10-15 years ago, Global Positioning System was a term known to most people only from Hollywood movies about the American Special Forces. Today however, almost every new car has a Global Positioning System (GPS).

2010-09-06 – www.easy2bid.com

GPS is a system used for navigation on the surface of the earth and in the athmosphere. The way the system works is that signals are transmitted from GPS-satelites to a GPS receiver. Using these signals the receiver is able to calculate a geographical position. The GPS-satelites also transmit a time signal that can be used by radio controlled clocks. In order to determine a so-called 2-D position the receiver must be able to receive signals from at least 3 of the satelites that make up the GPS satelite system. If there are four signals the hight can be determined as well. The satelites are in a constant orbit around Earth, at an altitude of about 20.000 km.

 

American Military

The system was originally developped by the American Department of Defense, and was at first called NAVSTAR. Since the 1980 however, the system has been used for both commercial and private purposes. It is still the American military that controlls the system, and they can if they chose make the the system less acurate or even completely unaccessiabe.

Other Systems

This is why The European Union and China are both in the process of creating their own satelite based navigation systems. The Russians allready have their own system called GLONASS. The European system is called Galileo and is expected to become even more precise than the American GPS system.  The Chinese system is called Compass or Beidou. It is expected to be ready for use in China and neighbouring states in 2012, and globally in 2020. At that time the system will consist of 35 satelites. Compass is suposed to be accurate inside 10 meters for civilians, and even better for the Chinese authorities and military.

 

China

It is no Coincidence that China will be the next country to get their own satelite navigation system. China is without a doubt on its way to becomming a super power - economically, they are already there. Now Except the traditional industry such as T Shirt Suppliers or Sock Suppliers, the high technology industry is developing. Obviously China does not want to continue being dependent on technolgy controlled by the Americans. On another note, a large part of the GPS receivers sold worldwide are being produced in China by Chinese suppliers. Furthermore, competition is almost always a good thing for consumers, so lets hope that Both The European Union and China will succeed in finishing their systems.