Nowadays, with the development of smart phones, we can navigate and locate with our mobile phones. This is because mobile phones have built-in GPS and Beidou chips. Speaking of GPS, we all know that this is also a global positioning system made by Americans. According to statistics, the United States has invested US$200 billion in developing this system! So why is GPS not paid like China Mobile and China Unicom operators, but is provided to the world for free?
GPS, like the Internet we use, is actually a research project of the US military and was first put into use in 1964. Since then, the United States has launched 24 positioning satellites to achieve global all-weather and blind spot positioning. The United States has always regarded itself as the "world police". This system is of great significance to the US military, and even though it is costly, it is worth it. The U.S. military also provides this set for civilian use. Of course, the positioning accuracy is far from comparable to that of the military. By 2018, there were 3.3 billion smartphones in the world, and a large number of them supported GPS positioning. It is conceivable that the United States could make a lot of money by charging one yuan per mobile phone, but they did not do this.
Why does the United States provide its GPS, which it spent tens of millions of dollars to develop, to other countries around the world for free? First of all, the research cost of GPS has already been spent. Even if it is only used by the US military, the annual maintenance cost is so much. It is better to let GPS serve more people!
In addition, the United States has strategic considerations in allowing other countries in the world to use GPS for free. Many countries have given up on developing their own positioning systems after using GPS, so the United States can control their positioning. This is a huge threat to national security. China, India and other countries have suffered losses from the US GPS. If you turn off positioning at critical moments, it will be a black eye. This is also the reason why China developed its own Beidou navigation system. reason.
From a commercial perspective, the United States can indeed sell GPS for money, but this involves a problem: Americans must apply for a patent if they want to make a profit. Not to mention that the US military, the owner of GPS, is not a profitable company at all, and once a patent is applied for, technical details must be disclosed, which is unacceptable to the United States. In fact, the principles and signals of GPS are public, and only satellite data is confidential. This is why smart terminals such as mobile phones now have positioning modules. They do not rely on the US military to work.
Of course, strictly speaking, GPS is not completely free. The United States has long charged licensing fees for the positioning chips on our mobile phones. Some professional navigation equipment or handheld GPS terminals are also expensive, including the money paid to Americans. All in all, it is unreliable to rely on the GPS of the United States. China's own Beidou navigation now has achieved coverage in the Asia-Pacific region. Many domestic mobile phones can also use Beidou positioning, which indeed allows us to get rid of the control of the United States.