• Results
• Combined
• By Shape
• Satellite 21

• Experiment Setup
• One Hour Increments
Photos have been reduced in size and number due to disk space limitations.

• U.S. Naval Observatory
• Current GPS Constellation
• National Air and Space Museum
• U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center

GPS experiment

1. Question

 
What directions do the GPS satellites move as observed on the GPS "satellite" view on the Garmin Vista GPS unit?
 
2. Setup
• Garmin Handheld GPS unit
• Canon A60 digital camera
• One PC running Delorme Street Atlas 2005.
• A second PC controlling the Canon A60 digital camera.
• Paint was used to record the individual satellite paths.
• A picture of the setup is available here.
3. Experiment
• Pictures of the "Sky View" of the satellites (Delorme Street Atlas) were taken under computer control every 15 minutes for 24 hours.
• After the 24 hours is up, the individual satellite tracks are marked on the computer monitor with transparency pens and then those marks are painted into a blank "Paint" GIF file.
4. Results
• The drawing files show the directions of the satellites as observed from this location on the planet Earth. Due to the position of Reno Nevada, the drawings have some interesting tracks. See Satellite 01 as an example.
• The drawing files built from the pictures show some of the same satellites in the day and night. See Satellite 03
• I don't know about you, but the drawings remind me of baseballs. Does anyone have a bat?

This little experiment has caused me to excercise my brain quite a bit which I understand is a good thing.

Do you have some comments? If so, please email me at gpsfun@aol.com