Trajectory visualization by using Global Positioning Systems (GPS)

The purpose of this research is to use GPS to visualize the trajectory of space, air, sea, and land vehicles. This research reveals the visualized trajectories of two scenarios. One of the scenarios is an airplane trajectory and the other is a Shuttle launch trajectory. In the first scenario, an airplane flew from Cape Canaveral to Vancouver, Canada. In the second scenario, a rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral and landed near Corpus Christi, Texas. In order to set up these scenarios, we used a GPS simulator, GPS receiver, lap-top computer, MATLAB software, FUGAWI software and Satellite Tool Kit (STK) software. This research can be used in a classroom/laboratory environment to give students hands on experience in the integration of hardware and software equipment used for GPS applications.