July 27, 2020
GPS and GNSS
Strictly speaking, GPS refers to the American satellite group.
GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) refers to all the
satellites from all countries. It used to be signficant when
a GPS receiver would handle GLONASS as well as GPS, but now
we have other satellites available.
Here is what is aloft as of July, 2020.
- GPS - America -- 31 satellites
- Glonass - Russia -- 27 satellites
- Galileo - EU -- 22 satellites
- BeiDou - China -- 22 satellites
- QZSS - Japan -- 4 satellites
- NavIC - India -- 6 satellites
Apparently QZSS offers extreme precision for Japan, but must be geostationary
and are not of use in other parts of the world.
Similarly, NavIC are of use only in Asia.
Have any comments? Questions?
Drop me a line!
Tom's Electronics pages / tom@mmto.org