GPS Is Like Kleenex – So What Are The Other Brands
By Bill D’Zio and Debanjan Mukherjan
• Global Positioning System (United States) [Global]
Global Positioning System (United States): Started operations in the year 1978 it is the oldest GNSS system and was available for global use from the year 1994. It was originally developed for use in the US military and the transit system (NAVSAT) was deployed which worked on the Doppler Effect and provided location and navigation guidance to surface ships, missile submarines, geodetic surveying and hydrographic survey to the US military. At the later years, GPS was open up for the general public. Currently, it has 33 satellite constellation out of which 31 is already operating in the orbit. The US Air Force maintains and operates it and makes available at least 24 GPS satellites which are operational. It must be noted that 72 GPS satellites have been launched to date.
| Satellite Block | Quantity | Average Age | Oldest |
| GPS IIA | 1 | 25.5 | 25.5 |
| GPS IIR | 11 | 17.3 | 21.8 |
| GPS IIR-M | 7 | 11.8 | 13.6 |
| GPS IIF | 12 | 5.3 | 8.9 |
| Constellation | 31 | 11.7 | 25.5 |
AS OF 7 MAY 19
GPS III
GPS III features
− Increased accuracy and power
− Inherent signal integrity
− New L1C signal
− Longer design life (15 years)
SV01 launched 23 Dec 18; currently undergoing on-orbit check out and expected to be added to constellation mission operations in early 2020
(Credit: SpaceX)
GLONASS (Russia) [Global]
Russia developed the Global Navigation Satellite System or GLONASS which became operational in the year 1993 with 12 satellites. Development of GLONASS began in the Soviet Union in 1976. Beginning on 12 October 1982, rocket launches added satellites to the system, until the completion of the constellation in 1995. Commercial use of GLONASS includes weather forecast and navigation positioning. At present, there are 24 operational satellites in the orbit and Russian Aerospace Defense Forces operate the GLONASS. GLONASS has undergone several upgrades, with the latest version, GLONASS-K2.
Galileo (EU) [Global]
Galileo is GNSS constellation developed by the European Union in the year 2011. It has been put together by European Space Agency and operated by the European GNSS Agency. It is available for both commercial and public use and it is a global navigation system. After the complete deployment of the Galileo system is done it will include 30 operational satellites with 6 in the orbit spares. Out of the 30 satellites, 22 are already operating in the orbit and it is expected to become fully operational by the year 2020. Galileo is also providing emergency response services at present for the European road and railways.
BeiDou (China) [Global]
BeiDou is a Chinese developed satellite navigation system which has been operational from 2000. BeiDou-1 and BeiDou-2 are the two separate constellations of BeiDou. BeiDou-1 was the first generation and consisted of 3 satellites. BeiDou-1 started operations in the year 2000 and limited navigation service was provided to the users in China and the other neighboring countries. However, it was decommissioned from service at the end of 2012. BeiDou-2 or also known as COMPASS is the second generation system and began operation in the year 2011 with only 10 satellites. BeiDou-3 is the third generation Chinese GNSS with the first BDS-3 satellite was launched in March 2015. Eight BDS-3 satellites have been launched as of EoY2017, with another 17 launched in 2018, and eight to be launched during 2019. The constellation has global coverage as of 2019, and will be fully deployed by 2020 with 35 satellites providing coverage globally. BeiDou is being offered as an alternative to GPS.
QZSS (Japan) [Regional Augment GPS]
IRNSS (India) [Regional]
About The Authors
Debanjan Mukherjee
Contributor
Debanjan Mukherjee is a contributor for West East Space based in India. Debanjan does research, fact verification and writing for West East Space.
Bill D'Zio
Co-Founder at WestEastSpace.com
Bill founded WestEastSpace.com after returning to China in 2019 to be supportive of his wife's career. Moving to China meant leaving the US rocket/launch industry behind, as USA and China don't see eye to eye on cooperation in space. Bill has an engineering degree and is an experienced leader of international cross-functional teams with experience in evaluating, optimizing and awarding sub-contracts for complex systems. Bill has worked with ASME Components, Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) for use in launch vehicles, satellites, aerospace nuclear, and industrial applications.
Bill provides consulting services for engineering, supply chain, and project management.
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