GLOBAL

POSITIONING
SYSTEM

- AN OVERVIEW

GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

GPS is a satellite based radio navigation system
providing precise
3-D position and navigation
information.

GPS is a solution for one of the mans longest and

troublesome problem WHERE ON EARTH AM I ?
One can locate oneself relative to objects around.
For many centuries, sun and stars positions were used
for navigation.

Land surveyors used familiar reference points for

measurements.

 GPS Concept was initiated by US Department of defense after

second world war.
During next 25 years several projects were executed viz.
TRANSIT, TIMATION, LORAN, DECCA etc. But, could achieve
limited accuracy.

Beginning of 1970s, NAVSTAR (Navigation Satellite Timing And

Ranging) project was proposed to determine position accurately
at any POINT on earths surface at any TIME in any WEATHER
condition.

Advantages of GPS are

Inter-visibility between points is not required.

All weather operation.

Day and night operation.
Distances up to thousands of kilometers can be measured.

GPS CONFIGURATION:
SPACE SEGMENT Satellites orbiting the earth.
CONTROL SEGMENT Stations to control & monitor satellites.
USER SEGMENT Receiving and using GPS signals.

SPACE SEGMENT:
24 Satellites (21 oper. & 3 active spares)
6 orbital planes (each has 4 satellites)
20,200 km altitude ,Repitivity < 12 hrs
Minimum of 4 satellites visibility
Design life of 7.5 years

Electric power is supplied by two solar panels which also charge

three batteries used during solar eclipse.

Very accurate atomic clocks on board used for generating

signals at 10.23 Mhz.
Satellite ephemeris, code and satellite health status information
is superimposed on these signals.

 Satellites broadcast two carrier waves constantlyL1 at 1572.42 Mhz , wavelength 19.05 cm
L2 at 1227.60 Mhz, wavelength 24.45 cm
L1 & L2 carriers are modulated by codes to provide satellite clock
reading to receiver.

L1 has two codes modulated upon itC/A (coarse/acquisition) code at 1.023 Mhz
P (precision) code at 10.23 Mhz.
L2 has only P (precision) code at 10.23 Mhz.
P-code is an encrypted code. Available only to users who have
decryption capability.
SATELLITE

Carrier + Code + Message

L1, C/A, D

L1, P, D

L2, P, D

RECEIVER

Carrier

Code

Message

 CONTROL SEGMENT:
Tracks and monitors GPS satellites, updates their orbiting position
and calibrate their clocks.
Monitoring stations Receive satellite signals from all the visible
satellite and transmit the data to master control station.
Master station Formulates the navigation message and transmit data
back to monitoring stations which uploads data to the satellite through
ground antennas.

Master control
station
Monitoring
stations

Ground antennas

 USER SEGMENT:
Comprises of GPS equipment. The main component of GPS
equipment are
Antenna with preamplifier
Multi-channel Receiver

Microprocessors for receiver control,

data sampling and data processing.
User interface, command & display panel
Memory and data storage.

 GPS OBSERVABLES:
GPS is a one way ranging system.
Two types of GPS observables for measuring distance.
* PSEUDORANGE

* CARRIER PHASE

PSEUDORANGE:
Measure of distance between satellite and receiver antenna.
Refers to the epoch of emmission and reception of codes.
Satellite and receiver clock both generates a PRN code
Transmission (travel) time is measured by correlating these
two codes.
It is termed as Pseudorange because of bias of receiver
clock.

 GPS OBSERVABLES: Pseudorange

Let us denote Ts as the reading of satellite clock at emission time.
Tr as the reading of receiver clock at signal reception time.

Difference between these two clock readings is equivalent to

time shift
t = (Tr Ts ) + dt (receiver clock bias)
Prange = t x C (velocity of light)

 GPS OBSERVABLES: Carrier phase

It is the difference between received satellite carrier phase and
phase generated by internal receiver oscillator.
The measurements are recorded at equally spaced receiver
clock epochs t (specified by user)
Change in the phase observable reflects change in receiver
satellite separation

sr (t) = s(t) - r(t) + Nsr

Receivers carrier tracking loop measures s(t) - r(t) by shifting
receiver generated r(t) to match s(t).

 NAVIGATION WITH GPS:

Accomplished by RESECTION process using distances measured

from satellites.
Space coordinates (position of satellite) are broadcast by
satellite ( in navigation message)
Range (distance) to each satellite is measured by recording the
time required for signal to reach receiver.
U1,V1,W1

P1

U2,V2,W2

P2

U3,V3,W3

P3

P1(t) = (U1-UK)2 + (V1-VK)2 +(W1-WK)2 -CDTK

P2(t) = (U2-UK)2 + (V2-VK)2 +(W2-WK)2 -CDTK
P3(t) = (U3-UK)2 + (V3-VK)2 +(W3-WK)2 -CDTK

But the clock of ground receiver is biased.

UK,VK,WK

This problem can be overcome by

measuring four distances to four satellites
and solving four equations.
P4(t) = (U4-UK)2 + (V4-VK)2 +(W4-WK)2 -CDTK

Minimum of 4 satellites are required for position determination.

 GPS SERVICES:
SPS (Standard Positioning Service) :
Result of implementation of S/A (Selective Availability)
Selective Availability (SA) :
Satellite clock is subjected to dithering and satellite position which are
broadcast are intentionally altered. Both effects introduce errors in
pseudoranges, thus resulting in position degradation.
SPS Accuracy:

- Single receiver ~ 100 m (S/A on & Prange) , ~ 15 - 50 m (S/A off &

Prange)
- Relative positioning ~ 3 8 m (Prange) , 1 3 ppm (carrier phase)

PPS (Precision Positioning Service) :

-Available only to users who have decryption capability.
-Single receiver Accuracy ~ 1 m

 ERROR SOURCES:
* Ionospheric and atmospheric delays
* Multi-path

* Geometric Dilution of precision

* Selective availability
Ionospheric and atmospheric delays:
Most relevant propagation regions are ionosphere (between 50 and
1500 km) and troposphere (about 40 km).
As the satellite signal passes through atmosphere , it slows down
because of bending of signal path ,resulting in delay.
Amount of delay depends upon * Satellite elevation

* Density of ionosphere

These errors can be eliminated to a certain extent by - Observing same set of satellites by two receivers (Differential method)

- Using Dual frequency receivers (L1 & L2)

 Multi-paths:
-Occurs when signal does not travel
directly to the antenna, but hits the
nearby objects first and is reflected
back into the antenna.

Geometric Dilution Of Precision (GDOP):

- Measure of strength of satellite geometry and is related to spacing and
position of satellites in the sky.

- Used to describe the effect of satellite distribution on accuracy.

To minimize this effect , it is best to observe satellites above 15

and GDOP should be low < 8.

 PLANNING OF GPS SURVEY:

GPS is a differential technique, wherein baselines are
measured from a reference site to the other site. Sites should
have following characteristics
No obstruction above 15 cutoff angle.
No reflecting surface nearby to cause multi-path.
No powerful transmitters in vicinity which would cause
interference.
Reliable power supply and ample memory
Observation for sufficient length of time depends upon
baseline length, receiver type, Satellite geometry.
Good observing window I.e. GDOP < 8 and availability of 5
or more satellites

 PLANNING OF GPS SURVEY:

 DIFFERENT METHODS OF SURVEYING:

*Autonomous positioning
* Static differential positioning
*Kinematic differential positioning

STATIC DIFFERENTIAL POSITIONING:

At least two receivers are used for measurements.

Measurements are made to the same satellites simultaneously.

Coordinates of one site are known and coordinates of other site are
determined relative to the known site.
One receiver is kept on the known site , called REFERENCE.
Second receiver is kept on the other side of the baseline , called
ROVER.
Carrier phase data is then recorded at both stations simultaneously
for certain length of time (Observation time)
Post processing s/w process all data to obtain differential position.

ROVER-2

ROVER-1

REFER.

ROVER-3

 KINEMATIC DIFFERENTIAL POSITIONING:

Mostly used, if all survey points are in a local area and baseline
lengths are within few kilometers.
It involves one static (Ref.) and one moving receiver (Rover).
The reference and rover receivers are switched on and remain
stationary for at least 45 min. while collecting data. (Initialisation
phase)
Rover then may be moved freely to remote sites for making
observations.
Stop & Go :
When rover moves between sites, it must maintain lock with at
least 4 satellites.

Pseudokinematic:
No need to maintain lock when rover moves.
Points should be reoccupied.

 COORDINATE SYSTEM & TRANSFORMATIONS:

GPS uses geodetic coordinate system based on WGS 84 ellipsoid and
gives ellipsoidal coordinates.
Whereas, local coordinates used in a particular countrys map are
based on local ellipsoid (e.g. Everest spheroid)
It is required to transform coordinates from one coordinate system to
other.
Transformation requires SHIFT, ROTATION and SCALE factor to be
calculated.
For transformation, user should know at least three points whose
coordinates are known in WGS 84 and Local coordinate system
Various transformation models are available in post processing
software.
Models are also available for transforming Ellipsoidal heights to
orthometric heights.