WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF GPS?
The system consists of three segments
- Space Segment
- Control Segment
- User Segment
SPACE SEGMENT
This segment consists of 24 orbiting satellites in 6 different orbit paths at about 20000 km altitude.Each Satellite has an orbital period of about 12 hrs.At any time at least four satellites are above the user’s horizon at minimum elevation of 9.5 deg.
Following data is transmitted by each satellite over two frequencies
- Its Identity
- Its Position.
- Extremely accurate Time of sending the message which is provided by the atomic clocks fitted on each of the satellites.
CONTROL SEGMENT
The control segment is composed of: