MPG-NET: A low-cost, multi-purpose GNSS co-location station network for environmental monitoring

Aichinger-Rosenberger, Matthias; Wolf, Alexander; Senn, Cornelius; Hohensinn, Roland; Glaner, Marcus Franz; Möller, Gregor; Soja, Benedikt; Rothacher, M.

doi:10.1016/j.measurement.2023.112981

Cited by 9 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 49 publications

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“…at/ en/ raPPP id) explains all options and settings provided in the GUI, and Glaner (2022) presents more theoretical background and results achieved with raPPPid. Furthermore, various publications document applications of raPPPid (Boisits et al 2020;Glaner and Weber 2021;Hohensinn et al 2022;Aichinger-Rosenberger et al 2023).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An open-source software package for Precise Point Positioning: raPPPid

Glaner

Weber

2023

GPS Solut

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Precise Point Positioning (PPP) has proven to be a powerful GNSS positioning method used for various scientific and commercial applications nowadays. We present a flexible and user-friendly software package named raPPPid suitable for processing single to triple-frequency GNSS observations in various PPP approaches (e.g., ionospheric-free linear combination, uncombined model), available under https://github.com/TUW-VieVS/raPPPid. To tune the PPP procedure, the user can select from many satellite products, models, options, and parameters. This way, the software raPPPid can handle high-to-low quality observation data ranging from geodetic equipment to smartphones. Despite significant improvements, the convergence time of PPP is still a major topic in scientific research. raPPPid is specially designed to reduce the convergence period with diverse implemented approaches, such as PPP-AR or ionospheric pseudo-observations, and to offer the user multiple plots and statistics to analyze this critical period. Typically, raPPPid achieves coordinate convergence times of around 1 min or below with high-quality observations and ambiguity fixing. With smartphone data and a simplified PPP approach, a 2D position accuracy at the one-meter level or below is accomplished after two to three minutes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An open-source software package for Precise Point Positioning: raPPPid

Glaner

Weber

2023

GPS Solut

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On the real-time tropospheric delay estimates using low-cost GNSS receivers and antennas

Li,

Zhang,

Yuan

et al. 2024

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Evaluation of tropospheric estimates from CentipedeRTK, a collaborative network of low-cost GNSS stations

Bosser,

Ancelin,

Métois

et al. 2024

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The CentipedeRTK network is a collaborative Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) network launched in 2019, consisting mainly of low-cost GNSS receivers and antennas. This network enables free Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning with centimeter accuracy for all users. The raw GNSS measurements from the CentipedeRTK network are routinely archived by the French scientific network RÉseau NAtional GNSS permanent, with the aim of exploiting raw GNSS measurements for geoscience applications. This paper presents a first assessment of the use of this dataset for tropospheric monitoring. We considered all the data provided in 2023 by more than 400 low-cost GNSS stations in mainland France. After selecting the stations with dual-frequency observations over the period, the data of 331 stations were analyzed using precise point positioning , resulting in a set of 265 stations satisfying our screening procedure and providing data covering more than 50% of the year 2023. A first indication of the quality of the analysis is given by the repeatability of the stations, of the order of $$2.2\pm 1.1$$ 2.2 ± 1.1 , $$2.1\pm 0.8$$ 2.1 ± 0.8 and $$6.9\pm 2.6$$ 6.9 ± 2.6 mm respectively on the East, North and Up components. These values are slightly higher than those obtained for nearby conventional stations, especially for the vertical component ($$5.4\pm 0.8$$ 5.4 ± 0.8 mm). The tropospheric delays were compared with those retrieved from nearby GNSS reference stations (less than 30 km away) belonging to conventional networks (186 stations considered). The comparison shows a good agreement between low-cost and conventional stations, with a root mean square of differences of $$7.4\pm 3.0$$ 7.4 ± 3.0 mm; a mean bias of 2.7 mm is highlighted and shown to be stable over time; its origin has not yet been determined but its magnitude seems related to the antenna type of the CentipedeRTK stations. In a second step, the integrated water vapor content were derived from the tropospheric delays and compared with those of the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts fifth reanalysis (ERA5). Only stations located at an altitude less than 100 m around the ERA5 orography were considered (240 stations). The differences between the two techniques are similar to those reported in the literature for traditional networks, with a mean bias of $$0.06\pm 0.82$$ 0.06 ± 0.82 kg m$$^{-2}$$ - 2 and a mean standard deviation of $$1.48\pm 0.18$$ 1.48 ± 0.18 kg m$$^{-2}$$ - 2 . This again confirms the quality of the dataset. Finally, the value of such low-cost stations for monitoring and describing meteorological phenomena is illustrated by the study of an atmospheric river affecting the central–western part of France in December 2023. All these results underline the considerable potential of low-cost GNSS networks in geoscience applications, especially in regions with limited instrumentation. Their role could be particularly important in meteorological or climatological contexts, where GNSS-based water vapor monitoring is widely used.

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MPG-NET: A low-cost, multi-purpose GNSS co-location station network for environmental monitoring

Cited by 9 publications

References 49 publications

An open-source software package for Precise Point Positioning: raPPPid

An open-source software package for Precise Point Positioning: raPPPid

On the real-time tropospheric delay estimates using low-cost GNSS receivers and antennas

Evaluation of tropospheric estimates from CentipedeRTK, a collaborative network of low-cost GNSS stations

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