GPS week number rollover
Event occurring every 1024 weeks
GPS week number rollover
The GPS week number rollover is a phenomenon that happens every 1,024 weeks, or about 19.6 years. The Global Positioning System (GPS) message broadcasts a date which includes a week number counter stored in only ten binary digits, whose range is therefore 0–1,023, in the legacy NAV (L1) message format. After 1,023, an integer overflow causes the internal value to roll over, changing to zero again. Software that is not coded to anticipate the rollover to zero may stop working or could be moved back in time by a multiple of approximately 20 years. GPS is not only used for positioning, but also for accurate time. Time is used to accurately synchronize payment operations, broadcasters, and mobile operators. Since the mid 2010s, new GPS satellites have been broadcasting a new generation of civilian GPS signals known as CNAV (L1C, L2C, L5). This new format has a 13-bit week number counter in the range of 0–8191. It would roll over about every 157 years.
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