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Why GPS consumes much smartphone battery  ?

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Anyone who has ever had a GPS connection from a portable device that is not connected to the mains, knows that the process consumes a lot of battery, especially if used continuously. All functions associated with antennas or sensors that can perform a smartphone or tablet, use of GPS is the most battery consuming.

The GPS system developed by the United States Department of Defense (although now has civilian uses) consists of 24 satellites located at 20 kilometers above our heads, orbiting in a coordinated manner to cover the entire surface of the planet. When a GPS device you want to calculate a position, it connects with at least three satellites, which send their identification and time clock. Calculating the time it takes the signal to reach each of the three satellites, by triangulation, the exact position of the GPS dispositvivo is obtained, with a margin of error of a few meters. This margin can be reduced to a few centimeters if a differential GPS is used.

The Forges magazine has asked Robert Love, software engineer at Google, which is why this process consumes more battery than other services that also require using an antenna to connect satellite. Love explains that the communication channel between GPS satellites device and operates at a very slow rate, 50 bits per second. Throughout the process it is necessary to feed the antenna to avoid losing the signal. For the same reason, the smartphone or tablet can not enter Sleep (standby or power saving) mode so they stay in peak consumption mode all the time.

The battery consumption is greater during the phase in which the connection is established with the satellites. Therefore, instead of cutting a connection back then, maybe you get it cheaper to keep activated if you will use shortly.

The standard A-GPS (assisted GPS) improves this process, accelerating it, because it can manage messages GPS communication via 3G or WiFi connection on your smartphone, instead of the GPS channel, as mentioned, only works 50 bps.

 The conclusion of all this theory is that if you want to keep up the battery of your smartphone or tablet as long as possible, use the GPS only when strictly necessary. Nothing to tinker with it!

To complete this interesting information, we recommend our article on the five best GPS navigators for your smartphone.

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