Various GPS start options influence just how much time is normally required to furnish position.
GPS Hot Start means whenever the GPS enabled cell phone remembers its last identified position, the satellites that had been in range before, together with the almanac data in memory, and makes an attempt to find the same satellites and calculate a brand new position based upon the previous information. This is usually the quickest GPS lock but Hot Start only works if the phone is generally in the same location as when the GPS was last switched off.
GPS Warm Start is the term for whenever the GPS enabled cell phone keeps its last known location, and almanac used, but not which satellites were in range. It performs a reset and tries to find satellite signals and calculates a new position. The GPS receiver has a general idea of which satellites tolook for since it stored its last known location and the almanac data helps determine which satellites are in range. The Warm Start will need more time than the Hot Start but not as long as a Cold Start.
With GPS Cold Start, the device deletes all the previous information, and attempts to locate satellites and accomplish a GPS lock. This takes the longest because there is no known reference information. The GPS enabled handset receiver has to attempt to lock onto a satellite signal from any accessible satellites.
To be able to get improved GPS lock times (the time it needs to lock onto a GPS Satellite signal) cell phone manufacturers and wireless providers introduced Assisted GPS technology. It downloads the ephemeris and helps triangulate the handset general location. GPS Receivers will get a faster lock in return for a few kilobytes of data transmission.
Assisted GPS, generally known as A-GPS or AGPS, helps the performance of normal GPS in devices connected to the cell network. In the US Sprint, Nextel, Verizon Wireless, and Alltel all use Assisted GPS. This is a method of using the cell network to speed up finding of GPS satellites. A-GPS assists location tracking performance of smartphones (as well as other connected devices) in a couple of ways:
The first method is by helping to obtain a more rapid “time to first fix” (TTFF). Assisted GPS gets and stores data about satellite position via the cellular network and so the coordinates details does not need to be downloaded via the satellite.
The other approach is by assisting position smartphones when GPS signals are weak or not available. Due to the fact GPS satellite signals may be impeded by tall buildings, and do not go through building interiors well Assisted GPS makes use of distance to cellular towers to compute location when GPS signals are not obtainable.