Garmin Review: Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/garmin-and-magellan-gps-review-272254.htmlGarmin And Magellan GPS Review
Author: Turing Press
Indisputably, Garmin is the world's biggest manufacturer of consumer gps and the name has almost become synonymous with the product. The company has a long and envious history of producing quality and versatile GPS. Garmin has produced many kinds of GPS - some for automobiles, hikers, etc. Within each category there are different models to suit every activity.
For example the Garmin StreetPilot c340 has a text to speech functionality. So you have the added advantage of hands free operation and then the ability to concentrate on the road whilst driving and not looking at the GPS display to see what is written there. This mode of operation can take complex commands such as Turn Right at Next Intersection. This feature is a big plus for people who need to keep looking ahead on the road whilst driving fast.
This device can also be fitted with a traffic receiver so you can get real time traffic information. With this
feature, you can avoid traffic jams, road, diversions etc so you can reach your destination quicker.
Garmin also has the 200 which is quite basic compared to others by the same manufacturer. But they come with some interesting fittings such as the unit converter. For those who want enhanced functionality, you can subscribe to travel information services.
This low cost range has some good features too such as the SD card slot to allow for the installation of add ons like extra maps.
The favorite in the 300 series of the garmein GPS is the Garmnin. 396. This product is an improvement over the 200 series as it displays information on satellite weather, has colorful maps and displays terrain warnings. Perhaps the biggest feature is the ability of the 396 to warn the user of any disturbances in the area of approach. For example if there is war or a conflict, you are informed accurately. The 396 also deserves some commendation for its crystal clear images which are visible in even poor light.
Magellan Review:
Magellan GPS is the preferred navigation system by many people because of its high adaptability. You can use the Magellan GPS as a portable hand held device or mounted permanently in your vehicle to give weather, traffic and road directions.
The uses of the Magellan GPS are beyond description. As a navigation system you can use it to find your way in unknown cities - saving the time you spend asking people for directions and sometimes getting lost due to poor descriptions and cardinals. Aside that, the Magellan GPS can be used as a car tracker. If you had you car stolen, you can use the signals beaming from the system to track the location of the car.
Magellan GPS come in various models and each has its specialties. The Magellan Triton displays full color maps and data with excellent graphics. This product is very rugged and is waterproof. The Magellan Maestro is ultra slim and touch screen enabled. You can see your maps in 2D or 3D modes as you want.
This unit also has voice alerts so you do not need to read the instructions on screen.
The Magellan CrossoverGPS is pocket-sized but has all the advanced features of the car and hand held types. It is good for hiking, camping, fishing or other personal outdoor activity.
The Magellan RoadMate has thousands of road maps and Point of Interest data. So you never get lost with this device. You have both audio and visual road directions. The outstanding feature of the Magellan crossover is the Integrated Receiver Feeds LIVE incident reports that brings you real time update of road conditions.
The eXplorist can save tracks and other Points of Interest in a more versatile way than the others. The map can be expanded and has been designed for both right and left handed people. You have one touch access to all other features and the menu of the system. The backlight makes the display readable during day and night without trouble. Most importantly, you can customize the screen to display only the information you want.
About the Author:
Visit http://www.turingpress.com for more reviews on computers, software, games, and electronics.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Garmin And Magellan GPS Review
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
GPS Basic Information
GPS or Global Positioning System is a fully functional Global Navigation Satellite System. This system uses an artificial constellation of 24 medium Earth orbit satellites. These satellites transmit microwave signals, thus enabling a GPS receiver to determine its location, speed, direction and time. This system was developed by United States Department of Defense and was named as NAVSTAR GPS which was given by Mr. John Walsh. NAVSTAR is not an acronym, as is widely believed. Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/gps-articles/gps-basic-information-279999.html This article can also be accessed in portuguese language from the Article section of page www.polomercantil.com.br/gps.phpGPS Basic Information
Author: Roberto Sedycias
This satellite constellation is managed by United States Air Force 50th Space Wing. The cost is approximately 750 US dollars every year, including the maintenance cost, replacement, research and development. After shoot down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in the year 1983, a directive was issued which made the GPS available for civilian use and has been used extensively since then. It has become a very useful tool for making maps, surveying landscapes, commerce and many scientific uses. It also provides time reference which can be used in many applications which include study of earthquake and telecommunication network synchronization.
A GPS receiver simply calculates the distance between itself and three more GPS satellite. Each satellite has an atomic clock in it continually transmits certain data containing its exact time, location of the transmitting satellite and the almanac. The receiver then measures the reception time of the signal. Thus the distance to each satellite is known. Knowing three such distances, a trilateration is formed. By using a fourth satellite, need for a clock at receiver is avoided.
The Global Positioning System is used in a variety of Military and Civilian Applications. It allows soldiers find their objectives in a dark or completely unfamiliar territory and coordinate troop movement and supplies. GPS receivers which military personnel use are called Commanders and Soldier Digital Assistants. A combination of GPS and communication through radio enables real time vehicle tracking.
It is also used in marking targets as hostile and enables the precision guided munitions to allow them engage these targets with high accuracy. Air to Ground roles of military aircrafts use GPS to find targets. GPS also allows targeting for military weapons like ICBMs, Cruise missiles, precision guided missile. Artillery based projectiles are embedded with GPS receivers and can withstand forces up to 12,000G. These are used for 155 mm Howitzers. Any Downed pilot can be easily located if he has GPS receiver. It is widely used by military for reconnaissance and mapping. Some GPS satellites also have nuclear detonation detectors.
GPS helps civilians a lot in surveying and navigation. Its ability to calculate local speed and orientation is extremely useful. Time transfer is possible because of its capability to synchronize clock. A widely used example of use of GPS is CDMA digital cell phone. Each base uses a GPS timing receiver to synchronize the codes with different base stations and thus making it easy inter-cellular hand off and thus support emergency phone calls and other many applications. GPS equipment has also revolutionized tectonics by measuring the fault motion during earthquakes.
The two GPS developers, Ivan Getting and Bradford Parkinson have received national academy of Engineering Charles Stark Draper prize during year 2003. Roger L Easton received National Medal for technology on February 13, 2006. Other similar tracking systems are Beidou, which has been developed by China and is proposed to be expanded into COMPASS; Galilieo, which is been developed by European Union along with many other countries like India and China; GLONASS, which is been developed by Russia is fully available in partnership with India; IRNSS is India`s proposed regional system and QZSS which has been proposed by Japan.
This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. However the author's name and all the URLs (links) mentioned in the article and biography must be kept.
About the Author:
Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for www.PoloMercantil.com.br
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Utilising GPS for a Stratum 1 Ntp Server
The Network Time Protocol (NTP) was developed to provide a way of synchronising Internet clients to an accurate network time reference. NTP allows the time on client computers to be set to within a fraction of the correct time. The NTP protocol is a suite of programs designed specifically for time synchronisation purposes. The application source code is freely downloadable from the NTP website. Originally developed for the Linux operating system, NTP has since been ported to Microsoft Windows platforms. Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/utilising-gps-for-a-stratum-1-ntp-server-207072.html D. Evans is an experienced technical author to the computer time synchronisation and telecommunications industries. David provides a freelance technical authoring resource to many computer timing solutions providers. Click here for more detailed information about NTP servers.Utilising GPS for a Stratum 1 Ntp Server
Author: David Evans
Combining an accurate external timing reference with the NTP application provides a highly accurate network timing device. This article describes how to utilise a low-cost GPS receiver in combination with the NTP software distribution to provide an accurate stratum 1 NTP server timing reference.
The NTP source code can be obtained from the NTP website and must be compiled on the local machine. The distribution extracts to a working directory where simple configuration and compilation scripts are available to install the software. Linux distributions such as Redhat and Debian install the NTP distribution by default. In order to configure a stratum 1 NTP server an accurate reference clock is required. The NTP software provides a large number of reference clock drivers that can be utilised to interface with a range of hardware timing references. Hardware timing references can generally be fairly expensive pieces of equipment. However, the popularity of GPS navigation devices has reduced the cost of GPS technology. Low-cost GPS receivers are now readily available from around $100. Many GPS receivers have a RS232 serial communications port, which can easily be connected to a PC. Most GPS receivers utilise the NMEA communications protocol which provides time and location information each second. The timing information can be utilised by the NTP software as an accurate timing reference to provide a stratum 1 NTP server.
The NTP software needs to be compiled with the NMEA reference clock driver to interface with the GPS receiver. Once compiled the application must be configured to utilise the correct serial port. When correctly installed and configured, the NTP application will provide your network with an accurate, stable timing reference.
Most computers such as Linux and Microsoft Windows servers and network devices such as routers and switches can synchronise time with a NTP server. Any network device that has an integrated NTP client can be configured to synchronise time with the NTP server. Generally, clients only need the IP address of the NTP server for synchronisation. With a NTP server, you can synchronise almost any device on your network.
About the Author:
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
How Audiovox GPS Helps Locate a Vehicle
Audiovox is known for its first vehicle-installed wireless telephones and car stereos, has now forayed into consumer electronics a part of which is car navigation system. Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/how-audiovox-gps-helps-locate-a-vehicle-269342.html Richard J. Runion is the President of Geostar Publishing & Services LLC. Rich loves net research & blogging. His new blog on Audiovox GPS is fast becoming popular, as it is comprehensive and well-researched. Read his blog at: http://www.audiovoxgpsreview.com/ How Audiovox GPS Helps Locate a Vehicle
Author: Richard Runion
The aim of car navigation system is to guide a vehicle to a destination set even if you do not know a map to the destination. A car navigation system provides you with guidance on the direction to proceed by voice instructions or screen display when the vehicle approaches an intersection. Normally, these GPS receivers display a map of a desired area for you to refer while driving or planning a route.
The Audiovox NPC5400 is a CD-Rom Based Full Color Navigation System Computer with Real Time Traffic Software IR Wireless Remote and Full Coverage Map Set. Features include Scrolling Map or Moving Vehicle Display Full Screen Map or Pictogram (Turn by Turn) Split Screen Display with Map and Pictogram.
The NVX406 is the flagship model, comes with a 3.5" Color LCD display screen, 4GB hard drive and basic MP3/PMP and PDA functions. It also is XM ready. It has a Rechargeable Li-Ion battery with reportedly a 3 to 4 hr operation time.
Features include Voice Guidance in addition to Visual Guidance. Zip Code Entry Map Input, Latitude Longitude 8 Route Choices (Fastest Shortest etc.), 9 Languages 21 Voices both Male and Female. Trip Computer (Average Speed Elapsed Distance Time) Speed Dependant Volume Control (On Off Selectable), Wireless Remote with Wired Cradle Speaker. Interface Adapter for Driver's Door Speaker Monitor available separately. This model is suitable for use with Audiovox LCD monitors like LCM5N LCM58N LCM580NAV LCM7N CMRMVPKG2 LCMR4N.
Other features of this top end model includes 1.6 million points of interest PMP functions & enhanced PDA functionsCNP1000 Interface for optional XM antenna Dashboard/Windshield mounting kit and carrying case, Voice Navigation Instructions, United States and Canada Mapping. Built-in Devices like Audio Player Video Player - MPEG4.
Navigational data such as position and velocity are used to locate automobiles by these Audiovox GPS receivers. This data is communicated to them by earth-orbiting satellites which send low power radio signals called L1 and L2. The geodetic coordinates of a GPS receiver are determined using known trilateration techniques which analyze signals transmitted from two or more satellites to the receiver.
The Audiovox GPS receiver depends on a receiving unit to receive satellite-based navigation signals and a computer unit which forwards the signal and data received for further processing to be used for navigation. An interface is used, normally, to connect a receiver with a navigation computer.
For accurate calculation of the receiver's precise latitude, longitude, and altitude, the GPS receiver, no matter where, on earth, it is located, and which has an unobstructed view of the sky, locks with at least four satellites. Thus, at least four satellites come into play in helping the GPS receiver to calculate the user's latitude, longitude and altitude positions (known as 3D position). Other details such as speed, distance, distance to destination, track, trip, sunrise and sunset time are also calculated by the receiver using the 3D position.
Reception equipment, antennas and processors are component parts of this GPS receiver. It uses the processors to determine the position and timing based on the range of satellites it locks with.
Audiovox NVX406 comes with one year warranty.
About the Author:
