Global Positioning: A Brief History

GPS tracking has become quite an essential part of today’s society. Whether it’s being used to navigate across the country, Monitor valuables, or simply to keep tabs on our kids, it’s undeniable that we rely on this service far more than we’re aware of. But when did this GPS technology come to be? How did it happen?

According to NASA, the history of GPS can be traced back to the 1950s when scientists noticed the radio signal frequencies transmitted by the Sputnik satellite increased as it neared and decreased as it moved away. This started an idea and became a catalyst for one of the most important technologies of the 20th century.

Fast forward to the 1970s when the U.S. Department of Defense designed what is now known as the GPS Satellite Navigation system. Back then, it started out as a global navigation system designed strictly for military air and land-based.

GPS was designed mainly for the military but they also include some capabilities that could benefit the civilian population. The satellites can transmit both encrypted and non-encrypted signals, which the latter can be detected in both military and civilian GPS receivers. The signal for civilians is referred to as C/A (Coarse Acquisition) code signal.

By the late 1990s, President Clinton ordered the SA (Selective Availability) degradation of the civilian GPS signal to be removed having realized it’s benefits to the civilian community. This opens the doors for you and me to use GPS for automotive tracking, fleet management, asset tracking and many more…

Today, companies such as Matrack Incorporated can do more than just track vehicles. They can also monitor driving behaviors which can save fleet operators thousands of dollars each year, improves efficiency and not to mention, save them a lot of headaches from paper works.