The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a location system based on a constellation of

about 24 satellites orbiting the earth at altitudes of approximately 11,000 miles. GPS
was developed by the United States Department of Defense (DOD), for its
tremendous application as a military locating utility. The DOD's investment in GPS is
immense. Billions and billions of dollars have been invested in creating this
technology for military uses. However, over the past several years, GPS has proven to
be a useful tool in non-military mapping applications as well.

GPS satellites are orbited high enough to avoid the problems associated with land
based systems, yet can provide accurate positioning 24 hours a day, anywhere in the
world. Uncorrected positions determined from GPS satellite signals produce
accuracies in the range of 50 to 100 meters. When using a technique called differential
correction, users can get positions accurate to within 5 meters or less.

Today, many industries are leveraging off the DOD's massive undertaking. As GPS
units are becoming smaller and less expensive, there are an expanding number of
applications for GPS. In transportation applications, GPS assists pilots and drivers in
pinpointing their locations and avoiding collisions. Farmers can use GPS to guide
equipment and control accurate distribution of fertilizers and other chemicals.
Recreationally, GPS is used for providing accurate locations and as a navigation tool
for hikers, hunters and boaters.

GLOBAL POSITION SYSTEM

About GPS

Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is changing the way we work and play. You can use
GPS technology when you are driving, flying, fishing, sailing, hiking, running, biking, working, or exploring.
With a GPS receiver, you have an amazing amount of information at your fingertips. Here are just a few
examples of how you can use GPS technology.

 Know precisely how far you have run and at what pace while tracking your path so you can find
your way home.
 Pinpoint the perfect fishing spot on the water and easily relocate it.
 Get the closest location of your favorite restaurant when you are out-of-town.
 Find the nearest airport or identify the type of airspace in which you are flying
What is GPS?

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system that sends and
receives radio signals. A GPS receiver acquires these signals and provides you with information. Using GPS
technology, you can determine location, velocity, and time, 24 hours a day, in any weather conditions
anywhere in the world—for free.

GPS, formally known as the NAVSTAR (Navigation Satellite Timing and Ranging). Global Positioning
System originally was developed for the military. Because of its popular navigation capabilities and
because you can access GPS technology using small, inexpensive equipment, the government made the
system available for civilian use. The USA owns GPS technology and the Department of Defense maintains
it.

GPS technology requires the following three segments.

 Space segment.
 Control segment.
 User segment
Space Segment

At least 24 GPS satellites orbit the earth twice a day in a specific pattern. They travel at
approximately 7,000 miles per hour about 12,000 miles above the earth’s surface. These satellites are
spaced so that a GPS receiver anywhere in the world can receive signals from at least four of them.

 Each GPS satellite constantly sends coded radio signals (pseudorandom code) to the earth. These
GPS satellite signals contain the following information.
 The particular satellite that is sending the information.
 Where that satellite should be at any given time (the precise location of the satellite is. called
 ephemeris data).
 Whether or not the satellite is working properly.
 The date and time that the satellite sent the signal.

The signals can pass through clouds, glass, and plastic. Most solid objects such as buildings
attenuate (decrease the power of) the signals. The signals cannot pass through objects that contain a lot
of metal or objects that contain water (such as underwater locations). The GPS satellites are powered by
solar energy. If solar energy is unavailable, for example, when the satellite is in the earth’s shadow,
satellites use backup batteries to continue running. Each GPS satellite is built to last about 10 years. The
Department of Defense monitors and the satellites to ensure that GPS technology continues to run
smoothly for years to come.

GLOBAL SYSTEM FOR MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS

Definition:

Global system for mobile communication (GSM) is a globally accepted standard for digital
cellular communication. GSM is the name of a standardization group established in 1982 to
create a common European mobile telephone standard that would formulate specifications for a
pan-European mobile cellular radio system operating at 900 MHz. It is estimated that many
countries outside of Europe will join the GSM partnership.

Description:

GSM, the Global System for Mobile communications, is a digital cellular communications
system, which has rapidly gained acceptance and market share worldwide, although it was
initially developed in a European context. In addition to digital transmission, GSM incorporates
many advanced services and features, including ISDN compatibility and worldwide roaming in
other GSM networks. The advanced services and architecture of GSM have made it a model for
future third-generation cellular systems, such as UMTS. This paper will give an overview of the
services offered by GSM, the system architecture, the radio transmission

Fig 15: structure of a GSM network

GSM Modems

A GSM modem can be an external modem device, such as the Wavecom FASTRACK Modem.
Insert a GSM SIM card into this modem, and connect the modem to an available serial port on
your computer.A GSM modem can be a PC Card installed in a notebook computer, such as the
Nokia Card Phone.A GSM modem could also be a standard GSM mobile phone with the
appropriate cable and software driver to connect to a serial port on your computer. Phones such
as the Nokia 7110 with a DLR-3 cable, or various Ericsson phones, are often used for this
purpose.

A dedicated GSM modem (external or PC Card) is usually preferable to a GSM mobile phone.
This is because of some compatibility issues that can exist with mobile phones. For example, if
you wish to be able to receive inbound MMS messages with your gateway, and you are using a
mobile phone as your modem, you must utilize a mobile phone that does not support WAP push
or MMS. This is because the mobile phone automatically processes these messages, without
forwarding them via the modem interface. Similarly some mobile phones will not allow you to
correctly receive SMS text messages longer than 160 bytes (known as “concatenated SMS” or
“long SMS”). This is because these long messages are actually sent as separate SMS messages,
and the phone attempts to reassemble the message before forwarding via the modem interface.
(We’ve observed this latter problem utilizing the Ericsson R380, while it does not appear to be a
problem with many other Ericsson models.)

When you install your GSM modem, or connect your GSM mobile phone to the computer, be
sure to install the appropriate Windows modem driver from the device manufacturer. To
simplify configuration, the Now SMS/MMS Gateway will communicate with the device via this
driver. An additional benefit of utilizing this driver is that you can use Windows diagnostics to
ensure that the modem is communicating properly with the computer.

The Now SMS/MMS gateway can simultaneously support multiple modems, provided that your
computer hardware has the available communications port resources.