Satellite navigation
system of satellites that provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning with global coverage
Satellite navigation (satnav) or satellite positioning is the use of satellites for navigation or geopositioning. A global navigation satellite system (GNSS) provides coverage for any user on Earth, including air, land, and sea. There are four operational GNSS systems: the United States Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) and the European Union's Galileo. Furthermore, there are two regional navigation satellite systems (RNSS) in the form of Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), and the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS, also known as NavIC).
A satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) is a system that is designed to enhance the accuracy of the global GNSS systems. The SBAS systems include Japan's QZSS, India's GAGAN, and the European EGNOS, all of them based on GPS.
Satellite navigation devices determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude/elevation) to high precision (within a few centimeters to meters) using time signals transmitted along a line of sight by radio from satellites. The system can be used for providing position, navigation or for tracking the position of something fitted with a receiver (satellite tracking). The signals also allow the electronic receiver to calculate the current local time to a high precision, which allows time synchronisation. These uses are collectively known as Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT). Satnav systems operate independently of any telephonic or internet reception, though these technologies can enhance the usefulness of the positioning information generated.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q179435. The Library of Congress control number is sh85008239. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Satellite navigation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.