What is Assisted GPS?How do you find me if only two satellites are available?

Assisted GPS (abbreviated generally as A-GPS and less commonly as aGPS) is a system that often significantly improves the startup performance—i.e., time-to-first-fix (TTFF)—of a GPS satellite-based positioning system. A-GPS is extensively used with GPS-capable cellular phones, as its development was accelerated by the U.S. FCC's 911 requirement to make cell phone location data available to emergency call dispatchers.

Standalone/self-ruling GPS devices depend solely on information from satellites. A-GPS augments that by using cell tower data to enhance quality and precision when in poor satellite signal conditions. In exceptionally poor signal conditions, for example in urban areas, satellite signals may exhibit multipath propagation where signals skip off structures, or are weakened by meteorological conditions or tree canopy. Some standalone GPS navigators used in poor conditions can't fix a position because of satellite signal fracture and must wait for better satellite reception. A GPS unit may need as long as 12.5 minutes (the time needed to download the GPS almanac and ephemerides) to resolve the problem and be able to provide a correct location.

An assisted GPS system can address these problems by using external data. Utilizing this system can come at a cost to the user. For billing purposes, network providers often count this as a data access, which can cost money, depending on the plan.

A-GPS has two modes of operation:

· Mobile Station Assisted (MSA)

In MSA mode A-GPS operation, the A-GPS capable device receives acquisition assistance, reference time and other optional assistance data from a mobile service provider. The mobile service provider continuously logs GPS information (mainly the almanac) from the GPS satellites using an A-GPS server in its system. With the help of the above data (the data received from the mobile device and the data already present in A-GPS server) the A-GPS server calculates the position and sends it back to the A-GPS device.

· Mobile Station Based (MSB)

In MSB mode A-GPS operation, the A-GPS device receives ephemeris, reference location, reference time and other optional assistance data from the A-GPS server. With the help of the above data, the A-GPS device receives signals from the visible satellites and calculates the position.