Archived Versions

GPS: Where Are You?

As taught in: Fall 2008

GPS satellites orbiting Earth.

An artist's visualization of Global Positioning System satellite coverage of the Earth. (Image courtesy of NOAA.)

Instructors:

Prof. Thomas Herring

MIT Course Number:

12.S56

Level:

Undergraduate

Course Features

Course Description

This is a freshman advising seminar. The professor of a FAS is the first year advisor to the (no more than 8) students in the seminar.

The use of Global Positioning System (GPS) in a wide variety of applications has exploded in the last few years. In this seminar we explore how positions on the Earth were determined before GPS; how GPS itself works and the range of applications in which GPS is now a critical element. This seminar is followed by a UROP research project in the spring semester where results from precise GPS measurements will be analyzed and displayed on the Web.