We all know what a GPS, from years ago when browsers became fashionable, until now that we all have it on our mobile phones. However, did you know how they really work? Why don’t they need an internet connection, but under a tunnel we don’t have coverage?
We are going to see how it works and the characteristics that make this type of connection something special, since it has details that other technologies do not have. Although it also has points against.
This is the real operation of a GPS
The first thing we have to know is what the abbreviations GPS mean, which come to be Global Positioning System in English. A system capable of connecting our devices with a satellite that will show the exact point where it is located.
And it is likely that you thought that it was something global, however, I have to tell you that no, its owner is USAand although we can use it all over the world, it only belongs to them.
GPS is made up of three elements: satellites in orbit around the Earth, ground monitoring and control stations, and user-owned GPS receivers.
These three would join to form a triangulation that would give the exact position of the device, which can also provide other data such as the time of the country in which it is located or the altitude at which we are.
It does not matter if it is day or night, or even, unlike other technologies, the number of simultaneous users that are using it. Of course, it has a problem, and that is that for it to detect our equipment, we have to be with direct vision of it, which is worse on cloudy or rainy days, inside a building or simply passing through a tunnel. Any obstacle with the receiver will make it unable to connect or it will be a poorer quality connection.
This tool allows us to perform many actions with our phone, not just knowing where we are, which would be the main one. But, no need internetnot even a SIM card, we can use applications such as a speedometer, and see how fast we are going in a plane, or simply see what altitude we are in the middle of a mountain that we are climbing.
These have evolved a lot, I remember my first TomTom, it took minutes to pick up the signal, and once it did, it was easy to lose in a tunnel. Now the system is much more advanced and its precision is so exact that it helps us to locate our car parked in a city that we are visiting and do not know.
There are also GPS trackers to be able to have our son located when he goes to school or simply so that our pet never gets lost. It is an easy-to-use system that has brought many advantages and products, such as Apple’s AirTags. Something that we have to thank the United States and that we hope they continue to lend us and evolve into something even better.