GPS How It All Started

Twelve billion US dollars.surveying. Today's uses for GPS, however, go
That was the amount spent by the Americanbeyond these preliminary applications.
government for its global position system or GPSAs to be expected with technologies of this
for short. Satellites are expensive, but when youmagnitude, GPS underwent major improvement in
seriously think about what a GPS can accomplish,the year 2000, when the Wide-Area
it may well be worth every single cent.Augmentation System (WAAS) was employed to
The United States Department of Defense noincrease the accuracy of signals emanating from
doubt had the proper rationale for inventing theGPS. This accuracy is made possible by one of
GPS. In fact, in light of recent events that havemany techniques known as the differential GPS,
developed as a result of 9/11, military andor DGPS.
defense strategists are probably heaping praise onWhen the United States Department of Defense
the DOD for its GPS efforts. GPS has turned outdeveloped the system, it was called NAVSTAR
to be a very useful tool in their strategies toGPS - the acronym for Navigation Signal Timing
protect the country and its allies from potentialand Ranging Global Positioning System.
disaster.But it wasn't just Ivan Getting
They also have Ivan Getting to thank.Let's give credit where it's due. Ivan Getting's
GPS: how it startedimpressive role in the establishment of GPS - now
Funny how Ivan Getting's name almost fits in witha public good - cannot be denied. However, for
the primary function of GPS - "getting location."several decades, people have been trying to
GPS is a tracking tool, if you will, and for it tofigure out the means to pinpoint their exact
remain in optimal working order, a budget of $400location on earth. People no longer follow stars to
million a year is required to monitor the satellitesfind their way as they did in biblical times; these
so they don't fall out of orbit, so to speak. Thedays, satellites can do that much more
budget is also allocated to replace aging satellites.effectively.
Ivan Getting was born in New York City in 1912.GPS has come a long way. From the original
He enrolled in the Massachusetts Institutedesigners of the think tank group within the
Technology with an Edison scholarship andUnited States Navy, GPS has now "arrived" with
received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1933.its 24 satellites.
After MIT, he went on to pursue his Master'sRemember the Sputnik program back in the
Degree as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.1960's?
Dr. Getting obtained his Doctorate in AstrophysicsWhen Sputnik was launched, the United States
in 1935 - a rare accomplishment in those days.Navy had actually run two programs that were
Less than 20 years later, Dr. Getting joinedsaid to be GPS's predecessors. Transit was the
Raytheon Corporation as Vice President forname given to the first functional satellite-based
Engineering and Research. When the Air Forcenavigation system, developed by Richard
announced a need for a guidance system to beKirschner in 1964. Those programs had seven
used in conjunction with an ICBM that wouldsatellites, and it relied on radio signals.
achieve mobility by traveling for railroad use,In 1967, the second satellite navigation system,
Raytheon came up with a three-dimensional,Timation was born. It was an improvement over
time-difference-of-arrival position-finding system,Transit; one innovation was an atomic clock
the first of its kind at the time. It is a techniqueintegrated into its design.
that represented one of the most sophisticatedIn 1973, the US Navy and US Air Force eventually
technologies in the world, since the concepts thatcombined efforts to form the Navigation
were integrated into its design served as theTechnology Program, which became Navigation
stepping stones for the development of the globalSystem and Ranging or NAVSTAR. The first four
position system - GPS.satellites were launched five years after that joint
Dr. Getting directed aerospace engineers andeffort.
scientists to evaluate satellite use - the core for aBased on its history, therefore, the
navigational system for rapidly-moving vehiclesraison-d'être of GPS was purely military in
based on three dimensions. This eventually led tonature. Today, its uses encompass certain
the concept utilized for the design of GPS.activities engaged in by the private sector. It
In 1993, the military declared that GPS was nowmust be mentioned, however, that for reasons of
a fully operational world utility - an essentialnational security, the system used by the public is
component for modern navigation on land, waternot as accurate as the one used by the military.
and air. Its use extended to map making and land