What Is It? - How Does It Work? - Errors and Accuracy - Ways To Maximize Accuracy - System Components
What Is It? - How Does It Work? - Errors and Accuracy - Ways To Maximize Accuracy - System Components
•What is it?
•How does it work?
•Errors and Accuracy
•Ways to maximize
accuracy
•System components
From Lecture by Robert Long, University of Vermont
Many materials for this lecture adapted from Trimble Navigation Ltd’s GPS Web tutorial
at http://trimble.com/gps/index.html
GPS
•Stands for Global Positioning System
•GPS is used to get an exact location on or above the
surface of the earth (1cm to 100m accuracy).
•Developed by DoD and made available to public in 1983.
GPS
•GPS is a worldwide radio-navigation
system formed from 24 satellites and their
ground stations.
•Satellites orbit earth every 12 hours at
approximately 20,200 km
•GPS uses satellites in space as reference
points for locations here on earth
•Ground stations help satellites determine
their exact location in space.
Hawaii
Ascension Island Kwajalein
Diego Garcia
Colorado Springs
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a worldwide
radio-navigation system formed from a constellation of
24 satellites and their ground stations.
http://www.trimble.com/gps/index.html
Three Segments
Here's how GPS works in five logical steps:
12,500
km
11,200
11,500 km
km
How Does GPS Work?
(P.D.O.P.)
Errors and Accuracy (cont.)
•PDOP
Indicator of satellite geometry
Accounts for location of each satellite relative to others
Optimal accuracy when PDOP is LOW
Satellite 1 Satellite 1
Satellite 2
Satellite 2
Differential GPS
•DGPS improves accuracy much more than disabling
of SA does
•This table shows typical error—these may vary
Source: http://www.furuno.com/news/saoff.html
How does DGPS work?
•The stationary receiver must be located on a known
control point
•The stationary unit works backwards—instead of
using timing to calculate position, it uses its position to
calculate timing
How does DGPS work?
•Can do this because, precise location of stationary
receiver is known, and hence, so is location of satellite
•Once it knows error, it determines a correction factor
and sends it to the other receiver.
A Simplified Conceptual Look at Differential Correction
A GPS position can be calculated when the MC-GPS tracks
4 or more satellites:
Latitude
Longitude
Altitude
Ephemeris & Almanac Data Sent
Time Differential Correction (DGPS)
of GPS Job
m
Mode
ia
tte dV
smi
ran
at aT
D Corrected Point
1-5 Meter Error
How it Works
•WAAS consists of approximately 25 ground reference stations that
monitor GPS satellite data.
• Two master stations, located on either coast, collect data from the
reference stations and create a GPS correction message.
•The corrected differential message is then broadcast through one of
two geostationary satellites.
•The information is compatible with the basic GPS signal structure,
which means any WAAS-enabled GPS receiver can read the signal.
Network of Reference Stations
Copyright 2001
Todd Walter
Benefits of WAAS
Primary Means of Navigation - Take-Off,
En Route, Approach and Landing
Copyright 2001
Todd Walter
Courtesy: FAA
100 meters: Accuracy of the original GPS system, which was
subject to accuracy degradation under the government-
imposed Selective Availability (SA) program.
15 meters: Typical GPS position accuracy without SA.
3-5 meters: Typical differential GPS (DGPS) position
accuracy.
< 3 meters: Typical WAAS position accuracy