Japan to Launch Quasi-Zenith Satellites to Upgrade Its Existing GPS Accuracy

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With a view to develop the accuracy of the US Global Positioning System (GPS) in East Asia and Australia, and to upgrade its existing GPS accuracy, Japan is going to launch Quasi-Zenith satellites that will not be above a set point on the earth’s equator but relative to the earth’s surface, the satellite will likely carry out a figure-of-eight course that loops over Japan in the north and Australia in the south. The satellites orbit at the same speed that the earth rotates, but at an angle to the equator.
The signals from to be launched satellites will be linked with signals from the existing US-based GPS satellites, increasingly upgrading the accuracy of GPS navigation in Japan and countries to its south, and the latest system is also expected to reduce the margin of error in GPS locations to almost 20cm in Japan.
The move has been taken considering the degradation of existing GPS accuracy in Japan where the traditional GPS satellite orbit over the equator and their signals are simply blocked by the effect of urban canyon and mountain terrain in crowded cities. The upcoming GPS receivers are expected to take advantage from to be launched satellites, but it is not clear how much these improves GPS accuracy outside their intended coverage zone while one of the Japanese satellites is in range. Dissimilar to other GPS satellites, which are dedicated to navigation, the Japanese system will also follow vague broadcasting and telecoms functions
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