America will upgrade the global positioning system

New generation positioning satellites will be launched from next year to upgrade the US global positioning system (GPS).

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Discovery said the US government has decided to spend $ 5.5 billion on a project to manufacture new generation positioning satellites. Block III, the name of the next generation of satellites, will be designed to increase the accuracy, reliability and scope of GPS operation.

Illustration of US Block III satellite.

Currently GPS can determine the location of a person outdoors with a maximum error of 3m. For Block III satellites, the maximum error of outdoor GPS will be only 1 meter, while the indoor positioning capacity will increase.

The US military has hired Lockheed-Martin to test the first version of the positioning satellite Block III. The process of launching satellites to upgrade will start in 2013 and end in 2014.

New satellites will broadcast a new type of signal for the military.M-code , the name of the new signal, will be harder to block and decode than the current military signal. Of course, satellites also broadcast signals for civil positioning. The distribution of both military and civilian signals to a device will increase the accuracy of the positioning process.