department of Defence and was originally intended for 4. GPS receivers can determine
military applications only, but was made available for your position anywhere on
public use on completion. earth – even in the outback,
the ocean or in Antarctica.
The GPS system consists of a network of 24 active satellites
5. GPS works 24 hours a day in
(and 8 spares) located nearly 20,000 km above the earth’s all weather conditions – rain,
surface - that’s the same as driving from Melbourne to Perth fog, hail or shine.
six times! Each satellite broadcasts different signals which
can be tracked by a GPS receiver on earth, which are then 6. Satellite signals can travel
analyzed by the GPS receiver to determine its precise through most plastics and
glass, but not wood, rock or
location. The signals operate in all weather conditions but
concrete.
can’t penetrate through solid objects, so GPS receivers
perform best when they have a clear view of the sky.

GPS receivers come in all different shapes and sizes, are widespread and are affordable. Today,
GPS receivers can be found in watches, phones, tablets, computers, cars and a wide variety of other
devices.

Figure 1 GPS receivers are available as stand-alone devices,

but can also be found in cars, tablets and watches.

Produced by the University of Tasmania in conjunction with Geoscience Australia as part of the AuScope GPS in Schools Project – 2014.

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 GPS in Schools – How GPS Works

Determining Your Position

So if a GPS receiver is tracking signals from multiple satellites, how does it convert these into a position
that can be used for navigation? GPS receivers use a mathematical process called trilateration. This
process can be a little tricky to comprehend in three-dimensional space, so let’s begin with an example
in two-dimensions…

You are travelling through outback Australia and find

yourself at a lookout near an unfamiliar lake. At the
lookout, there is a signpost with distances to three Australian
towns.

The first sign tells you that you are 740 km from Adelaide.
This fact alone isn’t particularly useful, as you could be
anywhere on a circle around Adelaide that has a radius of
740 km.

The second sign informs you that you are also 1,500 km
from Cairns. If you combine these two facts, you can limit
your location to one of two possibilities (A or B, shown by
the intersection of the two circles in Figure 2).

The third sign also tells you that you’re 1,430 km from
Sydney. Using this final bit of information, you can eliminate
Location B from Figure 2 and quickly determine that you’re
at Location A - Lake Eyre in South Australia (see Figure 3).

Figure 2 Figure 3

Location A Location A

Location B

Trilateration also works in three-dimensions as well, but involves using spheres instead of circles and
requires four distances to form a unique solution instead of three. GPS receivers use three-dimensional
trilateration to tell you A) where you are on the earth and B) your current height.

Produced by the University of Tasmania in conjunction with Geoscience Australia as part of the AuScope GPS in Schools Project – 2014.

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 GPS in Schools – How GPS Works

In order to make this calculation, every GPS receiver must know the following things:

1. The location of at least four GPS satellites above it and;

2. The distance between the receiver and each of those GPS satellites.

The GPS receiver figures both of these things out by analysing radio signals transmitted from the GPS
satellites and timing how long it takes for the signal to travel from the satellite to the receiver. If a GPS
receiver cannot do this for at least four satellites, it will not be able to figure out where it is. If more
than four satellites are detected, the accuracy of the trilateration increases.

Further Information
Are you wondering how exactly a GPS receiver can measure the distance between itself and multiple
satellites? Are you curious about how each GPS satellite knows exactly where it is in space at any
given time? Perhaps you’d like to know how a GPS satellite actually gets launched into space? Answers
to all these questions and more can be found using the following resources:

Recommended Books

• ‘GPS for Dummies’ by Joel McNamara (2008). ISBN: 0470156236

• ‘How does GPS work?’ by Leon Gray (2014). ISBN: 1482403943

Recommended URL’s

• Official GPS Homepage - http://www.gps.gov/

• ‘What is GPS?’ A more detailed explanation - http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/

Recommended YouTube Videos

• NASA Launchpad: ‘How GPS Works’ - http://youtu.be/DsmvTzw3GP4

Discovery News: ‘How GPS Works’ - http://youtu.be/IoRQiNFzT0k

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 GPS in Schools – Worksheet 1

Australian Curriculum Content Descriptors: ACMNA178, ACSIS124, ACHGS049, ACHGS050, ACHGS052,

ACSHE227, ACSIS145, ACSIS146, ACHGS057, ACHGS058, ACHGS060

Worksheet 1
Instructions: Use the information provided to answer the following questions.

1. What does the acronym ‘GPS’ stand for?

Global Positioning System.

2. Why was the GPS network originally developed?

The GPS system was originally developed by the US Department of Defence in 1973 as a navigation
tool for the US military. After it became fully operational in 1994, it was made available for public use.

3. How many satellites are used in the network? How many are actually active at any one time? Why are this
many satellites required?
The GPS satellite network consists of 32 satellites in total, with 24 being active at any one time. 24
satellites are required to ensure that at a position fix can be obtained by any user, at any point on earth,
at any given time. (A network of 24 satellites ensures that at least four satellites are ‘visible’ at any
point on the earth at all times). Eight satellites are used as spares in case of failure.

4. What mathematical technique does a GPS receiver use to determine its position? What is the minimum
number of satellites required to achieve this? Can you think why this many satellites are required?
3D trilateration is used by GPS receivers to determine their position on the earth’s surface. A minimum
of four satellites are required to achieve this, as using any fewer satellites will result in multiple
solutions. (1 satellite = anywhere on the surface of a sphere, 2 satellites = anywhere on a circle, 3
satellites = two possible locations, 4 satellites = elimination of the second possible location).

5. Using the same mathematical positioning technique as a GPS receiver, determine your 2D position on the
map of Moonah, Tasmania (see next page) given the information below. Draw on your map to show your
working.

- You are 950 m from Hazelwood School.

- You are 1200 m from Moonah Bowl.

A) How many possibilities are there for your current location? What are they?
Two. A) is Hobart Apartments on the Brooker Highway, B) is the Scout Hall on New Town Road.

B) Someone is then kind enough to tell you that you are also 850 m from the New Town Bay Golf Club.
Which of the two possible positions from 5A) was correct?
Hobart Apartments on the Brooker Highway.

Produced by the University of Tasmania in conjunction with Geoscience Australia as part of the AuScope GPS in Schools Project – 2014.

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 GPS in Schools – Worksheet 1

0m 500 m 1000 m

6. A GPS receiver needs to know two things in order to determine where it is on the earth. What are these two
bits of information? If the signal containing this information is travelling at 300,000 km per second (i.e. the
speed of light) and the GPS satellite is 20,000 km above the earth, how long does it take for the signal to
reach the GPS receiver? Be sure to show your working.
A) The location of at least four GPS satellites above it and B) the distance between the receiver and each
of those GPS satellites.
𝟐𝟎, 𝟎𝟎𝟎
𝑺𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 = = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟔𝟕 𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒔
𝟑𝟎𝟎, 𝟎𝟎𝟎

7. GPS receivers rely on the transmission of radio waves from the GPS
satellite network, but sometimes these signals can get blocked. How Why isn’t my GPS
and why does this occur? What can you do to fix the issue? receiver working in
this cave??
GPS signals can get blocked by solid material or objects such as
rocks, wood or solid building structures (e.g. in a forest with a
very dense canopy) because GPS signals cannot penetrate these
objects. To correct the issue, the user should move to an area
with a clearer view of the sky.

Produced by the University of Tasmania in conjunction with Geoscience Australia as part of the AuScope GPS in Schools Project – 2014.

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 GPS in Schools – Worksheet 1

8. GPS satellites move around the earth to provide constant and global coverage. The figure below shows GPS
satellite locations for two observers at a particular time. Using your knowledge of GPS, refer to the diagram
and answer the questions below.

4
3

5
2

1 B
6

A) If both Observer A and B have GPS receivers, which satellites are each of them able to track?
Observer A can track satellite #1, 2, 3 and 4, but cannot see #5 or 6. Observer B can track satellite
#3, 4 and 5 only.

B) Can Observer A track enough satellites to get a position fix? Why/why not? What about Observer B?
Because Observer A can track four satellites, she is capable of obtaining a position fix. Observer B
cannot obtain a position fix because he is only able to track three satellites (minimum number of
satellites required for a position fix is four).

C) If the tree and the house were removed, could Observer A track all the satellites? Why/why not? What
about Observer B?
If the tree and house were removed, Observer B could only track five of the satellites, as #6 is
below the horizon. Observer B could track all of the satellites.

D) If each GPS satellite travels 166,000 km every time they do one lap around the earth, and if each
satellite is travelling at 13,900 km/hour, how long does it take each satellite to do one complete
rotation? How many rotations does each satellite do in a single day (24 hours)? Be sure to show your
working.
𝟏𝟔𝟔, 𝟎𝟎𝟎
= 𝟏𝟏. 𝟗𝟒 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 = ~𝟏𝟐 𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏
𝟏𝟑, 𝟗𝟎𝟎
𝟐𝟒
= 𝟐 𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝟐𝟒 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅
𝟏𝟐

Produced by the University of Tasmania in conjunction with Geoscience Australia as part of the AuScope GPS in Schools Project – 2014.

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 GPS in Schools – Worksheet 1

9. Describe what you believe are some of the advantages of the GPS system. Can you think of any limitations?

The GPS system provides many advantages over traditional navigation techniques. This includes:
• Reliable position fixes with high accuracy (to within ~5 metres)
• The service operates at any time of the day or night.
• Operates in all weather conditions.
• Is available anywhere on the planet.
• Free for the public to use.
• Operation is very simple and requires little knowledge of traditional navigation techniques.

Some of the limitations of the GPS system are:

• Requires a power supply to operate, either through mains electricity or batteries.

• Requires a sufficiently clear view of the sky in order to obtain a position fix, so the user must
be outside. GPS receivers may not operate in dense forests, deep canyons or anywhere where
there is limited sky view.
• It is an electronic device, so it is susceptible to malfunction due if damaged (e.g. dropping a
GPS receiver from a large height or immersing it in water).

Produced by the University of Tasmania in conjunction with Geoscience Australia as part of the AuScope GPS in Schools Project – 2014.