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Time and Location, Precisely |
GPS makes it possible to answer the simple question "Where am I?" almost instantaneously and with breathtaking precision. The new technology utilizes atomic clocks that keep time to within a billionth of a second. They were created by scientists who had no idea that the clocks would someday contribute to a global system of navigation. The system made its public debut to rave reviews in the 1991 Gulf War. U.S. troops used it for navigation on land, sea, and in the air, for targeting of bombs, and for on-board missile guidance. GPS allowed U.S. ground troops to move swiftly and accurately through the vast, featureless desert of the Arabian Peninsula.
Since then, GPS technology has moved into the civilian sector. Today, GPS is saving lives, helping society in many other ways, and generating jobs in a new multi-billion-dollar industry. Advances in integrated-circuit technology--the technology used to make computer chips--soon will lead to GPS receivers and transmitters the size of credit cards, so small and so inexpensive that virtually any vehicle can have one installed and any person can carry one.
In just a few short years, applications for GPS already have become almost limitless:
* Emergency vehicles use GPS to pinpoint destinations and map their routes.
* GPS is used to locate vessels lost at sea.
* Trucking and transportation services use GPS to keep track of their fleets and to speed deliveries.
* Shipping companies equip their tankers and freighters with GPS for navigation and to record and control the movement of their vessels.
* Pleasure boaters and owners of small commercial vehicles rely on GPS for navigation.
* Civilian pilots use GPS for navigation, crop-dusting, aerial photography, and surveying.
* Airlines have saved millions of dollars by using GPS to hone their flight plans; GPS can be used for instrument landing at small, as well as large, airports and is making new air-avoidance systems possible.
* GPS is used regularly for mapping, measuring the earth, and surveying. GPS has been used to map roads, to track forest fires, and to guide the blades of bulldozers in construction processes, making grading accurate to within a few inches.
* Earth scientists use GPS to monitor earthquakes and the shifting of the earth's tectonic plates.
* Telecommunications companies increasingly rely on GPS to synchronize their land-based digital networks, comparing their reference clocks directly with GPS time.
* Satellite builders use GPS receivers to track the positions of their satellites.
* GPS is being installed in automobiles so that drivers not only can find out where they are but also can be given directions. In Japan, 500,000 automobiles have already been equipped with a GPS-based navigation system.
 That's just the beginning. The current worldwide market for GPS receivers and technology is estimated at more than $2 billion and is expected to grow to more than $30 billion during the next 10 years.
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