Friday, January 18, 2008

NOAA to ensure GPS accuracy

01/10/2008

NOAA will lead an international effort to pinpoint the locations of more than 40 global positioning satellites in Earth orbit, which is vital to ensuring the accuracy of GPS data that millions worldwide rely upon every day for safe navigation and commerce.
NOAA personnel will compile and analyze satellite orbit data from 10 analysis centers worldwide to ensure the accuracy of GPS information. For the next four years NOAAĆ¢€™s National Geodetic Survey will serve as the Analysis Center Coordinator for the International Global Navigation Satellite Systems Service, a voluntary federation of more than 200 organizations that provide continuous global satellite-tracking data.
The Global Navigation Satellite Systems, which include the U.S.-based Global Positioning System, the Russian GLONASS system, and the upcoming European Galileo system, are used for accurately determining the geographic position of any point on Earth.

2 comments:

ATLAS said...

How does the European Galileo System work?

edgar m. nierras said...

Galileo was originally developed for military purposes. It enables anyone with a receiver capable of picking up signals emitted by a constellation of satellites to instantly determine their position in time and space very accurately. The satellites in the constellation are fitted within an atomic clock measuring time very accurately. The satellites emit personalised signals indicating the precise time the signal leaves the satellite. The ground receiver, incorporated into a telecom device like a mobile phone, has in its memory the precise details of the orbits of all the satellites in the constellation. by reading the incoming signal, it can recognise the particular satellite, determine the time taken by the signal to arrive and calculate the distance from the satellite. once the ground receiver receive the signals from at least 4 satellites, simultaneously it can calculate the exact position. This worldwide system will ensure complementarity with the current GPS system.