Global Positioning System constellation

The global positioning system (GPS) baseline constellation consists of 24 slots in six orbital planes, with four slots per plane. Three of the slots are expandable and can hold no more than two satellites. Satellites that are not occupying a defined slot in the GPS constellation occupy other locations in the six orbital planes. Constellation reference orbit parameters and slot assignments as of the defined epoch are described in the fourth edition of the GPS Standard Positioning Service Performance Specification, dated September 2008. As of that date, the GPS constellation had 30 operational satellites broadcasting healthy navigation signals: 11 in Block IIA, 12 in Block IIR and 7 in Block IIR-M.

HOW DOES GPS 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 . Imagine you are standing somewhere on Earth with three satellites in the sky above you. If you know how far away you are from satellite A, then you know you must be located somewhere on the red circle. If you do the same for satellites B and C, you can work out your location by seeing where the three circles intersect. This is

just what your GPS receiver does, although it uses overlapping spheres rather than circles. The more satellites there are above the horizon the more accurately your GPS unit can determine where you are.

PERFORMANCE OF GPS:
A GPS receiver calculates its position by precisely timing the signals sent by GPS satellites high above the Earth. Each satellite continually transmits messages that include

the time the message was transmitted satellite position at time of message transmission

The receiver uses the messages it receives to determine the transit time of each message and computes the distance to each satellite using the speed of light. Each of these distances and satellites' locations define a sphere. The receiver is on the surface of each of these spheres when the distances and the satellites' locations are correct. These distances and satellites' locations are used to compute the location of the receiver using the navigation equations. This location is then displayed, perhaps with a moving map display or latitude and longitude; elevation information may be included. Many GPS units show derived information such as direction and speed, calculated from position changes. In typical GPS operation, four or more satellites must be visible to obtain an accurate result. Four sphere surfaces typically do not intersect. Because of this, it can be said with confidence that when the navigation equations are solved to find an intersection, this solution gives the position of the receiver along with the difference between the time kept by the receiver's on-board clock and the true time-of-day, thereby eliminating the need for a very large, expensive, and power hungry clock. The very accurately computed time is used only for display or not at all in many GPS applications, which use only the location.

System architecture:
The GPS system is based on three segments: the space segment, consisting of a constellation of satellites that emit the navigation signals,

 the ground segment, which monitors and controls the space segment. In particular it provides the satellites with their orbital parameters for redistribution to the users, the user segment, consisting of all the GPS receivers which calculate their position, velocity and time (PVT) using the signals received.

Space segment
The space segment of the GPS system is specified as nominally consisting of 24 satellites distributed evenly across 6 circular orbital planes at an altitude of 20,184 km, spaced at 60 intervals and with an inclination of 55 to the equatorial plane. Additional positions have been allocated for when the number of satellites in the constellation exceeds 24.

Ground segment
The GPS satellites are permanently controlled by a network of five control stations, with the Master Control Station being located in Colorado Springs. The ground segment has several roles: To recalibrate the satellites atomic clocks. To generate the data that enable the user to calculate a position (satellite ephemeris data, clock corrections). To load the previous data onto the satellites for distribution to users. To control and command the satellites.

User segment
This segment consists of the GPS receivers. It is important to bear in mind that a GPS receiver only monitors signals sent by the satellites and does not establish any contact with them. Therefore, a GPS receiver cannot be used by a third party to find out a users position without his knowledge.

GBAS (Ground Based Augmentation System):

GBAS is a local augmentation system to GNSS used and standardised by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) for precision approach and landing operations, with a high level of integrity. Its principle is similar to that of DGPS. GBAS is made up of a ground subsystem comprising two to four GNSS

reference receivers and an airborne subsystem. Using data from reference receivers, the ground-based subsystem calculates corrections to the pseudoranges for all visible satellites. The ground subsystem also monitors the quality of the information transmitted to the airborne subsystem by performing a large number of tests on the differential corrections and pseudoranges. These corrections are transmitted to the aircraft using the VDB (VHF Data Broadcast) system. A GBAS system provides its services to all aircraft present in its coverage area of up to 23 nautical miles. GBAS is designed to respond to the problems posed by the most demanding of operations (all-weather precision approach). The civil aviation community is currently working towards standardising GBAS for category II and III precision approach, which is likely to be operational as of 2015-2020.

RTK (Real-Time Kinematic):

This technique is based on a principle similar to that of DGPS with a single reference station and a means of communication between the receiver and the station, but in this case it is not corrections that are transmitted but raw data. These raw data then enable specialised receivers to calculate the satellite-toreceiver transit time based on the phase of the wave received and not on the code sequence. This method, which requires more complex receivers, makes it possible to achieve accuracy of roughly 3 to 5 cm, conditional upon being within a distance of up to 100km from the reference station. It also takes considerable time to initialise and requires dual-frequency receivers. A variant of this method known as interpolated RTK makes it possible to achieve even greater accuracy by using a denser network of reference stations (in France, for example the Teria, Orpheon and Sat-Info networks). In this case, the errors in the receiver measurements are interpolated with measurements carried out by the stations situated around the user.

PPP (Precise Point Positioning):

The Precise Point Positioning method (PPP) is a different approach which makes use of undifferentiated code and phase observations from a single or dual-frequency receiver. This method is principally used in deferred time since it requires correction data to be received. PPP uses these precise orbital data and clock corrections to calculate an extremely accurate absolute position (static or kinematic) to the decimetre or even centimetre in kinematic mode using precise IGS products, available with 3 weeks delay. Unlike with RTK, common errors (the effect of tides or ocean loading, for example) are not eliminated. Obtaining a position that is both absolute (that

is, not relative to a reference station) and extremely accurate makes it possible to observe phenomena such as Earth tides or crustal deformation under the influence of ocean loading. JPL offers real-time correction products commercially, broadcast via geostationary satellites, by companies such as Omnistar or Starfire. The claimed optimal precision is decimetric.

Space-based augmentation systems:

Well before the operational deployment of GPS, research work was being conducted with the aim of improving the GPS signal using space-based augmentation, notably from the 80s onwards at the instigation of CNES and the DGAC (Civil Aviation Authority) in France. These were the beginnings of EGNOS, notably with the CE-GPS (European Complement to GPS) experiments. But it was really from October 1994, when the US government offered civil aviation the possibility of using GPS free of charge (the Russians did the same with GLONASS in June 1996) that large-scale work got under way. It was then that ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) began studies on complementary systems to compensate for certain disadvantages of GNSS in terms of accuracy (essentially in the vertical, a phenomenon which at that time was made worse by the deliberate degradation applied to GPS until 2000), integrity, continuity of service and availability. Indeed, neither GPS nor GLONASS meet ICAO operational requirements in respect of the most critical phases in aircraft flight (in particular landing). This work gave rise to the SBAS (Satellite Based Augmentation System) concept and the beginnings of the process of standardisation carried out by ICAO.