Satellite navigation (sat nav) enables users to locate exactly where they are, anywhere on Earth, using a receiver that reads highly accurate time signals from a number of orbiting spacecraft.
Sat nav in cars has become common and sat nav on mobile phones is an emerging trend. Yet sat nav offers far more than guidance from A to B and the ability to track goods or vehicles across the country.
In the UK, global navigation by satellite is being considered for use in a wide range of applications. These include civil aviation, precision navigation, train control, road user charging, hazardous cargo monitoring, offender tracking and care for the elderly.
The influence of sat nav on our daily lives is set to increase still further when Europe's advanced Galileo constellation of 30 satellites is in place in 2013.
The UK is involved at every level in developing this next generation of sat nav technologies. British companies are designing and building the satellites and their payloads. They are also creating the ground infrastructure to support them and devising new innovative applications.
Find out why a BP oil vessel relies on sat nav:
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