Showing posts with label GPS satellites. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GPS satellites. Show all posts

Thursday, October 31, 2013

A Quick Guide To Cell Phone GPS Tracking

Throughout this discussion consider that there is a basic difference between handset GPS Tracking and Navigation. GPS phone tracking is normally related to a third-party keeping records of either real-time or historical mobile phone location, while Navigation deals with the mobile phone user figuring out how to get from point A to point B. Just because a cell phone has GPS doesn?t mean that it can easily be used as a navigation device. Just like cell tracking , navigation requires third-party software.



 Phone Tracking


Much of the discussion surrounding cell tracking, mobile GPS and cell phone tracker software could be helped by a GPS Satellite primer.


GPS satellites broadcast signals from space that GPS receivers utilize to determine three-dimensional location (latitude, longitude, and altitude) plus precise time. GPS is an acronym for Global Positioning System and is a network that is made up of 3 primary segments: Space Segment, Control Segment and User Segment.


The GPS Space Segment consists of twenty-four to thirty-two satellites that orbit the earth at a height of about 12,000 miles. These satellites are also known as as the GPS Constellation, and they are orbiting once every 12 hours. They are not geostationary, but rather move at over 7,000 mph. GPS satellites are solar powered but have battery backup for when they are on the dark side of the earth. They are placed so that at any given time there are at least 4 satellites ?visible? from any point on earth. Small rocket boosters on each satellite keep them flying in the correct path. The satellites last about ten years until all their fuel is exhausted.


GPS Satellites are not communications satellites. Geostationary or communications satellites are parked in space 22,300 miles above the equator. These satellites are used for weather forecasting, satellite TV, satellite radio and most other types of global communications. At exactly 22,000 miles above the equator, the earth’s force of gravity and centrifugal forces are offset and are in equilibrium. This is the best location to position a stationary satellite. The earth rotates at about 1,000 miles an hour, and because of their high earth orbit the geo-synchronous satellites need to move at about 7,000 mph to maintain position. This is approximately the same speed as GPS satellites, but since geo-synchronous satellites are 10,000 miles further away they don?t move relative to the earth.


The GPS Control Segment incorporates Master Control Station, an Alternate Master Control Station, and a host of dedicated and shared Ground Antennas and Monitor Stations that work together to ensure the satellites are working correctly and the information they beam down to earth is accurate.


The GPS User Segment is composed of of GPS receivers taking the shape of handsets and , laptops, in-car navigation devices and hand-held tracking units along with the people that use them, and the software applications that make them function.


GPS receivers often take longer to become ready to navigate after being turned on because it must acquire some basic information in addition to finding GPS satellite signals. This delay can be caused when the GPS cell phone has been unused for days or weeks, or has been transported a significant distance while unused for. The GPS must update its almanac and ephemeris data and store it in memory. The GPS almanac is a set of data that every GPS satellite transmits. When a GPS receiver has current almanac data in memory, it can acquire satellite signals and find initial position more quickly.


In the event that satellite signals are not readily available, or accuracy and precision is less important than battery life, making use of Cell-ID is a useful alternative to GPS smartphone tracking. The position of the device can be calculated by the cellular network cell id, that determines the cell tower the mobile phone is connected to. By having the position of the tower, you’ll be able to know approximately the location where the cell phone will be. But, a tower can cover a huge area, from a few hundred meters, in high populationdensity locations, to several kilometers in lower density areas. For this reason location CellID precision is less than than GPS accuracy. Even so location from CellID still delivers quite a useful substitute.




A Quick Guide To Cell Phone GPS Tracking

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Cell Phone GPS Tracking Information

Several important technical capabilities related to GPS phone tracking to consider include: Tracking Application “Persistence”. The tracking application on a cell phone usually must be enabled by the user. Depending on the cell phone, the application may persist – remaining enabled when the phone is turned on after having been turned off. This feature can be particularly handy if phone tracking is important and you do not want to require the person using the phone to turn tracking on and off. Another issue related to Tracking Application “Persistence” and mobile phone GPS location is the possibility of wasting the battery. It is important to be able to remotely adjust how often of taking GPS position. Choosing real-time or periodic sampling affects both the resolution of finding position as well as battery life. One typical means of minimizing battery and data use is Passive Tracking. Some mobile phone GPS tracking devices will record location data internally so that it can be downloaded later. Also known as


“data logging,” which can maintain location information even when the device has traveled outside the wireless network. Passive tracking is not a universal feature built-in to standard smartphone, but the latest smartphones tend to include Passive tracking ability.


 Cell Phone Tracker


Much of the discussion dealing with cell tracking, cell phone GPS and cell phone tracker software could be helped by a GPS Satellite primer.


GPS satellites broadcast signals from space that GPS receivers use to determine three-dimensional location (latitude, longitude, and altitude) plus precise time. GPS stands for Global Positioning System and is a system that is composed of 3 main segments: Space Segment, Control Segment and User Segment.


The GPS Space Segment incorporates twenty-four to thirty-two satellites that orbit the earth at a height of about 12,000 miles. These satellites are also known as as the GPS Constellation, and they are orbiting twice a day. They are not geostationary, they travel at over 7,000 mph. GPS satellites are solar powered but have battery backup for when they are in the earth?s shadow. They are positioned so that at any given time there are at least 4 satellites ?visible? from any point on earth. Small rocket boosters on each satellite keep them properly positioned. The satellites last about ten years until all their fuel runs out.


GPS Satellites are not communications satellites. Geostationary or communications satellites are at a much higher orbit of about 22,300 miles above the equator. These satellites are used for weather forecasting, satellite TV, satellite radio and most other types of global communications. At exactly 22,000 miles above the equator, the earth’s gravitational force and centrifugal forces are offset and are in equilibrium. This is the best location to place a communications satellite. The earth rotates at about 1,000 miles an hour, and because of their high earth orbit the geostationary satellites need to move at about 7,000 mph to maintain position. This is just about the same speed as GPS satellites, but since stationary satellites are 10,000 miles further away they don?t move relative to the earth.


The GPS Control Segment consists of Master Control Station, an Alternate Master Control Station, and a host of dedicated and shared Ground Antennas and Monitor Stations that work together to make sure the satellites are working to specification and the data they beam down to earth is accurate.


The GPS User Segment is composed of of GPS receivers taking the shape of cell phones and , laptops, in-car navigation devices and hand-held tracking units along with the people that use them, and the software programs that make them work.


GPS receivers often take a long time to become ready to use after it’s turned on because it must acquire some basic information in addition to capturing GPS satellite signals. This delay can be caused when the GPS device has been unused for days or weeks, or has been transported a significant distance while turned off for. The GPS must update its almanac and ephemeris data and store it in memory. The GPS almanac is a set of data that every GPS satellite transmits. When a GPS receiver has current almanac data in memory, it can capture signals and calculate initial location faster.


In the event that satellite signals are not available, or accuracy and precision is less important than battery life, making use of Cell-ID is a good substitute to GPS smartphone tracking. The position of the handset can be computed by the cellular network cell id, which recognizes the cell tower the phone is connected to. By knowing the position of the tower, then you can know approximately the place that the mobile phone might be. Nonetheless, a tower can cover a huge area, from a couple of hundred meters, in high populationdensity regions, to several miles in lower density areas. This is why location CellID precision is less than than GPS accuracy. Nevertheless monitoring from CellID still presents a truly good substitute.




Cell Phone GPS Tracking Information

Monday, October 21, 2013

Mobile Phone GPS Tracking Tutorial

Throughout this discussion keep in mind that there is a fundamental difference between mobile phone GPS Tracking and Navigation. GPS cell phone tracking is normally associated with someone maintaining records of either real-time or historical handset position, while Navigation deals with the smartphone user determining how to get from point A to point B. Just because a smartphone has GPS doesn?t mean that it can necessarily be used as a navigation device. Just like cell phone tracking, navigation requires third-party software.



 Phone Tracker


A lot of the discussion dealing with cell tracking, mobile GPS and cell phone tracker software could be helped by a GPS Satellite primer.


GPS satellites broadcast signals from space that GPS receivers utilize to provide three-dimensional location (latitude, longitude, and altitude) plus precise time. GPS is an acronym for Global Positioning System and is a network that is composed of 3 primary segments: Space Segment, Control Segment and User Segment.


The GPS Space Segment is composed of twenty-four to thirty-two satellites that orbit the earth at a height of about 12,000 miles. These satellites are also known as as the GPS Constellation, and they make an orbit once every 12 hours. They are not geostationary, they travel at over 7,000 mph. They are solar powered but have battery reserve for when they are on the dark side of the earth. They are placed so that at any given time there are at least 4 satellites ?visible? from any point on earth. Small rocket boosters on each satellite keep them flying in the correct path. The satellites have a lifetime of about 10 years until all their fuel runs out.


GPS Satellites are not communications satellites. Geostationary or communications satellites are at a much higher orbit of about 22,300 miles above the equator. These satellites are used for weather forecasting, satellite TV, satellite radio and most other types of global communications. At exactly 22,000 miles above the equator, the earth’s force of gravity and centrifugal forces are canceled and are in balance. This is the best location to position a communications satellite. The earth rotates at about 1,000 miles an hour, and because of their high earth orbit the geostationary satellites need to travel at about 7,000 mph to maintain position. This is just about the same speed as GPS satellites, but since geostationary satellites are 10,000 miles further away they stay in place relative to the earth.


The GPS Control Segment consists of Master Control Station, an Alternate Master Control Station, and numerous dedicated and shared Ground Antennas and Monitor Stations that work together to ensure the satellites are working correctly and the data they send to earth is accurate.


The GPS User Segment incorporates of GPS receivers taking the shape of handsets and , laptops, in-car navigation devices and hand-held tracking units along with the people that use them, and the software programs that make them function.


GPS receivers calculate position by precisely timing the signals transmitted by GPS satellites. This data includes the time the message was transmitted, precise orbital information (the ephemeris), and the general system health and rough orbits of all GPS satellites (the almanac).


If satellite signals are not accessible, or accuracy and precision is less important than life of the battery, applying Cell-ID is a viable substitute to GPS smartphone location. The position of the handset can be computed by the cellular network cell id, that determines the cell tower the smartphone is connected to. By knowing the position of this tower, you’ll be able to know approximately the location where the handset will be. Still, a tower can cover a massive area, from a few hundred meters, in high populationdensity locations, to a few miles in lower density zones. This is why location CellID precision is less than than GPS accuracy. Nonetheless tracking using CellID still gives you a truly useful alternative.




Mobile Phone GPS Tracking Tutorial

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

A Look At Smartphone GPS Tracking

 Cell Phone Tracker


Much of the discussion dealing with cell tracking, mobile GPS and cell phone track software could be helped by a GPS Satellite primer.


GPS satellites broadcast signals from space that GPS receivers utilize to determine three-dimensional location (latitude, longitude, and altitude) plus precise time. GPS stands for Global Positioning System and is a system that is made up of 3 main segments: Space Segment, Control Segment and User Segment.


The GPS Space Segment made up of twenty-four to thirty-two satellites that orbit the earth at a height of about 12,000 miles. These satellites are referred to as the GPS Constellation, and they make an orbit once every 12 hours. They are not geosynchronous, but rather move at over 7,000 mph. GPS satellites are solar powered but have battery backup for when they are on the dark side of the earth. They are positioned so that there are at least 4 satellites ?visible? from any point on earth. Small rocket boosters on each satellite keep them properly positioned. The satellites have a lifetime of about 10 years until all their fuel is exhausted.


GPS Satellites are not communications satellites. Geostationary or communications satellites are parked in space 22,300 miles above the equator. These satellites are used for weather forecasting, satellite TV, satellite radio and most other types of global communications. At exactly 22,000 miles above the equator, the earth’s gravitational force and centrifugal forces are canceled and are in equilibrium. This is the ideal location to place a communications satellite. The earth rotates at about 1,000 miles an hour, and because of their high earth orbit the geo-synchronous satellites need to travel at about 7,000 mph to sustain position. This is just about the same speed as GPS satellites, but since earth-synchronous satellites are 10,000 miles further away they stay in place relative to the earth.


The GPS Control Segment made up of Master Control Station, an Alternate Master Control Station, and a host of dedicated and shared Ground Antennas and Monitor Stations that work together to ensure the satellites are functioning correctly and the data they send to earth is accurate.


The GPS User Segment is comprised of of GPS receivers taking the shape of mobile phones and , laptops, in-car navigation devices and hand-held tracking units along with the people that use them, and the software applications that make them function.


GPS receivers often take a long time to become ready to use after it’s turned on because it must acquire some basic information in addition to capturing GPS satellite signals. This delay is sometimes caused when the GPS smartphone has been turned off for days or weeks, or has been transported a significant distance while turned off for. The GPS must update its almanac and ephemeris data and store it in memory. The GPS almanac is a set of data that every GPS satellite transmits. When a GPS receiver has current almanac data in memory, it can acquire satellite signals and determine initial position faster.


Another method of calculating smartphone position is Triangulation or Mobile Location Services (MLS). Cell Tower Triangulation utilizes signal analysis data to compute the time it takes signals traveling from your smartphone to at least three cell towers to estimate position.


With Mobile Location Services (MLS), the GSM cellular network provider utilizes triangulation algorithms to compute the position of the mobile phone, its accuracy is proven to be less than than that of GPS. MLS is further impacted by the same issues as GPS in the sense of the barriers impeding signal strength and the density of GSM towers to assist in the triangulation calculation. In rural areas location accuracy may be off as much as a mile.




A Look At Smartphone GPS Tracking