Global Positing System (GPS)

Civil Engineering Department

University of Technology ‐ Iraq
 Introduction to GPS

• The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system that was
developed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in the early 1970s
• Initially, GPS was developed as a military system to fulfill U.S. military needs. However, it
was later made available to civilians.
• GPS provides
id continuous
i positioning
i i i and d timing
i i iinformation,
f i anywhere
h iin theh world
ld under
d
any weather conditions.
• GPS is a one-way-ranging (passive) system. That is, users can only receive the satellite
signals.
signals
 System
y Overview

• The Global Positioning System (GPS) comprises three segments as shown in figure.
• Th space segment (all
The ( ll functional
f i l satellites).
lli )
• The control segment (all ground stations involved in the monitoring of the system: master control station, monitor
stations, and ground control stations).
• The user segment (all civil and military GPS users).

Fig. (5-1) The Three GPS Segments

 Space
p Segment
g

• The GPS Space Segment consists of 24 satellites in semi-synchronous (approximately 12-

hour) orbits.
• The satellites are arranged in six orbital planes with four satellites in each plane.
• The orbital planes have an inclination angle of 55 degrees relative to the earth's equator.
• The satellites have an average orbit altitude of 20,200 km above the surface of the earth as
shown in figure (6-2).
• The satellites transmit ranging signals on two band frequencies: Link 1 (L1) Link 2 (L2).
• Th satellite
The lli signals
i l are transmitted
i d using
i spread-spectrum
d techniques,
h i employing
l i two
different ranging codes as spreading fictions, a 1.023 MHz coarse/acquisition code (C/A-
code) on L1 and a 10.23 MHz precision code (P-code) on both L1 and L2.
• Either the C/A-code or the P-code can be used to determine the range between the satellite
and the user, however, the P-code is normally encrypted and available only to authorized
users.
 Space Segment

Fig. (5-2) GPS Satellite Constellation

 Control Segment
g

• The Control Segment primarily consists of a Master Control Station (MCS), at Falcon Air
Force Base (AFB) in Colorado Springs, USA, plus monitor stations (MS) and ground
antennas (GA) at various locations around the world.
 User Segment
g

• The User Segment consists of receivers specifically designed to receive, decode, and
process the GPS satellite signals.
• GPS receivers can vary significantly in design and function, depending on their application
for navigation, accurate positioning.
 Basic GPS Concept
p

• The position of a certain point in space can be found from distances measured from this
point to some known positions in space.
• In the following, the user position is on the x-axis; this is a one dimensional case (1D).
• If the satellite position S1 and the distance to the satellite x1 are both known, the user
position
i i can be b at two places,
l either
i h to the
h left i h off S1.
l f or right 1
• In order to determine the user position, the distance to another satellite with known position
must be measured.
• figure the positions of S2 and x2 uniquely determine the user position U.
In this figure,
 Basic GPS Concept
p

• In order to determine the user position, three satellites and three distances are required.
• T satellites
Two t llit andd two
t distances
di t give
i twot possible
ibl solutions
l ti because
b two
t circles
i l intersect
i t t att
two points. A third circle is needed to uniquely determine the user position.
• For similar reasons one might decide that in a three-dimensional case (3D) four satellites
and four distances are needed.
 Intersection of Two Circles

• In the folwing, the intersection of two circles is illustrated.

• Note that the circles are obtained by simply radiating two distances (their radius values RA
and RB) about their radius points A and B.As shown, this geometry again results in two
intersection points, P1 and P2.
• these
h intersection
i i points
i can again i be
b located
l d by
b solving
l i for
f the
h parts off oblique
bli triangle
i l
ABP.
Intersection of Two Circles
Intersection of Two Circles
GPS Observables
GPS Observables
GPS Observables
 GPS Positioning Modes

• Autonomous Positioningg ((Point Positioning)

g)

• Differential Positioning

• Kinematic Positioning

• Static Positioning
 Autonomous Positioning

• Autonomous positioning is a mode of operation of a GPS receiver where the receiver

calculates position in real-time from satellite data alone without reference to data supplied
f
from another
h receiver
i that
h isi located
l d at a fixed,
fi d known,
k location
l i (i.e.,
(i base
b station).
i )
• This is the least precise mode of operation.
 Differential Positioning

• Differential positioning is a mode of GPS surveying that uses two or more receivers with
one receiver acting as a base station that is located at a known, fixed location and the other
receiver roving to unknown points.
• The base station computes corrections based on the differences between its known location
and its location as computed from the satellite C/A code. These corrections are applied to
positions collected by the roving unit.
 Kinematic Positioning

• Kinematic positioning is a mode of GPS surveying that uses two or more receivers with
one receiver acting as a base station that is located at a known, fixed location and the other
receiver roving to unknown points.
• Thi method
This th d uses bbaselines
li tto calculate
l l t position
iti andd has
h the
th potential
t ti l to
t obtain
bt i greater
t
accuracy than is possible with differential positioning methods.
 Static Positioning
• Static
St ti positioning
iti i (geodetic
( d ti survey)) is i a moded off GPS surveying
i that
th t uses two
t or more
receivers.
• The receivers monitor the L1/L2 carrier-phase observations (including both the C/A code
and P
P-code)
code) and use long occupation times (> 20 minutes).
minutes)
• This method uses baselines to calculate position and has the potential to obtain greater
accuracy than is possible with differential and kinematic positioning methods.
 GPS Applications

• GPS for the utilities industry

• GPS for forestry and natural resources
• GPS for precision farming
• GPS for monitoring structural deformations
• GPS for civil engineering application
• GPS for open-pit mining
• GPS for airborne mapping
• GPS for vehicle navigation
 Geometric Dilution of Precision (GDOP)

• Describes sensitivity of receiver to changes in the geometric positioning of the SVs. The
higher the DOP value, the poorer the measurement as shown in the Table, figures.

Table (6‐2): Quality of DOP values

QUALITY DOP
Very Good 1‐3
Good 45
4‐5
Fair 6
Suspect >6
 Geometric Dilution of Precision (GDOP)

• DOP can be expressed as several separate measurements with different definitions:

- Position (3D) DOP (PDOP): This value describes how many satellites are spread
evenly throughout the sky. The more the satellites directly above and the less on
the horizon, the lower the PDOP value is.
- Horizontal DOP (HDOP): This describes the effect of DOP on the horizontal
pposition value. The more ggood visible satellites low in the sky, y, the better the
HDOP and the horizontal position (Latitude and Longitude) are.
- Vertical DOP (VDOP): This refers to the effect of DOP on the vertical position
value. The more good visible low satellites in the sky, the better the VDOP and the
vertical position (Altitude) are.
- Time DOP (TDOP): This value describes the difference in time values of the
satellites and receiver’s internal clocks. The more in sync their clocks are the
lesser the TDOP value.
 Geometric Dilution of Precision (GDOP)

• The DOP can be calculated from the cofactor matrix QX which is a [4×4] matrix, where three
components are contributed by the site position X, Y, Z and one component by the receiver clock.
Denoting the elements of the cofactor matrix as

• The diagonal elements are used for the following DOP definitions:
 Geometric Dilution of Precision (GDOP)
Example: the following matrix represent the cofactor matrix for GPS point:
Compute the values for DOP definitions, and is the the quality of DOP values is sufficient for
observation.
0.897985 0.326683 0.62713 0.404912

0.326683 0.736391 0.687288 0.880146

0.62713 0.687288 0.828035 0.087172

0.404912 0.880146 0.087172 1.00

Solution: