Astronomy Cast Ep. 212
"GPS Navigation"
GPS or Global Positioning System, uses satellites to pinpoint the location of the receiver system and show it on a map. While they are very accurate, they aren't always perfect. The blue circle of error shown on many map applications, is the given area that you are determined to be located in by the satellites, because there aren't enough signals to pinpoint your exact location. But what's cool is that these errors aren't locational areas, but timing errors between satellite signals hitting the receiver! It's pretty amazing to think about how it isn't just location, but a simple timing error that causes such errors in our GPS systems!
No comments:
Post a Comment