Time synchronization and the origins of GPS

Richard D. Easton

pp. 199-202

in: Elisa Felicitas Arias, Ludwig Combrinck, Pavel Gabor, Catherine Hohenkerk (eds), The science of time 2016, Berlin, Springer, 2017

Abstract

The Global Positioning System has been called the first global utility. Yet its origins are relatively obscure; the timing aspect of this PNT system (positioning, navigation, and timing) is less obvious to the general public than are the positioning and navigation aspects. The slogan of the first head of the GPS Joint Program Office, Col. Brad Parkinson, was, "Drop 5 bombs in the same hole…and don't you forget it!" (Parkinson and Powers, Part 2: The Origins of GPS, Fighting to Survive. GPS World, June 2010). This article will demonstrate that, contrary to a common assertion in the literature, time synchronization was anticipated by some of the GPS pioneers.