Civilian GPS: The Benefits of Three Frequencies

A third civil frequency at 1176.45 MHz will be added to the Global Positioning System (GPS). This new frequency will bring a number of benefits. The aviation user will be one of the prime beneficiaries because the new frequency is in a protected aviation band. Thus, the system will be more robust against interference and jamming.The carrier-phase differential user will also be a prime beneficiary as long as his application has a reasonably short baseline. It is this high accuracy use that is explored in some depth. The process of forming linear combinations of both the code and carrier-phase measurements is studied, and the benefits and problems are explained. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.