Technology has helped people from finding their way in case they are lost. This is true with the development of GPS receivers. In the past, people can easily get lost in the myriad of streets when traveling to a new city just as well as as when they are in the middle of a jungle.

But with the help of technology and GPS receivers, people no longer have to worry about not finding their way. At a push of a button, a GPS receiver may accurately be able to give out the precise location of an individual and even help him or her find the way back.

GPS receivers is quite a wonder to behold. It shows just how technology may find some valuable use to make life even more convenient. A GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver allows a person to pinpoint the exact location anywhere he or she may be. This is made possible by a constellation of satellites that belong to the Global Navigation Satellite System or GNSS used by the GPS receiver to find a certain location and other related information.

The GNSS was developed by the United States Department of Defense initially as a means to aid the military with navigation. Since being opened for civilian use, the system of 24 medium Earth orbit satellites transmits precise microwave signals to a GPS receiver to determine location, speed, direction and time. The 24 satellites circle the earth twice a day at their own orbits. At any one time, there are at least four satellites that are visible in the sky at any point on the Earth.

The main function of the GPS receivers is to locate four or more of these Earth orbiting satellites. After that, it tries to figure out their distances from each other and use this information in order to derive its own location. The GPS receivers do it through a mathematical computation known as trilateration.

The receivers do this by deriving the distance to GPS satellites by calculating the time it takes for a signal to travel from the satellite to the receiver. It then takes the position data of the satellite also beamed as a signal and uses it to calculate for the satellite's accurate position in orbit.

This results in the receiver taking what is known as the pseudo range which is the distance of the receiver to the satellite. Each satellite is calculated for their respective pseudo ranges. This is done by the GPS receiver simultaneously and where the four pseudo ranges intersect pinpoints the location of the receiver on Earth.