How did the Global Positioning System evolve for civilian use?

The Global Positioning System was initiated by the United States Department of Defense in 1973, with its satellite constellation becoming fully operational in 1993. Following the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007, President Ronald Reagan made the system available for civilian use starting in 1988. Initially restricted by a deliberate error known as Selective Availability, civilian access was fully opened when the restriction was discontinued in May 2000, leading to vast modern improvements in accuracy.

What we know

• The GPS project was started by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1973, with its ultimate constellation of 24 satellites becoming operational in 1993. [2]
• President Ronald Reagan made the GPS system available for civilian use as of 1988 following the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007. [2]
• Selective Availability, a deliberate error introduced into GPS data to limit civilian accuracy to 100 meters, was discontinued on May 1, 2000. [2]
• Modern consumer devices and high-end applications achieve high accuracy through assistive services, L5 bands, and differential or real-time kinematic corrections. [2, 5]

Where to go next

• what caused itWhat caused the shutdown of the Next Generation Operational Control System?
• how it workedHow does real-time kinematic positioning achieve centimeter-level accuracy?
• compared withWhat other global navigation satellite systems exist alongside GPS?
• the bigger pictureWhat are satellite-based augmentation systems?
• how we knowHow did Korean Air Lines Flight 007 influence GPS history?
• an unexpected connectionHow did a shortage of military GPS units during the Gulf War affect civilian access?A shortage of military GPS units forced US soldiers to use civilian receivers during the Gulf War, leading to the temporary disabling of Selective Availability and accelerating its eventual permanent removal.

Sources

• [1]Global Positioning System (Wikidata Q18822) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Global Positioning System · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Satellite navigation · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Satellite navigation device · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Real-time kinematic positioning · CC BY-SA 4.0