GPS week reset counter

What will happen?

On April 6, 2019, the second GPS weekly reset counter (GPS week rollover) will occur, the first was on August 21, 1999. This means that in the frame of navigation data transmitted by GPS satellites, after week number 1023, the week number will be 0, as in the structure The GPS navigation message has a 10-bit value assigned to the GPS week number (if you consider that there are about 52 weeks in a year, then 1024 weeks is a little less than 20 years).

How will this affect consumers?

The receivers, in the software of which this event is provided, will continue to correctly decode the current GPS week number from the navigation frame and for the consumer the week number will continue to increase, that is, the zero value will be automatically interpreted as 2048, 1 as 2049, and so on. But if the receiver is not prepared for this, then it will return to the past (in 1999 or even in 1980).

What can / should be done?

Check that the latest firmware version is installed in your navigation receivers, as Most manufacturers are aware of this situation and correct the software so that consumers do not have problems.
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Contact the manufacturer of the receivers or software, on which the data falling into the consumer.

It also makes sense to add a crutch on the consumer’s side - for example, add a check:

if ( week < 1023 ) week += 2048;