NaviGadget

GPS coverage in Afghanistan to improve

Jan 10, 2010 gps navigation, gps satellites, military, misc news

The U.S., which has more than 30 NAVSTAR GPS navigation satellites up in the sky will reposition some of them to improve accuracy all around the globe, but specially to provide their troops on the ground in Afghanistan with better GPS signals.

Military apparently asked the Air Force if there was any room for improvement in Afghanistan where the mountainous terrain can block signals from GPS satellites. At least four satellites must be in view of a GPS receiver to obtain a position fix, with the accuracy depending on a good distribution of those satellites.

The policy says the new satellites must be next to the satellites their replacing but since some of the older ones are lasting longer than expected they can be slowly moved apart for better coverage…
via

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