Establishment of three‐dimensional geodetic control by interferometry with the Global Positioning System

Abstract

We consider the theoretical and the practical aspects of using radiointerferometric observations of the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to establish a three‐dimensional, multistation, geodetic control network. We discuss various ways of processing GPS data and try them with observations from a 35‐station network in Germany. We examine the reproducibility of interferometric determinations of individual baseline vectors and the three‐dimensional vector closure of subnetworks and the whole network. We compare these measures of precision with corresponding predictions based on statistics of interferometric phase residuals. We conclude that the relative positions of stations in the network were determined by GPS interferometry within about 1 part per million (ppm) in both horizontal coordinates and about 1.6 ppm in the vertical. As an external test of horizontal accuracy, we compare baseline lengths with electro‐optical distance measurements. The vertical accuracy is tested against determinations, by means of spirit leveling and gravimetry, of the height differences between stations. The differences between the interferometric and the independent determinations are consistent with the uncertainties of the latter. Interferometry with GPS is by far the most efficient method of establishing geodetic control on local and regional scales. This is already true, even though the constellation of satellites is incomplete. The accuracy of regional control by GPS should improve to about 0.1 ppm when interferometry is also used to determine the satellite orbits.

How well can online GPS PPP post-processing services be used to establish geodetic survey control networks?

“…GPS has now become a preferred tool for establishing or upgrading geodetic survey control networks on regional, national and continental scales (e.g., Bock et al 1985, Stewart et al 1997. Conventionally, these networks are established using many (ideally of the same type) geodetic-quality dualfrequency carrier-phase GPS receivers and antennas, where multiple sites (ideally all) should be occupied simultaneously.…”

Faulting in the Yucca Mountain region: Critical review and analyses of tectonic data from the central Basin and Range

“…The surveying capabilities of the GPS were well-documented by the mid-1980's (e.g., Bock et al, 1985; Ruland and Leick, 1985;Goad, 1986). In the late 1980's and early 1 9 9 0 '~~ concepts specifically related to application of GPS surveying to studies of crustal deformation were evolving and were discussed in a variety of papers (e.g., Davis et al, 1989; Dong and Bock, 1989; Prescott et al, 1989; Larson and Agnew, 1991; .…”

National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, summaries of technical reports, volume XXVII

“…If the correct integer values for these ambiguities can be resolved ("bias-fixing"), the doubly-differenced phase measurements are reduced to doublydifferenced range measurements. By reducing the number of ambiguity parameters and eliminating their correlations with the other estimated parameters, the uncertainties in the other parameters will be reduced [e.g., Bock et al, 1985].…”