Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) was the topic at a lecture offered by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) on April 5, in Mackey Auditorium.
The presentation showed the world’s Global Positioning Systems, including GLONASS (Russia), Galileo (Europe) and GPS (USA). The focus of the lecture was on how the GNSS works. It demonstrated the accuracy of the system, and how errors can occur in determining the position and time from errors in the signal coming from the satellite to the receiver with the speed of light. The lecture included the history of the US’s development of the GPS system from GPS I through the currently used GPS III and the companies involved in the development of the GPS satellites and GPS receivers. Receivers are embedded in phones, hand held gadgets, golf carts, cars, drones, ships, aircraft and other applications.
The presentation was available in-person and online and was attended by many retired engineers, some of whom worked in companies that developed GPS software and hardware.
Mohinder Grewal, Ph.D., P.E.
Professor Emeritus of Electrical & Computer Engineering