Entries from April 2008 ↓

A handful of new GPS satellites have recently been launched in to space. These new satellites are different in that they have anti-jamming capabilities. The satellites achieve this by using an upgraded antenna panel which boosts signals above normal signal ranges which information is then transmitted to base stations on the ground. As well as the anti-jamming signal abilities, the satellites also have new encryption and encoding services.

A mixture of these elements provides greater accuracy for these satellites which are also open to public use by way of a second civil channel along side the new military signals. The new system is aimed to pave the way to more accurate and more reliable GPS services to all around the globe.

Source - UPI

TomTom have announced their latest sat nav system which will be named the GO 930. Two new features will be made available on the GO 930 which are IQ Routes and Advanced Lane Guidance.

IQ Routes

IQ Routes is an interesting technology which uses up to the minute historical data about the road conditions on your potential routes. Rather then base the route on the quickest journey which would assume there are no traffic jams, IQ Route gathers data from current road speeds and then presents you with what would be the quickest route “right now”. Not only does it use current speeds that are gathered from traffic reports, but it also uses historical speed profiles of 6.2 billion miles of driven roads which takes in to consideration many factors such as traffic lights, round-a-bouts, slopes and speed bumps. A mixture of this “local knowledge” shared with all TomTom users makes it a powerful service to have.

Continue reading →

GPS (Global Positioning System) was first tested back in 1972 at a US Air Force Central Inertial Guidance Test Facility. In 1978 the system became operational and in 1994 the network was opened up for general public who were free to use it (and still are). The US owned Navstar is the only global positioning system available. Other sat nav systems are available, but they do not span the entire globe at the moment.

How can GPS be Used?

Satellite Navigation (Sat Nav) was initially used for military applications. Applications included sat nav guided bombs who’s accuracy was far higher then before making targets easier to hit while keeping casualties to a minimum.

Uses still stay the same for military, but a more common and familiar usage is for mapping. These days you can pick up a Sat Nav receiver for just a few hundred pounds and have fully detailed street maps of the whole of Europe in it’s memory.

GPS is used to track where you are and the software tells you where to go. SatNavs.net aims to provide you details on the latest satnav news, products and provide technical support as well as downloads.