Thursday 22 August 2013

GPS, A-GPS And Now Cloud based GPRS Navigation


GPS stands for Global Positioning System, it's a space-based satellite used for navigation. It gives the exact information about a specific location and time taken to reach there. About 24 satellites are there in Earth's orbit placed by US Department of Defense. Previously GPS were meant for military applications only, but in 1980's, the government of U.S allowed GPS service for civilian’s navigators and travellers. GPS works in any weather condition, anywhere in the World for the complete 24 hours of a day.

The Working Of GPS Explained

Source:-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System

24 Satellites placed inside the orbit circles the Earth twice a day, and transmits signal information to the receivers at Earth's surface. These satellites are solar powered and send out microwave signals to a receiver GPS Server. The measurement of the distance from satellite to GPS receiver is based on timed signals.

Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System

 A-GPRS:

The recent example of this advance technology is A-GPS stands for Assisted Global Positioning Service. This technique is proving itself worthy because it is being used in mobile phones. A user can navigate through his/her mobile phone now, just search for the required location and the entire route map & every detail will displayed on your mobile screen. It enables a person to pin point his current location and move further to his desired location by giving correct information about directions. A good GPS device with high sensors costs quite a lot.

Thus to avoid these glitches, A-GPS technology was introduced for mobile devices, it takes assistance from GPRS and service provider network. A typical A-GPS mobile phones uses a GPRS or other such internet based data network to develop a connection with the server of A-GPS. The process can be quite slow if you are connecting with the server for the first time. The only lack point of A-GPS is that its server can't take advantage of the three standby satellites available for backup purpose of GPS connections. 
  
Source:
tech2.in.com/features/all/what-is-agps-how-does.../115142

Cloud Based GPS:

The most recent enhancement is a Cloud based GPS technology. With advent of Smatphones & Tablets, people now have adopted Cloud technology to store their personal data. User depends on local and limited storage to store files such as photos, documents, and audio. But with the invent of cloud storage, people now have access to an enormous amount of storage space that is safe from hard drive crashes or hardware failures. Moreover, people have also learned to store applications on the cloud also known as web storage.

GPS and Cloud, both the technologies are in insistence and seem to cross each other's way

Now, the question arises why we should choose a Cloud based GPS?

GPS devices depend upon software to perform functions. It was only a matter of time before people realized that they can store many of their functions, such as map and waypoint updates, patches to the code, and in some devices, even entertainment content. 

It's always up to date. Suppose if your GPS device is not on the cloud, any updates you need have to install them manually. If it’s on the cloud, then the code or updates will be shown to you as they are expanded. It’s basically one of the main benefits of cloud technology being applied to GPS devices.