Though until now different researches showed that the GPS would slowly start degrading as time passes and businesses depending on this technology increasing in number, you can now rest assured that it will instead receive a major upgrade thanks to a hefty $8bn investment from Air Force. Los Angeles Times has spoken with a few leading researchers, scientists and engineers working on the new GPS upgrade, which is mainly built in the Los Angeles Air Force Base in el Segundo.

Some of the major industries and businesses depending on GPS technology include not only the transports that affect the world's export/import trades, but also the Wall Street stock trades and even the very common ATMs. This is just so everybody realizes how important this upgrade is to our planet.

The GPS refresh will consist of replacing all the 24 satellites currently forming the GPS constellation with new, more reliable, powerful and accurate ones. This major project will soon start, with the first launch programmed for this weekend, from Cape Canaveral. Col. David B. Goldstein is the chief engineer for this project and Bradford W. Parkinson is one of the most important men working on this project. Parkinson led the Pentagon team that developed the current GPS system, thirty years ago.

He told LA Times the new satellites are so good, that tracking would be done with an arm's length error margin. So, not only will the navigation in our cars or from our phones be dramatically improved, but also the world's economy will speed up. Of course, military application will further develop and improve their accuracy over the upgraded GPS technology also.

Though the upgrading process is about to start, the ten-year waiting period before completion seems quite long at the moment. I am wondering whether there will be noticeable improvements felt after just the first two years or so, or whether we will have to wait for the whole project to be finished.


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