Chapter 6 – GPS Data Processing

6.1 Pre-processing
6.1.1 Phase Ambiguity
In carrier phase measurements, the signal is pure sinusoidal wave, which means that all cycles look the
same. Therefore the receiver has no means to identify one cycle from another. When the receiver is
switched on, it cannot count the total number of cycles between the satellite and the receiver. It can only
measure the fractional part of the cycle and the number of complete cycles will remain ambiguous or
unknown and which is known as integer ambiguity.
The integer ambiguity will be the same throughout the survey and can be represented by a single bias
term (N). The integer ambiguity will change only if the receiver loses lock on the satellite. This is known
as cycle slip.

This initial ambiguity has to be determined with appropriate techniques to exploit the full accuracy
potential of the GPS carrier phase measurements. In this section, you are going to be introduced few
methods commonly used in GPS surveying.

Ambiguity determination is one of the most demanding problems in the geodetic technique of evaluating
GPS observations. On the other hand, it is the integer nature of the phase ambiguities that guarantees the
high accuracy of relative positioning with GPS, in particular when the observation time is short.
The best and simplest possibility for determining the ambiguity would be the use of additional
frequencies or signals. Unfortunately, for the time being, GPS does not provide more than two
frequencies; hence other strategies were developed to solve the ambiguity problem.

Figure 0.1 Integer ambiguity

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The main approaches are Static initialization method, Initialization on known point, Antenna swap
method and on- the- fly ambiguity resolution method.

In static initialization, there are two modes, Static mode and moving mode. In static mode, the rover must
first initialize (resolve the ambiguities). It requires a minimum of 5 satellites on L1 and L2 and takes 25-
30seconds.There must be no movement in the antenna during the initialization period. In moving mode,
once the ambiguities are resolved the roving unit can move, positions can be recorded when desired, and
lock must be maintained on a minimum of 4 satellites at all times. In such a case if lock is lost the rover
must be re-initialized.

If the ambiguity is initialized on known point in static mode it only takes 10- 15 seconds and required a
minimum of 4 satellites on L1 only but there must be no movement in the antenna during the initialization
period. But in case of moving mode, once the ambiguities are resolved the roving unit can move and also
if the lock is lost, the rover must be re-initialized

In case of Antenna swamp method, stations are occupied, the path between both stations maintains
unobstructed view of the horizon and minimum of four satellites with maintainable lock is expected. The
procedure is as follows: one receiver is place at appoint of known control and the second, a distance of
10-100m away from the receiver, the data is collected by both receivers for approximately 2 to 4 minutes.
After that the receivers swamp their location and collect data for another 2 to 4 minutes. Finally the
receivers swamp back to their original place. If satellite lock is lost during the procedure, it must be
repeated.

The other method is On-the-Fly Ambiguity Resolution. It is an advanced technique to determine the
integer ambiguity parameters without static initialization techniques and fast and more reliable with dual
frequency receivers. It is used mainly for real time kinematic operations. The base and rover
measurements are combined in double differenced mode an initial adjustment is then performed. The
outcome of this initial adjustment is an initial rover position along with estimates for the ambiguity
parameters and their standard errors.

6.1.2 Computations Included In Pre-processing

 Transfer of data to storage medium.

 Data of different receiver types cannot easily be processed simultaneously with one particular
GPS data processing software package. To solve this problem, either all manufacturers have to
use the same data output format, or a common data format has to be defined that can be used as a
data interface between all geodetic receiver types such that if the data has been collected with
different types of receivers, they all should be transferred into RINEX (Receiver independent
exchange format) format. For most geodetic receivers translator software is provided by the
manufacturers that converts the receiver dependent data into the RINEX format.

 Satellite positions determination from orbital data at selected epoch. Coordinates for other
epoch can be calculated by interpolation.
 Approximate point coordinate determination by single point positioning from the code data.
 Phase difference observables formation from the raw phase data.
 Cycle slip detection and repair.
 Determination of base line vectors from the double difference observables. For surveying
consisting of more than one base line, there are different combinations of baselines that can be
computed. In such case, the operator or the software can select independent baselines.

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6.2 Main Processing
In main processing procedures, it will now be assumed that all the data is clean, and free of cycle slips.
The next step is the phase data processing in single baseline mode. The main steps of a baseline solution
using phase data are:

a. The set up step which includes:-

 Preparation: apriori coordinates, ephemeris file to be used, baseline to be processed (if more
than one observed in a session), data file names, antenna height and offsets, etc.
 Selection of parameters: this is dependent on the baseline to be processed, the ambiguity
model used in the software, differencing scheme adopted, etc.
 Selection of options: a priori standard deviation of parameters and observations, criteria for
data rejection, data reduction methods, whether correlations are to be considered, elevation
cutoff, satellites to be excluded from solution, differencing strategy to be used, etc.

b. Processing the data and get solution. In such case there are three types of phase solutions

 Triple difference Solution.

 Double difference Solution (Ambiguity-free)
 Double Difference Solution (Ambiguity-fixed).In the process converting ambiguous phase
data to range data.

There are two types of double-difference phase data solutions:

1. Ambiguity-free solution (Ambiguity- float solution)- in which the parameters to be estimated are
the non-reference coordinates and the ambiguity parameters. It is generally the first step, after this
solution the values of the ambiguity parameters (which theoretically should be integers) may be
close to integer values (but not exactly due to the presence of residual biases such as atmospheric
refraction, orbit error, multipath, etc.).
2. Ambiguity-fixed solution - in which some or all the ambiguity parameters have been, resolved to
their integer values. Such a solution is very strong as it only contains the station coordinate
parameters (hence it is equivalent to processing unambiguous and precise ranges).Note that it
may not always be possible to attempt the ambiguity fixed solution.

c. Output found from main processing includes the following

 Coordinate parameters as Cartesian (x, y, z) or geodetic (ϕ, λ, h) values in the WGS84 datum,
baseline components, for ground mark and antenna centers.
 Estimated standard deviation and correlation matrix or variance covariance matrix of
parameters.

Chapter 7 – Application of GPS

7.1 GPS for cadastral surveying and GIS

Cadastral surveys establish property corners, boundaries, and areas of land parcels. Conventional
surveying methods have been used, and are still being used, for that purpose. Conventional
methods, however, have the drawback that extensive traversing is required. Moreover, extensive
clear-cutting and intervening private properties might be required as well. GPS overcomes these

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conventional-method drawbacks.

Any of the GPS surveying methods, such as kinematic GPS or RTK GPS, can be used depending
on the project requirements, location, and other factors. The RTK surveying, however, seems to
be the most suitable method, especially in unobstructed areas. This is mainly because of its ease
of use and the availability of the results while in the field. Inaccessible locations or obstructed
areas can be surveyed with integrated systems such as GPS/LRF or GPS/total station.

There are several advantages of using GPS for cadastral surveying. The most important one is
that inter-visibility between the points is not required with GPS. This means that extensive
traversing is eliminated, clear-cutting is not required, and intervening private properties is
avoided. Other advantages include the fact that GPS provides user-defined coordinates in a
digital format, which can be easily exported to any GIS system for further analysis. The accuracy
obtained with GPS is consistent over the entire network; such accuracy is lacked by conventional
surveying methods. Also, with GPS, one reference station can support an unlimited number of
rover receivers. A number of governmental and private organizations have reported that the use
of GPS in cadastral surveying is cost-effective.

Because of the high accuracy in connection with short observation time, GPS can also be
employed economically for detailed surveying in rural or urban environments. Main fields of
applications are in connection with the installation or maintenance of multi-purpose cadaster or
geographic information systems. One major problem in detailed surveying is signal shadow
caused by buildings, trees, towers, bridges etc. This is why the exclusive use of GPS in cadastral
surveying will be restricted to open areas. With the presence of such obstructions, GPS will be
mainly used to determine rapidly the standpoints for electronic tacheometers or other
conventional surveying instruments.

Figure 7.1 Combinations of GPS and Tacheometer

In areas of free sight, like most rural areas or urban areas with broad streets, low buildings, and
low vegetation, rapid GPS methods can be used, in particular the RTK technique. Fig. 7.2 gives
an artist’s view of a detailed survey with GPS. The data can be stored in the moving receiver, or
transmitted via a data link to the reference receiver, or vice versa. With a continuously working
data link, the setting-out of coordinates, or a reidentification of existing points or lost monuments

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will also be possible. The precise coordinates of the moving antenna are calculated in the field in
real-time, and it is indicated to the surveyor how far the antenna has to be moved to the final
destination.

Integrated systems of this type are available from most major GPS manufacturers. The procedure
depicted in Fig. 7.2 can be realized with a local, temporarily established reference station (case
(a)), or with respect to a continuously operating reference station (case (b)).

Figure 7.2 Use of GPS in real time detail measurement

Case (a) can be realized with conventional RTK equipment consisting of two GPS receivers and a radio. The
reference receiver has to be installed on an existing demarcated surveying point, or the coordinates of the
reference station have to be determined with respect to existing stations in the neighborhood. This can be
realized when the roving receiver occupies two or three of such stations along with the survey. In modern
surveying concepts it is no longer necessary to demarcate the temporary reference stations because the local
field of surveying points is only represented by a strongly limited number of demarcated stations.

Case (b) has the advantage that only one GPS receiver is required in the field. Again, in most cases GPS will
be used to establish standpoints for a tacheometer, whereas the object points (boundary marks or house-
corners) are determined with conventional surveying tools. Another advantage is that all coordinates are
immediately given with respect to the official reference frame and that no additional time is needed for the
reconstruction of existing surveying marks. For high accuracy requirements it is necessary to work with
networked reference stations. For reliability purposes it is advised to occupy each object point twice. GPS is a
powerful means to support Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The role of GPS in this context is many
fold:

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 − it contributes to a uniform basic geometric frame, for example a coordinate system, a digital map, or a
digital terrain model,
− it contributes to the geometric location of objects that enter the GIS, for example streets, buildings,
power lines, proprietary boundaries,
− it allows the GIS to be taken out into the field with GPS direct-entry, and
− it forms an integrated building-block in a command and control system, for example for moving
vehicles or machines that are navigating based on a digital terrain model.

In the following, only some examples are given. For all enterprises that provide services like energy, water
supply or traffic information a geographic information system forms the basis of most decisions. As a first
step, all spatially related data and object data have to be collected. Traditional maps are in many cases not
sufficient. Here GPS provides an economic and efficient tool for an automatic data flow into the GIS. Vice
versa, all objects that are selected in a GIS can be immediately identified in the field. Integrated GIS - GPS
concepts are offered by many manufacturers. The market is rapidly growing. Application examples are
inventories for pipelines, power lines, fresh and waste water, streets, traffic signs, railway tracks, trees,
contaminated locations, and so on. Depending on accuracy requirements, GPS provides continuous position
information at all scales of interest. In some cases, the accuracy of a single receiver (5 to 15 m) is sufficient. In
most cases, ordinary DGPS will be applied (0.5 to 2 m). If highest accuracy is required (few centimeters), the
services of multiple reference stations can be used, or even established for the purpose. Another advantage is
that 3 D information is available. In connection with a digital geoid, gravity field related height information
(e.g. orthometric heights) can be supplied for applications involving the direction of water flow.

Rapid digital data acquisition is possible with a car driven survey system for mobile mapping. The positioning
problem is solved by GPS in connection with an inertial sensor, or alternatively, wheel sensors, barometer and
magnetic sensors. The data are acquired and analyzed automatically with several video cameras .

Figure 7.3 Car driven survey