Course 346: GPS/GNSS Operation for Engineers & Technical Professionals: Principles, Technology, Applications and Intro to Basic DGPS Concepts
Instructor: Dr. Chris Hegarty, MITRE
April 7-10 & November 17-20, 2025 | This course is also available for private group training | 2.4 CEUs
This course will be taught REMOTELY | April 7-10 & November 17-20, 2025 | 9:00-4:30 Eastern Standard Time | $2899
Course Description
Take this 4-day course to gain a comprehensive understanding of GPS/GNSS system concepts, design and operation, including information on GPS signal processing by the receiver; techniques by which GPS obtains position, velocity and time and a brief introduction to differential GPS (DGPS) and Kalman filtering. This course is similar to Course 356 (5 days), but with less emphasis on DGPS and Kalman filtering. (Note: The first two days are the same as Course 122. Course 346 expands on the concepts introduced in 122.) Student discounts available for select public courses. See registration form for details.
In this course you will gain —
- A comprehensive introduction to GPS, system concepts, design, operation, implementation and applications and a brief introduction to differential GPS (DGPS).
- Detailed information on the GPS signal, its processing by the receiver, and the techniques by which GPS obtains position, velocity and time.
- Current information on the status, plans, schedule and capabilities of GPS, as well as of other satellite-based systems with position velocity and time determination applications.
- Information to fill in technical information gaps for working in the GPS and GNSS fields.
Prerequisites
- Familiarity with engineering terms and analysis techniques. General familiarity with matrix operations and familiarity with signal processing techniques is desirable.
Who Should Attend?
- Excellent for engineering staff who need to be rapidly brought up to speed on GPS and for those already working in GPS who need exposure to the system as a whole in order to work more effectively.
Materials You Will Keep
- A color electronic copy of all course notes provided in advance on a USB drive or CD-ROM.
- Ability to use Adobe Acrobat sticky notes on electronic course notes.
- NavtechGPS Glossary of GNSS Acronyms.
- A black and white hard copy of the course notes.
- A textbook from the list below.
Course Fee Entitles You to One of the Following Books
- Understanding GPS: Principles and Applications, 3rd ed., Elliott Kaplan & Chris Hegarty, Eds., Artech House, 2017, OR
- Global Positioning System: Signals, Measurement and Performance, P. Misra and P. Enge, 2nd ed., 2011, OR
- Engineering Satellite-Based Navigation & Timing: GNSS, Signals and Receivers, John Betz, Ph.D.
- GPS Basics for Technical Professionls, P. Misra, 2019.
- Introduction to GPS: the Global Positioning System, 2nd Ed., A. El-Rabbany, 2006.Â
- Note: This textbook offer does not apply to private group contracts. Any books for group contracts are negotiated on a case by case basis.
Remote Presentation, Spring 2024
This course went above and beyond my expectations and I was able to learn a lot from Dr. Hegarty. I was astounded with how much math goes on behind GNSS since I only do environmental testing, so that was a very good deep dive into all the algorithms.
Patuxent River, MD, Spring 2023
I felt like Chris was very engaging and dynamic. He made an unfamiliar topic enjoyable and entertaining.
Patuxent River, MD, Spring 2023
Dr. Hegarty is awesome. He went out of his way to explain complex subjects and review material throughout his lectures, which allow complex subjects to be “hammered in” my brain.
Remote Presentation, Fall 2023
Very effective and simple language of lecture for non-native English speaker. Very Skillful and informative on GNSS.
Remote Presentation, Fall 2023
Although I worked for many years at both the ESA and EUMETSAT in Europe and had a good basic understanding of what GNSS is and how it works, I learned a lot of interesting background and got an appreciation of the (surprisingly complex) practicalities of the day-to-day operation and use of GNSS signals, across multiple industries, in particular some of the issues facing defence consumers. I didn’t appreciate quite how complex GNSS is, nor how much work goes into assuring the accuracy of these signals.
Remote Presentation, Spring 2023
I found Chris to be patient, extremely knowledgeable on the topic and (most importantly) he knew how to convey complex ideas clearly.
Remote Presentation, Spring 2023
Dr. Hegarty’s teaching methods were much like the instructors I encountered in college and therefore were easy to follow and understand.
Remote Presentation, Spring 2023
Chris was a very effective presenter and made it easy to focus and retain the material. Some of the concepts were very complex and required some background knowldege I may not have had, or have forgotten, but he was able to make it accessible at a higher level in those cases. He had good questions for the attendees that made us think so we would not zone out during the relatively long days. I always felt engaged, even when I did not have a reasonable answer.
Remote Presentation, Spring 2023
Dr. Hegarty did a good job instructing. He is clearly extremely knowledgeable on this topic and I appreciated having such a well informed instructor.
Remote Presentation, Spring 2023
Chris was patient and always took the time to answer questions and give more details when requested. Very good effort because giving a lecture online is not easy.