UPSC Prelims 2018 Question:

In which of the following areas can GPS technology be used?

1. Mobile phone operations
2. Banking operations
3. Controlling the power grids
   
   

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Explanation:

• • Like the Internet, Global Positioning System (GPS) is an essential element of the global information infrastructure. GPS technology is now in cell phones, wristwatches to bulldozers, shipping containers, and ATM's. GPS boosts productivity across a wide swath of the economy, to include farming, construction, mining, surveying, package delivery, and logistical supply chain management. Major communications networks, banking systems, financial markets, and power grids depend heavily on GPS for precise time synchronization. Some wireless services cannot operate without it.
    
    
    • Application in Controlling the Power Grids: GPS time is used for measuring time and frequency errors in generation control. It offers improved long-term accuracy and better coordination between utilities than other systems. GPS is ideal for distributing time over the large geographical areas that power systems occupy. Disturbance and automatic control action recordings can be reliably compared using time stamps provided by GPS.

• Application in Mobile Phone operations: Cell phone GPS tracking is a revolutionary technology that has been changing the way people communicate and find locations. GPS tracking devices come in a variety of forms, including handheld devices, vehicle-mounted devices, and devices that can be placed in or on an object or person. Cell towers use GPS signals to place phone activity
  
  

• Application in Banking operations: Using mobile GPS data as an added level of security allows banks or other payment providers to use the geolocation information gained from the app to determine whether a transaction aligns with the location of the individual’s mobile. If not, it can act quickly in response to the possibility that a fraudulent transaction is underway. By establishing the geolocation of the client, it also enables the authentication of a customer’s identity to prevent impersonation and identity theft. Other uses include customization of services and content based on the information banks get from the geolocation of a customer
  
  

Therefore, option (4) is the correct answer.

Subject: Science & Technology | Information and Communciation Technology