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Global Positioning System

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Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 7:29 AM filed under General postings

Advanced information technologies enthrall the modern world that affects the ways of preservation and dissemination of knowledge. More and more communications are reshaped from physical into digital form. In the CNN list of the top 25 nonmedical innovations for the last 25 years, Global Position System (GPS) technology ranks the 6th position, right after e-mail and portable computers. At present, GPS is an integral part of the global information infrastructure, and its applications range from bank transactions to global change research. The implications of GPS, in terms of changing the ways knowledge is transmitted, is in the significant extension of knowledge symbolic representation to constructing meaning through messages construction, interpretation, and dissemination. Associating GPS with knowledge systems enriches the symbolic and technological landscape.

Definition of the Technology

Definition

GPS is a space-based constellation of satellites providing positioning, navigation, and timing for worldwide utility. The system operates the space segment that has 24 or more satellites uniformly dispersed around the earth orbit; they provide users with the navigation signals based on precise satellite positions, no matter where they are at the moment.

Functions

The system performs the following major functions: location; navigation, mapping, tracking, and timing that are critical for different activities ranging from precision bombing operations to international air traffic management.

Technology Replacement

The Global Positioning System, which was conceived as a navigational tool for the U.S. military use based on the technological and operational experience of earlier military navigation satellites. It replaced the recent navigation technique – radio navigation that used radio signals from ground stations to determine positions of ships and aircrafts.

However, space-based navigation system evolved into a reliable and ubiquitous technology only when people had accumulated resources, knowledge, and experience to deploy a large satellite constellation that enabled to yield sufficient accuracies required for full- scale operations.

Background of the Technology Application

For thousands of years, mankind has been using navigation aids to support their vital activities, such as seafaring, territories exploration, trade, and travelling. People used the following basic forms of navigation:

· Pilotage. It refers to using visible landmarks for orientation in the way.

· Dead reckoning. This waypoint navigation relies on estimating positions, heading, speed, compass, and log.

· Celestial navigation. It implies determining the positions using the observation of sun, moon, stars, and planets movement.

· Radio navigation. This type of navigation relies on radio signals received from the stations with known position data.

· Inertial navigation. It does not require external references because it relies solely on calculating positions by measuring attitude rates and accelerations.

Initially, GPS was conceived as a general navigational tool developed and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense for providing ubiquitous navigation capabilities for the U.S. military forces at the ground, sea, and in the air. However, since 1990s, the rapid growth of the GPS applications for civilian needs was outlined in parallel with the further development of military missions’ applications.

Ultimately, GPS has turned into indispensable to the U.S. national security and critical economic and societal infrastructure; currently, GPS is an international standard provided for civil, commercial, and scientific use on a worldwide basis with growing international cooperation to meet users’ needs.

Discussion of Current Business Issues

Transmitting Communication

Similar to other digital technologies, GPS in some ways extends the symbolic representation of communications such as reading and writing, which are associated with this technology, and constructs meaning. Some data in a form of maps, texts, and references is presented in both digital and print versions. More to the point, GPS provides dynamic representations, connectivity, synchronic communication, and multiple options to manipulate what appears on the screen (move in, reproduce, select and delete, transform in size, shape, and color) at high speed with relative ease.

The GPS technology constructs meaning through the construction, interpretation, and dissemination of messages. Constructing meaning enables people to make global informed decisions based on understanding geography, identifying natural resources and relationship to location. It is supported by changing the ways of collecting and managing geographical data that relate to GPS capabilities to provide a permanent and long-term data collection and their transmitting.

These ubiquitous features make GPS an integral part of the global information infrastructures. For example, GPS in conjunction with other most basic technologies forms the technological suit that is critical for transportation systems; the core functions provided by GPS are automatic vehicle location, weather information system, and maintenance tracking. Moreover, it facilitates interactions, emergency response through increased reliability and on-time performance, enhances safety and security in transportation operations, and improves the performance through finding efficient routes, reducing pollution, and saving money.

Industries Using GPS Technology

Apart from military missions, GPS is widely used in civil, commercial, and scientific fields. As noted earlier, GPS is irreplaceable for the transportation infrastructure. Besides, GPS’ capabilities to collect and transmit data have made it vital for science’s needs. For example, navigation, mapping, marking location, motion, and position changes are crucial for different sciences studying the Earth such as geodesy. GPS high precision measuring tools allow better understanding of different geologic phenomena including earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that can cause the global changes.

Training People

GPS’s users are able to adapt the system to their own needs easily due to clear, stable, and open interfaces that were platform independent. Mostly, there is no strong need in long and expensive training for users in working with some applications. However, demands for obtaining and deep understanding of accurate positions stimulated the establishment of graduate courses and the Internet coursers in GPS at the universities.

To the extent that GPS changes the nature of work, it defines the qualities and qualifications for their users that, in general, include imaginative thinking and creativity in applying technology. In addition, further technology development increases the need in GPS researchers, analysts, and developers.

Challenges

As any other technology, developing GPS faces some short-term organizational, operational, political, economic, and technical obstacles. Stable funding and political support are considered the most significant issues. Accordingly, the economic downturn can also influence the development of technology.

Other challenges include the issue of coping with the system’s limitations that refer to a code structure approach caused by a need to protect its military role. It makes the implication of GPS more expensive and hinders the expansion of the users’ base. Besides, the additional civil codes and frequencies are required to meet the current civil and business needs.

GPS Future

The integration of GPS into a global information system is accelerated by emerging local real-time differential networks. The compatibility of GPS with Russian global orbiting navigation satellite system (GLONASS), the European Galileo system, and Chinese Compass will create the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) with a few satellite constellations that will provide higher accuracy data and broader coverage.

To conclude, the GPS technology that was conceived as a navigation tool for the U.S. military forces had evolved to an integral component of the global information infrastructure that enhanced extending a knowledge symbolic representation to constructing meaning through construction, interpretation, and dissemination of messages. It enables mankind to make global informed decisions based on understanding geography, identifying natural resources and relationship to location.

The article was written by professional writer Jenna Hetry, more her articles you can find simply following the link of empire essay writing platform.

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