Thuraya offers “GPS distance and direction display”

Thuraya offers “GPS distance and direction display” as a standard feature in its mobile phone. This extremely resourceful feature makes Thuraya’s GPS function similar to any commercial GPS receiver.

The “GPS distance and direction display” feature on Thuraya’s “Man Machine Interface (MMI)” extends the GPS functionality to support the calculation of distance and direction between two points.

When a user determines the present location using the existing MMI commands, the menu option will be available to allow a distance and direction to be calculated. Once you initiate this menu command, the results will prompt you to select a stored benchmark location from memory. After the selection is done, the phone calculates the distance and direction from the current point to the stored point, displaying the results of distance and directions to the user.

More about GPS

Thuraya’s handheld mobile phone not only combines satellite and GSM, it also offers built-in Global Positioning System (GPS). The positioning system is generally used in aircraft, ships, ground vehicles, and also by individuals. While the GPS system is valuable for land, sea and airborne navigation, it is also used for surveying, geophysical exploration, mapping and vehicle location systems.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a system consisting of 24 operational satellites in six circular orbits that lie in non-synchronous orbits at inclinations of 55 degrees, 20,200km above the earth. The constellation circles the earth once every 12 hours and consists of four groups of six satellites, including 21 that provide the positioning service and three back-ups.

The GPS satellites are used to calculate the position of a GPS receiver on or above the surface of the earth by applying simple geometry together with computing algorithms that assist the receiver in determining which satellites to use and resolve any ambiguity related to location. GPS allows users to determine their three-dimensional position, velocity and time (regulated by atomic clocks) 24 hours a day across the world. GPS reached full operational capability on 17 July 1995. The three segments to GPS are space, control and user.

Although the system was developed by the US Department of Defense, the system can be used by anyone. There are two levels of service, a Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and a Precise Positioning Service (PSP). The SPS is for general public use and is intentionally degraded to protect US national security interests through a process called Selective Availability (SA) which controls the availability of the system’s full capabilities. It is accurate to within 100 metres (2drms) horizontal 156 meters (2 Sigma) vertical 300 metres (99.99% probability) horizontal 340 nanoseconds time (95% probability).

thurayadeveloper.com August 13 2007