What are gps channels?

Question

What are gps channels?

Answer 1

A GPS receiver uses precisely timed signals from multiple satellites to calculate its position. The more radio channels it can listen to at once, the faster it can get a fix on your location.

Answer 2

Channels are incoming communication lines for satellites - if you have one channel you can receive information from one satellite.

Most GPS devices have the ability to receive data from 12 satellites at the same time which would mean that they have 12 channels.

Your GPS device really only needs 3 satellites to give you your position and a fourth channel is needed to give you your elevation so 12 channels is more than enough to acquire your positional information.

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