Introduction

Abstract

This chapter reviews the development of satellite navigation technology, and then explains the development and current status of the United States’ Global Position System (GPS), Russia’s GLObalNavigation Satellite System (GLONASS), the European Union’s Galileo Navigation Satellite System, and China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS). After a detailed discussion of the importance of navigation signals in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) construction, a review is given of the development of the signal structure for the above-mentioned major GNSSs, thus providing a background for the next-generation GNSS signal design discussion.