GPS – Global Positioning Systems – New Zealand

Imagine that you pull over in a snowstorm with zero visibility and call emergency services for help. A responder, armed with assisted GPS information can pinpoint your exact location and send help. For many years, a lack of emergency (911) location information remained a primary impediment to the wide-spread adoption of mobile phones. When the American Federal Communications Commission adopted the Enhanced 911 standard, universal emergency locations became available on all phones.

Assisted GPS works around any potential satellite disruptions, due to cloud cover, indoor positioning or communications difficulty, by gathering additional location information from cellular networks. In order to better triangular the location and trajectory of a given cell phone, an A-GPS server can help determine the position of a phone relative to the cellular grid. With ample computing power, an A-GPS server can simulate various potential positions and communicate with satellites until it finds a match that provides a good approximation of the location for a given cellular device. Recent advances in assisted GPS can help send satellite data orbit to GPS devices so that they can re-connect lost connections.

By providing supplementary data to implement GPS software, assistance servers limit the computation power needed by autonomous GPS devices to achieve a proper connection. This is particularly useful for portable, battery-powered mobile devices which are becoming smaller over time; an assistance server helps limit the hardware requirements, weight and battery load of next generation smart phone GPS devices. The current iPhone 3G device is able to achieve over 5 hours of battery life, largely due to the advanced embedded GPS-enabled chip hardware which requires less of a battery loan than traditional hardware configurations.

A similar technology known as High Sensitivity GPS helps improve the speed of GPS tracking where tracking would otherwise be impaired, particularly in remote locations. As the technology has developed, High Sensitivity enabled devices can draw an accurate location with a signal that is 1/1000 as strong as traditional GPS devices require, allowing for readings that would otherwise not be feasible. Tests have shown High Sensitivity-enabled devices are able to connect to GPS servers through materials as dense as reinforced steel, giving them use in situations ranging from improved business communications to potential applications for public safety.

A next-generation Enhanced eGPS technology is in development to allow full functioning of GPS on 3G and future mobile networks. Current cellular technologies often lose connection in large buildings, while eGPS has been designed as an improvement over Assisted GPS with faster location speeds and requires less signal strength to communicate with satellites. Motorola has been actively involved in developing eGPS into their upcoming cellular smart phone models.

These supplementary advances have helped GPS technology evolve along with improvements in hardware, software and telecommunications networks. As advances in mobile devices continue, the GPS network has shown flexibility in adapting its potential with additional software upgrades, suggesting the technology has a bright future.