What is used in a GPS Fleet Tracking Service?
A global positioning system, abbreviated as GPS, is used for locating any object on earth. The basis of GPS is to measure the distance between the concerned satellite and the intended location, thereby combining the same from different satellites to determine the exact position or location of the user. Doing merely this wouldn’t guarantee anything. The previously obtained information should be sent to an alarm centre. Normally these are 3rd party companies such as GSM providers; information is shared with them by any means, which is later interpreted to display the location of the concerned object/person/destination on an electronic map.
Mechanism of satellite functioning
There are 3 segments in the process of satellite functioning. All of them are as followed.
Space: This segment is composed of satellites that translate the signal from outer space. Based on these signals, data like time & position are determined. A group of satellites is called a constellation. There are 2 constellations employed by GPS. One of the constellations has 24 satellites. Each of these satellites has a period of 12 hours. These satellites hover around at the height of more than twenty thousand kilometres.
Control: This segment contains five ground stations, a set of three antennas, and a control station. These ground stations regularly receive the transmitted data from the satellites and, after further processing, redirects them to the control station. These signals are then directed to antennas after further processing. Then the data is further transmitted again to satellites.
User: This segment consists of the receivers of GPS and the community of its users. The receiver setup is composed up of devices like a data receding unit, a display device, microprocessor, antenna, etc. These GPS receivers convert signals into location, velocity, and duration. The thumb rule is that the N number of satellites is required to determine N factors.
Functions of GPS
Location: With the help of the worldwide location feature, it has become easier than ever to locate anything around the world. With the implementation of the geotag feature, objects can be tagged and pinpoint to their exact location.
Navigation: Getting from one location to another has just become very easy. GPS lets its user know the exact distance between destination and origin, expected time of travel, etc. By using this feature, it has become very convenient to go from one place to another without even knowing the way.
Tracking: Tracking children, vehicles, or any precious object just became times easier with the use of GPS. With GPS around, the fear of valuable goods being stolen or lost has completely been eliminated.
Mapping: GPS also helps considerably in mapping up a new place. With the advanced technology of satellite communication and monitoring, knowing our way around a new place becomes easy.
Conclusion
Retrospectively thinking on the fact that how much of an integral part of our lives has satellite communication become, we realize that every service that we avail of today is linked to some activity concerning satellite.