Applications of PNT Systems

The tremendous growth in PNT systems and devices is driven by the enormous number of applications provided by GPS and the other PNT systems. These are far beyond what was originally designed and envisioned to be a strictly U.S. military system, as shown below in Fig. 5.1. Providing extremely precise, three-dimensional navigation and timing in a world-wide common grid that can be easily converted to any local mapping coordinate system has created huge new commercial markets and new scientific and public benefits. The timing aspect has become even more important, and many users rely solely on the timing benefits and not on navigation. PNT allows for continuous, passive, all-weather operation of an unlimited number of users anywhere on the Earth, up to LEO and even GEO orbit and beyond. This chapter presents an overview of the major applications for these systems, from national security and military uses to the use of PNT in space and even in art.