Description:

The use of GPS for positioning to varying degrees of accuracy, in situations ranging from dynamic (navigation) to static (control networks), has resulted in a wide variety of different field procedures using one or other of the basic observables. Generally pseudo-range measurements are used for navigation, whilst the higher precision necessary in engineering surveys requires carrier frequency phase measurements. The basic point positioning method used in navigation gives the X, Y, Z position to an accuracy of better than 20 m by observation to four satellites.

 

However, the introduction of Selective Availability (SA),  degraded this accuracy to 100 m or more and so led to the development of the more accurate differential technique. In this technique the vector between two receivers (baseline) is obtained, i.e. the difference in coordinates (X, Y, Z). If one of the receivers is set up over a fixed station whose coordinates are known, then comparison with the observed coordinates enables the differences to be transmitted as corrections to the second receiver (rover). In this way, all the various GPS errors are lumped together in a single correction. At its simplest the corrections transmitted could be in a simple coordinate format, i.e. δX, δY, δZ, which are easy to apply. Alternatively, the difference in coordinate position of the fixed station may be used to derive corrections to the ranges to the various satellites used. The rover then applies those corrections to its own observations before computing its position.

 

The fundamental assumption in Differential GPS (DGPS) is that the errors within the area of survey would be identical. This assumption is acceptable for most engineering surveying where the areas involved are small compared with the distance to the satellites.

 

Where the area of survey becomes extensive this argument may not hold and a slightly different approach is used calledWide Area Differential GPS. It can now be seen that, using DGPS, the position of a roving receiver can be found relative to a fixed master or base station without significant errors from satellite and receiver clocks, ionospheric and tropospheric refraction and even ephemeris error. This idea has been expanded to the concept of having permanent base stations established throughout a wide area or even a whole country.

 

As GPS is essentially a military product, theUSDepartment of Defense has retained the facility to reduce the accuracy of the system by interfering with the satellite clocks and the ephemeris of the satellite. This is known as SelectiveAvailability (SA) of the Standard Positioning Service (SPS). This form of degradation has been switched off since May 2000 and it is unlikely, though possible, that it will be reintroduced as there are other ways that access to the system can be denied to a hostile power. The P can also be altered to a Y code, to prevent imitation of the PPS by hostile forces, and made unavailable to civilian users. This is known as Anti-Spoofing (AS). However, the carrier wave is not affected and differential methods should correct for most SA effects.

 

Static positioning:
This method is used to give high precision over long baselines such as are used in geodetic control surveys. At its simplest, one receiver is set up over a station of known X, Y, Z coordinates, preferably in the WGS84 reference system, whilst a second receiver occupies the station whose coordinates are required.
Observation times may vary from 45 min to several hours. This long observational time is necessary to allow a change in the relative receiver/satellite geometry in order to calculate the initial integer ambiguity terms.

 

More usually baselines are observed when the precise coordinates of neither station are known. The approximate coordinates of one station can be found by averaging the pseudo-range solution at that station. Provided that those station coordinates are known to within 10mit will not significantly affect the computed difference in coordinates between the two stations. The coordinates of a collection of baselines, provided they are interconnected, can then be estimated by a least squares free network adjustment. Provided that at least one, and preferably more, stations are known in WGS84 or the local datum then the coordinates of all the stations can be found in WGS84 or the local datum.

 

Rapid static:
Rapid static surveying is ideal for many engineering surveys and is halfway between static and kinematic procedures. The ‘master’ receiver is set up on a reference point and continuously tracks all visible satellites throughout the duration of the survey. The ‘roving’ receiver visits each of the remaining points to be surveyed, but stays for just a few minutes, typically 2–10 min. Using difference algorithms, the integer ambiguity terms are quickly resolved and position, relative to the reference point, obtained to sub-centimetre accuracy. Each point is treated independently and as it is not necessary to maintain lock on the satellites, the roving receiver may be switched off whilst travelling between stations. Apart from a saving in power, the necessity to maintain lock, which is very onerous in urban surveys, is removed. This method is accurate and economic where there are many points to be surveyed. It is ideally suited  short baselines where systematic errors such as atmospheric, orbital, etc., may be regarded as equal at all points and so differenced out. It can be used on large lines (>10 km) but may require longer observing periods due to the erratic behaviour of the ionosphere. If the observations are carried out at night when the ionosphere is more stable observing times may be reduced.

 

Reoccupation:
This technique is regarded as a third form of static surveying or as a pseudo-kinematic procedure. It is based on repeating the survey after a time gap of one or two hours in order to make use of the change in receiver/satellite geometry to resolve the integer ambiguities. The master receiver is once again positioned over a known point, whilst the roving receiver visits the unknown points for a few minutes only. After one or two hours, the roving receiver returns to the first unknown point and repeats the survey. There is no need to track the satellites whilst moving from point to point. This technique therefore makes use of the first few epochs of data and the last few epochs that reflect the relative change in receiver/satellite geometry and so permit the ambiguities and coordinate differences to be resolved.

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