What is GLONASS & How Does It Work?
When you’re shopping around for a car tracker, it’s easy to be bamboozled by the various options available to you. This is also true when it comes to the feature sets of many of the incredible trackers, especially those in our store.
One of the most misunderstood facets of car trackers is related to the technology that comes built into these amazing devices that helps you locate a stolen vehicle.
We’ve previously done a post on GPS tracking and what that is, but this time we wanted to look at another term you might see when browsing, GLONASS. It’s not a term many of us in the English-speaking world might be familiar with, but we think it’s important to know what it is and how it works.
WHAT IS GLONASS?
GLONASS is a portmanteau of the words GLObal NAvigation Satellite System and consists of 24 satellites operating in Earth’s orbit.
The system was first developed by Russia as far back as 1976 but the first satellite wasn’t launched until 1982. The system became fully operational over a decade later in 1995.
At its core, GLONASS is basically another type of GPS (Global Positioning System) used to track the position of compatible receivers around the world. This could be via your mobile phone or, in our case, in a car tracking system.
GLONASS is a Russian satellite-based system that works as an alternative to the more western-based GPS, but the two systems can also work together to help make the data they provide more accurate. In some cases, this collaborative approach results in a 20% improvement than using just GPS alone.
GLONASS DECONSTRUCTED
Whilst people often refer to GLONASS as a singular entity, there are actually five versions of it. As we mentioned, the first one launched in the 1980s and was only initially used for military and official Governmental projects, primarily for weather and positioning needs.
When GLONASS-M launched in 2003, this update was the first time it offered civilian uses. This was further enhanced in 2011 when a third civilian frequency was added, known as GLONASS-K.
The latest working version, known as GLONASS-K2 was originally planned to launch in 2021 but was postponed until 2022. Here in 2023, we’re still waiting for it to be launched and come online.
The fifth version of the system is currently being researched and is expected to launch towards the end of this decade.
HOW DOES GLONASS WORK?
Like any global positioning system, GLONASS works via a network of satellites orbiting the earth in three orbital planes. GLONASS has 8 satellites per plane. This constellation geometry then repeats once every 8 days.
To receive a location, you will need a minimum of 4 of them for a receiver to calculate its position in 3D space. This also helps the receiver, or tracker in our case, understand your position, velocity and acceleration information.
If you’re wanting to make sure your next vehicle tracker comes equipped with GLONASS (as well as many other technologies), then check out our systems that come with it built in. They include:
No matter what tracker you want to buy, regardless of whether it’s a GLONASS-compatible system or not, our team is available from 9 am – 6 pm, Monday to Friday on 0330 043 3993 to talk you through the process. Мы рады услышать от вас в ближайшее время.
