It’s hard to find people who use smartphones, but never use GPS (or simpler examples) Google Maps. In addition to Google, services like Hear, Apple Maps, We Go or Microsoft Bing Maps provide mapping services, but there are more Google Maps users around us. So Google Map is mentioned as an example.

Going to a new area do not know anything? There is an online mapping service to help you. From the surrounding environmental conditions to the distance to the specified destination, to the state of the traffic jam Telling Google Maps.

Apple Maps, Google Maps or other mapping services or the latest send or Uber, their success or your advantage – no matter what; There is a magical technology in everything. And that is the Global Positioning System, or GPS for short, without which you might get Google Maps – but you wouldn’t know exactly where you are. Or send / Uber but the driver might have taken a few hours to find you.

Although the word “global positioning system” may seem unfamiliar to many, I hope that after saying “GPS” it does not seem unfamiliar to anyone else. On some phones it is also written as “location”. And for the benefit of the new curriculum, nowadays even the secondary students should have an idea about what GPS is.

But few people know how GPS works. However, I can guarantee that there are many curiosities. Have you ever wondered how GPS works? The purpose of this post is to satisfy your curiosity.

What is GPS?

Judging by the success of the nomenclature, the Global Positioning System (GPS) is actually an excellent system. To put it more clearly, it is to keep the earth in orbit At least A system made up of 24 artificial satellites. Of course, keep 3 more satellites as backup There is– You can’t tell what happens in distant space! However, according to some estimates, there are a total of 32 satellites in GPS There is.

These GPS satellites, however, are not located together. Rather at about equal distances around the earth (Almost At an altitude of 12,000 miles) these are arranged in such a way that all the satellites together cover every part of the world (even any part of the Amazon forest) by sending signals. At least This whole network has been arranged keeping in mind that you will get 4 satellites “with you”.

Who owns GPS? Who sent the GPS satellites?

Bangladesh own last year (Bangabandhu-1) Has owned a communication satellite. Again, there are many countries that do not have a satellite yet. So who sent so many satellites into space for GPS? Who owns them? Google, Microsoft or NASA?

Very good question. In fact, the US government owns these GPS satellites. The Department of Defense launched these satellites into space for military use in the 1970s Sent. Later in the eighties they made these satellites or the whole GPS system open to the use of all the countries of the world or the common people. There are a total of 30 control rooms in the world to monitor GPS satellites There is, Headquartered in Colorado Springs.

Despite such advanced technology, ordinary people rarely used GPS. Back then, only airplanes, ships, fishing boats or adventurers used this technology with GPS devices. But after the arrival of the smartphone, a small GPS chip was inserted inside the phone. And now GPS is being widely used in combinations of concepts like Google Map or Uber.

How does GPS work?

The GPS chip on your phone is the GPS signal receiver. It can detect signals from GPS satellites. This receiver chip does not transmit any data or transmit it to the satellite Don’t pay.

Of the 24 satellites I mentioned in the beginning, those satellites actually transmit one type of radio signal 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The GPS chip has the ability to capture the signal that is in your smartphone or car tracker. Nowadays, however, the GPS chip smartwatch is even in the key ring.

GPS satellites are equipped with atomic clocks which give a very fine time day after day. And you have a watch on your phone. The signal that satellites send is basically the time it takes to send the signal Stays. Calculates the actual distance between that satellite and your phone from the time your phone receives the generated signal and the distance your phone has received that signal. From this distance GPS basically determines your location By.

But there is a problem. The problem is, you can’t determine the position of a second thing by the distance of one thing to another. There are at least three things you can do to get there.

Giving an example will make the point clear. Suppose your friend informs you on the phone that he is 1 km away (or a little more) directly from the gate of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. If you only hear that much, you will never know where he is. Because he can be 1 km away from the parliament building in any direction. This means that if a circle with a radius of 1 km is imagined around the parliament building, it can be anywhere along the circumference of the circle.

Now what if he says that he is at the same time one and a half kilometers away from the Prime Minister’s Office? Then his position will be a little clearer to you. Now if you imagine a circle with a radius of 1.5 km around the center of the Prime Minister’s Office, you will see that this circle intersects the previous circle at two points. That means your friend is in either of these two points. But you did not find your friend’s location.

Now what if your friend tells you that he is 500 meters away from Tejgaon railway station? Then your job is done. If you imagine a circle with a radius of 500 meters around the center of Tejgaon railway station, you will see that all the three circles intersect at a single common point. And that intersection is the Farmgate bus stop. And your friend is actually at the Farmgate bus stop. Isn’t that funny? This calculation is called trilotration.

GPS also works on this principle. Your phone’s GPS chip can simultaneously determine its own distance from 3-4 GPS satellites. Your phone usually picks up your location, as in the example above, with three GPS satellite signals. In this way, the more satellite signals you get, the more accurate your location will be. This system works best under the open sky, because it is convenient to receive satellite signals.

Combination of GPS and digital maps

However, your GPS does not know the location of your location. She Out Your coordinate point. It knows your two-dimensional position through two points called latitude and longitude (latitude, longitude). You can express every point of the whole world in one or the other coordinate point. The names of the two places may be the same but the coordinates will not be the same. After plotting these GPS coordinate points on digital maps like Google Maps, Bing Maps or Apple Maps on your phone, you can see where you are. Doing. Mapping apps, such as Google Maps, do this plotting.

Does GPS work without internet?

In fact, there is no obligation to have an internet connection on your phone to receive GPS signals. All you need is the internet to download the graphical map. So if you have downloaded any part of Google Maps for offline use, then you can see your own location by turning on GPS without internet.

What if America turns off GPS?

GPS Is just a system to determine the location. Apart from GPS, there are other alternative methods of locating. However, those are not very common, and not as powerful as GPS.

As I said before, GPS is owned by the US government. Although they have kept it open to the world, they can close it if they want to (maybe in a war-like situation).

So Russia has developed a system like GPS which they have named GLONASS. Nowadays you can see in the specification of the smartphone Location: A-GPS with GLONASS. This means that the phone can locate both US GPS and Russian GLONASS systems.

Also China BDS Name and Europe Galileo Namely working with their own positioning system.

Mobile phone service providers can also find out your location based on how far your phone is from a tower. In the same way, the location can be determined using the WiFi network.

Bonus:

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