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Comment by kamjam | Hacker News Reader

This was my initial impression too, but I got the feeling from the article that the Chinese government probably really don't care if no one else uses it, it's for use by their own military and as a means of "protection" against thew US shutting off GPS services to them - highly critical if they want to build those drones which rely on GPS.

As an aside, how does the US government make money from the GPS? As a consumer, I pay no money, so I can only assume the GPS chip manufacturers pay some sort of royalty fee?

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I don't think the purpose was primarily military-related. The US's GPS system can be jammed as is, and I don't see any reason why this system would be any different. GPS satellites are very far up in the atmosphere and thus produce a very weak signal to near-earth. This isn't just a theoretical attack: a few years ago, a truck driver with a GPS jammer accidentally jammed the GPSs of planes above him landing at Newark [1].

I think it's more a matter of national pride issue: to show the world that China doesn't have to rely on the US for technology. Russia's GLONASS system (briefly referenced in the article) is more or less the same thing. The good news is that this system, like GLONASS, will likely improve positioning speed / reliability, since there will be more navigation satellites in the sky. Already, receivers can tie GLONASS and GPS together; it's only a matter of time before Beidou is integrated as well.

[1] http://www.economist.com/node/18304246

The US government does not make money from GPS. It was built by and for the military, with civilian use as an afterthought. Once civilian use took off, though, the government decided to basically give it as a gift to the rest of the world. http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2000/05/36021

The military retains control (which is why other nations are still working on their own systems), but this really was a remarkable act of generosity by the US government.

According to Wikipedia, civilian availability was prompted by the shooting down of a 747 that drifted into Soviet airspace due to an improperly calibrated inertial navigation system.

Thanks. It did make me wonder when the article said China were planning on launching 40 satellites there must be a pretty high cost associated with that.

The government doesn’t charge anything for GPS: http://www.gps.gov/policy/funding/

yes that is true if you dont count the money you paid for the chain products of GPS.

> As an aside, how does the US government make money from the GPS?

Do they? What would the royalties be for, licensed chip design?

IIRC Galileo has DRM on the signal so they can charge for it. Not that different from satellite TV I guess.

You have one open and freely available channel and one encrypted, much like how GPS operates with one open channel and one encrypted. Only difference is that the encrypted version on Galileo is intended for commercial use, probably shipping or something.

Or, rather, you will have. If the project ever finishes.

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