The Phone That Only Listens: How GPS Finds You
In short: Satellites broadcast their time and position and your phone listens and calculates its own location, while the mobile network's assistance data only speeds up the first fix.
A 1:56 short film in the series “How Things Work”, narrated by intellect_voice_01.
Sources used in this film: NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program, “GPS - NASA”; University of Cambridge (Apollo repository; PhD thesis), “Performance analysis of assisted-GNSS receivers”; Satellite Navigation (Springer Nature / SpringerOpen journal), “Multi-frequency smartphone positioning performance evaluation: insights into A-GNSS PPP-B2b services and beyond - Satellite Navigation”; National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Time and Frequency Division, “GPS Data Archive”; EU Space (European Union space programme portal, European Commission), “Galileo”.
Sources used in this film
- NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program — GPS - NASA · View →
- University of Cambridge (Apollo repository; PhD thesis) — Performance analysis of assisted-GNSS receivers · View →
- Satellite Navigation (Springer Nature / SpringerOpen journal) — Multi-frequency smartphone positioning performance evaluation: insights into A-GNSS PPP-B2b services and beyond - Satellite Navigation · View →
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Time and Frequency Division — GPS Data Archive · View →
- EU Space (European Union space programme portal, European Commission) — Galileo · View →
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: GPS - NASA
- Also: University of Cambridge (Apollo repository; PhD thesis): Performance analysis of assisted-GNSS receivers
- Also: Satellite Navigation (Springer Nature / SpringerOpen journal): Multi-frequency smartphone positioning performance evaluation: insights into A-GNSS PPP-B2b services and beyond - Satellite Navigation
- Also: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): GPS Data Archive
- Also: Galileo
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