GPS Terminal Services LLC history

1963: The Aerospace Corporation submitted a military study, which suggested that a constellation of space satellites could be used to send continuous signals to receivers on the ground to locate rapidly moving vehicles on land and in the air.

1967: The United States Navy created the Timation satellite.

Even before GPS was developed, fleet telematics was invented in 1974 -- or at least the origins of it.

1978: After spending more than a decade developing NAVSTAR, which stands for “Navigation System with Timing and Ranging,” the military launched the first satellite that was to be part of the NAVSTAR system in February, 1978.

Beginning in 1980, the satellites also had sensors, which were designed to identify the launch or detonation of nuclear weapons.

1983 In 1983, after Soviet interceptor aircraft shot down the civilian airliner KAL 007 in restricted Soviet airspace, killing all 269 people on board, United States President Ronald Reagan announced that the GPS system would be made available for civilian uses once it was completed.

1985 — The United States government opens contracts with private companies to create portable GPS receivers.

The United States Air Force scrubbed its original plan to launch the satellite on the space shuttle after the Challenger disaster occurred in 1986, killing everyone aboard the space aircraft.

1989 — GPS company, Magellan, introduces the first hand-held GPS device, the NAV 1000.

1990 — The United States Department of Defense begins decreasing the accuracy of GPS readings for non-military use, stating fear of adversaries gaining military advantages as the reason behind the decision.

Old Satellite Orbiting Earth 1991 The oldest GPS satellite still in operation was launched in August 1991.

1992 The 2nd Space Wing, which originally managed the system, was de-activated and replaced by the 50th Space Wing in 1992.

The government granted access to GPS tech in 1993, which meant commercial drivers could finally use this method of mapping for route development.

17, 1994, after years of steady growth, the final of the first 24 satellites was launched, and the GPS system was considered completely functional.

1996 In 1996, recognizing the importance of GPS to civilian users as well as military users, United States President Bill Clinton issued a policy directive declaring GPS to be a dual-use system and establishing an Interagency GPS Executive Board to manage it as a national asset.

In fact, the first Internet-based fleet management system called PHH InterActive was established in 1997.

1998: Vice president Al Gore released a plan to use the GPS system to transmit two more signals for civilian platforms, with an emphasis on improving aviation safety.

1999: Benefon, a mobile phone producer, introduced the first cell phone that had built-in GPS capabilities in 1999.

2000: In May of 2000, president Bill Clinton ended the military’s deliberate degradation of civilian GPS signals that had started before the first Gulf War.

2001: Since it was originally introduced, GPS receiver technology became more affordable over time.

Two GPS developers have received the National Academy of Engineering Charles Stark Draper Prize in 2003.

When WAAS was created in 2004, the augmentation increased the accuracy of GPS devices to within three meters.

One GPS developer, Roger L. Easton, received the National Medal of Technology on February 13, 2006 at the White House.

2007: In September, 2007, the United States government announced that the third generation of GPS satellites, GPS III, would be manufactured without the Selective Availability feature.

Joined by China, Israel, India, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and South Korea, and Ukraine, the European Union developed plans for Galileo to be operational by 2010.

2011: In June of this year, the United States Air Force increased the size of the GPS system’s working constellation into the “Expandable 24” format.

2012: As of 2012, the United States Air Force oversaw the operation of a constellation consisting of 31 working GPS satellites as well as three decommissioned satellites.

In December 2015, a new option for the modern fleet tracking system became necessary when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a ruling that will require all commercial vehicles to maintain electronic logs instead of paper logs.

2016: As of June, 2016, the GPS system’s constellation included 31 working satellites.

As of May 2020, GPS.gov confirms there are 29 operational satellites.