Laptop GPS

Global Positioning System is a navigational aid, funded and controlled by the U.S. Department of Defense. Since GPS systems utilize 24 satellites that orbit the earth in a grid pattern, there are always six to eight satellites that are able to communicate with any given position on earth at any given time. What this does is give the average consumer the power to find any place on earth at any time day or night. Just think of the benefits this provides for a wide variety of the public. Some of the benefits we might receive from GPS are: Fuel economy: If you want to maximize your fuel economy you’ll need a good GPS system. Saving money at the pump as well as wear and tear on your vehicle should be one of the main reasons why you would want a good GPS system in your vehicle. Accurate driving directions not only will save you time in your daily travels, but also will save you substantial gas money when travelling from place to place. This is especially important for delivery and courier services. Travel directions: Utilizing a GPS system will give you accurate directions for travel. Weather you are travelling locally, across country, or globally, you will get accurate direction and constant monitoring of your current position. I wouldn’t think of taking another family vacation without a GPS system in my vehicle. Recreation: Weather you are camping, or hiking, a hand held GPS unit will benefit you. I can’t imagine going camping in the middle of the woods and not being able to find my way out. The news is filled with daily reports of people (or kids) that go hiking in the woods or the desert, and can’t find their way back home or to their campsite. A GPS unit is the answer for these people. Maritime: If you have ever watched one of the popular fishing shows on T.V., or are a fisherman or sailor yourself, then you know how a GPS unit will benefit you. Getting lost at sea or on a large lake would not be fun. The other side of the coin is the fisherman, say there is a great hotspot on any given lake in the world, that specific spot can be saved in your GPS system and found again at any time. This could be beneficial to the recreational or professional fisherman. Tracking: If you run a courier business, rental business, or just plain delivery service, and need to keep track of several vehicles, then GPS is what you need. Keeping track of your vehicles will keep your overhead down. The other end of tracking is keeping track of a family member or child, a GPS tracking system will aid in your efforts. I have over 25 years of automotive repair experience. I know quite alot about everything that has to do with your auto. I am ASE certified as well as GM certified. I am originally from Wisconsin, born and raised, lived there for 38 years. I’ve spent many years in the summer-humid /winter-icy/snowy climate and have dealt with not only repair conditions there but also how to drive properly in those conditions. Fuel economy is probably the most important element to saving money today, and how you drive or how your vehicle performs plays a big part in that. I now have lived in Phoenix for the past 6 years, in the middle of the desert where it reaches up to 115 degrees on a summer day. I’ve seen it all as far as vehicle maintenance and care goes and can help with any problem by email or by visiting my website at http://www.your-auto-repair-help.com/gps.html

As the automobile GPS units get better and the prices have come down it seems that more and more people are finally contemplating on installing them. In the past few years audio, satellite radio and SUV back seat video recorders and TV have been considered to be the cool thing to own. Yet as prices keep falling in the feature rich GPS auto market we are seeing it is becoming one hot item to have and it indeed did appear on many a Soccer Mom’s Christmas list as well. Have you been considering a GPS unit? You know you need one and actually with high fuel prices the unit may just make up its costs in better trip planning and alternate routes in peak traffic times? Wouldn’t that be great; avoid the traffic and also save fuel? Now that is the ticket indeed and with the ticket prices coming down for the most sought after state-of-the-art and top of the line units with fully integrated features, voice activated commands and audio directions why wouldn’t you buy one today? There are many new options and units, which do not need the CDROM in them and you do not have to change them to find what you are looking for if they do use a CDROM. Many of the new units have the latest hard drives with upgradeable memory and are still well under $1000, which is a great thing indeed. Think on this. “Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

In this second of a three part series we’re going to go over how GPS receivers actually measure distance. A lot of math and science goes into this stuff so sit back and get ready to strain your brain. At any given time, let’s choose midnight for this example, the satellite begins transmitting a digital pattern called a pseudo-random code. At that same time the GPS receiver begins running that same random pattern. When the satellite’s signal reaches the receiver the pattern transmission will lag a little behind the receivers playing of the same pattern. The length of the delay is equal to the travel time of the signal. The receiver multiplies this time by the speed of light to measure how far the signal actually travelled. We assume the signal travelled in a straight line and this therefore is the distance from receiver to satellite. In order for this measurement to be able to be made the receiver and the satellite both need clocks that can be synchronized to the nanosecond. In order to make this possible you need atomic clocks, not only in the receiver but in every satellite as well. Atomic clocks cost between $50,000 and $100,000. That makes them a little too expensive for everyday use. To overcome this cost problem the GPS system has a very clever solution. Every satellite contains an expensive atomic clock but the receiver contains a regular quartz clock which the receiver itself constantly resets. The receiver looks at the incoming signals from four or more of the satellites and compensates for it’s own inaccuracy. Once it calculates the correct time value this will cause all the signals that the receiver is getting from the satellites to align at a single point in space. That is the time value held by the atomic clocks in the satellites themselves. So the receiver sets it’s clock to that time value and therefore has the same time value as all the satellites. Atomic clock accuracy for quartz clock prices. You can’t beat that. When you measure the distance to four satellites you can draw four spheres that all intersect at one point. Three spheres will intersect even if you’re way off but four spheres will only intersect if you are exactly right. The receiver can calculate the time needed for the spheres to intersect at one point. Based on this it resets it’s clock to match the atomic clocks of the satellites. The receiver does this constantly as long as it is on, which gives it the same accuracy as the atomic clocks in the satellites. In order for this info to be of any use, the receiver also has to know where the satellites actually are. To do this, the receiver stores an almanac that tells where each satellite is at a given time. Any adjustments that need to be made because of gravitational pull are transmitted to the receivers by the department of the military. In the last instalment of this series we’ll go over problems with the system, how they can be compensated for and how to use the data itself. ——————————————————- Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Global Positioning Systems ——————————————————-

GPS, or Global Positioning System, is the latest thing in keeping from getting lost when trekking out to visit your Aunt Louise. Years ago you had to rely on landmarks, your handy compass or the guy at the corner gas station, assuming he knew where everything was. Today for about a hundred bucks you can get a little gadget that will tell you exactly where you are, any place on Earth. By using some basic mathematical calculations and a rather complex system, you can be in the middle of the desert, lost as can be, push a button and have your GPS tell you exactly where you are so that you can hopefully find your way back home. So what exactly is GPS and how does it work? GPS is actually a very complex and expensive system but the fundamental concepts of the system are very simple. The GPS system is a group of 27 Earth orbiting satellites. Twenty-four of them are in operation and 3 are backups in case one fails. The system was originally created for the US military but was eventually opened up to everyone else. Each one of these satellites, weighing in at about 4,000 pounds, circles the Earth at about 12,000 miles per hour and makes 2 complete rotations everyday. The orbits are arranged so that at any one point in the day 4 of these satellites are visible from any place on Earth. The complimenting receiver that was created to receive signals from these satellites has the job of locating 4 or more of these satellites, figure out the distance to each and from that information determine where on the planet the receiver itself is located. It then transmits this location back to the person who happens to be in possession of the receiver. The operation is based on a simple mathematical principal called trilateration. To simply explain how this works, let’s say someone tells you that you are 10 miles from Newark, NJ, another person tells you that you are 15 miles from Maplewood, NJ and a third person tells you that you are 20 miles from Woodbridge, NJ. By taking those three facts you can figure out exactly where you are because each radius of each distance when linked together will intersect at only one point. That point is where you are located. In order to actually do the calculation from space the GPS receiver needs to know 2 things. The location of at least 3 satellites above you and the distance between you and each of those satellites. The reason that only 3 satellites or spheres are needed is because the Earth itself can act as a fourth sphere. The GPS receiver itself works by radio waves which are a kind of electromagnetic energy and travel at the speed of light The receiver can actually figure out how far the signal has travelled by timing how long it took for the signal to arrive from each of the satellites. In the next article on GPS we’ll go over exactly how this system works to measure distance. ——————————————————- Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Global Positioning Systems ——————————————————-

GPS, or global positioning system, is a tool that is used to measure distance and to help pinpoint location any place in the world. The fact is that it is an excellent tool that can do so much more than just tell you where you are. And, it is being used in everything from heart rate monitors to automobiles. If you haven¡¦t heard of GPS, you need to get caught up. It could help to benefit your life in one way or another. First, understand how GPS works. Circling the globe are 24 satellites. They are orbiting the Earth at different locations and make a complete orbit around the Earth in about 12 hours. They are located about 12,000 miles above the surface of the Earth. They correspond with receivers that are scattered around the world. They are always transmitting information through digital radio signals. These signals tells the transmitters where they are and the exact time. They are so precise that they transmit time to the billionth of a second in accuracy. How They Work Each of the satellites that work in the GPS network will send these signals to the transmitters down on Earth. They travel at the speed of light in fact. By knowing the length of time that it takes for the signal to get to the receiver, the receivers can get precise measurements. In other words, the longer it takes the receiver to receiver the signal from the GPS satellite, the farther away the GPS satellite is at that moment. This all helps the receiver and the transmitter to convey where they are on a longitude and latitude basis. When four receivers are used, this can also tell the altitude as well. It was first developed and used by the United States Government in the Department of Defense. It allows for accurate, all weather navigation for such things as military ground, sea and air forces to work and communicate. Today, though, it is used in much different circumstances. In fact, you will see it used throughout the world in many non governmental rolls. Today’s Uses There are many uses of the GPS system today. In many cases, the GPS is a great way for finding and keeping track of just about anything. It has the ability to communicate within seconds and with precision that is unmatched in any other application available. It is also simple to use and inexpensive in many cases as well. Here are some examples to think about. You may have heard of cars and other vehicles using GPS tracking. This is one of the largest and most beneficial uses for the system. First, it allows for the car to be kept safe. For example, it can help to track a car that has been stolen. It works by transmitting data to the satellite receivers that then are sent to the authorities. The end result is that within seconds, you can know where your car has been taken. But, that is far from all it can do on a car. In many of today¡¦s cars, there are GPS tracking systems that can be used to help navigate the car. For example, if your system is working, it can tell you how to get from point A to point B without a problem. It will even tell you when you should be turning. Yet another example of its use in the car is its ability to help in emergency situations. The transmitted information can be sent to the authorities to alert them that you are in trouble. GPS jumps in and helps to find your location. Many vehicles are now being outfitted with this. But, cars are not the only thing that uses GPS. Any device can be equipped with one if there is a need for it. An example would be the heart rate monitor. Many use these for exercise to let them know when they have reached a targeted rate and how long they are holding it for. Well, how about a watch that is equipped not only to monitor the heart rate, but to tell you where you are running, how long it took you to get from one place to the next and the distance that you just traveled? GPS allows for this! GPS is a system that is useful and convenient. It allows for many uses and it has a real fit within the world. You¡¦ll find it in all sorts of unique products. For more information about GPS systems visit http://www.gps-globalpositioningsystem.net/ . You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice, link and URL remain intact.

If we go to war with China the first thing they will do is knock out as many of our satellites as possible. Many secret SPY satellites in the Military will be safe now up there and there equipment in their UAVs, ground vehicles and command and control centers because they have special Anti-Jamming GPS systems with bleeding edge top of the line and state of the art counter measure technologies. You are probably thinking to yourself who thinks of this stuff anyways? Well you know men and there toys and when the US Military wants something no matter how seemingly impossible someone will find a way. This time that someone was a little company Harris Corp that has about $3 billion in annual sales and over 12,600 employees as of yesterday and they have teamed up with another little company; The Boeing Company, maybe you have heard of them. Harris Corp will provide to the net-centric battlespace smart munitions anti-jam technologies. This means no one gets away and no smart bombs go astray and that our enemies have only one option before meeting their maker and that is to pray. Now you are probably saying to yourself, “Hey self, that would be cool in my SUV!” Just think never lose an XM Radio connection or have to worry about interference on your urban assault vehicles GPS. Indeed that would be cool and it will inevitably become standard equipment on all in-car system by 2010 through the gracious gifts of transfer technologies or hand me down research from the US of A. Never a lost signal or missed tune, you got to love it. Think on this. “Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Throughout all time the big question has been and still is: Where in the heck am I? Adam said, “Where are you going, Eve?” Eve shook her blond hair and said, “Darned if I know, Adam. I’m just bored with this place.” “Well, stay here then if you don’t know where you are going. You might get lost.” Adam set on a rock and waited for her answer. Eve said, “I won’t get lost, Adam. Besides, I’m not a man. If I do get lost, I’ll ask for directions.” Adam said, “You must have some idea where you want to go, Eve. You can’t just go wondering off into the dark and dreary world. She looked at Adam with her pale blue eyes and said, “I was thinking more of Paris than the dark and dreary world. Back in those days folks tried to keep track of where they were by looking at the stars. The great explorer, Phendom, used the stars to navigate. In 45678 b.c. on his first trip to Greenland his chief navigator, Sogbottom, said, “I think we had better head back north, Phendom. I think that is the Southern Cross.” I found only one reference to Phendom on Google.com. That is how unknown he is. The reference was cached, but the ever-loving Google.com said I could read the text if I liked. I decided to do that until one of those little boxes popped up and told me I would have to install the Korean Language module to read it. That is how I learned that Phendom, who was probably the first Sea Explorer, was Korean. I still remember three words in Korean from my Korean War days. I can say, “How are you? (awnyahasiminiga)” I can say, “Come here,” to a man (erioseeo). And I can call a dog (ereereereere, etc.). It’s best in Korea not to get the last two mixed up. Koreans like to throw rocks. Back to the stars: If you measure the angle from the horizon to Polaris, you will know your latitude. Polaris is the “Pole Star.” You may know it as the “North Star.” To find Polaris, look for the big dipper. If you can’t find the Big Dipper, it is opposite the “W” which is also known as Cassiopeia. To see how this is all done go to: http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_kids/AskKids/northstar.shtml You can see why I just love Google.com. “I love those goo goo googlely eyes!” You might try: http://pub2.bravenet.com/forum/167551711/show/337617 for more on Barney Google with the goo goo googlely eyes!” Don’t forget to drop in to see Barney Google himnself at: http://www.toonopedia.com/google.htm. You will be glad you did. At this point it would be proper to discuss how the early mariners determined longitude. Darned if I know how they did it. I do know that Captain James 1768-1780 A.D. was the first to use a chronometer to determine longitude. It says so at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_exploration. The chronometer will just get us into a flimditty just as the sextant would. Let’s move on. (I made up the word flimditty because it is just what we needed in that last sentence, right? You won’t find it in your dictionary or at Google.com. You must be thrilled to be reading the writings of a modern creative literary genious.) There is no reason to get into a fitznizzle over longitude and the chronometer. Skipping history, modern day navigators have a number of ways to find their way home. Some years back a friend of mine told me that he had bought a fishing boat at a sheriff’s sale for $800.00. He was very excited about that boat and so was I. He put a new V-8 engine in the boat and off we went fishing on Delaware Bay, God’s great gift to ardent fishermen. My son and son-in-law tagged along and we cought a boodle of fish. Toward evening, I put my hand up to measure the altitude of the sun and I said, “In 40 minutes it will be dark. We’d better head in.” Well, nobody wanted to quit fishing and my friend assured me that we would be able to get in by looking for the navigation light at the mouth of the Maurice River. We would follow the light and slip up the river to the dock. Finally as the sun dropped into the abyse of spacetime my friend decided it was time to leave. He cranked up the engine but the boat didn’t move. Poking our heads to see what was below deck we found water. The boat had such a tonage of water that it would not move. My friend had installed a pump so he flipped it on. That didn’t help, so we started bailing out the water. Eventually, we got the boat moving. I suggested that we put on the lifejackets. The Delaware is full of ugly tankers and cargo ships and such. I could see us in the water screaming at the top of our lungs, HELP! We headed east but we could not see the blasted navigational light. We moved south and finally we could see it. We motored up the river at a slow pace because the docks on the river had signs that said: NO WAKE! We moved slower and slower as we took on more water. The musquitos got thicker and thicker. We thought we were with Bogey on the African Queen. Finally, we arrived at the dock. That’s where we learned that we could not move to the dock because the boat would not steer properly. Then by luck on the 70th try, we pulled up to the dock. I grabbed two five gallon cans of fish and ran for my Volkswagen bus, ten zillion mosquitoes helping me along. The next morning, my friend went down to the dock to check on his bargain boat. He couldn’t see it at first. Then he found that it was only a few feet away. Unfortunately, the direction was down! Glub, glub! Sorry for that major diversion from our very serious discussion on navigation and all. Sometime after the compus was discovered, man discovered radio navigation. Transmitters along the cost sent out a characteristic bleep that boats could triangulate on or dead recon on to find their way home. We learn the following at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_navigation “The first system of radio navigation was the radio direction finder, or RDF. By tuning in a radio station and then using a directional antenna to find the direction to the broadcasting antenna, radio sources replaced the stars and planets of celestial navigation with a system that could be used in all weather and times of day. Taking two such measurements and plotting the directions on a map will result in an intersection, your current location. Commercial AM radio stations can be used for this task due to their long range and high power, but strings of low-power radio beacons were also set up specifically for this task. Early systems used a loop antenna that was rotated by hand to find the angle to the signal, while modern systems use a much more directional solenoid that is rotated rapidly by a motor, with electronics calculating the angle.” Placing transmitters on Global Positioning Satellites solved all of our navigational problems except during heavy sunspot activity or overlyactive solarwinds. The End copyright©John T. Jones, Ph.D. 2005 John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com)is a retired R&D engineer and VP of a Fortune 500 company. He is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering), poetry, etc. Former editor of international trade magazine. More info: http://www.tjbooks.com. Business web site: http://www.bookfindhelp.com (wealth-success books / flagpoles)

Is you car GPS less? That is not very nice, how would you feel to be sent out on a mission without proper guidance and directions? You know the American Automobile is an extension of one’s personality in the United States. Are you a lost sole, with no direction or sense of where you are going in life? Oh so you are not, you say? Well then why don’t you have a GPS in your car then? There are so many different models an many are relatively in expensive. You know for someone who has all the latest things, it is amazing no one has told you that you have to get a GPS? I mean GPS in your car is like the ultimate. For the person who has everything, it just makes no more sense for you to forego the latest and greatest that GPS – Global Positioning Systems have to offer. Just think you will always know a short cut and you will therefore make up the cost of your new GPS unit in your fuel savings. You will never be lost trying to remember the landmarks from a really bad set of directions, you will never encounter another brain dead moron who is a local but cannot tell you how to get some where which is only a few blocks away? You will never be lost again, trying to vector into some elusive quadrant of the city when the roads keep bending the wrong. Imagine looking down on the city like the God Almighty and then say; “Ah, Ha!” You will certainly look like one smart cookie never needing directions and always driving right to where ever you are going, whenever you want to be there, so think on this. “Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Development of communication technologies allowed people to access to others as they are mobile without losing their contact with their social milieu. And last minute meetings, daily changed plans and cancelled appointments became a part of our lives. Most of the time people owning a mobile phone have to explain the reason why they are not accessible. So communication is handled on individual basis, location restrictions gained minor importance. It means that a person does not have to lose contact with his/her social milieu whether he/she is at home, work or in a car. We do not have much difficulties in using our devices to reach communication technologies as we are at home or walking on the streets. The issue gets tougher when we started to drive our cars. The main actor in the car is the car, making the course decisions and using the in-vehicle devices. Normally a driver’s task is to drive the car safely without causing any danger for himself and the passengers. But a driver is not a robot programmed only to achieve one mission, meaning that human brain has the capacity to carry on more than one job at the same time. Although that situation is in favor of the driver, concentrating on many things can cause deconcentraion on the driver’s seat. Mobile phones, undoubtedly, remain the most significant device for in-vehicle use. As mobile phone usage brings about questions during the course of the cars, many countries started to discuss this issue in detail. And many countries banned to use mobile during the course of the cars. As some countries allow to use mobile phones with “hands free kit”, some countries banned it in a strict way. My starting point for my thesis was to establish some projects to solve the problems about the currently used in-vehicle technologies. I already had some questions in my mind requiring answers: How do the in-vehicle technologies affect our behaviours in the car? How better can the interfaces of those devices be designed? How better can i meet the communication demands of the driver? I started my study to interview with drivers to know their in-vehicle needs.My purpose was to find the anwers to those questions in general: What is the relation of the driver with his car? How often and which purpose does he motivate to drive? What does he need as he drive the car? As well as with my face-to-face interviews i held a survey with similar questions and sent to people to get a mass feedback. My purpose was to acquire a leitmotive that i would like to focus on. The respondents explained that they have one or more mobile phones. Although it is forbidden in-vehicle use of mobile phones in their countries, they did not hesitate to use their mobile phones. One of my projects is called navigation system interface. Currently used road navigators is based on to trace the map located on the console or the next turn is passed to the driver through a warning voice in some systems. Such road navigators play a significant role for the deconcentraion of the driver as he tries to trace a small display. Mostly used audible warning systems could be disturbing as the music is on the car or passengers are talking to each other. To me the road navigator should function without deconcentrating the driver, as the main target of it is to navigate. My second project is Pronto, which integrates navigation and communication for in-vehicle use. Respondents underlined that the their most phone calls are intented to know where they are. Such calls can be decreased thrugh the communication of in-vehicle devices. With Pronto, driver matches his mobile phone with the car once and then as he enters his car his mobile phone and in-vehicle system will be synchronized via bluetooth. My point for both projects was to reshape current technology and devices to match with people’s demands. Now both projects await for the production as feasible and practical systems in the near future. Closing words are for the users’ now. Drivers having the opportunity to try those projects said they look forward to use those systems in real life as well. If people’s motivations are considered in depth as technology is shaped, it would be possible to launch long life and exciting products. I was born and raised in Turkey and I traveled around the country since my parents are teachers. Spending my childhood and teenage years reading all sorts of books, eating chocolate and peanuts, listening to first New Kids on the Block, then metal music, studying for the university entrance exam to be a kick-ass economist, I managed to get into a brand new university, moved to Istanbul, never took a single economics class, tried computer science, flirted with cultural studies and art, went to exhibition openings for free booze, met people, walked through every interesting bit of the city, danced like no one is watching, took billions of photographs, eventually ended up getting a BA in visual communication design.

The NovTel GPS system is definitely something to talk about and indeed becoming quite famous as it just happened to be the GPS system riding on board of Stanford University’s Volkswagon which just happen to win the DARPA Grand Challenge and the 2-million dollar cash prize. If you will recall the DARPA Grand Challenge had over 50 challengers driving vehicles through desert course almost 200-miles long, without any driver. The UGV Unmanned Ground Vehicle nicknamed “Stanley” averaged 19.1 miles per hour that day. Stanley completed the race with the NovAtel’s Propak(R)LBplus with Omnistar HP Service for precise positioning data aboard. It worked better than all the others including super star Grad students from such notable Universities as Cal-Tech, Berkeley, Virigina Tech, Georgia Tech, MIT and Carnegie Mellon all known for their robust robotic prowess. The NovTel Propak GPS receiver coupled with the OmniSTAR L-band signals was able to correct its movements while it drove through the tough course. The accuracy is said to be within such tight tolerances that their was no competition at that point. The system even was able to make quick transitions while coming from GPS blackouts in tunnels, without error. The winning combination is something to talk about and the NovTel Propak is indeed the system of choice and the race for robotic warfare continues. “Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/