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Global Positioning Systems rely on receivers that are now the size of a pin and satellites, 24 to be exact, that act as “man-made stars” that create a network of constellations to mathematically determine measurements as accurately as to the centimeter.
There are five keys to how a GPS (Global Positioning System) works:
Triangulating
Measuring Distance
Getting Perfect Timing
Satellite Positions
Error Correction
The prefix tri- means three. Therefore, triangulating means measuring the distances from three satellites. Although a fourth satellite or measurement is theoretically necessary to determine an exact location, three satellites can determine two possible locations and one of the two locations, or measurements, is theoretically impossible. Therefore, a fourth measurement is not necessary because of the obscurity of one the two possibilities arrived at by the three satellites.Satellites move though, right? So how can a distance be measured when there are three objects moving?
The answer is easy – math and science! The distance is found by measuring how long it takes a signal sent from a satellite to get to the receiver. Basically, the speed of light. So that explains the measuring part – how about the timing part?
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Again, it’s based on mathematical equations used in science and math. A signal, called a Pseudo Random Code, is played from the receiver and the satellite. The signal from the satellite is delayed because it has to travel to the receiver (which is already playing the same code). If you could hear both codes they would be all garbled because they would not be at the same point at the same time – the receiver would be ahead or faster than the code coming from the satellite. The amount the receiver needs to adjust the signal is how the distance or timing is calculated. You must multiply the time it takes for the code to reach the receiver by the speed of light and that equals distance. Fascinating!
The tricky part (wasn’t it tricky already) is timing. The receivers and the satellites need to be perfectly in sync in order to calculate accurately. Since we’re dealing with satellites and huge differences and astounding speeds of light, any delay in timing creates huge errors.
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