High precision satellite positioning - what is the difference between GNSS and GPS

At present, we often see the word GPS on cell phones and cars, leading many people to misunderstand: Didn t our country s Beidou launch into the sky, wasn t the...

Aug 18,2022 | Estelle

At present, we often see the word GPS on cell phones and cars, leading many people to misunderstand: Didn't our country's Beidou launch into the sky, wasn't the network successfully formed, how come we are still using GPS now, how can I use Beidou, do I need gps gnss moduleto install any APP?

Introduction of GNSS

In fact, the above are all misunderstandings. At present, the satellite navigation functions of cell phones and vehicles basically support BeiDou, but because GPS is the earliest in the United States, the satellite navigation functions of cell phones or vehicles are still habitually GPS, in a strict sense, these satellite navigation functions should be called GNSS positioning. For the classification of GNSS, please refer to the following chart.

The global satellite positioning systems are GPS of the U.S., Compass of China, GLONASS of Russia and Galileo of the European Union, as well as regional navigation systems such as Quasi-Zenith (QZSS) of Japan and IRNSS of India, augmented systems such as WAAS of the U.S., MSAS of Japan, EGNOS of the European Union, GAGAN of India and NIG-GOMSAT of Nigeria. NIG-GOMSAT-1, etc.

In the civil field, the above positioning systems are open and available to everyone. In military and special fields, single BeiDou system is generally used.

At present, most cell phones and in-vehicle devices basically support GPS and Beidou-2 satellites. At present, new cell phones and in-vehicle devices basically support Beidou-3 satellites. But for GLONASS and Galileo are not necessarily supported. Japan's Quasi-Zenith (QZSS) is fully compatible with GPS, which is equivalent to supplementing GPS with a few stars, and mainly operates over Japan and Australia. Not many cell phones and in-vehicle devices currently support India's IRNSS.

About the support of Beidou

The support of cell phones or in-car devices for each GNSS satellite system depends on the RF and baseband parts of the satellite used in the underlying hardware. For cell phones or devices that support Beidou, the cell phone or device manufacturers have developed drivers and algorithms related to Beidou, so ordinary users cannot perceive the existence of Beidou, and the satellite positioning function already uses Beidou satellites. Android users can download the software Cellular-Z and see the satellites that the phone can receive through the visual interface.