Difference Between GPS and AGPS (With Table)

The GPS is the Global Positioning System that is used to navigate to obtain the geolocation and information about the time. It is owned by the government of the United States of America and by the space force of the United States as well. Sometimes due to mountains and tall buildings, the signals can be blocked.

The AGPS is the Assisted Global Positioning System which uses assistance from sources like mobile towers. It is used to obtain the location of the places where the global positioning system can not work. It works in a manner where it allows various network sources to provide information to receivers of the global positioning system that further provides assistance in satellite locations.

Comparison Table Between GPS and AGPS

What is GPS?

GPS is the global positioning system that is owned by the government and space forces of the United States of America. In the United States, the project was started in the year 1973. Due to several technological advances and newer demands, there have been made several changes in the original model of the GPS after that.

The global positioning system has its method of calculation. It calculates the time and its entire position on the basis of the data that is obtained from various global positioning system satellites. Every satellite present has its independent data entries of the time and positions and that data is transferred to the GPS via receivers.

The three fundamental aspects of the global positioning system are space and satellites, ground control and the user’s equipment. The satellites present in the space transfer the necessary data to the GPS. There are various control activities that need to be carried out. It include tracking satellites, transmissions monitoring etc.

There are several advantages of using the global positioning system. The global positioning system is easy to use and it guides a person with directions easily, it also guides a person regarding the weather and climate in a particular location, it is affordable, one can also gather information about restaurants, gas stations in the vicinity.

What is AGPS?

The AGPS is the assisted global positioning system. Initially, global positioning system was used for military purposes and later on the applications of the GPS grew more and it widened the need for upgrades and modifications. It also required assistance as it was also required for various commercial purposes. 

As the applications widened the need to increase the features and the need to provide assistance to the global positioning system grew more and that is why assisted global positioning system was introduced. The time that is necessary to establish a stable connection between satellites and receivers of the GPS is known as start-up time which is thus improved with the help of assisted global positioning system.

Assisted global positioning system also provides a better coverage system and thus helps to get the accurate location. A combination of the assisted global positioning system and the wifi positioning system in the cell phones also provide a better coverage. 

There are several advantages of assisted global positioning system. The location is acquired quickly with the help of the assisted global positioning system, it uses less power, it also saves battery, the indoor locations are also acquired with its help etc. It uses mobile data for establishing a connection that is stable and reliable.

Main Differences Between GPS and AGPS

1. GPS stands for global positioning system, on the other hand, AGPS stands for assisted global positioning system.
2. The location acquired with the help of global positioning system is more accurate than the location acquired with the help of assisted global positioning system.
3. The location is acquired at a faster speed with the help of assisted global positioning system, on the other hand, the location is acquired at a slower speed with the hell of the global positioning system.
4. Global positioning system is less costly, on the other hand, assisted global positioning system is more costly .
5. The source of triangulation is different in both systems. The source of triangulation in the global positioning system is the radio signals that are established from the global positioning system satellites, on the other hand, the source of triangulation for the assisted global positioning system is the various assistance servers like network cell sites of mobile phones and radio signals that are established by various satellites.
6. An additional carrier involvement is not needed in the global positioning system, on the other hand, an additional carrier involvement is needed in the assisted global positioning system.

Conclusion

Both systems are extremely useful.in many fields and are used for various purposes. Many upgrades and modifications have been introduced to these systems that provide us with different services.

It is inventions like these that make human’s lives easier and better. These intentions prove to be helpful in other inventions that are made as well. Many more inventions like these are expected in the upcoming years.

References

1. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=y4Q0DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=gps&ots=CiwqHi-0Po&sig=-43fBQgueQuPiNmmNjlf4To–a0
2. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/901174/