GPS The past, present and future through the eyes of the layman

Introduction

Nowadays, when modern phones became ten times more powerful than the first supercomputers, when the first iPhone, iPad and many Android devices appeared, we got a new ideology for using these resources. Pocket gadgets are now not just reduced to palm-sized computers, but tools that allow the user with one finger to control entire areas of his life - all areas that the Internet has penetrated: communication, entertainment, travel, searching for information ... The
list goes on and on. In many ways, the GPS-navigation has contributed to the interweaving of the Internet in our lives. Now that almost everyone has a GPS receiver in their pocket, many services have the opportunity to improve our lives. However, let us first look at the origin of GPS.

1. The history of the emergence and development of navigation technology

GPS (from the English Global Positioning System) is a satellite navigation system that provides distance, time and location of objects (see Figure 1).



The project was implemented and belongs to the US military. The main objective of the project is to determine the current coordinates of the user on the surface of the Earth or in near-Earth space [4].

The idea of ​​creating satellite navigation was born back in the 50s. At the moment when the first artificial Earth satellite was launched by the USSR, American scientists, led by Richard Kershner, observed a signal coming from the Soviet satellite and found that due to the Doppler effect, the frequency of the received signal increases as the satellite approaches and decreases when it approaches distance. The essence of the discovery was that if you know your exact coordinates on Earth, it becomes possible to measure the position and speed of the satellite, and vice versa, knowing exactly the position of the satellite, you can determine your own speed and coordinates (see Figure 2).



This idea was realized in 20 years. The first test satellite was put into orbit on July 14, 1974 in the United States, and the last of all 24 satellites needed to fully cover the earth’s surface was put into orbit in 1993, so the global positioning system came into service. It has become possible to use GPS to accurately direct missiles at stationary, and then at moving objects in the air and on Earth.

Originally a global positioning system, it was developed as a purely military project. But after a Korean airline plane with 269 passengers on board was shot down in 1983, the U.S. President Ronald Reagan allowed partial use of the navigation system for civilian purposes. But accuracy was reduced by a special algorithm.
Then there was information that some companies have deciphered the algorithm for reducing accuracy at the frequency L1 and successfully compensate for this component of the error, and in 2000 this coarsening of accuracy was canceled by decree of the US president [2].

The table below presents the chronology of the development of GPS (see Table 1).

Table 1 - GPS Development Timeline

Date Event
1973 Decision to develop a satellite navigation system
1974-1979 Testing the system
1977 Receiving a signal from a ground station simulating a satellite of the system
1978-1985 Launch of eleven satellites of the first group (Block I)
1979 Reduction in program funding. The decision to launch 18 satellites instead of the planned ones 24
1980 In connection with the decision to curtail the use of Vela satellites for a nuclear explosion tracking system, it was decided to assign these functions to GPS satellites. Launch of the first satellites equipped with nuclear explosion detection sensors
1980-1982 Further reduction of program funding
1983 After the death of a Korean Airline company plane shot down over the territory of the USSR, a decision was made to provide a signal to civil services.
1986 As a result, the Delta launch vehicle
1988 was chosen as the main vehicle. Decision to deploy an orbital constellation of 24 satellites. 18 satellites are not able to ensure the smooth functioning of the system
1989 Activation of satellites of the second group
1990-1991 Temporary shutdown of SA (eng. Selective availability - artificially created for unauthorized users rounding location to 100 meters) due to the war in the Persian Gulf and the lack of military models of receivers. The inclusion of SA June 1, 1991
8/12/1993 Report on the initial availability of the system. In the same year a final decision on granting the signal for free use of the civil service and private individuals
in 1994 is equipped with satellite constellation
17.07.1995 Full system availability
05.01.2000 Disabling SA for civilian users, so that the accuracy of determination rose from 100 to 20 meters
06/26/2004 Signing a joint statement to ensure the complementarity and compatibility of Galileo and GPS
December 2006 Russian-American negotiations on cooperation in ensuring the complementarity of the GLONASS and GPS space navigation systems

2. GPS today

2.1. GPS games

The revolution of geo-targeting services, that is, those built around determining the location of something (a user or a point on the map), could be predicted even before the advent of new-fangled smartphones. People began to go crazy about GPS navigation as soon as it became widespread. On May 1, 2000, the White House press service announced that deliberate deterioration in the accuracy of civilian GPS receivers had been stopped, and on May 3, one of GPS fans Dave Ulmer decided to check the accuracy of navigation. He called this idea “a great American geek hunt using GPS” and reported it to other users via the Internet. The idea was very simple: somewhere in the forest a container is hiding, and its geographical coordinates are recorded. Other players must find the "treasure" using their GPS receivers. Rule for the finder: take some things, leave something of your own. Ulmer placed his own container (black bucket) near Portland. Together with the magazine, where participants could mark their visit, and with a pencil he left small gifts: videotapes, books, CDs and a slingshot. Within three days, the cache was found by two players who read about it online. Other enthusiasts began to post their own caches and publish their coordinates, supporting the initiative. Like many other ideas on the Internet, the new game quickly gained popularity and eventually got a new name - geocaching. The Geocaching.com site to this day remains a popular resource for geocaches all over the world, and the geocaching.su resource operates in Russia. The Russian version is slightly different from the western one: it is recommended to create hiding places in the domestic version of the game in places that have historical,

2.2. GPS tags

Based on geocaching, GPS tag ideas were implemented. The foursquare service offers users to mark interesting places, bars, cafes, theaters, among other things, anything that might interest others on the map. Thanks to this service, it’s much easier to find a bar where your friend recently checked in than to resort to Internet search. However, foursquare has no less successful analogues, both Russian - AlterGeo, and foreign - Gowalla. Similar services are also developing inside social networks: on Facebook - Places, on VKontakte - places that allow you to check in at some place and mark friends who are near you. It can be assumed that the "Places" will permeate almost the whole world.

2.3. The virtual reality

Already, the first GPS navigators began to appear, conducting route lines directly from the image from the built-in video camera. True, they work worse than ever, it is difficult to combine an inaccurate GPS tag on a map with a video image. However, the creators of Layar, an augmented reality browser, managed to do this. He is able to combine information cards with the readings of the GSP receiver and the compass, superimposing the result on the image from the video camera (see Figure 3).



However, this is just a browser, not a navigator, that is, you can only know the distance separating you, but how to get to it and what is between you can’t find out.
An interesting application released the site "Around the World." It is able to determine the location and automatically starts the story of the nearest attractions. The good news is that there is a manual mode and, in case of a GPS error, you can select the object of interest manually.

2.4. GPS maps

Of course, one cannot fail to mention the main consumers of this technology - mobile cards. Google Maps, pre-installed in every decent smartphone, and Yandex. Cards ”, which have a more accurate map of Russia for today, are fighting for our market, now and then adding new functions and services, becoming better and more complex. Google has a three-dimensional view and a quick vector map against more competent navigation and a more accurate raster map from Yandex. Unconditional leadership in displaying traffic congestion and car routing, as well as nearly user-friendly twitter comments on the Yandex map against the recently launched Google’s full-fledged car navigator mode. A more competent search in Russian-language names at Yandex versus pedestrian routing, taking into account public transport at Google. You can choose infinitely, but in the end, each user has both cards. It is worth Yandex to release a car navigator inside the maps, similar to Google, and this will forever change the GPS navigation market, giving us a choice of two free, quickly updated and compact navigators. And this will make the usual GPS navigators archaism [1].

3. Who needs it?

What will help an ordinary person in the life of GPS devices (see Figure 4)?



The best city navigation program will pave the way for you to a given address. And if you ask carefully, then several routes to choose from. Moreover, if you chose one, and along the way decided to deviate from the recommendations, right there, on the go, the route will be recounted. She also predicts the expected speed and time of arrival at the destination, guides you to the place, each time warning in advance on the screen (and if you turn on the voice mode, then with your voice) about turns, turns and other shifts of simple direct movement. And also, if you have any difficult outcome, it will automatically increase its image to full intelligibility and indicate which of the sleeves you need to move. Moreover, some programs (and the low-cost subscription services attached to them) allow you to take into account the data on real traffic jams in the calculations and offer routes that are longer, maybe longer, but faster at the moment. True, these services are just beginning to develop, and the infrastructure designed to provide them has not yet been fully established.

If we are talking about driving behind the wheel in a foreign city, and even more so - abroad, here you simply cannot do without a navigator (connected to a smart program and equipped with the latest maps, which are usually often updated via the Internet) [3].

Conclusion

One can only guess what development navigation will receive in the future. Perhaps all the movement, including personal transport, will be controlled by automatic computer systems, and navigation will control movements, not letting go astray and preventing collisions with other objects. Perhaps, GPS will be replaced by a more advanced technology that allows you to receive a signal at a depth of several kilometers and does not lose accuracy from external factors. However, it is clear that development is only beginning.

Bibliography

1. Banin, D. Everything is at stake / D. Banin, R. Kitaev // Test. - 2011. - No. 3. - S. 21-25.
2. History of the creation of satellite navigation systems [Electronic resource] / Unknown author // How the GPS system works. - 2009. - Access mode: www.glonax.ru/history-gps.html
3. Kozlovsky, E. The art of positioning / E. Kozlovsky // Around the world. - M .: 2006. - No. 12. - S. 204-280.
4. Network satellite radio navigation / V. Shebshaevich [et al.]. - 2nd ed., Revised. and add. - M.: Radio and Communications, 1993. - 408 p.: Ill.