A Brief Introduction to the Global

Positioning System (GPS)

CMPE-118 Lecture

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 Global Positioning System (GPS)
• Satellite Navigation
system
– Multilateration based
on one-way ranging
signals from 24+
satellites in orbit
– Operated by the
United States Air Force
– Nominal Accuracy
• 10 m (Stand Alone)
• 1-5 m (Code
Differential)
• 0.01 m (Carrier
Differential) ©2000 by
Todd Walter
and Per Enge

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 Navigation Terminology
• Navigation
– Answer the to the question “Where am I?”
– Implies the use of some agreed upon coordinate system
• Related Terminology
– Guidance: Deciding what to do with your navigation information
– Control: Orienting yourself/vehicle to follow out the guidance
decision.
• Area of Study: GNC
– Guidance, Navigation, Control

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Latitude (Parallels) are
formed by the intersection of
the surface of the earth with
a plane parallel to the
equatorial plane
Longitude (Meridians) are
formed by the intersection of
the surface of the earth with
a plane containing the earths
axis.
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 Latitude, Longitude and Altitude

• One of many coordinate

systems used to described a
location on the surface of the
earth
• Latitude — parallels
measured from the Equator.
– North is “+”
• Longitude — meridians
measured from Greenwich
Observatory.
– East is “+”
• Altitude — measured above
reference datum: MSL
– Normally Up is “+”

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 Stability of Clocks

• Clock stability is
directly related to
Navigation
because Earth
rotates ~15°/hour.
Figure from Hewlett-Packard
Application Note 1289: The Science
• Difference between
of Timekeeping by D. W. Allan, Neil local “celestial”
Ashby and Cliff Hodge.
time and reference
yields Longitude.
• Atomic clocks are
too big and too
expensive for
general use.

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 Position Fixing Methods

a) Bearing and range

( position fixing
(DME-VOR)
b) Dual bearing ()
position fixing (VOR-
VOR)
c) Range ( position
fixing (DME-DME,
GPS)
d) Hyperbolic position
fixing (LORAN,
Omega)

From Kyton and Fried, Avionics Navigation

Systems, 2nd Ed., pp. 113.
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 Position Fixing (2-D)

Assuming you can make the

range measurements i , where
i = 1,2,3, then the following
three equations can be
formed:

12  x  x1    y  y1 
2 2

 22  x  x2    y  y2 
2 2

 32  x  x3    y  y3 
2 2

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 Fundamentals of Position Fixing
• The figure on the previous page raises to important questions:
– How do you estimate or measure the ranges?
– How do you solve the equations for the unknown x and y?

• The range based on measuring the time-of-flight of a RF signal that

leaves the transmitter at t = t1 and arrives at the user at t = t2 is given
by:
  ct2  t1 

• In the presence of a clock error, t (= b/c), the range estimate (or

measurement) becomes:

ˆ    b  ct 2  t1   ct  ct 2  t1   b

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 GPS Pseudoranges

SV #1 SV #2
As a user located at point X, the
true range measurements to the
three GPS satellites are:
1 2

1True  1  cbu
 2True   2  cbu cbu cbu
cbu
 3True   3  cbu 3
SV #3
Your GPS receiver, however,
measures 1, 2 and 3. These
range measurement are called
pseudoranges.
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 Psueodranges and Satellite Geometry

Pseudorange
Measurement Resulting Geometry plays a role in
Error Position the accuracy of the final
Uncertainty solution.
Areas
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GPS Position Fixing

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 Solving Navigation Equations

• Solve the  equations

– Easy and give you insight into the linearization process
– GPS navigation equations.
• The  position fixing system of equations where three
independent range measurements are available was given
as:

12  x  x1    y  y1 
2 2

 22  x  x2    y  y2 
2 2

 32  x  x3    y  y3 
2 2

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 Linearization by Expansion

12  x  x1    y  y1  ˆ12  xˆ  x1    yˆ  y1 

2 2 2 2

 22  x  x2    y  y2  ˆ 22  xˆ  x2    yˆ  y2 
2 2 2 2

 32  x  x3    y  y3  ˆ 32  xˆ  x3    yˆ  y3 
2 2 2 2

Exact Equations you Equations the you can or will solve

would solve in an ideal
world
ˆ i   i   i
xˆ  x  x
yˆ  y  y
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 Linearization by Expansion (2)

For the range measurements,

ˆ i2   i  i   i2  2 i   2  i2  2 i (dropped higher order terms)

2

For the position coordinate x,

xˆ  xi 2  x  x  xi 2  x  xi 2  2x  xi x
For the position coordinate y,
 yˆ  yi 2   y  y  yi 2   y  yi 2  2 y  yi y
Where,
i  1,2, n
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 Linearization by Expansion (3)

Taking the difference between the true and estimated values,

i2  ˆ i2   i2  i2  2 i   2 i  2x  xi x  2 y  yi y

Normally you have more equations than unknowns. Thus, you can do a
least squares solution. That is,
 x  x1   y  y1  
 1 
1   1
   x  x2   y  y2  x 
 2    2  
   2 y
      
 n  x  xn   y  yn 
 
  n  n 
 
 G x 16 OF
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 Linearization by Expansion (4)

Because we don’t have true ranges, but pseudo-ranges, we augment the G

matrix with a column of ones for the time bias. We need at least 3
measurements for the 2-D solution.

 x  x1   y  y1  
  1 
1
 1

1 
 x  x2   y  y2  1  x 
 
 2    2 2  
    y 
        t 
 n    
 x  xn   y  yn  
  1 
 n n 
 
 G x 17 OF
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 Least Squares Solution
For the moment, without proof, we state that the least
squares solution is given by,
 1 T 

T
 x  G G G  
• Algorithm for solving the navigation equation:
– 1) Pick an initial guess for x and y
– 2) Compute ̂ i for as many measurements as you have
– 3) Form  i for all measurements and then form G

– 4) Solve for x
– 5) Update your initial guesses for x and y as follows:
x (  )  x (  )  x
y (  )  y (  )  y
– 6) Repeat until convergence

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Iterated Solution Numerical Example

• Solution is
done in
MATLAB
• Assumes an
initial
position of
[0,0,0]
• Walks
solution in to
the final
position
• Redraws the
range circles
at each
iteration
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 GPS Signal Structure

• GPS broadcasts a modulated carrier on L1

(1575.42 MHz)
• Pseudo-Random Noise (PRN) sequence of
1023 “chips” used to spread the signal
• PRN is carefully chosen to have unique
auto— and cross—correlation properties
• All signal components generated from the
same 10.23 MHz satellite clock

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GPS L1 Signal Generation

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 GPS Signal De-Spreading

• In order to use the PRN code correlation

properties to de-spread the GPS signal, need to
recover code down to baseband (no carrier)
• Use trigonometric identities to mix down and
remove the carrier

cos(   )  cos( ) cos(  )  sin( ) sin(  )

cos(   )  cos( ) cos(  )  sin( ) sin(  )

2 cos( ) cos(  )  cos(   )  cos(   )

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Graphical Depiction of De-Spreading

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PRN Auto- and Cross-Correlation

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PRN Correlation Example

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Initial Acquisition Search

• Assume 1 channel & 1 ms

dwell period
• Exhaustive search (if real
time) requires:
– (32) x (2046) x (20) x 1ms
= 1309 seconds
• 12 channel assumption
requires:
– (1309) / 12 = 109 seconds

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Typical Search Results

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 Things to remember about GPS

• Navigation is a hard problem, and only

recently has GPS made this easy!
• GPS is a  system that has precise
clocks on board that give you position
and your time bias.
• PRN signal has correlation properties that
allow you to find the signal in the noise
even without any knowledge of position.

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Questions?

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 Latitude Determination Using Polaris

Actual location of Polaris is

89o 05’

The Sky Above Palo Alto on Jan 6, 2002 32 OF

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 Instruments of Navigation

An Astrolabe A Sextant
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View Through a Sextant

Easier to “align” Sun’s (or other

celestial body’s) limb with the
horizon.

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Latitude Determination Using the Sun

  900  Sun' s Altitude  Sun' s Declination

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 The Longitude Problem

• Celestial map changes because of Earth’s 15 o/hr (approximately) rotation

rate.
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 Longitude Determination

• Longitude Determination Methods

– Methods based on time
• Compare the time between a clocks at the current location
and some other reference point.
• Requires Stable Clocks
– Celestial Methods
• Eclipses of Jupiter’s Moons
• Lunar Distance Method

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 Fundamentals of Radionavigation

• Radio Frequency (RF) signals emanating from a source or sources.

• The generators of the RF signal are at known locations
• RF signals are used to determine range or bearing to the known location

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 Classification of Radio Frequencies
Name of Band Frequency Range Wavelength

Very Low Frequency (VLF) < 30 kHz > 10 km

Low Frequency (LF) 30 – 300 kHz 1 - 10 km

Medium Frequency (MF) 300 kHz – 3 MHz 100 m – 1 km

High Frequency (HF) 3 – 30 MHz 10 – 100 m

Very High Frequency (VHF) 30 – 300 MHz 1 – 10 m

Ultra High Frequency (UHF) 300 MHz – 3 GHz 10 cm – 1 m

Super High Frequency (SHF) 3 – 30 GHz 1 – 10 cm

Propagation characteristic of RF signals is a function of their frequency

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 Line of Sight Transmission

• VHF (VOR, ILS Localizer) and UHF (ILS Glide Slope, TACAN/DME) are line of sight systems.
– Limited Coverage area
• LORAN and OMEGA are over the horizon systems
– Large coverage area
– In the case of Omega, coverage was global
• Frequency band in which GPS operates makes it a line of sight system. However, because
of the location of the satellites, it is able to cover a large geographic area .

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 INS and Radionavigation Systems

Application
Navigation System
Land Sea Air
NDB – Non Directional Beacon X X
LORAN – Long RAnge Navigation X X
VOR – VHF Omni-directional Range X
DME – Distance Measuring Equipment X
ILS – Instrument Landing System X
MLS – Microwave Landing System X
INS – Inertial Navigation System* X X X
* INS is not a radionavigation system but is normally used in conjunction with such systems
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 Phases of Flight

• The required navigation accuracy and reliability (i.e., integrity,

continuity and availability) depend on the phase of flight
• Currently, as well as in the past, this meant that an aircraft had to be
equipped with various navigation systems.
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 VHF Omni-directional Range (VOR)

• Provides Bearing () Information

• Operates 112 – 118 MHz
• Accuracy 1o to 2 o.
• Principles of Operation (Enge et. al.
“Terrestrial Radionavigation, pp. 81)
– Transmits 2 Signals
• 1st Signal has azimuth
dependent phase
• 2nd Signal is a reference
•  between the phases of
signal 1st and 2nd signal is 

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 Distance Measuring Equipment (DME)
• Measures Slant Range ()
• Operates between 962 and 1213 MHz
• Based on Radar Principle
– Airborne unit sends a pair of pulses
– Ground Station receives pulses
– After short delay (50 s) ground station resends the pulses back
– Airborne unit receives the signal and calculates range by using the following
equation:

1
  c (T  50s )
2


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 Instrument Landing System (ILS)

• Used extensively during approach and landing to provides vertical and lateral guidance
• Principle of Operation
– Lateral guidance provided by a signal called the Localizer (108-112 MHz)
– Vertical guidance provided by another signal called the Glide Slope (329-335 MHz)
• Distance along the approach path provided by marker beacons (75 MHz)

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 Time Scales
• Sidereal Time – Based on the An Earth
time required by Earth to Apparent
complete one revolution about its
axis relative to distant stars. Solar Day
• Apparent Solar Day - Time
required for Earth to complete
one revolution with respect to the
sun
• Mean Solar Time - Same as
apparent solar day except it is Sun
based on
– Hypothetical earth
– Rotating in a circular orbit around
the sun.
– Axis of rotation perpendicular to
the orbital plane
– Same as Greenwich Mean Time Earth’s
(GMT)
Orbit

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 Universal & Atomic Time

• Universal Time (UT) – Time based on astronomical observations

– UT0 – Mean Solar Time measured at the prime meridian
– UT1 – UT0 Corrected for Earth’s irregular spin rate and polar
motion
• International Atomic Time (TAI)
– Based on Ce-133 Atom
• Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
– Set to agree with UT1 on January 1, 1958.
– Leap seconds introduced to keep it within 0.9 seconds of UT1

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 GPS Time
• GPS Time (GPST) – A continuous time scale (no leap seconds)
– Based on Cesium and Rubidium standards
– ‘Steered’ to be within fractions of a microsecond modulo one
second from UTC
• Thus GPST-UTC = whole number of seconds + a fraction of a
microsecond.
• GPS time information transmitted by the satellites include
– GPS second of the week - 604,800 seconds per week
– GPS week number – 1024 weeks per epoch

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 GPS Time (2)
• GPS satellites carry atomic clocks
– Rubidium and/or Cesium frequency standards
– Satellite clocks monitored by MCS
• Clock bias is modeled as a quadratic
t  a f 0  a f 1 (t  t0 c )  a f 2 (t  toc ) 2  t r
• Parameters of the Quadratic are uploaded to Satellites which in turn
broadcasts them as the navigation message
– Sub-frame 1 of the navigation message
• Clock correction term tr takes into account relativistic effects
– Account for speed and location in the gravitation potential of the clocks
– Net effect results in satellite clocks gaining ~38.4 sec per day
– Compensated for by setting the satellite fundamental frequency of
10.23 MHz 0.00455 Hz lower.

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 GPS Coordinate Frames
• Inertial Frame of Reference – Defined to
be a non-accelerating or rotating coordinate
frame of reference
– e.g., Earth Centered Inertial (ECI)
– Required for analysis of satellite motion, inertial
navigation, etc.
– Not convenient for terrestrial navigation
• Coordinate systems you will mostly encounter in
GPS are
– Earth Centered Earth Fixed (ECEF)
– East-North-Up (ENU)
– Geodetic Coordinates
• Other coordinate systems used in navigation
– North-East-Down (NED) – used widely in aircraft
navigation, guidance and control applications
– Wander-Azimuth

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 Coordinate Frame Relationships
• Geodetic coordinates (h) to ECEF
a  6378137 m
e  0.08181919
a
N
1  e sin( ) 
2

x  N  h cos( ) cos( )
y  N  h cos( ) sin( )
z  N 1  e 2  h sin( )

• ECEF to Geodetic coordinates

– Iterative algorithm
– See Wgsxyz2lla.m in toolbox

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 Geometry of Earth (1)
• Crude Approximation
– A sphere
– R0 = 6378.137 km
– A spherical model is only good for
“back of the envelope” type of
calculations
– Need a more precise model for
navigation applications (especially
inertial navigation)
• A more accurate model is an
ellipsoid
– Parameters of the mathematical
ellipsoid are defined in WGS-84

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Geometry of Earth (2)

• Topographic Surface
– Shape assumed by Earth’s
crust.
– Very complicated shape not
amenable to mathematical
modeling
• Geoid
– An equipotential surface of
Earth's gravity field which
best fits, in a least squares
sense, global Mean Sea
Level (MSL).
• Reference Ellipsoid
– Mathematical fit to the geoid
that happens to be an
ellipsoid of revolution and
minimizes the mean-square
deviation of local gravity and
the normal to the ellipsoid

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 WGS-84 Reference Ellipsoid
• Some geometric facts about the WGS-84
Reference Ellipsoid
– Semi-major axis ( a ) = 6378137 m
– Semi-minor axis ( b ) = 6356752 m
– Flattening ( f ) = 1-(b/a) = 1/(298.25722)
– Eccentricity ( e ) = [f(2-f)]1/2 = 0.081819191
• Given the WGS-84 Ellipsoid parameters, the
following are derived quantities:

– RNS =  
a 1  f 3 sin 2 ( )  2 
– REW = 
a 1  f sin 2 ( ) 

’
 = Geodetic Latitude
’ = Geocentric Latitude
where’ tan( ' )  (1  f ) 2 tan( )
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Geoidal Heights

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 Orbital Mechanics
• Kepler’s Law
– Based on observations made by Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
• First Law: Each planet revolves around the Sun in an elliptical path, with
the Sun occupying one of the foci of the ellipse.
• Second Law: The straight line joining the Sun and a planet sweeps out
equal areas in equal intervals of time.
• Third Law: The squares of the planets' orbital periods are proportional to
the cubes of the semi-major axes of their orbits.
• Explanation came later – Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

– Universal Law of Gravitation, where

 with his second
combined
GM E mS r   
law leads to F  2
, r  rS  rE
r r

r  G ( M E  mS ) r  r  GM E r  r   r  0

r3 r3 r3
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 Six Keplerian Elements
• Recast the two-body equation
of motion.
• Characterize orbital ellipse
– Semi-major Axis (A)
– Eccentricity (e)
• Characterize orbit’s orientation
in space
– Inclination (i)
– Right Ascension of the
Ascending Node ()
• Characterize ellipse’s
orientation in orbital plane
– Argument of Perigee ()
• Position of the satellite in the
orbit
– True anomaly () • Sometimes it is convenient to sum 
and  to form a new variable called
argument of latitude

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 GPS Orbital Parameters
• Perturbed Orbits - quasi-Keplerian 15 Figure from Bate, Mueller and White,
element set Fundamentals of Astrodynamics (1971), pp. 156
– Non-central gravitational force
– gravitational fields of the sun and
moon
– solar pressure
• Additional 9 parameters
– Three to account for the rate of
changes:
• Right Ascension of the Ascending Node
(-dot)
• Inclination (i-dot)
• Mean motion (n-dot)
– Three pairs (6 parameter total) to
correct
• Argument of latitude
• Orbit radius
• Inclination angle

Pertubative Torque caused by

Earth’s Equatorial Bulge

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 GPS Constellation and Orbits
• Nominal Constellation – 24 Satellites.
– At present more than 24 satellites on
orbit.
• Semi-major axis – 26,560 km
• Eccentricity – less than 0.01
• Period – approximately 11 h 58 min
• Six orbital planes
– Planes designated A through F
– Inclination of 550 relative to the
equatorial plane
– RAAN, , for the six orbital planes
separated by 600.
– Four Satellites per orbital plane.
Satellites in a given orbital plane are
distributed unevenly to minimize the
impact of a single satellite failure.

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 GPS Ephemeris Calculation
• Compute the satellites position in the orbital coordinate frame
– Solve Kepler's equation ( E = M + e sin E ) for eccentric anomaly at epoch k, Ek.
• Solution requires iteration if orbit is non-circular
– Compute the true anomaly, k
– Compute the argument of latitude k
– Use k to compute the corrections for argument of latitude, radius and inclination
then apply the computed corrections.
– Compute the x and y coordinates (xk’ and yk’) of the satellite in it’s orbit.
• Covert the computed xk’ and yk’ position into ECEF coordinates
– Compute the correction for the longitude of the ascending node.
– Apply the correction to the longitude of the ascending node.
– Compute the ECEF coordinates

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 GPS Almanac
• A subset of clock and ephemeris parameters.
– Limited to seven parameters and the associated reference time (toe)
• Square root of semi-major axis ((A)1/2)
• Eccentricity (e)
• Inclination (i)
• Longitude of ascending node (0)
• Rate of right ascension (-dot)
• Argument of perigee ()
• Mean anomaly (M)
– Reduced precision
– Allows determining approximate position of satellites
• All satellites broadcast almanac data for all other satellites in the
constellation
– Sub-frames 4 and 5 of the navigation message
– Updated less frequently than the ephemeris parameters in sub-frames 2
and 3.

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