Technical Documentation

This section of the website provides access to the information needed to develop and build equipment to use the civilian services of GPS and its augmentations.

It is the official policy of the U.S. government to provide open, free access to such information. Learn more

Document Type Description
Interface Control Documents (ICDs) & Interface Specifications (ISs) Information on the civil GPS signals and codes broadcast at the L1, L2, and L5 frequencies Performance Standards & Specifications Technical performance levels that users can expect from GPS and related systems Federal Radionavigation Plan (FRP) Official source of radionavigation policy and planning for the federal government, including GPS and other space and terrestrial systems -- hosted by the Coast Guard Navigation Center (USCG.gov) Pseudorandom Noise (PRN) Code Assignments PRN code assignments for each GPS satellite and other transmitters of GPS codes at the L1, L2, and L5 frequencies Satellite Antenna Panel Patterns, Phase Center Offsets, & Group Delay and Inter-signal Correction Values Technical data about the GPS Block IIR, GPS Block IIR-M, and GPS III satellites that can help improve the accuracy of GPS calculations -- hosted by the Coast Guard Navigation Center (USCG.gov) Codeless/Semi-Codeless GPS Access Commitments Government commitments to support codeless/semi-codeless civilian access to the current P(Y) signals during the transition to the modernized L2C and L5 signals

Working Groups

The following working groups discuss and/or develop updates to the GPS technical documentation.