GPS
DECLASSIFIED
GPS
DECLASSIFIED
From Smart Bombs to Smartphones
Richard D. Easton and Eric F. Frazier
Foreword by Rick W. Sturdevant
© 2013 by Richard D. Easton and Eric F. Frazier
Foreword © 2013 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska
Letter from Arthur C. Clarke in chapter 3 reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agents, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency, Inc.
All rights reserved. Potomac Books is an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Easton, Richard D.
GPS declassified: from smart bombs to smartphones / Richard
D. Easton and Eric F. Frazier; foreword by Rick W. Sturdevant.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61234-408-9 (cloth: alk. paper)
1. Global Positioning System—History. I. Title.
G109.5.E37 2013
910.285—dc23 2013023507
Set in Lyon Text by Laura Wellington.
Designed by J. Vadnais.
To my father, Roger Easton, for his support and kind assistance in creating a field for me to write about; to my mother, Barbara Easton, for fostering in me a love of history; and to my wife, Kathleen, for her support and assistance.
—RICHARD D. EASTON
To my father, Arvel Frazier, who gave me his love of geography and history; to my mother, Isabel Frazier, who gave me her penchant for accuracy and thoroughness; and to my wife, Margie, whose support and encouragement made it possible for me to undertake this project.
—ERIC F. FRAZIER
Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword by Rick W. Sturdevant
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. New Moons Rising: The Satellite Age Arrives
2. Weather Permitting: A Brief History of Navigation
3. Success Has Many Fathers: Early Concepts for Satellite Navigation
4. One System, Two Narratives: Recollections and Documents
5. Invisible Stars: How GPS Works
6. Going Public: The Roots of Civilian GPS Use
7. Going to War: GPS Aids Military Success in the Persian Gulf
8. Going Mainstream: A Consumer Industry Is Born
9. Where Are We? GPS and GNSS Today
10. Going Forward: The Future of GPS
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
1.1. Vanguard TV-3 satellite
1.2. Minitrack technique, using angles of signals
1.3. William H. Guier, Frank T. McClure, and George C. Weiffenbach
3.2. Roger L. Easton
3.3. Map of the Space Surveillance System
3.4. Capt. David C. Holmes
3.5. Transforming celestial navigation to satellite ranging
4.1. Timation Development Plan, 1971
4.2. Illustration of an airplane using Timation signals
4.3. Col. Bradford W. Parkinson
4.4. Holmes’s presentation on GPS origins, slide 13
4.5. Diagram of NTS-2 satellite
4.6. NTS-2 satellite and first GPS demonstration constellation
4.7. NRL NTS-2 team
5.1. GPS constellation, circa 2012
5.2. Instantaneous navigation math
6.1. Generalized development model by Rockwell Collins
6.2. TI 4100 and antenna by Texas Instruments
6.3. GPS Block IIA satellite
6.4. GPS Block IIR satellite
6.5. GPS Block IIR(M) satellite
6.6. GPS Block IIF satellite
6.7. Trimpack GPS receiver by Trimble
7.1. AGM-86C/D conventional air-launched cruise missile (CALCM)
7.2. AGM-84 standoff land attack missile (SLAM)
7.3. Manpack GPS receiver by Rockwell Collins
7.4. AN/PSN-11 PLGR by Rockwell Collins
10.1. GPS III satellite
10.2. GPS constellation, circa 2015
Foreword
For one who has been writing a portion of the official history of Global Positioning System (GPS) operations since the 1980s, it is startling to realize that young people entering college in 2013 have never known a world without GPS. Even those who are aware of the system’s transparent presence on their personal phone devices, in their daily business transactions, or amid their recreational activities undoubtedly take its benefits for granted. It would be surprising if more than a few could explain, at even a rudimentary level, how this amazing space-based positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) system works. How many know GPS is the world’s only global utility? Who stops to remember that its signals are available free of charge to anyone with a GPS receiver?
Here, at last, Richard Easton and Eric Frazier present in plain, simple language how a PNT system originally developed for military purposes—one that Air Force Space Command continues to operate and maintain—became essential for countless civil and commercial activities around the world. The authors deftly place the concept and development of GPS within two broader historical contexts: navigation and robotic spaceflight. Their description of the dissimilar problems that compelled visionaries in each of the military services to pursue a three-dimensional positioning and navigation system substantiates the adage, sometimes attributed to Plato, that necessity is the mother of invention.
On the way to fostering what emerged as GPS, however, ample participation occurred to justify multiple paternal claims. Eventually, different individuals garnered high-level recognition based on, and bolstering, their respective claims. One (Roger Easton) received the 2004 National Medal of Technology from President George W. Bush. The National Academy of Engineering awarded two others (Ivan Getting and Brad Parkinson) the 2003 Charles Stark Draper Prize. All three, in recognition of their seminal GPS roles, became inductees to the National Inventors Hall of Fame. In 2012 the National Space Club named the same trio among the “GPS Originator Team ” that received the prestigious Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy. Numerous others also contributed, without fanfare or subsequent recognition, to the conceptualization and development of GPS.
Easton and Frazier explore the debatable parentage of GPS through sources previously ignored by or unavailable to other scholars. While not the definitive history of the origins of GPS and its place in the centuries-old panoply of navigational systems, their study certainly advances our knowledge of the “who, what, when, where, why, and how ” behind this amazing technological accomplishment. This book represents a solid foundation upon which future scholars can build their research and writing about GPS, or what has become more broadly identified as global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technology.
Beyond the origin of GPS and how it works, these authors deliver an impressive survey of the historical evolution of GPS applications among military, civil, and commercial users, not to mention private individuals. Although certainly not all-inclusive, their astounding coverage of the many ways in which people rely on precise PNT from outer space boggles the mind. When the authors describe the system’s vulnerability to interference, whether intentional or natural, the potentially devastating military, societal, economic, and political effects of GPS disruption take on sinister proportions.
Whenever historians venture into the future, bas
ed on their understanding of the past and their perception of the present, they generally fare no better than nonhistorians. All confront largely incomprehensible terrain. Nonetheless, Easton and Frazier dare to conclude their GPS study with an overview of possibilities. Indeed, advocates of vector analysis in history might perceive that these two authors discern probabilities based on chronological patterns or trends—scientific, technological, economic, political, military, and social. Still, they recognize that if history teaches us anything, it is to remain watchful for unexpected twists and unanticipated turns. That is precisely what keeps past, present, and future particularly interesting and occasionally controversial, as the following narrative demonstrates.
Rick W. Sturdevant, PhD
Deputy Director of History
HQ Air Force Space Command
Acknowledgments
The authors would like the thank the following people who shared information through interviews or correspondence, provided documents or images, read portions of the manuscript, and offered suggestions or otherwise aided the research and writing of this book:
Roy Anderson (now deceased), radio-navigation pioneer at General Electric, and his wife, Gladys; Jonathan Betts, senior curator of horology, Royal Observatory, Greenwich, UK; Veronique Bohbot, PhD, professor of psychiatry at McGill University and Douglas Institute in Montreal; Walter Boyne, author/ historian; Michael Buckley, public information officer, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; Alan Cameron, publisher and editor-in-chief, GPS World; Glen Gibbons, editor, Inside GNSS; David Gosch, senior public relations specialist, Rockwell Collins; Mike Gruntman, professor of astronautics, University of Southern California; R. Cargill Hall, historian emeritus, National Reconnaissance Office; Robert Kern, president, Kernco Inc., and builder of atomic frequency standards for the GPS program; Jason Kim, senior advisor, National Coordination Office for Space-Based PNT; Chester Kleczek (now deceased), former engineer at Naval Air Systems Command, who was the original program manager and sponsor of Timation; Arthur McCoubrey, cofounder of Frequency and Time Systems, which built early atomic frequency standards for the GPS program; Keith D. McDonald, former scientific director of the Navigation Satellite Executive Steering Group and executive secretary of the Defense Navigation Planning Group; Kimberly Morgan, corporate communications, Texas Instruments; Dian Moulin, daughter of Navy captain David Holmes (deceased); Harold Rosen, former vice president at Hughes Aircraft; Dava Sobel, author; Harry Sonnemann, former chairman of the Navigation Satellite Executive Steering Group; Rick Sturdevant, deputy command historian, U.S. Air Force Space Command, Peterson AFB, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Martin Votaw, former engineer at the Naval Research Laboratory; Phil Ward, president, Navward GPS Consulting; and current or former Naval Research Laboratory staffers Jonna Atkinson, Jamie Baker, Ron Beard, James Buisson, Dean Bundy, Gayle Fullerton, Lee Hammarstrom, Vijay Koweth, Thomas McCaskill, Kathy Parrish, Leo Slater, Richard Thompson, Jim Tugman, Joe White, Robert Whitlock, and Peter Wilhelm.
Additionally, Eric Frazier would like to thank his daughter, Carolyn Frazier, for sparking his initial interest in writing a book about GPS and his son, Will Frazier, for providing research assistance. Richard Easton would like to thank his father, Roger Easton, and his sister, Ruth Easton, for their assistance in locating pertinent documents.
Abbreviations
2SOPS: 2nd Space Operations Squadron
ABMA: U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency
ALCM: air-launched cruise missile
APL: Applied Physics Laboratory
ARPA: Advanced Research Projects Agency
ASAT: antisatellite
AVL: automatic vehicle location
BCCI: Bank of Credit and Commerce International
CALCM: conventional air-launched cruise missile
CDMA: code division multiple access
CPU: central processing unit
CSEL: Combat Survivor Evader Locator
CTIA: Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association
DARPA: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DART: Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology
DGPS: differential GPS
DNSDP: Defense Navigation Satellite Development Plan
DNSS: Defense Navigation Satellite System
DOD: Department of Defense
DSARC: Defense Systems Acquisition Review Council
DSP: Defense Support Program
EASCON: Electronics and Aerospace Systems Convention
EGNOS: European Geostationary Overlay System
EOSAT: Earth Observation Satellite Inc.
ESA: European Space Agency
EU: European Union
FAA: Federal Aviation Administration
FBCB2: Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below
FCC: Federal Communications Commission
FDMA: frequency division code modulation
FOC: Full Operational Capability
GAGAN: GPS-Aided Geo-Augmented Navigation
GAO: General Accounting/Accountability Office
GBAS: ground-based augmentation system
GDM: Generalized Development Model
GIS: geographic information systems
GNSS: global navigation satellite system
GPS: Global Positioning System
ICAO: International Civil Aviation Organization
ICBM: intercontinental ballistic missile
IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IGEB: Interagency GPS Executive Board
iGPS or HIGPS: High Integrity GPS
IGY: International Geophysical Year
INS: inertial navigation systems
IOC: Initial Operational Capability
IONDS: Integrated Operational Nuclear (Detonation) Detection System
IRBM: intermediate-range ballistic missile
IRNSS: Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System
ISS: inertial surveying systems
JPO: joint program office
LBS: location-based service
MBOC: multiplex binary offset carrier
MSAS: Multifunctional Transport Satellite Augmentation System
NANU: Notice Advisory to Navstar Users
NAPA: National Association of Public Administration
NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NAVCEN: Navigation Center
NAVSEG: Navigation Satellite Executive Steering Group
NAVSMO: Navigation Satellite Management Office
NAVSPASUR: Naval Space Surveillance System
NDAA: National Defense Authorization Act
NDGPS: Nationwide DGPS
NES: Navigation Experimental Satellites
NNSS: Naval Navigation Satellite System
NORAD: North American Aerospace Defense Command
NRC: National Research Council
NRL: Naval Research Laboratory
NTIA: National Telecommunications and Information Administration
NTS: Navigation Technology Satellite
OCS: Operational Control System
OCX: Operational Control Segment
PDAS: personal digital assistants
PLGR: precision lightweight GPS receiver
PND: personal navigation device
PNT: positioning, navigation, and timing
PPC: Portable Professional Computer
PPS: Precise Positioning Service
PRN: pseudorandom noise
QZSS: Quasi-Zenith Satellite System
RAIM: Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring
RAM: random access memory
READI: Real-Time Earthquake Analysis for Disaster
SAMSO: Space and Missile Systems Organization
SBSS: Space Based Space Surveillance
SDI: Strategic Defense Initiative
SLAM: standoff land attack missile
SLGR: small, lightweight GPS receiver (“Slugger ”)
; SLVS: space launch vehicles
SPS: Standard Positioning Service
SVN: space vehicle number
SVS: space vehicles
TERCOM: terrain contour matching
TLAM: Tomahawk land attack missile
UAV: unmanned aerial vehicle
UTC: Coordinated Universal Time
V2I, V2X: vehicle-to-infrastructure
V2V: vehicle-to-vehicle
VMT: vehicle-miles-traveled
WAAS: Wide Area Augmentation System
WGS-84: World Geodetic System 1984
GPS
DECLASSIFIED
Introduction
There is no “middle of nowhere ” anymore, Agent Scully.
The Shadow Man in “Trust No. 1 ,” X-Files, season 9, originally broadcast January 6, 2002
The stolen 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe was pushing 100 mph on a residential street in Visalia, California, by the time Sgt. Randy Lentzner and his partner, Officer Robert Gilson, got their police cruiser into position behind it.1 High-speed chases often end in collisions and always endanger innocent bystanders, so the time—about 3:30 a.m.—was in their favor. But on this morning, October 18, 2009, the police had another advantage. Some 12,500 miles overhead, a network of satellites was helping to track the vehicle’s exact position, and new technology was in place to eliminate the need for hazardous spike strips or bumping tactics traditionally used in police pursuits.
Minutes after a shotgun-wielding assailant forced the Tahoe’s owner, Jose Ruiz, and his cousin out of the vehicle, Ruiz reported the theft to police and told them it was equipped with General Motors’ OnStar navigation, communication, and security system. A call to OnStar quickly provided police with the location of the vehicle, and when the officers confirmed they were ready, OnStar call-center advisors transmitted a wireless signal to the Tahoe, activating its “Stolen Vehicle Slowdown ” feature.
Behind the wheel of the Tahoe, the driver pressed the accelerator harder. To his surprise, the pedal became unresponsive, and the SUV’s engine gradually slowed to idle speed. He jumped out and ran but was soon in handcuffs—roughly fifteen minutes after Ruiz reported his vehicle stolen. Twenty-one-year-old Albert Roman Romero became the first person caught and charged with carjacking as a direct result of GPS technology.2