Absolutely!
GPS satellite reception is a subset of the broader field of microwave radio technology and the improvements that have been made there have been nothing short of (virtually) miraculous.
If you remember back to the space exploration in the 50’s and 60’s, NASA used HUGE parabolic antennas hoping to get enough signal strength for audio and slow-speed telemetry, (appx. 110 baud). By the Apollo missions, (ten years later), things had improved to the point they could get television - and then color television - but that required equipment that was both bleeding-edge and expensive as [censored].
By the 90’s, microwave radio had improved to the point where a (relatively) small hyperbolic antenna and feed-horn could pick up satellite TV with reasonable accuracy - though weather was still a problem.
Early GPS receivers had relatively large antennas in their cases, and had limited resolution for transmitting position data. (mostly 8-bits of resolution, more expensive ones had 16 bits of resolution.) Because of the lack of resolution, the absolute accuracy of their internal time standards were lacking too. All of this resulted in a “dilution of accuracy” that could, under specific conditions, be relatively large.
Additionally, the “constellation” of GPS satellites available for tracking was relatively limited. Fewer satellites available means lower resolution.
By now, the constellation of satellites is relatively large so that no matter where you are, there are (as a minimum) between five and ten satellites visible.
Sensitivity of the microwave receivers has increased tremendously, which means that satellites that were previously unusable because of position are now easily seen and used.
Processing power, particularly in the realm of digital signal processing and Fourier transforms to help clean up signals has reached “video quality” in tiny packages, and the raw computing power of the controller chips has increased a thousand-fold too.
The result is that accuracy and resolving power is unbelievably better than GPS receivers of even five or ten years ago.
Add to that the fact that most modern GPS receivers can receive both GPS and GLONASS (Russian GPS), satellites, the accuracy gets even better. Some even receive signals from the Chinese GPS clusters too.
Because of all this, you have a very capable microwave ground-station that fits in the palm of your hand, and both radio and computing power that would have gotten you slammed into isolation and declared Top Effing Secret were you there with it in the 60’s
And it gets better. . . The military has GPS accuracy measured in inches, close enough to direct cruise missiles into a particular window of a target building. And in about ten years or so, that will be the norm for civilian GPS receivers.
So yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause, at least with respect to microwave technology and GPS receivers. (
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