GPS

By: Corey

GPS

• Global Positioning System: a global system of U.S. navigational satellites developed to provide precise positional and velocity data and global time synchronization for air, sea, and land travel.

Who invented the GPS

• GPS or the Global Positioning System was invented by the U.S. Department of Defense (D.O.D) and Ivan Getting, at the cost of twelve billion taxpayer dollars. The Global Positioning System is a satellite navigational system, predominantly designed for navigation. GPS is now gaining prominence as a timing tool.

• http://inventors.about.com/od/gstartinventions/a/gps.htm

Ivan Getting

• Dr. Ivan Getting was born in 1912 in New York City. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an Edison Scholar, receiving his Bachelor of Science in 1933. In 1951, Ivan Getting became the vice president for engineering and research at the Raytheon Corporation. When Ivan Getting left Raytheon in 1960, this proposed technique was among the most advanced forms of navigational technology in the world, and its concepts were crucial stepping stones in the development of the Global Positioning System or GPS.

How does it work?• The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a network of about 30

satellites orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 20,000 km. The system was originally developed by the US government for military navigation but now anyone with a GPS device, be it a SatNav, mobile phone or handheld GPS unit, can receive the radio signals that the satellites broadcast. Wherever you are on the planet, at least four GPS satellites are ‘visible’ at any time. Each one transmits information about its position and the current time at regular intervals. These signals, travelling at the speed of light, are intercepted by your GPS receiver, which calculates how far away each satellite is based on how long it took for the messages to arrive. Once it has information on how far away at least three satellites are, your GPS receiver can pinpoint your location using a process called trilateration.

• http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=55

GPS on Marine ships

• A GPS comes in handy on the water. It is able to help navigate you to places in which you may have difficulty doing off by heart. On the water there are no signs to tell you where to go, but using a GPS you are able to find your way along, and be able to not get lost.

Different types of GPS’

• Garmin• Ram• Dual• Kodak• Goodyear• NavMan• Zagg• http://www.gpscity.ca/brands

Is a GPS mandatory on a ship?

• It is not mandatory that you have GPS on a ship. However it is extremely helpful to have one on board, and very safe. A GPS can really help you especially in bad weather conditions such as fog. They are becoming very popular on ships nowadays.

First GPS

Modern GPS