INTRODUCTION TO GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

Anil Rai
I.A.S.R.I., New Delhi -110012

1. Introduction
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a U.S. space-based navigation system that provides
reliable positioning, navigation, and timing services to the army as well as civilian users on a
continuous worldwide basis - freely available to all. For anyone with a GPS receiver, the
system will provide location and time. GPS provides accurate location and time information
for an unlimited number of people in all weather conditions, day and night, anywhere in the
world. The GPS is made up of three parts:
1. Satellites orbiting the earth
2. Control and monitoring stations on earth and
3. The GPS receivers owned by users.
GPS satellites broadcast signals from space that are picked up and identified by GPS
receivers. Each GPS receiver then provides three-dimensional location (latitude, longitude,
and altitude) plus the time. Individuals may purchase GPS handsets that are readily available
through commercial retailers. Equipped with these GPS receivers, users can accurately locate
where they are and easily navigate to where they want to go, whether walking, driving,
flying, or boating. GPS has become a mainstay of transportation systems worldwide,
providing navigation for aviation, ground, and maritime operations. Disaster relief and
emergency services depend upon GPS for location and timing capabilities in their life-saving
missions. Everyday activities such as banking, mobile phone operations, and even the control
of power grids, are facilitated by the accurate timing provided by GPS. Farmers, surveyors,
geologists and countless others perform their work more efficiently, safely, economically,
and accurately using the free and open GPS signals.
2. History and Development
The GPS system was developed as a worldwide satellite based system by the U.S.
Department of Defence (DOD) to simplify and improve military and civilian navigation and
positioning. The system grew Out of the "space race" with the Soviet Union during the
1950s. By the 1960s the Air Force has developed a system in which several satellites with
accurate clocks could assist in determining the position of a vehicle moving on land or in the
air. In 1973, the Navy and Air Force programs combined and formed the Navigation
Technology Program, which eventually became NAVSTAR (NAVigation System with Time
And Ranging). The Russians also developed a GPS system called GLONASS (GLObal
Navigation Satellite System). More recently the European Union approved funding to
develop a GPS system called Galileo. Development and testing of the system began
following the first GPS satellite launch in 1974. These satellites were built by Rockwell
Collins and launched by the Air Force. Testing continued into the 1980s when GPS satellites
were to be among payloads carried by NASA Space Shuttle flights. The GPS program
suffered a major setback when shuttle launches were suspended following the 1986
Challenger accident. Several years passed until modifications could be made to the Delta II
launch vehicle, enabling it to carry GPS satellites. The GPS system became fully operational
on 8 December 1993 when the full constellation of 24 satellites, 21 operational and three in
reserve, became available. The cost to the Air Force (1973 - 2002) to develop the GPS
satellites (not including military user equipment or launch costs) is approximately $6.3
billion. It costs about $750 million annually to operate and maintain the constellation,
including research and development, as well as procurement for and replacement of satellites.
3. Anatomy of the term: ‘‘Global Positioning System”
Global: Anywhere on Earth. Well, almost anywhere, but not (or not as well):
1. inside buildings
2. underground
3. in very severe precipitation
4. under heavy tree canopy
5. around strong radio transmission
6. near powerful radio transmitter antennas
or, anywhere else not having a direct view of a substantial portion of the sky. The radio
waves that GPS satellites transmit have very short lengths- about 20 cm. A wave of this
length is good for measuring because it follows very short paths, unlike its longer cousins
such as AM and FM band radio waves that may bend considerably. Unfortunately, short
waves also do not penetrate matter very well, so the transmitter and the receiver must not
have much solid matter between them, or the waves are blocked, as light waves are easily
blocked.
Positioning: where are you? How fast are you moving and in what direction? In what
direction should you go to get to some other specific location, and how long would it take at
your speed to get there?
System: a collection of components with links among them. Components and links have
characteristics [1].
4. Structure /Segments of GPS
The Global Positioning System is comprised of three segments: satellite constellation/space
segment, monitoring network/ ground control segment and user receiving equipment/user
segment (Figure 4). Formal GPS Joint Program Office (JPO) programmatic terms for these
components are space, operational control and user equipment segments, respectively.
1. The satellite constellation contains the satellites in orbit that provide the ranging
signals and data messages to the user equipment.
2. The operational control segment (OCS) tracks and maintains the satellites in space.
The OCS monitors satellite health and signal integrity and maintains the orbital
configuration of the satellites. Furthermore, the OCS updates the satellite clock
corrections and ephemeredes as well as numerous other parameters essential to
determining user position, velocity, and time (PVT).
3. Lastly, the user receiver equipment performs the navigation, timing or other related
functions (e.g. surveying).
4.1 Space Segment
The Space Segment consists of the constellation of spacecraft and the signals broadcast by
them which allow users to determine position, velocity and time. The basic functions of the
satellites are to:

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 1. Receive and store data transmitted by the Control Segment stations.
2. Maintain accurate time by means of several onboard atomic clocks.
3. Transmit information and signals to users on two L-band frequencies.
Several constellations of GPS satellites have been deployed, and several more are planned.
The experimental satellites, the so-called "Block I" satellites, were built by the Rockwell
Corporation. The first was launched in February 1978, and the last of the eleven satellite
series (one exploded on the launch pad) was launched in 1985. The operational series of GPS
satellites, the "Block II" and "Block IIA" satellites were also built by the Rockwell
Corporation. The 20 replacement "Block IIR" series of satellites, first launched in 1997, are
built by the General Electric Corporation. The "Block IIF" series are still in the design phase
and may, for example, incorporate an additional civilian transmission frequency. The
operational satellite I.D.s are separated into three space vehicle numbering series: SVN 13
through 21 for the Block II, SVN 22 through 40 for Block IIA, and SVN 41 and above for the
Block IIR satellites.
The Space Segment is an earth-orbiting constellation of 24 active and five spare GPS
satellites circling the earth in six orbital planes. Each satellite is oriented at an angle of 55
degrees to the equator. The nominal circular orbit is 20,200-kilometer (10,900 nautical miles)
altitude. Each satellite completes one earth orbit every twelve hours (two orbits every 24
hours). That's an orbital speed of about 4 km per second.
Each satellite has a design life of approximately 10 years, weighs about 845 kg, and is
approximately 17 feet across with its solar panels extended. Older satellites (designated
Block II/IIA) still functioning are equipped with 2 cesium, and 2 rubidium atomic clocks.
Newer satellites (Block IIR) are equipped with rubidium atomic clocks. All satellites also
contain 3 nickel-cadmium batteries for backup power when a satellite is in earth eclipse (out
of view of the sun).
Each GPS satellite (Figure 1) transmits a unique navigational signal centred on two L-band
frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum, permitting the ionospheric propagation effect on
the signals to be eliminated. At these frequencies the signals are highly directional and so are
easily reflected or blocked by solid objects. Clouds are easily penetrated, but the signals may
be blocked by foliage (the extent of blockage is dependent on the type and density of the
leaves and branches). The satellite signal consists of the following components:
1. The two L-band carrier waves.
2. The ranging codes modulated on the carrier waves.
3. The so-called "navigation message".

Figure 1. Block 2 GPS satellite.

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Several different notations are used to refer to the satellites in their orbits. One particular
notation assigns a letter to each orbital plane (i.e., A, B, C, D, E, and F) with each satellite
within a plane assigned a number from 1 to >=4. Thus, a satellite referenced as B3 refers to
satellite number 3 in orbital plane B. A second notation used is a NAVSTAR satellite number
assigned by the U.S. Air Force. This notation is in the form of a space vehicle number (SVN)
11 to refer to NAVSTAR satellite 11.
4.2 Control Segment (CS)
The CS has responsibility for maintaining the satellites and their proper functioning. This
includes maintaining the satellites in their proper orbital positions (called station keeping) and
monitoring satellite health and status. The CS (Figure 2) also monitors the satellite solar
arrays, battery power levels also. There are five ground facility stations: Hawaii, Colorado
Springs, Ascension Island, Diego Garcia and Kwajalein. All are owned and operated by the
U.S. Department of Defence and perform the following functions:
1. All five stations are Monitor Stations, equipped with GPS receivers to track the
satellites. The resultant tracking data is sent to the Master Control Station.
2. Colorado Springs is the Master Control Station (MCS), where the tracking data are
processed in order to compute the satellite ephemerides and satellite clock corrections.
It is also the station that initiates all operations of the space segment, such as
spacecraft manoeuvring, signal encryption, satellite clock-keeping, etc.
3. Three of the stations (Ascension Is., Diego Garcia, and Kwajalein) are Upload
Stations allowing for the uplink of data to the satellites. The data includes the orbit
and clock correction information transmitted within the navigation message, as well
as command telemetry from the MCS.
Overall operation of the Control and Space Segments is the responsibility of the U.S. Air
Force Space Command, Second Space Wing, Satellite Control Squadron at the Falcon Air
Force Base, Colorado.
The GPS satellites travel at high velocity (4 km/sec), but within a more or less regular orbit
pattern. After a satellite has separated from its launch rocket and it begins orbiting the earth,
its orbit is defined by its initial position and velocity, and the various force fields acting on
the satellite. In the case of the gravitational field for a spherically symmetric body this
produces an elliptical orbit which is fixed in space – the Keplerian ellipse. Due to the effects
of the other, non-spherical gravitational components of the earth's gravity field, and non-
gravitational forces, which perturb the orbit, the actual trajectory of the satellite departs from
the ideal Keplerian ellipse.
The most significant forces that influence satellite motion are:
1. the spherical and non-spherical gravitational attraction of the earth,
2. the gravitational attractions of the sun, moon, and planets (the "third body" effects),
3. atmospheric drag effects,
4. solar radiation pressure (both direct and albedo effects).

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 Figure 2. Monitor Stations and Master Control Stations of GPS.
4.3 User Segment
The user receiving equipment, typically referred to as a GPS receiver (Figure 3), processes
the L-band signals transmitted from the satellites to determine PVT. There has been a
significant evolution in the technology of GPS receiving sets since they were initially
manufactured in the mid-70. Initially, they were large, bulky and heavy analog devices
primarily used for military purposes. With today’s technology, a GPS receiver of comparable
or more capability typically weighs a few pounds or ounces, and occupies a small volume.
The smallest of todays are those of a wrist watch size, while the largest is a naval shipboard
unit (weighing about 32 kgs). The basic structure of a receiver is the antenna, the receiver and
processor, the display and a regulated dc-power supply. These receivers can be mounted in
ships, planes and cars, and provide exact position information, regardless of weather
conditions.

Figure 3. GPS receiver.

Figure 4. Segments of GPS.

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5. GPS Satellite Constellation and Signals
5.1 Satellite Constellation
The operational Block II/IIA satellite constellation was to be fully deployed by the late
1980’s.However, a number of factors, the main one being the Space Shuttle Challenger
disaster (28 January 1986), has meant that the GPS system only became operational in the
1990’s as far as most users were concerned. Full Operational Capability was declared on 17
July 1995 – 24 Block II/IIA satellites operating satisfactorily. At an altitude of approximately
20,200km, a constellation of 24 functioning GPS satellites (Figure 5) is sufficient to ensure
that there will always be at least four satellites visible, at all unobstructed sites on the globe.
Typically there are 6 to 10 satellites visible most of the day. The U.S. Department of Defence
has undertaken to guarantee 24 satellite coverage 70% of the time, and 21 satellite coverage
98% of the time.
As the GPS satellites are in nearly circular orbits, at an altitude of approximately 20,200km
above the earth, this has a number of consequences:
1. Their orbital period is approximately 11hrs 58mins, so that each satellite makes two
revolutions in one sidereal day (the period taken for the earth to complete one rotation
about its axis with respect to the stars).
2. At the end of a sidereal day (23hrs 56mins in length) the satellites are again over the
same position on earth.
3. Reckoned in terms of a solar day (24hrs in length), the satellites are in the same
position in the sky about four minutes earlier each day.

Figure 5. The GPS Constellation.

5.2 GPS Signal Components

The basis of the GPS signal is the two L-band carrier signals (Figure 6). These are generated
by multiplying the fundamental frequency f0 (10.23MHz) by 154 and 120, yielding the two
microwave L-band carrier waves L1 and L2 respectively. The frequencies of the two waves
are: fL1 = f0 * 154 = 1575.42 MHz, and fL2 = f0 * 120 = 1227.6 MHz. These are radio
frequency waves capable of transmission through the atmosphere over great distances, but
which cannot penetrate solid objects.

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 Table 1: GPS signal components

5.2.1 C/A Code and P Code

However, the L-band carrier waves themselves carry no information, and must be modified
(or modulated) in some way. In the Global Positioning System the L-band carrier waves are
modulated by two ranging codes, and the navigation message. The two distinct GPS ranging
codes are:
i. The C/A code (sometimes referred to as the “clear/access” or “coarse/acquisition”
code), sometimes also referred to as the “S code”.
ii. The P code (the “private” or “precise” code) was designed for use only by the
military, and other authorised users.
The L1 carrier was designed to be modulated with both the P and C/A codes, whereas the L2
carrier would be modulated only with the P code. Under the policy of Anti-Spoofing the P
code is encrypted through modulation by a further secret code (the “W code”) to produce a
new “Y code”. Both carrier signals contain the navigation message.
The C/A code is a 1,023 chip pseudo-random (PRN) code at 1.023 million chips/sec so that it
repeats every millisecond. Each satellite has its own C/A code so that it can be uniquely
identified and received separately from the other satellites transmitting on the same
frequency. The P-code is a 10.23 mega chip/sec PRN code that repeats only every week.
When the “anti-spoofing” mode is on, as it is in normal operation, the P code is encrypted by
the Y-code to produce the P(Y) code, which can only be decrypted by units with a valid
decryption key. Both the C/A and P(Y) codes are important from the navigation point of
view.
Actually, each satellite sends a signal continuously, rather like a radio station broadcast hours
per day. The radio station signal can be considered to consist of two parts: a carrier, which is
on all the time, and “modulation” of that carrier, which is the voice or music that you hear
when you listen to the station. (You probably have detected the presence of the carrier when
the people at the station neglect to say or play anything. The carrier produces silence,
whereas if our radio is tuned to a frequency on which no near by station is broadcasting we
will hear static.)
Each satellite actually broadcasts on two frequencies. Only one of this is for civilian use.
(The military GPS units receive both). The civilian carrier frequency is 1575.42 MHz
(1,575.42 million cycles/second). In contrast, FM radio signals are on the order of about 100
MHz. So the GPS radio waves cycle about 15 times as often, and are, therefore, one-fifteenth
as long.

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A copy of the C/A code for a given satellite might look like this:

1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1…

and it is a total of 1,023 bits. Then the sequence starts again. The sequence above probably
looks random to us. It is in fact called a pseudorandom noise code- the term noise coming
from the idea that an aural version of it would greatly resemble static one might hear on a
radio. The acronym is PRN.
Now the question is “how does the receiver use the 0’s and 1,s to determine the range from
the satellite to the receiver?”
The PRN code is any thing but random. A given satellite uses a computer program to
generate its particular code. The GPS receiver essentially uses a copy of the same computer
program to generate the identical code. Further, the satellite and the receiver begin the
generation of the code at exactly the same moment in time.
The receiver can therefore determine its range from the satellite by comparing the two PRN
sequences (the one it receives and the one it generates). The receiver first determines how
much the satellite signal is delayed in time, and then, since it knows the speed of radio waves,
it can calculate how far apart the two antennas are in space.
As an example (using letters rather than bits so we can have a more obvious sequence, and
cooking the numbers to avoid explaining some unimportant complications), suppose the
satellite and the receiver each began, at 4:00 P.M., to generate one hundred letters per second:

G J K E T Y U O W V W T D H K...

The receiver would then look at its own copy of this sequence and the one it received from
the satellite. Obviously its own copy would start at 4:00, but the copy from the satellite
would come along after that,because of the time it took the signal to cover the distance
between the antennas.Below is a graphic illustration of what the two signals might look like
to the computer in the receiver:

4.00 p.m. >> <<<<<< 7/100 of a second after 4:00 p.m.

Receiver: GJKETYUOWVWTDHK...
Satellite: GJKETYUOWVWTDHK...

The receiver would attempt to match the signals. We can see that the signal from the satellite
began to arrive seven letters later than 4:00; the receiver’s microcomputer could therefore
determine that it took 7/100 of a second for the signal from the satellite to reach the receiver
antenna. Since the radio wave travels at about 300,000 kilometers per second, the time
difference would imply that the satellite was 21,000 (that is,7/100*300,000) kilometers from
the antenna.[1]
5.2.2 Navigation Message
In addition to the C/A code navigational information is modulated into both the signals. The
information contains data like satellite orbits, clock corrections and other system parameters
(information about the status of the satellites). These data are constantly transmitted by each
satellite. From these data receiver gets its date, the approximate time and the position of the

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satellites. The complete data signal consists of 37500 bit and at a transmission rate of 50 bit/s.
A total of 12.5 minutes is necessary to receive the complete signal. This time is required by a
GPS receiver until the first determination of a position is possible, if no information about the
satellites is stored or the information is outdated. The data signal is divided into 25 frames
(Figure 7), each having a length of 1500 bit (meaning an interval of 30 seconds for
transmission).

Figure 7. A Frame of GPS Navigation Message

The 25 frames are divided into subframes (300 bit, 6 sec.), which are again divided into 10
words each (30 bit, 0.6 sec). The first word of each subframe is the TLM (telemetry word). It
contains a synchronization pattern, used by the receiver to help synchronise itself with the
navigation message and thus be able to correctly decode the data content. The next word is
the HOW (hand over word), which contains the number of counted z-epochs. This is the time
according to the satellite’s clock when the end of the subframe will be transmitted. The rest
of the first subframe contains data about status and accuracy of the transmitting satellite as
well as clock correction data. The second and third subframes contain ephemeris parameters.
Subframes 4 and 5 contain the so-called almanac data which include information about orbit
parameters of all satellites, their technical status and actual configuration, identification
number and so on. Subframe 4 contains data for the satellites number 25 – 32, ionospheric
correction data, special information and UTC time information; subframe 5 contains almanac
data for the satellites 1 – 24. The first three subframes are identical for all 25 frames. Every
30 seconds the most important data for the position determination are transmitted with these
three subframes. From the almanac data the GPS receiver identifies the satellites that are
likely to be received from the actual position. The receiver limits its search to these
previously defined satellites and hence this accelerates the position determination.
6. Working of GPS
The GPS system consists of three pieces. There are the satellites that transmit the position
information, there are the ground stations that are used to control the satellites and update the
information, and finally there is the receiver that we purchased. It is the receiver that collects
data from the satellites and computes its location anywhere in the world based on information
it gets from the satellites. There is a popular misconception that a GPS receiver somehow
sends information to the satellites but this is not true, it only receives data. So, just how is it
able to compute its position? Two views are there-
6.1 Geometric View
The basic concept of GPS positioning is that of positioning-by-ranges. The geometrical
principles of positioning can be demonstrated in terms of the intersection of loci. In the two-
dimensional case, a measured range to a known point constrains the position to lie on circle
with the measured range as radius. In three dimensions a measured range to a known point

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constrains the position in 3-D space to lie on the surface of a sphere centred at the known
point (Figure 8), with radius being the measured distance. In the case of GPS, the distance
measurement is made to a satellite with known position (coordinates are obtained from the
satellite ephemeris data transmitted within the navigation message), however the principle
applies to any range measuring positioning system, terrestrial or satellite-based. In two
dimensions, position can be defined as the intersection of two circles, involving distances d1
and d2 to two known points, as shown below (Figure 9). Note that there are two possible
solutions, only one of which is correct. In general one solution can be discarded rather easily
as the point lies in space.

Figure 8. Surfaces of Position for Range Measurements

Figure 9. The Intersection of Circular Lines of Position for 2-D Positioning.

In the three-dimensional case, the intersection of three spheres describes two points in space,
only one of which is correct (Figure 10). Hence, a minimum of three ranges are required, to
three separated known points, in order to solve the 3-D position problem. The quality of the
positioning solution is dependent, amongst other things, on the accuracy with which the
ranges can be measured and the geometry of the intersection.

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 Figure 10. Intersection of Surfaces of Position Based on Range Measurements.

If the point being positioned is stationary, the two (or three) ranges do not need to be
measured simultaneously. If the point is moving however, all ranges must be measured
simultaneously (or over an interval of time during which the point has not moved by an
amount greater than the uncertainty of the "fix"). Because the GPS constellation was
designed to ensure at least four satellites are always visible anywhere on the earth, satellite
positioning using simultaneously measured ranges is the basic positioning strategy for most
navigation applications. However, there is still the issue of how to account for measurement
biases, as the technology used for making GPS range measurements does not give calibrated
distance from the receiver to the satellite. Disturbing influences and errors in fact contaminate
the range measurements to an unacceptable degree, and hence the basic positioning principle
is modified in several ways to satisfy the varying levels of accuracies required by different
applications.
6.2 Mathematical View
The observation equation for a receiver-clock-biased range is:

P = p + erc(tr).c ... (1)

where c is the velocity of electromagnetic radiation in a vacuum (or simply the "velocity of
light"), erc is the receiver clock error (assume satellite clock time is "true" time) at time of
reception tr, P is the measured range and p is the true "geometric" range. Each observation
made by the receiver can be parameterised as follows:

(xs – x)2 + (ys – y)2 + (zs – z)2 = (P – erc.c)2 ... (2)

where xs, ys, zs is the coordinate of the satellite and x, y, z is the coordinate of the receiver.

As the 3-D coordinate of the satellite is known, then each measurement P contains four
parameters which may be considered unknown: the 3-D coordinate of the receiver (x, y, z)
and the receiver clock error (erc). By making four measurements, to four different satellites,
the following system of equations is obtained:

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 (xs1 – x)2 + (ys1 – y)2 + (zs1 – z)2 = (P1 – erc.c)2
(xs2 – x)2 + (ys2 – y)2 + (zs2 – z)2 = (P2 – erc.c)2
(xs3 – x)2 + (ys3 – y)2 + (zs3 – z)2 = (P3 – erc.c)2
(xs4 – x)2 + (ys4 – y)2 + (zs4 – z)2 = (P4 – erc.c)2 ... (3)
Equation (3) has a unique solution. So from the solution of these equations we can easily
determine the coordinate of the receiver as well as the correct time (UTC time).
If more than four measurements are made the method of Least Squares, or other estimation
techniques, can be used to determine the optimum solution. Does the receiver clock error
have to be estimated at each epoch? That depends upon such factors as:
1. How well the clock error is estimated.
2. How often the position solution is carried out.
3. The stability of the clock.
6.2.1 Satellite Clock Bias
As the satellite clock error is the largest source of GPS measurement bias it deserves closer
study. Under the assumption that the satellite clock error is an unknown quantity, the
observation equation for such a satellite-biased range:

P = p + esc(Tr).c ... (4)

esc is the satellite clock error caused by the satellite atomic clock not being synchronized to
"true" time (GPST/UTC). P is the measured range, p is the true range and Tr is the time of
transmission. Each observation made by the receiver can be parameterised as in equation (2),
except for the replacement of the term esc for erc:

(xs – x)2 + (ys – y)2 + (zs – z)2 = (P – esc.c)2 ... (5)

The 3-D coordinate of the satellite signal transmitter ( xs, ys, zs ) is known, hence in the case
of three range observations there are six unknowns in the system: the 3-D coordinate of the
receiver ( xr1, yr1, zr1 ) and the three satellite clock error terms ( esc1, esc2, esc3 ). Hence, at first
glance, six satellite-biased range observations are required to solve this positioning problem.
It is not, however, possible simply to make observations to more satellites as each new
observation introduces a new satellite clock parameter. There are two options for overcoming
this dilemma.
It is possible to take advantage of the fact that all observations made to a particular satellite
are biased by the same amount (if made at the same time, or close enough together so that the
satellite clock error can be assumed to have not changed by a significant amount). If three
range observations are made from another station, whose coordinate is known ( xr2, yr2, zr2 ),
then it is possible to obtain a system of six equations in six unknowns:

(xs1 – xr1)2 + (ys1 – yr1)2 + (zs1 – zr1)2 = (Pr1s1 – esc1.c)2

(xs2– xr1)2 + (ys2 – yr1)2 + (zs2 – zr1)2 = (Pr1s2 – esc2.c)2
(xs3 – xr1)2 + (ys13– yr1)2 + (zs3 – zr1)2 = (Pr1s3 – esc3.c)2
(xs1 – xr2)2 + (ys1 – yr2)2 + (zs1 – zr2)2 = (Pr2s1 – esc1.c)2 ... (6)
(xs2 – xr2)2 + (ys2 – yr2)2 + (zs2 – zr2)2 = (Pr2s2 – esc2.c)2
(xs3 – xr2)2 + (ys3 – yr2)2 + (zs3 – zr2)2 = (Pr1s3 – esc3.c)2

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For which a unique solution can be obtained. In a conceptual sense this is the basis of
differential GPS positioning,
The other strategy for accounting for satellite clock error is for the GPS operators to
periodically determine the clock error. As the satellite clocks have significantly better long-
term drift characteristics than the receiver clocks, a suitable clock error model could be a time
polynomial:

esc = a0 + a1 (t – toc) + a2 (t – toc)2 ... (7)

where: a0 is the clock bias term,
a1 is the clock drift term,
a2 is the clock drift-rate,
t is satellite clock time,
toc is some reference epoch for the definition of the coefficients.
7. GPS Errors
There are two types of positioning errors: correctable and non-correctable. Correctable errors
are the errors that are essentially the same for two GPS receivers in the same area. Non-
correctable errors cannot be correlated between two GPS receivers in the same area.
7.1 Correctable Errors
Sources of correctable errors include satellite clock, ephemeris data and ionospheric and
tropospheric delay, satellite geometry/shading. If implemented, SA (Selective Availability)
may also cause a correctable positioning error.
7.1.1 Receiver Clock Errors
A receiver's built-in clock is not as accurate as the atomic clocks onboard the GPS satellites.
Therefore, it may have very slight timing errors.
7.1.2 Orbital Error/Ephimeris Error
An ephemeris error is a residual error in the data used by a receiver to locate a satellite in
space. These are inaccuracies of the satellite's reported location.
7.1.3 Ionosphere and Troposphere Delays
Ionosphere delay errors and tropospheric delay errors are caused by atmospheric conditions.
Ionospheric delay is caused by the density of electrons in the ionosphere along the signal
path. A tropspheric delay is related to humidity, temperature, and altitude along the signal
path. Usually, a tropospheric error is smaller than an ionospheric error.
7.1.4 Intentional Degradation of the Satellite Signal
Selective Availability (SA) is an intentional degradation of the signal once imposed by the
U.S. Department of Defence. SA was intended to prevent military adversaries from using the
highly accurate GPS signals. The government turned off SA in May 2000, which
significantly improved the accuracy of civilian GPS receivers.
The amount of error and direction of the error at any given time does not change rapidly.
Therefore, two GPS receivers that are sufficiently close together will observe the same fix
error, and the size of the fix error can be determined.

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7.2 Non-correctable Errors
Non-correctable errors cannot be correlated between two GPS receivers that are located in the
same general area. Sources of non-correctable errors include receiver noise, which is
unavoidably inherent in any receiver, and multipath errors.
7.2.1 Multipath Error
This occurs when the GPS signal is reflected off objects such as tall buildings or large rock
surfaces before it reaches the receiver. This increases the travel time of the signal, thereby
causing errors.
The error sources and the approximate error range are given below:

Table 2: Sources of GPS error

Error Source Approx. Equivalent Range Error in meters
Correctable with Differential
Clock(Space Segment) 3.0
Ephemeris(Control Segment) 2.7
Ionospheric Delay 8.2
Tropospheric Delay 1.8
Selective availability(if implemented) 27.4
Non-Correctable with Differential
Receiver Noise 9.1
Multipath (Environmental) 3.0

8. Differential GPS (DGPS)

DGPS uses a second, stationary GPS receiver at a precisely measured spot (usually
established through traditional survey methods). This receiver can correct many errors found
in the GPS signals, including atmospheric distortion, orbital anomalies, Selective Availability
(when it existed), and other errors. A DGPS station is able to do this because its processor
already knows its precise location, and can easily determine the amount of error provided by
the GPS signals by comparing its known location with the erroneous position data provided
by the GPS.
DGPS corrects or reduces the effects of:
1. Orbital errors
2. Atmospheric distortion
3. Selective Availability
4. Satellite clock errors
5. Receiver clock errors
DGPS cannot correct for GPS receiver noise in the user’s receiver, multipath interference,
and user mistakes.
In order for DGPS to work properly, both the user’s receiver and the DGPS station receiver
must be accessing the same satellite signals at the same time. This requires that the user’s
receiver not be more than 300 miles from the DGPS station (100 miles or less is considered
optimum). Let’s take an example. Let a DGPS station receives GPS signals telling the station
that its location is x+5, y-3. But the station already knows that its true location is x+0, and
y+0. So it calculates a correction of x-5, y+3, and transmits this correction out to the field on
its own frequency. The DGPS receiver in the field uses this correction factor to update the

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same GPS radio signals its receiving. Here the GPS receiver triangulates its position with
GPS as x+30, and y+60. The DGPS receiver provides the correction factor to the other GPS
receiver’s processor, which calculates its correct position by subtracting 5 from ‘x’ co-
ordinate and adding 3 with the ‘y’ co-ordinate. The user can generally get accurate position
fixes within a few meters or less using DGPS.
Many high-end GPS receivers have built in DGPS capability, while some low-end receivers
(including some Garmin models) can be configured for DGPS using add on hardware. There
are a number of free and subscription services available to provide DGPS corrections. The
U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers transmit DGPS
corrections through marine beacon stations.
The Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) is being developed by the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) as another kind of highly advanced DGPS.
9. Applications of GPS
9.1 Timing
In addition to longitude, latitude, and altitude, the Global Positioning System (GPS) provides
a critical fourth dimension – time. Each GPS satellite contains multiple atomic clocks that
contribute very precise time data to the GPS signals. GPS receivers decode these signals,
effectively synchronizing each receiver to the atomic clocks. This enables users to determine
the time to within 100 billionths of a second, without the cost of owning and operating atomic
clocks. Precise time is crucial to a variety of economic activities around the world.
Communication systems, electrical power grids, and financial networks all rely on precision
timing for synchronization and operational efficiency. The free availability of GPS time has
enabled cost savings for companies that depend on precise time and has led to significant
advances in capability.
9.2 Roads and Highways
It is estimated that delays from congestion on highways, streets, and transit systems
throughout the world result in productivity losses in the hundreds of billions of dollars
annually. Other negative effects of congestion include property damage, personal injuries,
increased air pollution, and inefficient fuel consumption. The availability and accuracy of the
Global Positioning System (GPS) offers increased efficiencies and safety for vehicles using
highways, streets, and mass transit systems. Many of the problems associated with the routing
and dispatch of commercial vehicles is significantly reduced or eliminated with the help of
GPS. Many nations use GPS to help survey their road and highway networks, by identifying
the location of features on, near, or adjacent to the road networks. These include service
stations, maintenance and emergency services and supplies, entry and exit ramps, damage to
the road system, etc. The information serves as an input to the GIS data gathering process.
This database of knowledge helps transportation agencies to reduce maintenance and service
costs and enhances the safety of drivers using the roads.
9.3 Space
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is revolutionizing and revitalizing the way nations
operate in space, from guidance systems for crewed vehicles to the management, tracking,
and control of communication satellite constellations, to monitoring the Earth from space.
Benefits of using GPS include:
Navigation Solutions -- providing high precision orbit determination, and minimum ground
control crews, with existing space-qualified GPS units.

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Attitude Solutions -- replacing high cost on-board attitude sensors with low-cost multiple
GPS antennae and specialized algorithms.
Timing Solutions -- replacing expensive spacecraft atomic clocks with low-cost, precise time
GPS receivers.
9.4 Aviation
Aviators throughout the world use the Global Positioning System (GPS) to increase the safety
and efficiency of flight. With its accurate, continuous, and global capabilities, GPS offers
seamless satellite navigation services that satisfy many of the requirements for aviation users.
Space-based position and navigation enables three-dimensional position determination for all
phases of flight from departure, en route, and arrival, to airport surface navigation. New and
more efficient air routes made possible by GPS are continuing to expand. Vast savings in
time and money are being realized. In many cases, aircraft flying over data-sparse areas such
as oceans have been able to safely reduce their separation between one another, allowing
more aircraft to fly more favourable and efficient routes, saving time, fuel, and increasing
cargo revenue.
9.5 Agriculture
The development and implementation of precision agriculture or site-specific farming has
been made possible by combining the Global Positioning System (GPS) and geographic
information systems (GIS). These technologies enable the coupling of real-time data
collection with accurate position information, leading to the efficient manipulation and
analysis of large amounts of geospatial data. GPS-based applications in precision farming are
being used for farm planning, field mapping, soil sampling, tractor guidance, crop scouting,
variable rate applications, and yield mapping. GPS allows farmers to work during low
visibility field conditions such as rain, dust, fog, and darkness.
9.6 Surveying and Mapping
Using the near pinpoint accuracy provided by the Global Positioning System (GPS) with
ground augmentations, highly accurate surveying and mapping results can be rapidly
obtained, thereby significantly reducing the amount of equipment and labour hours that are
normally required of other conventional surveying and mapping techniques. Today it is
possible for a single surveyor to accomplish in one day what used to take weeks with an
entire team. GPS is unaffected by rain, wind, or reduced sunlight, and is rapidly being
adopted by professional surveyors and mapping personnel throughout the world.
10. GPS and Precision Agriculture
Precision Agriculture is doing the right thing, at the right place, at the right time. Knowing
the right thing to do may involve all kinds of high tech equipments and fancy statistics or
other analysis.
In this context, GPS becomes part of precision agriculture. For analysis and processing of
remote Sensed images requires ground truth information, collected in the field, at a variety of
sites and often at various times throughout the crop production season. Conventionally this
data has been manually recorded on field sheets, air photos or paper maps and considerable
time and effort is required to convert it to digital format for use in remote sensing or GIS. For
image analysis the ground data must be digitized in order to create a mask for training the
software to recognize different conditions and classify the remote sensing imagery. Now we
have an interactive, portable system to record field data directly into a digital database
consisting of yield, soil, road, water and contour maps overlain on air photos or remote
sensing imagery. A GPS receiver is linked to a note book computer displaying appropriate,

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pre loaded information layers, and a software package then combines incoming GPS signals
with the displayed data to allow the user to see where they are with respect to the map
components.
In precision agriculture, our main objective is to get more and more output by providing
optimum input. In agricultural Production soil is the media on which a seed is shown or a
plant is planted. So soil is very important from production point of view.
10.1 Soil Sampling by using GPS
Soil Sampling is like the foundation of a house. No matter how much effort we put into
building the house, the house is only as good as the foundation. The same principle applies to
precision agriculture. Whether growing forage, feed, food, or fibre, plant growth depends on
soil conditions and soil quality. To effectively manage soil-plant interrelationships, soils
information is very important.
There are two basic types of grid sampling (Figure 11) used to collect soils data for precision
agriculture
1. Area sampling (grid cell)
2. Point sampling with interpolation (grid point)
Grid sampling is used for precision agriculture because it is simple and does not require soil
science mapping experience. Once the soil data has been collected, the data can be displayed
and analyzed.

Figure 11. Types of grid sampling

Determining and mapping the variations in soil characteristics across a field requires and
accurate knowledge of the position that the samples were taken. Whichever grid sampling
method is used the coordinate location of the soil sample should be accurate for developing a
soils data layer and for navigating back to those locations for re-sampling.
This requires the use of a GPS receiver and a source of differential corrections so the
producer can acquire an accurate (1-2 meter) horizontal position that represents the soil
sample location. Having acquired the coordinates, the position can be entered into a database
while in the field.
After the soil sample location has been accurately acquired and entered into a database, all
the physical soils data (texture, pH, nutrients, etc.) can be tagged to the coordinate location.

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11. A Case Study: “Use of Remote Sensing Technology in Crop Yield Estimation
Surveys-2”.
11.1 Objective of the Study
a) To test the methodology of stratification based on satellite data in the form of vegetation
indices in crop yield surveys.
b) To obtain improved estimator of crop yield from crop yield estimation surveys using post
stratification based on satellite spectral data.
11.2 Study Area
The study was conducted for Rohtak district of Haryana state which is one of the major wheat
growing areas having acreage of more than 66% under wheat crop. Geographically the
district lies between 76015` to 77000` east longitude and 28020` to 29005` north latitude. The
total area of the district is 3911 sq. Kms. The land of the district is generally plane. Three
railway lines, one national highway, Western Yamuna main canal and Bohar and Bhalaut
branches of Western Yamuna main canal are present in the district. All these features provide
a great aid in identification of villages selected for crop cutting experiment and interpretation
of satellite spectral data used in this present case.
11.3 Extent of Data Used in the Study
a) Crop Yield Estimation Survey Data- In this study the yield data for the year 1995-
96 from yield estimation surveys based on crop cutting experiment for wheat crop in
Rohtak district in Haryana has been used. A stratified multistage random is adopted in
these surveys where the tehsil constitute the strata, the villages selected randomly
formed the primary sampling unit, the fields selected from each village formed the
secondary stage unit and the plot within the field formed the ultimate stage of
sampling. A total sample of 75 villages was selected, two fields were selected
randomly and from each field, a plot measuring 5m x 5m was selected for recording
the yield by actual harvesting the crop.
b) Satellite Data- The IRS-1B satellite data was used for recording the yield. The digital
image processing was carried out in the Remote Sensing Laboratory with the help of
Digital image processor software ERMAPPER.
A GPS was also used to identify the exact locations of the plots selected for crop
cutting experiment for wheat crop in terms of their latitudes/longitudes and also the
location of ground control points (GCP’s) which were later used to identify the raw
digital spectral data.
11.4 Method of Estimation
Crop yield estimation surveys based on crop cutting experiments are conducted throughout
the country for obtaining precise estimation of average yield for all major crops.
Here in this case the estimation of average crop yield at district level was done by using crop
yield data obtained from general crop yield estimation surveys based on crop cutting
experiments and the satellite spectral data.

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11.4 Results and Discussion

Table 3: Wheat crop yield estimation using stratification based on NDVI and RVI
for district Rohtak (Haryana), 1995-96

Average yield S.E % S.E R.E

(Qt/ha.)
Usual estimation 35.92 0.7594 2.11 1.00

Estimation based 33.66 0.5324 1.58 1.42

on NDVI
Estimation based 34.05 0.5733 1.69 1.28
on RVI
It is seen from the table 3 that for the district as a whole stratification based on RVI and
NDVI both provide more efficient estimator of crop yield as compared to the usual estimator
of crop yield and estimation based on NDVI provide more efficient estimator compared to
RVI.
So from the above study we can see that a much more efficient estimator can be obtained in
case of crop yield estimation from Remote Sensing data. And with out the help of the GPS,
the spectral data obtained from the satellite cannot be used for the generation of information
in a precise manner as GPS provides much more accurate position parameter than
topographical map.
References
1. Kennedy, M. (2002). The Global Positioning System and GIS, second edition, Taylor
and Francis.
2. Kaplan, E, D. (2006). Understanding GPS principles and application, second edition,
Artech House.
3. Ganesh, J. Global positioning system, available online at
http://www.csre.iitb.ac.in/~csre/conf/wpcontent/uploads/fullpapers/PS1/PS1_34.pdf
4. Raju, P.L.N. Fundamentals of GPS, available online at
http://www.wamis.org/agm/pubs/agm8/Paper-7.pdf
5. The GPS System, available online at http://www.kowoma.de/en/gps.htm
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http://www.gmat.unsw.edu.au/snap/gps/gps_notes1.pdf
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http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/giscc/units/u017/u017_f.html
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Technology in crop yield estimation surveys. Project Report. IASRI. Publication.

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