From Minitrack to NAVSTAR: The early development of the global positioning system, 1955–1975

Author

Slater, Leo B.

Author_Institution

Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA

fYear

2011

fDate

5-10 June 2011

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

The paper outlines the early days of satellite navigation, focusing on the work of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) on systems that contributed to the later Global Positioning System (GPS). NRL´s innovations included the Minitrack system for space surveillance, the development of high-precision timing systems for use in space, the Timation navigation satellite program, and the first two Navigation Technology Satellites (NTS-1 and NTS-2). NAVSTAR-GPS emerged as a joint Department of Defense (DoD) program in 1973, by which time much of the GPS concept had been developed and a number of GPS technologies had been tested.

Keywords

Global Positioning System; satellite navigation; telecommunication computing; Department of Defense program; DoD program; NAVSTAR-GPS; NRL; Naval Research Laboratory; Navigation Technology Satellites; Timation navigation satellite program; global positioning system; high-precision timing systems; minitrack system; satellite navigation; space surveillance; Clocks; Global Positioning System; Laboratories; Orbits; Satellite broadcasting; Satellites; Global Positioning System; history; navigation; satellite ground stations; satellite navigation systems;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest (MTT), 2011 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Baltimore, MD

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

978-1-61284-754-2

Electronic_ISBN

0149-645X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2011.5972582

Filename

5972582