Group5
Contents |
Executive Summary
This section is much like an abstract and summarizes the entire report
Introduction
The Global Positioning System (GPS) was created by the United States Defense Department in the 1970's by utilizing a satellite orbiting the Earth, which provides reliable positioning, navigation, and timing services available worldwide and free of charge. GPS provides accurate time, velocity and location information regardless of weather, time of day, or where in the world the GPS is being used from. The basic reading displayed on each individual GPS at any moment is the position, including longitude, latitude and elevation, the velocity, including the velocity north, east, and up, along with the time, in universal time coordinated, at any instant. The GPS is generally accurate to 10 meters positioning, 10 centimeters per second velocities, and less than 0.1 microsecond time. The GPS has the level of accuracy mentioned before because there are four satellites, guaranteed, available in space to obtain data from at any given time. Additionally, GPS's are equipped to give directions from where the individual GPS is located to any other place on earth, regardless of the method of transportation (ie: by land, water or air).
GPS-5 Group Members
- Jackie Bayer: Responsible for disassembly and reassembly of GPS
- Leah Courtney: Responsible for features of the GPS and current applications
- Jeffrey Dowgala: Responsible for disassembly and reassembly of GPS
- Lauren McNally: Responsible for current applications, brief history and future possibilities
- Austin Wong: Responsible for current applications, brief history and future possibilities
History
Include history here.
Earthmate GPS PN-20 Pages
Satellites Page
This is the first page to appear when your Earthmate GPS PN-20 is turned on. On the page it summarizes the locations of the various GPS satellites that the GPs is obtaining data from that are orbiting the earth. These satellites are what make it possible for the GPS system to obtain it's various locational data. In addition, this page will tell you the current GPS status, the signal stength from the satellites and the GPS accuracy.
Map Page
The Map Page is only avalible for use if a 2-D or 3-D fix is obtained. If obtained, the GPS can assemble a map of your current location with the avalible satellite data. An example of useage of this page could be driving in the car, if you indicate your desired location. You can follow the map to get to your desired location. A few features that it can tell you are your direction of travel, speed of travel, estimated time of arrival to destination, where to turn, etc. Another feature of this page is the layering application. This allows you to see the various maps that are avalible for you location, for example topographic data, satellite imagery, color aerial imagery, USGS Quads, high- resolution cities, etc.
Compass Page
This page is basically a digitally expressed image of your ordinary hand-held needle floating compass. In contrast you the needle floating compass though, you can instruct the compass to point you in the direction of a specific destination if you wish, instead of it only pointing North, as it traditionally does. If you choose this instruction for it, the Compass Page will also tell you the distance and time until your next turn while traveling.
Trip Info Page
The Trip Info Page can be used to track various components of your trip from start to finish. The screen it divided up into eight sections: coordinates (lat/long), trip odometer, trip moving time, trip stopped time, trip total time, current speed, maximum speed and average speed of the trip. This page made be customized by the user to only display certain sections, depending on what information the user finds to be most important.
Find Page
Lost? This page can be used to search for a locate various postions such as addresses, roads, cities, points of interest, waypoints, coordinates and more. There are two ways to seach on this page: "Find Near Map Center" - which can be used to locate destinations surrounding your current location, such as geographic features and "Find By Name"- which can be used to locate specific locations, such as an address. This page also has a memory for past searches, so you can go into it and easily pull up how to get to places you've previously searched for.
Waypoints Page
A waypoint is a marked location with specific coordinates. You can mark your current location or a searched location as a way point by using the "Mark Button". After you mark way point you may customize it with name, coordinates and comments. You may choose a symbol for the waypoint to express what the waypoint is, for example a cave, church, dining area, house, post office, etc. These waypoints may be saved for later use. A list of saved waypoint may be pulled up to obtain directions to them from your current location.
Routes Page
Various routes may be mapped out using this GPS system. These routes include:
- From your current GPS location to a waypoint
- From your current GPS location to a Find search result
- Between two waypoints
- Between two Find search results
- Between a waypoint and a Find search result
Once a route is created, you can follow it's directions to reach your desired destination.
Tracks Page
By defult, the Earthmate GPS PN-20 records & tracks your travel until you turn the recording of you trip off. That is, you may use it to retrace your steps after you have traveled a distance into your trip. This feature may be handy for backtracking if you get lost. These tracks may be saved as well for future use.
Sun/Moon Page
This feature is used to gain information about the sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset. You can find the times of these as well as the moon phase for the current GPS location. The screen for the Sun/Moon Page will also display the time and date, so you can see how long there is until the rise or set occurs.
Tide Page
Based on a specific time, date and tide station, this page can be used to display information on high and low tides.
Hunt/Fish Page
Convienient for hunters, this page is used to predict if a certain day is going to be good or bad for hunting or fishing. This page can also predict the best times to hunt or fish for you current GPS location. You may also pan the map to other locations and see the hunting/fishing conditions for that area as well, which makes it easy to find optimum locations and times for hunting and fishing.
Device Setup Page
This page is used to modify default settings on the Earthmate GPS PN-20. Examples of settings that may be altered are battery type, color scheme, backlighting intensity, color contrast, etc.
Current Applications
GeoCaching
GeoCaching is basically a world wide treasure hunt game using GPS navigation. It works by geocachers hiding little trinkets (caches), along with a log book, in waterproof contains in various locations around the world. The caches are usual not of high vaule. The geocacher uses their GPS system to determine the coordinates of where they hide their cache, and then enters the coordinates on the geocaching website. Other geocachers then look up these coordination locations and search them out using their own GPS system. Once found, the geocacher logs in their findings in the log book and on the geocaching website. The geocacher is then free to leave the object there for the next geocacher to find, or they make take the "treasure" and replace it with another treasure of equal or better vaule. This worldwide game has attraced over 480,000 participants and added a fun twist on to the many uses of GPS systems.
Surverying
Although GPS cannot replace the accuracy of hands on feild surveying, the maps avalible on GPS systems can be helpful in priliminary investigation of a plot of land to be surveyed. Also, once land is surveryed, the data obtained can be uploaded to GPS systems to increase the accuracy of the land data.
Navigation
With the various pages and maps avalible on the Earthmate GPS PN-20, it can make it vitually impossible to get lost. Whether in your car looking for directions to your destination or outdoors, maybe hiking to find a specific landmark, the GPS system can help you find your way.
Military Use
Although the military in most situations would use more advanced systems of GPS than the Earthmate GPS PN-20, the same basic applications can be applied. GPS can be used for more accurate location targeting of missile launches, guiding troops who are traveling in unknown territories or in the dark and to enhance communication between air and ground troops.
911 Assistance
Being able to tell 911 exactly where you are in an emergency can be exteremly helpful and in some cases life saving. For example, this would be espically helpful for anyone injured or in danger out in the middle of woods, where there are no roads or signs to distinguish exact loactions. Being able to tell 911 your exact global position allows them to get to you quicker.
Future Possibilities
Include future possibilities here.
Before Disassembly Section
General notes about the product (it's condition, how it works, how many parts, types of materials, etc)
Disassembly Procedure
- Document each step to disassemble the product
- How difficult was each disassembly step?
- What types of tools were required to perform this step?
- Include a picture of each disassembly step
After Disassembly
Part Table, including:
- Part number
- Part name
- Number of parts of this type
- Part material
- Part manufacturing process
- Image of the part
- CAD file for selected parts
Assembly
- Document each step to reassemble the product
- How difficult was each assembly step?
- What types of tools were required to perform this step?
After Assembly
- Does it still work?
- Conclusion remarks
References
[1] [1]
[2] Geocaching
[3] "Into to GPS"
Guide to Writing Wiki Code
The beauty about Wiki is that if you don't know the code, you can steal it from someone's page that does. Feel free to click the "edit" links or tabs to view the code for sections or the pages respectively. Be weary about wrecking havoc on another's page. Each page can be rollbacked to a previous verison and your username is linked to all changes. Although you might think it's cool to go through and insert "MIKE RULES" throughout the page, I'm sure Dr. Lewis would not be pleased.
Here's a few tips on writing with Wiki:
This is a bracket "[" "]"
This is a brace "{" "}"
To create a new page/link within Wiki:
- Double brackets, page name, double brackets
- Typing in a new page name will automatically create a page, which when clicked, you can then edit.
- Whatever name you first type in is the name of the page. You can't change page names, only create new pages. Think before you create a new page.
- Don't worry about slashes or anything, all pages are located in the same directory. If I wanted to create a page called "MAE 277 Template" the code would be ''MAE 277 Template'' Note: Brackets are italicized to prevent creating a new page.
Your table of contents is created automatically.
- 1,2,3,4 are level 2 sections
- 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 are level 3 headers
To create headers:
- Section titles are wrapped with two equal signs ==My favorite header==
- Bold headers within a section are wrapped with three equal signs ===My not-so-favorite header===
Asterisks indicate bullets. Be sure to put each asterisk on a new line.
- Here's one
- Here's two *Here's three, but its not on the next line
Bold text:
- Start line with "b" in "<>". Be sure to end the line with "/b" in "<>" if you don't want the whole paragraph to be bold.
- Surround text to be bolded with three " ' " marks on either side. Or highlight the text and click the "B" button on the toolbar.
Italics:
- "i" in "<>". Don't forget to end with "/i" in "<>"
- Highlight the text and click the "I" button in the toolbar (It will put four " ' " on either side).
This is a broken link media file caption
Media tags are indicated by "Media:", images by "Image:" Broken links in red. Case is not important. Use the toolbar to get examples if you're not sure.
Spacing is werid in wiki.
Single return does nothing.
Double return (blank line), breaks the line.
Triple return (two blank lines), puts an extra blank line between lines of text.
"br" in "<>" will break lines. They can also be used to separate section headers.
Finally, use the "Show Preview" button on the bottom of the page to see how it looks before saving. It will allow you to catch and edit your errors without having to edit the page again. Just don't forget to save it when you're really done.
This is an example table
See help page for more information on the syntax.
| This is Column Header 1 | This is Column Header 2 | This is Column Header 3 |
|---|---|---|
| This starts Row 1 | Width values (pixels) in header are used to designate the width of the column for the entire table. Text will wrap but it helps to control the layout. Height of the row is determined by the row's largest content | A return and single vertical lines separate columns in rows. A double vertical line is necessary if you don't break up the text for cells. |
| This starts Row 2 | "br" in brackets break lines. Wiki sometimes ignores blank lines. |
Some html tags can be used, but not many. Notice the align equals center tag at the beginning of the row. It centers the text in the first two columns, but doesn't work for the third column. I don't know why. Adding the tag again to the beginning of the cell in question will center the text. |
| This starts Row 3 | Image tags are in this format:
|
 
|
| This starts Row 4 | Notice the repeating code for every row? It's important. A vertical line and a dash indicate the start of a new row. An exclamation point indicates the first column. You can put the entire row onto a single line, but it's easier to read if you break it up. Again, wiki usually ignores new paragraphs. | Make sure to end the table correctly (vertical line and closed brace). Not doing so might still display the table, but nothing that comes afterwards. |
