Word: gps
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Civilians can buy similar products from electronics companies. GPS receivers steer boaters around dangerous reefs, track schools of bait for fishermen and help pilots avoid midair collisions. The price of a receiver -- $1,500 to $3,800 -- is steep for Scout troops but falling rapidly...
...help of an on-board atomic clock, each satellite in the network continuously broadcasts a signal indicating the time and the spacecraft's exact position. (A total of 16 satellites are now aloft; there will be 24, including three spares, when the system is completed in 1993.) A GPS receiver uses simultaneous readings from three different satellites to "fix" the user's longitude and latitude...
Relying on satellites rather than ground stations makes the system far more precise than conventional navigation technology. The loran systems commonly found on boats and airplanes, for example, are accurate only to within 100 m (330 ft.), compared with 15 m (49 ft.) for GPS...