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306 Appendix A — GPS Primer<br />

The Control Segment<br />

The control segment, just like the space segment, is U.S. Department of Defense property. Just<br />

as we have no direct access to the space segment, the same is true of the control segment. The<br />

control segment is made up of a worldwide network of monitoring stations, ground antennas,<br />

and a master control station.<br />

There are five monitoring stations:<br />

Hawaii<br />

Kwajalein (on the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean)<br />

Ascension Island (South Atlantic Ocean)<br />

Diego Garcia (Indian Ocean)<br />

Colorado Springs, Colorado<br />

There are three ground antennas:<br />

Kwajalein (on the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean)<br />

Ascension Island (South Atlantic Ocean)<br />

Diego Garcia (Indian Ocean)<br />

There is also one master control station located at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado.<br />

This vast array of systems is used to passively track all satellites in view and gather ranging<br />

data. This information is passed on to the master control station where it is processed in order<br />

to determine precise satellite orbits and update each satellite’s navigation message so that they<br />

are as accurate as possible. Updated information is transmitted to each satellite via the ground<br />

antennas.<br />

The User Segment<br />

The user segment is the part of the system to which you and I have access. This is where all the<br />

GPS receivers come in. There are many types of receivers in the user section:<br />

Handheld systems<br />

Car navigation systems<br />

Professional commercial systems used for navigation and surveying<br />

Military receivers<br />

The satellites transmit two types of signal that can be received by the user segment:<br />

Standard Positioning Service (SPS)<br />

Precise Positioning Service (PPS)

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