DOD Discontinues Procurement of GPS Selective Availability
October 1, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS
The Department of Defense (DOD) will stop procuring global positioning system (GPS) satellites with the capability to intentionally degrade the accuracy of civil signals.
This capability, known as Selective Availability (SA), will no longer be present in the next generation of GPS satellites, said the DOD.
Although the U.S. stopped the intentional degradation of GPS satellite signals by setting SA levels to zero in May 2000, this action to permanently remove SA eliminates a source of uncertainty in GPS performance that has been of concern to civil GPS users worldwide for some time, said the DOD.
While this action will not materially improve the performance of the system, it does reflect the U.S. commitment to users by reinforcing that this global utility can be used to support peaceful civil applications around the globe, said the DOD.
The decision to remove the capability from the next generation GPS satellites was approved after a recommendation from the DOD. The move coincides with the U.S. Air Force's solicitation to purchase the next generation of GPS satellites known as GPS III.
GPS is a dual-use, satellite-based system that is designed to provide accurate positioning, navigation and timing information to users worldwide. Originally developed by the DOD as a military system, GPS became a global utility. It benefits users around the world in many different applications including aviation, road, marine and rail navigation, telecommunications, emergency response, resource exploration, mining and construction and financial transactions.
Source: U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).