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A Brief Introduction to the Global

Positioning System (GPS)

CMPE 259 Guest Lecture
Prof. Gabriel H. Elkaim
9-February-2005
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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
Figure from Hewlett-Packard
Application Note 1289: The Science
of Timekeeping by D. W. Allan, Neil
Ashby and Cliff Hodge.
Clock stability is
directly related to
Navigation
because Earth
rotates ~15/hour.
Difference between
local celestial
time and reference
yields Longitude.
Atomic clocks are
too big and too
expensive for
general use.
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Position Fixing Methods
From Kyton and Fried, Avionics Navigation
Systems, 2
nd
Ed., pp. 113.
a) Bearing and range
(u) position fixing
(DME-VOR)
b) Dual bearing (uu)
position fixing (VOR-
VOR)
c) Range () position
fixing (DME-DME,
GPS)
d) Hyperbolic position
fixing (LORAN,
Omega)
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Position Fixing (2-D)
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
2
3
2
3
2
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
2
1
y y x x
y y x x
y y x x
+ =
+ =
+ =

Assuming you can make the

range measurements
i ,
where
i = 1,2,3, then the following
three equations can be
formed:
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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 = t
1
and arrives at the user at t = t
2
is given
by:


In the presence of a clock error, ot (= b/c), the range estimate (or
measurement) becomes:

( )
1 2
t t c
( ) ( ) b t t c t c t t c b + = + = +
1 2 1 2

o
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SV #1
SV #2
SV #3

2
1
cb
u
cb
u
cb
u
As a user located at point X, the
true range measurements to the
three GPS satellites are:
u
True
u
True
u
True
cb
cb
cb
+ =
+ =
+ =
3 3
2 2
1 1



Your GPS receiver, however,
measures
1
,
2
and
3
. These
range measurement are called
pseudoranges.
GPS Pseudoranges
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Psueodranges and Satellite Geometry
Pseudorange
Measurement
Error
Resulting
Position
Uncertainty
Areas
Geometry plays a role in
the accuracy of the final
solution.
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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:
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
2
3
2
3
2
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
2
1
y y x x
y y x x
y y x x
+ =
+ =
+ =

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Linearization by Expansion
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
2
3
2
3
2
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
2
1
y y x x
y y x x
y y x x
+ =
+ =
+ =

( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
2
3
2
3
2
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
2
1
2
1



y y x x
y y x x
y y x x
+ =
+ =
+ =

Exact Equations you

would solve in an ideal
world
Equations the you can or will solve
y y y
x x x
i i i
o
o
o
+ =
+ =
+ =

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Linearization by Expansion (2)
( ) o o o o
i i i i i i i
2 2

2 2 2
2
2
+ ~ + + = + = (dropped higher order terms)
For the range measurements,
For the position coordinate x,
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) x x x x x x x x x x
i i i i
o o + = + = 2
2 2 2
For the position coordinate y,
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) y y y y y y y y y y
i i i i
o o + = + = 2
2 2 2
n i , 2 , 1 =
Where,
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Linearization by Expansion (3)
( ) ( ) ( ) y y y x x x
i i i i i i i i
o o o o = = + = 2 2 2 2

2 2 2 2
Taking the difference between the true and estimated values,
Normally you have more equations than unknowns. Thus, you can do a
least squares solution. That is,
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
(

(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(

=
(
(
(
(

y
x
y y x x
y y x x
y y x x
n
n
n
n
n
o
o



o
o
o

2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
1
o

G
x

o
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Linearization by Expansion (4)
Because we dont 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.
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( ) ( )
(
(
(

(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(

=
(
(
(
(

t
y
x
y y x x
y y x x
y y x x
n
n
n
n
n
o
o
o



o
o
o
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
1

G
x

o
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Least Squares Solution
( ) o o

T T
G G G x
1
=
For the moment, without proof, we state that the least
squares solution is given by,
Algorithm for solving the navigation equation:
1) Pick an initial guess for x and y
2) Compute for as many measurements as you have
3) Form for all measurements and then form
4) Solve for
5) Update your initial guesses for x and y as follows:



6) Repeat until convergence
i

i
o G
x

o
y y y
x x x
o
o
+ =
+ =
+
+
) ( ) (
) ( ) (
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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 crosscorrelation 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( ) cos( 2
) sin( ) sin( ) cos( ) cos( ) cos(
) sin( ) sin( ) cos( ) cos( ) cos(
| o | o | o
| o | o | o
| o | o | o
+ + =
+ =
= +
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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
The Sky Above Palo Alto on Jan 6, 2002
Actual location of Polaris is
89
o
05
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Instruments of Navigation
An Astrolabe
A Sextant
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View Through a Sextant
Easier to align Suns (or other
celestial bodys) limb with the
horizon.
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Latitude Determination Using the Sun
n Declinatio s Sun' Altitude s Sun' 90
0
= A
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The Longitude Problem
Celestial map changes because of Earths 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 Jupiters 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
Land Sea Air
X X
X X
X
X
X
X
X X X
NDB Non Directional Beacon
LORAN Long RAnge Navigation
VOR VHF Omni-directional Range
DME Distance Measuring Equipment
ILS Instrument Landing System
MLS Microwave Landing System
INS Inertial Navigation System*
Navigation System
Application
* 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 1
o
to 2
o
.
Principles of Operation (Enge et. al.
Terrestrial Radionavigation, pp. 81)
Transmits 2 Signals
1
st
Signal has azimuth
dependent phase
2
nd
Signal is a reference
A between the phases of
signal 1
st
and 2
nd
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:




) 50 (
2
1
s T c A =

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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)
Instrument Landing System (ILS)
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Time Scales
Sidereal Time Based on the
time required by Earth to
complete one revolution about its
axis relative to distant stars.
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
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
(GMT)

Sun
Earth
Earths
Orbit
An
Apparent
Solar Day
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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 Earths 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


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 At
r
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.
r oc f c f f
t t t a t t a a t A + + + =
2
2 0 1 0
) ( ) ( o
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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






ECEF to Geodetic coordinates
Iterative algorithm
See Wgsxyz2lla.m in toolbox


( )
( )
( )
( ) ( ) ) sin( 1
) sin( ) cos(
) cos( ) cos(
) sin( 1
08181919 0
m 6378137
2
2
|
|
|
|
h e N z
h N y
h N x
e
a
N
. e
a
+ =
+ =
+ =

=
=
=
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Geometry of Earth (1)
Crude Approximation
A sphere
R
0
= 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 Earths
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:

R
NS
=

R
EW
=
( ) ( ) 2 ) ( sin 3 1
2
+ | f a
( ) ) ( sin 1
2
| f a +
where | = | ) tan( ) 1 ( ) tan(
2 '
| | f =
| = Geodetic Latitude
| = Geocentric Latitude
|
|
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Geoidal Heights
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Orbital Mechanics
Keplers 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
combined with his second law leads to
,
2
r
r
r
m GM
F
S E

=
E S
r r r


0
) (
3 3 3
= + = + ~
+
+ r
r
r r
r
GM
r r
r
m M G
r
E S E







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Recast the two-body equation
of motion.
Characterize orbital ellipse
Semi-major Axis (A)
Eccentricity (e)
Characterize orbits orientation
in space
Inclination (i)
Right Ascension of the
Ascending Node (O)
Characterize ellipses
orientation in orbital plane
Argument of Perigee (e)
Position of the satellite in the
orbit
True anomaly (v)

Six Keplerian Elements
Sometimes it is convenient to sum v
and e to form a new variable called
argument of latitude

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GPS Orbital Parameters
Perturbed Orbits - quasi-Keplerian 15
element set
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
(O-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
Earths Equatorial Bulge
Figure from Bate, Mueller and White,
Fundamentals of Astrodynamics (1971), pp. 156
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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 55
0
relative to the
equatorial plane
RAAN, O, for the six orbital planes
separated by 60
0
.
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, E
k
.
Solution requires iteration if orbit is non-circular
Compute the true anomaly, v
k

Compute the argument of latitude u
k

Use u
k
to compute the corrections for argument of latitude, radius and inclination
then apply the computed corrections.
Compute the x and y coordinates (x
k
and y
k
) of the satellite in its orbit.
Covert the computed x
k
and y
k
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 (O
0
)
Rate of right ascension (O-dot)
Argument of perigee (e)
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.