In today’s tech-savvy age GPS (Global Positioning System) are no novelty for us. The days of asking for direction while traveling are way behind us & we no longer need to locate our destination on a paper map. GPS has eased our lives & made traveling or tracking way too convenient without having the need to bother the driver by calling him frequently. GPS has also found its application across various fields like IT, Logistic business, Military surveillance, transportation means & many more. But ever wondered how the GPS came into existence & became an advent in the industry?
It all started in 1957 when former U.S.S.R launched Sputnik, the first artificial Earth Satellite. The U.S scientists in 1973 realized that Sputnik’s orbit could be tracked by using radio frequency. This led way to the theory that if a satellite could be tracked from earth’s surface, conversely a person can be tracked by the satellite using Doppler’s effect of radio frequency.
In 1960, The U.S Navy launched TRANSIT, the first satellite navigational system to guide its submarines, using information gathered by studying SPUTNIK. Since then the use of GPS system began for military purposes with many innovations.
In 1967, the U.S. Navy developed the Timation technique, a system where highly accurate and synchronized clock is placed in the orbit. This was a technology required for GPS.
The evolution of GPS over the years:-
NAVSTAR by the USA
1973: NAVSTAR (Navigation System using Timing and Ranging), launched in 1973 was the major breakthrough for GPS systems, used by US Air Force. The technology was initiated for military personnel & transportation units to obtain their location.
1974: The first atomic clock was put in the orbit as it’s the most accurate clock measuring time to the billionth second to deliver precise time.
1983: A tragedy generated the need to discard the restriction of the GPS from civilian use. A Korean Airlines flight 007 carrying 269 civilians was shot down after erroneously entering into the Soviet airspace, thus killing all the passengers onboard. Hence a directive was issued to make GPS freely available for civilian use after it becomes fully operational.
1989: The first Block II satellite was launched on 14 February 1989
1994: The 24th satellite was launched to complete the GPS system with a constellation of 24 satellites circling the earth once every 12 hours from a distance of 12000 miles above the earth delivering information like location, speed, and elevation with precision.
1996: Pedestrians began using GPS for navigation. The Department of Defence declared that two different GPS services to be developed- one for the military PPS (Precise Positioning Service) and one for the public SPS (Standard Positioning Service). The difference between the two was a random error in SPS that prevented the civilians from getting the exact coordinates through a technique called Selective Availability (SA).
2000: Civilian demand for GPS Technology increased when the U.S. military halted its practice of purposely blurring the signals for security needs. President Bill Clinton signed a directive to turn off the SA and deliver precise information to the civilians as well.
GLONASS by the Soviet Union
1976: Soviet Union began the development of GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System)- a space-based navigation system operating in the radio navigation-satellite service. GLONASS is the second navigation system in operation with coverage around the globe and equivalent precision with the former.
1982: GLONASS was launched along with 2 mock-ups on 12th October 1982
1991: 12 GLONASS satellites were operational in two planes.
1993: After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the control of the system was taken over by Russian Federation and the system consisted of 12 satellites was declared operational.
1995: GLONASS was brought to a fully operational constellation with 24 satellites delivering precision at par with the USA GPS system.
Galileo by European Union
2005: The European Union launched the first Galileo test satellite, the GIOVE-A on 28th December 2005.
2008: The second test satellite GIOVE-B was launched in April 2008
2011-2012: EU launched the first two in-orbit validation satellites on 21st October 2011 and the remaining two on 12th October 2012
2016: In December 2016, Galileo started offering Early Operational Capacity that delivered initial services with a weak signal
2017: 22 active satellites out of the planned 30 have been launched until December 2017. The remaining launch of active satellites will complete the operation in mid-2018. And the complete Galileo system with a constellation of 30 active satellites is expected by 2020.
2000: The China National Space Administration launched the first satellite BeiDou-1A on 30 October 2000 which was followed by the launch of second satellite BeiDou-1B on 20 December 2000.
2003: The BeiDou-1 Navigation system was established with the successful launch of BeiDou-1C in the orbit on 25 May 2003
2007: In February 2007, a backup satellite named BeiDou-1D was successfully launched into the orbit to complete the BeiDou-1 navigation system delivering limited coverage and applications.
2011: The BeiDou-2 system became operational with 10 active satellites in China in December 2011 delivering services to the Asia-Pacific Region
2015: The third generation of the BeiDou navigation system BDS-3 was launched on 30 March 2015 with nine satellites of BDS-3 launched till January 2018
2017: The BeiDou-2 also known as COMPASS with a constellation of 35 satellites was completed to be a global satellite navigation system in December 2017 and is planned to serve global customers till 2020
NAVIC by India
NAVIC is the operational name of Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) that is an autonomous regional satellite system with a constellation of 7 satellites covering India and a region extending 1500 km around it.
2013: ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) launched the first of the seven satellites on 1st July 2013 satellite named IRNSS-1A
2014: The satellite IRNSS-1B was launched on 4th April 2014 and was placed in the geosynchronous orbit. The third satellite named IRNSS-1C was launched on 16th October 2014
2015: IRNSS-1D was launched on 28th March 2015
2016: IRNSS-1E on 20 January 2016, followed by IRNSS-1F on 10 March 2016 and IRNSS-1G launched on 28 April 2016.
GPS technology keeps on transforming each passing year & the price of these devices keeps getting cheaper. With the extensive use of GPS, an imaginable or unprecedented fiction has turned into a household reality.