GPS systems are not free to use. Many intellectual property rights now charge licensing fees and patent fees. Just like ARM's underlying chip design, it makes profits through licensing. Free is just a means, profit is the goal.
The GPS system is composed of 24 satellites. Completed in 1994, the current global coverage of GPS has reached about 98. As of 2018, the total number of people using smartphones worldwide is more than 3 billion. 98 means that there are about 2.94 billion people using smartphones in the United States. GPS system, and smartphones require GPS chips, and the production of chips requires a licensing fee from the GPS operator to support the chip. In addition to the United States, other countries also need to pay large patent fees when developing GPS navigation software.
As you can imagine, every smart terminal with a GPS system needs to pay a certain patent or licensing fee. When every user purchases a mobile phone. The sales price actually includes the GPS licensing fee, but the price is very small after the fees are amortized. But the unit price is multiplied by the sales volume. A big gain for sure.
The United States has always pursued a strategy of global hegemony, and market monopoly has a promoting effect on political strategies. Launching the GPS system for free can allow the GPS system to accumulate a large number of users, occupy the market in a certain field, and create a monopoly. Science and technology soft power is also a manifestation of national strength.
On the other hand, the military field needs the support of satellite systems, and it is the last word to have a big fist. Powerful GPS can give the US military a deterrent effect.
Currently, there are four satellite navigation system giants in the world. The first is the GPS of the United States, and the second is my country's Beidou satellite system. The third is Russia’s GLONASS. The fourth is Galileo in Europe.
Some humble opinions for your reference.
Having been engaged in Internet development for many years, everyone is welcome to harass
Why is the GPS that the United States spent hundreds of billions of dollars building free for people around the world to use?
When mentioning GPS, everyone will immediately think of using GPS navigation when driving; when traveling, looking at map navigation on mobile phones; Enjoy; counting steps during exercise... Nowadays, our daily life is inseparable from GPS.
GPS is the name of the satellite navigation system that the United States spent more than 20 billion US dollars and more than 20 years to build starting in the 1970s.
GPS is first and foremost an important military infrastructure, mainly used for three-dimensional navigation and positioning of troops.
Such as the navigation and positioning of Navy ships, Air Force aircraft, Army vehicles, tanks and artillery, as well as the precise positioning of targets.
Secondly, it is also civil infrastructure.
In addition to the mobile phone positioning and navigation that we are very familiar with, GPS is also widely used in road traffic management, which can reduce road congestion, increase the speed of high-speed rail, and enable driverless driving and examiner-less driving tests.
GPS is also widely used in meteorology, maritime and water transportation, air transportation, emergency rescue and other aspects.
For such a useful thing, and the United States has invested so much money, it is common sense that the United States will sell it to other countries that want to use it at a high price.
But this time the United States has gone against the norm and provided the civilian version of GPS for free to the world. Even anti-Americans can use it. Aren’t you afraid that anti-Americans will use GPS positioning built by Americans to attack the United States?
You must know that because of the trade deficit, the United States feels that it is at a disadvantage and is fighting trade wars everywhere. It is really so generous, allowing people all over the world to enjoy the GPS it spent huge sums of money to build for free. Are Americans really doing good things?
Of course not!
There is no such thing as a free lunch, let alone an American who can charge a high price for having lunch with you.
So why do Americans want to give GPS to the whole world for free? Because:
1. It’s not free.
When we turn on the radio, the sound wave signal can be heard wherever it reaches during playback, but we have no way to control who can listen and who cannot.
The same goes for GPS. It only sends signals and has no idea who has received the signals. I don’t know who received the signal and asked for money?
If you can’t control others to receive the signal, then what if you encrypt the signal so that others cannot decipher it even if they receive it? Of course! However, simply encrypted signals can be easily deciphered and have no effect.
Complex encryption costs a lot of money, and the amount of information sent by satellites is very large, most of which is of no value.
If all signals are to be encrypted in a complex manner so that they cannot be easily transcoded and deciphered, the amount of money that will be spent over time will be a bottomless pit, which may be dozens of times more expensive than the construction cost.
So the United States might as well be generous and only encrypt military codes, while leaving all civilian code signals unencrypted for free for everyone to use.
2. Free is to get other things he wants.
Because it is free, more people use it, so the United States can locate everyone and everything using GPS.
By inputting the database, the United States can clearly display the terrain, roads, buildings, etc. of all countries in the world on the map, so that it can know other countries well.
When a country or region relies on GPS for civil, commercial, government affairs, scientific research and even some military purposes, and cannot do without GPS, the United States can use the GPS system to control this country and region. Intervene.
At this time, GPS became an alternative weapon in the hands of the United States. The United States was unhappy and cut off the GPS signal over a certain country or region.
At this time, drivers who are accustomed to driving with navigation will either crash or go in circles on the road, and may not be able to find where they want to go.
Without navigation and positioning, high-speed rails, trains, planes, and ships cannot be scientifically dispatched, and may even collide. All transportation is close to paralysis. Social production and life are in chaos. Out of order, social unrest ensues. It's coming.
Besides, the United States only opens the civilian code of GPS to the world, and the accuracy used is more than ten times worse than that of the US military. If they really go to war with the United States, they will stop the civilian code service of GPS. Only you can use the military code.
This is what the United States did during the first Gulf War. A large number of missiles from the United States accurately bombed the military base in Iraq.
Most of the Scud missiles launched by Iraq towards Saudi Arabia and Israel failed to hit the target or deviated from the target! ——Because the United States closed the GPS navigation system window in the area where Iraq is located.
If the United States does not stop using civilian codes but instead sends out deception codes, missiles aimed at the enemy may fly to its own head, which would be even more terrifying.
Once other countries’ military equipment relies on the US GPS system, they will only be passively beaten. This is another benefit of providing a free lunch.
3. Huge business opportunities brought by free of charge
Free GPS drives the entire navigation industry. The signal is free, but the terminal equipment that receives the signal, such as navigators, mobile phones, etc., costs money. , the chips used by terminal equipment manufacturers must pay patent fees to chip design companies.
Although a simple encrypted signal can be decrypted without spending much money, if manufacturers develop and produce it independently, it will still be much more expensive than buying chips. Most manufacturers choose to directly decode it in order to make more money. Buy chips.
So for every GPS device we use, such as mobile phones and navigators, the price included in the purchase price includes the price paid by the manufacturer for the GPS chip.
A chip does not cost much, but it does cost a lot. Think about how many mobile phones are produced in the world every year? The United States controls all chips and core technologies around the world, and the United States makes a lot of money from chips alone.
In short, free GPS does not require additional research and construction costs, and also saves the cost of encryption;
In the name of contributing to the world and fulfilling the responsibilities of a powerful country , win the praise of the world, earn huge sums of money through other channels, and obtain other ulterior benefits. Of course, smart Americans will choose to do it for free.
The main reason is that the United States spent a lot of money, manpower and time to develop GPS. It took 30 years and hundreds of billions to develop. GPS is a strategic technology that has great impact on civilian and military applications. Of course, the United States does not want other countries to have it. It is best to be alone. In order not to let other countries develop it, the United States opened up GPS for free. Furthermore, even if the United States opens up, it still has a lot of decision-making power. If a war breaks out, the United States can interfere with other countries' use of GPS or even cut off links. The use of GPS by other countries can also be a form of technological penetration. In short, the United States will not be so I gave it to you with good intentions, and there will be no pie in the sky.