Essay Title

1.

Satellite

Two-dimensional & three dimensional

Latitude

Longitude

Altitude

FOUR satellites need to be in view to access the datas

2.

Differences

Ephemerus data

Very precise
orbital

Clock correction for each SV

Necessary for
precise positioning

Almanac data

Not very precise

Considered valid for up to several months

3.

Control segment

Purpose

To predict the behavior of each satellite orbit and clock

Ensures that GPS satellite orbit and clock remain within acceptable range

Location

One master control station (MCS)

Located at Schriever in Colorado Springs, USA

Five monitoring stations

Located in

Colorado Springs

Hawaii

Kwajalein

Diego Garcia

Ascension Island

Ground antennas

Located on

Ascension Island

Diego Garcia

Kwajalein

4.

Operation of GPS system

In event of poor satelite coverage

Less than 30 seconds

The system uses other navigation sensor inputs to enter into a dead reckoning mode

5.

How the accelerometer provides reference output

Processed to develop navigation data

Calculate velocity and distance information

Only one direction

Two accelerometer

Mount together with right angles

Measure acceleration

Give out data velocity and distance in any lateral direction

Example

Two accelerometer and directed to N-S or W-E

6.

Alignment process

In inertial navigation system

Determining the local vertical

Initial heading using

Accelerometer

Laser gyro

Important

Determine a local vertical and direction of true north

7.

Inertial system

Sources of error

Initialization errors

Alignment errors

Gyro error

How these error can be overcome?

If one system’s position differs from the other two by a predetermined amount the crew can be alerted to this

They might decide to deselect the system

8.

Inertial reference system

Advantages

Lower cost

Reduced size

Greater reliability

Operates at all the altitudes

Disadvantages

An increase in computing complexity

Vibration and thermal variation may cause flaws in information data

INS is an expensive technology

Time information cannot be given