View source for Global Positioning System

[[File:GPS Receivers.jpg|thumb|right|GPS receivers. People can carry them to detect where they are and plan where and how to go to the next place.]]
A '''Global Positioning System''', also known as '''GPS''', is a system of satellites designed to help [[navigate]] on the Earth, in the air, and on water.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Science Reference Section |author1-link=Library of Congress |title=What is a GPS? How does it work? |url=https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/item/what-is-gps-how-does-it-work/ |website=Everyday Mysteries |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=April 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412090940/https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/item/what-is-gps-how-does-it-work/ |archive-date=April 12, 2022 |date=November 19, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

A GPS receiver shows where it is. It may also show how fast it is moving, which direction it is going, how high it is, and maybe how fast it is going up or down. Many GPS receivers have information about places. GPSs for [[automobile]]s have travel data like [[road map]]s, [[hotel]]s, [[restaurant]]s, and service stations. GPSs for boats contain [[nautical chart]]s of [[harbor]]s, [[marina]]s, shallow water, rocks, and [[waterway]]s. Other GPS receivers are made for [[air navigation]], hiking and backpacking, [[bicycle|bicycling]], or many other activities. The majority are in [[smartphone]]s. 

Most GPS receivers can record where they have been, and help plan a journey. While traveling a planned journey, it predicts the time to the next destination.
== How it works ==
[[File:ConstellationGPS.gif|thumb|GPS satellites circle the earth in four [[Plane (geometry)|planes]], plus a group over the [[equator]]. Blue satellites here are visible to a GPS receiver at 45° North. Red satellites are blocked by the Earth.]]

A GPS unit takes radio signals from [[Satellite (artificial)|satellites]] in [[Outer space|space]] in [[orbit]] around the [[Earth]]. There are 31 satellites which are {{convert|20200|km|mi|-2}} above the Earth. The [[orbital period]] is 11 hours and 58 minutes. Each circle is {{convert|26600|km|mi|-2}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Global Positioning: Technologies and Performance |first1=Nel |last1=Samama |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-470-24190-5 |page=[{{google books|plainurl=y|id=EyFrcnSRFFgC|page=65 |title=Extract of page 65}} 65] |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=EyFrcnSRFFgC}}}}, </ref> [[radius]] due to the Earth's radius. Far from the [[North Pole]] and [[South Pole]], a GPS unit can receive signals from 6 to 12 satellites at once. Each satellite contains an [[atomic clock]] which is carefully set by [[NORAD]] several times every day.

The radio signals contain information about the time and position of the satellite, including its [[ephemeris]]. The GPS receiver subtracts the current time from the time the signal was sent. The difference is how long ago the signal was sent. The time difference multiplied by the [[speed of light]] is the distance to the satellite. The GPS unit uses [[trigonometry]] to calculate where it is from each satellite's position and distance. Usually there must be at least four satellites to solve the geometric equations. A GPS receiver can calculate its position many times in one second.

Many inexpensive consumer receivers are accurate to {{convert|20|m|ft|0}} almost anywhere on the Earth.

A GPS unit can usually also calculate its current speed. Cheap ones like in a [[mobile phone]] do this by comparing present position with recent position. Expensive ones like in an [[airliner]] use the [[Doppler effect]] and are very accurate.
== History ==
Various radio navigation systems have been in use since the middle 20th century. In the 1960s, experiments put the radio transmitters in satellites. A new system, at first called Navstar, was designed in the 1970s by the [[United States Air Force]]. It became GPS and was only used by the U.S. military. In 1983 President [[Ronald Reagan]] made an order to allow anyone to use the system, though it was yet too small to be very useful.<ref>{{cite book|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=I7JRAAAAMAAJ}}|title=Technology Transfer|author1=Dietrich Schroeer |author2=Mirco Elena |publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-2045-7|year=2000|access-date=May 25, 2008|page=80}}</ref> The highest precision signal was encrypted and only the armed forces were allowed to use it, but in the 1990s it was temporarily decrypted and this was made permanent at the turn of the century.{{fact|date=July 2025}}

Some GPS receivers are separate units with their own power and display. Those were the majority in the 20th century. Military receivers then displayed only the geographic coordinates, or some had no display but only gave the coordinates to another machine.{{fact|date=July 2025}}

Now, the majority of GPS receivers are part of [[mobile phone]]s, and many are built into [[wristwatch]]es, cars and other devices. The GPS part of a mobile phone is small and usually poor, but the phone also uses mobile base stations and Wi-Fi signals to help. This is called aGPS or "augmented GPS".<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://logistimatics.com/blog/how-does-a-gps-tracker-work/| title=How Does a augmented GPS Work| date= 2017-01-12}}</ref>
== Other systems ==
There are other systems that act in the same way. One was put in space by [[Russia]], called [[GLONASS]]. Another that is not yet done is named for Galileo and built by the [[European Union]].

== Global Positioning System Media ==
<gallery widths='160px' heights='100%' mode='traditional' caption=''>
File:AFSC Film, NAVSTAR GPS-Circa 1977.webm|Air Force film introducing the Navstar Global Positioning System, circa 1977

File:Managers for the Timation program.jpg|The [[Naval Research Laboratory]]'s managers for the Timation program and, later, the GPS program: [[Roger L. Easton]] (left) and Al Bartholemew.

File:Navigation Technology Satellite – II.jpg|Navigation Technology Satellite – II (Timation IV): NTS-II, the first satellite completely designed and built by NRL under GPS Joint Program funding. Launched June 23, 1977.

File:GPS-0012 San Diego Air & Space Museum.jpg|[[Test article (aerospace)|Qualification vehicle]] for GPS Block II on display in [[San Diego Air & Space Museum|San Diego]] – the only vehicle on public display.

File:2nd Space Operations Squadron emblem.png|Emblem of the [[2nd Space Operations Squadron]] – the unit responsible for operating the constellation

File:Dr Gladys West.jpg|AFSPC Vice Commander Lt. Gen. D. T. Thompson presents Gladys West with an award as she is inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame.

File:160921-F-0000U-001.jpg|GPS II underwent a four-month series of qualification tests in the AEDC Mark I Space Chamber to determine whether the satellite could withstand extreme heat and cold in space, 1985.

File:GPS24goldenSML.gif|A visual example of a 24-satellite GPS constellation in motion with the Earth rotating. Notice how the number of ''satellites in view'' from a given point on the Earth's surface changes with time. The point in this example is in Golden, Colorado, USA ({{coord|39.7469|N|105.2108|W}}).

File:GPS monitor station.jpg|Ground monitor station used from 1984 to 2007, on display at the [[Air Force Space and Missile Museum]]
</gallery>
== References ==
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[[Category:Technology]]
[[Category:Satellites]]
[[Category:Data input]]