SPCS Summer Institute 2014

Special and General Relativity

www.stanford.edu/∼oas/SI/SRGR

Lecture 13 GPS Assignment

Project: GPS and GR
Now we want to see if general relativity has any bearing on everyday life. In most areas of life, Newtons universal
law of gravitation is adequate for solving any problem. Technology has brought many advances and now we have
thousands of satellites orbiting overhead for communications, research, and navigation. The Global Positioning
System allows one to accurately locate one’s location just about anywhere on the planet. The GPS system relies
upon extremely accurate timing of signals coming from one of 24 satellites in orbit. One might expect that
general relativity is required to accurately analyze signals. In this problem we will explore just how much general
relativity is required for the successful operation of the GPS system.
Let’s consider just one satellite and examine time dilation due to general relativity (that is, ignoring the
movement of the satellite), special relativity alone, and the full effect including the relative movement of the
satellite and the user on the ground. We will need some information about the satellites and we will also need to
make some assumptions. In your work, if you employ any approximations, state clearly what they are. You will
need to use the binomial expansion throughout this problem (because the effects are small). Also, keep at least
3 significant figures in your expressions as you proceed.
Fact 1: Each of the 24 satellites is in a 12-hour near circular orbit. (There are 43200 s in 12 hr).
Assumption 1: The Earth is a perfect sphere.
Assumption 2: The satellite we consider is in a circular orbit above the equator.
Assumption 3: Newton’s laws are sufficient to describe the orbits.
Frame A: Frame that is fixed with respect to distant stars (non-rotating). (Far away observer).
Frame E: User on Earth at the equator (rotates w.r.t frame A).
Frame S: Satellite in orbit above the equator.
Mass of Earth, 5.97 × 1024 kg. Schwarzschild radius of Earth, RS = 0.00886m.
Radius of Earth, RE = 6.37 × 106 m. Circumference of Earth, CE = 4.00 × 107 m.
Approach this problem in steps.

a) Find the tangential speed of someone standing on the surface of the Earth at the equator. (In the reference
frame where the Earth is fixed and not rotating). Also express this speed, with respect to frame A, as βE = vcE .

b) Find the tangential speed and height of the satellite (use Newton’s laws). Also express this speed, with respect
to frame A, as βs = vcs .

We now explore three different scenarios to see if we can get away with using special relativity alone or general
relativity alone or whether we must consider both. We will compare these results to the Newtonian result where
there is no time dilation at all.

c) Without going into any quantitative analysis first consider the general effect of the special and general rela-
tivistic effects upon the time difference of received signals from the satellite.
-SR only. Considering only the relative motion of the satellite and the observer, the rate at which observer
(frame E) receives signals from the satellite ( ∆t
∆tA
SR
) will be greater than, less than or equal to the rate of an
∆tE
identical emitter on the surface ( ∆t A
)?
∆tSR ∆tE
<, >, =
∆tA ∆tA
-GR only. Considering only the relative heights of the frames E and S , the observer (frame E) will receive the
signals from the satellite greater than, less than or equal to the rate of an identical emitter on the surface?
∆tGR ∆tE
<, >, =
∆tA ∆tA
-Actual result GR+movement. Considering the relative motion and the relative heights of frames S and E, the
observer (frame E) will receive the signals from the satellite at a rate greater than, less than or equal to the
rate of an identical emitter on the surface? (This you can guess and will find out at the end of this exercise).
∆tactual ∆tE
<, >, =
∆tA ∆tA
d) First consider the special relativistic dilation alone and consider only the relative speeds of the observer and
the satellite. Find the time dilation factor, γ, for the speed of the satellite as seen by the user on Earth. Then
dts
find the ratio of the rates, dtE
. (Express your answer in the form 1 + δ or 1 − δ, where δ is a small number).
Consider two events on the satellite and use the time dilation relation γdts = dtE .

e) Now consider the general relativistic time dilation alone, thus we assume that the satellite is at rest with
respect to the user on the ground. What is the ratio of the rates now? (Express your answer in the form 1 + δ
or 1 − δ, where δ is a small number). It will be easier if you write the GR dilation factor as (1 − RrS ) using the
value of RS at the beginning and perhaps defining xE = RreS and xs = RreS . (Also note that dr = dθ = dφ = 0 in
this case.) Write out the metric for both S and E and take the ratio of the two.

f ) Lastly, consider our best approximation of the real situation one where we also consider the movement of the
Earth and Satellite in frame A, which is nonrotating, fixed at the center of the Earth (with coordinate dt). (Note
in this case dr = dθ = 0 but dφ 6= 0 and in the equatorial plane θ = π2 or 90o . You will also need the relation
that the speed, as viewed by A, is v = r dφ
dt .)

g) Consider the error rate if relativistic results are not considered in one day of operation of the GPS system.
Understanding that the error in position is c∆t, how far off would the system place you if relativity were not
used? (Note there are 86,400 seconds in each day and light travels 1 foot in 1 nanosecond (1ns = 10−9 s). Also
note there are 5280 feet in one mile.)
Taking our last result (in f)) as the actual value how far off would you be in one day if,
• you neglected relativity altogether?
• you used special relativity only?
• you considered the satellite to be at rest respect to the ground?
Can we just use the special relativistic result? Can we just use the general relativistic (neglecting relative speeds)
result? How far off are the different results to your best approximation?

h) How important is the general relativistic correction to the successful operation of the GPS system?

Appendix: Some formulas

The Schwarzschild metric is the one we want to use here and takes the form (where RS is always for Earth),

dr2
 
RS
ds2 = c2 dτ 2 = 1− c2 dt2 −   − r2 dθ2 − r2 sin2 θdφ2
rs 1− RS
rs

π
However in this problem we will be restricting our attention to the equatorial plane where θ = 2. Since we will
not leave this plane, dθ will always vanish. Thus the metric simplifies to,

dr2
 
RS
c2 dτ 2 = 1− c2 dt2 −
− r2 dφ2
r 1 − RrS

Recall that the coordinates r, t here are the far-away observers coordinates (frame A here). We will consider
events that occur at the same place in different frames thus the interval evaluates to cdτ and will be evaluated in
the two frames (S and E). We will be comparing everything in the frames S and E to the far away observer and
dts
taking ratios, dtE
, to find the relative changes between S and E.