GPSObservables

Pseudorange measurements Pseudorange measurements

Wh GPS i th ti ff t it When a GPS receiver measures the time offset it
needs to apply to its replica of the code to reach
maximum correlation with received signal, what is g ,
it measuring?
It is measuring the time difference between when
i l t itt d (b d t llit l k) a signal was transmitted (based on satellite clock)
and when it was received (based on receiver
clock). c oc )
If the satellite and receiver clocks were
synchronized, this would be a measure of range
Since they are not synchronized, it is called
pseudorange
Basic measurement types Basic measurement types
Pseudorange:
P
p
= (t t
p
) c
Where P
p
k
is the pseudorange between receiver k and satellite p; t
k
is the receiver clock time, t
p
is the satellite transmit time; and c is
P
k
= (t
k
t ) c
, ;
the speed of light
This expression can be related to the true range by introducing
corrections to the clock times
t
k
and t
p
are true times; At
k
and At
p
are clock corrections
Basic measurement types Basic measurement types
S b tit ti i t th ti f th Substituting into the equation of the
pseudorange yields

k
p
is true range, and the ionospheric and
atmospheric terms are introduced because atmospheric terms are introduced because
the propagation velocity is not c.
Basic measurement types Basic measurement types
Th ti f th d th t The equation for the pseudorange uses the true
range and corrections applied for propagation
delays because the propagation velocity is not the y p p g y
in-vacuum value, c, 2.99792458x10
8
m/s
To convert times to distance c is used and then
ti li d f th t l l it t corrections applied for the actual velocity not
equaling c. In RINEX data files, pseudorange is
given in distance units. g e d sta ce u ts
The true range is related to the positions of the
ground receiver and satellite.
Also need to account for noise in measurements
Pseudorange noise Pseudorange noise
P d i ( d d t d i Pseudorange noise (random and not so random errors in
measurements) contributions:
Correlation function width:The width of the correlation is Correlation function width:The width of the correlation is
inversely proportional to the bandwidth of the signal. Therefore
the 1MHz bandwidth of C/A produces a peak 1 sec wide
(300m) compared to the P(Y) code 10MHz bandwidth which
produces 0.1 sec peak (30 m)
f f Rough rule is that peak of correlation function can be determined
to 1% of width (with care). Therefore 3 m for C/A code and 0.3
m for P(Y) code m for P(Y) code.
Pseudorange noise Pseudorange noise
M i More noise sources
Thermal noise: Effects of other random radio noise in the GPS
bands
Black body radiation: I=2kT/
2
where I is the specific intensity in,
for example, watts/(m
2
Hz ster), k is Boltzmans constant,1.380 x
10
-23
watts/Hz/K and is wavelength.
Depends on area of antenna, area of sky seen (ster=ster-
radians), temperature T (Kelvin) and frequency. Since C/A code
has narrower bandwidth, tracking it in theory has 10 times less
th l i (d d t ki b d idth) l th thermal noise power (depends on tracking bandwidth) plus the
factor of 2 more because of transmission power).
Thermal noise is general smallest effect
Multipath: Reflected signals (discussed later)
Pseudorange noise Pseudorange noise
Th i i l t d t fl t d The main noise sources are related to reflected
signals and tracking approximations.
Hi h lit i i b t 10 High quality receiver: noise about 10 cm
Low cost receiver ($200): noise is a few meters
(depends on surroundings and antenna) (depends on surroundings and antenna)
In general: C/A code pseudoranges are of similar
quality to P(Y) code ranges C/A can use quality to P(Y) code ranges. C/A can use
narrowband tracking which reduces amount of
thermal noise thermal noise
Precise positioning (P-) code is not really the case.
Phase measurements Phase measurements
Carrier phase measurements are similar to
pseudorange in that they are the p g y
difference in phase between the
transmitting and receiving oscillators transmitting and receiving oscillators.
Integration of the oscillator frequency
gives the clock time gives the clock time.
Basic notion in carrier phase: |=fAt where p |
| is phase and f is frequency
Phase measurements Phase measurements
The carrier phase is the difference
|
k
p
(t
r
) = |
k
(t
r
) |
r
p
(t
r
) + N
k
p
(1)
The carrier phase is the difference
between phase of receiver oscillator and
signal received plus the number of cycles signal received plus the number of cycles
at the initial start of tracking
The received phase is related to the
transmitted phase and propagation time by transmitted phase and propagation time by
|
r
p
(t
r
) = |
t
p
(t
t
) = |
t
p
(t
r

k
p
/c) = |
t
p
(t
r
)

|
p
(t
r
)
k
p
/c
Phase measurements Phase measurements
Th t f h f h i f The rate of change of phase is frequency.
Notice that the phase difference changes
as /c changes. If clocks perfect and
nothing moving then would be constant.
Subtle effects in phase equation
Phase received at time t = phase transmitted Phase received at time t phase transmitted
at t-t (riding the wave)
Transmitter phase referred to ground time Transmitter phase referred to ground time
(used later). Also possible to formulate as
transmit time.
Phase measurements Phase measurements
When phase is used it is converted to
distance using the standard L1 and L2 g
frequencies and vacuum speed of light.
Clock terms are introduced to account for Clock terms are introduced to account for
difference between true frequencies and
f nominal frequencies. As with range
ionospheric and atmospheric delays p p y
account for propagation velocity
Precision of phase
measurements
Nominally phase can be measured to 1% of Nominally phase can be measured to 1% of
wavelength (~2mm L1 and ~2.4 mm L2)
Again effected by multipath ionospheric Again effected by multipath, ionospheric
delays (~30m), atmospheric delays (3-30m).
Since phase is more precise than range,
ff t d t b f ll t d
g
more effects need to be carefully accounted
for with phase.
Precise and consistent definition of time of Precise and consistent definition of time of
events is one the most critical areas
In general, phase can be treated like range g , p g
measurement with unknown offset due to
cycles and offsets of oscillator phases.
GPSobservables
GPSreceiverscanrecordupto5observables:
1 d 2 h t L1 d L2 1and2:phasemeasurementsonL1andL2
frequencies,incycles
C/A, P1, P2: pseudorange measurements, in meters, C/A,P1,P2:pseudorange measurements,inmeters,
PlusDopplerphase=d/dt
GPS observables GPSobservables
GPSobservablesstoredinreceiversinbinary
proprietaryformat p p y
ReceiverIndependentExchangeformat
(RINEX) = ASCII exchange format (RINEX)=ASCIIexchangeformat
Formatdescription:
ftp://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/igscb/data/format/rin
ex2.txt ex2.txt
RINEX observation file RINEXobservationfile
GPS observables: Summary GPSobservables:Summary
Pseudorange measurements(C/A,P1,P2):
G i l k ff i Geometricrange+clockoffset+noise:
=r+t c
Accuracy of pseudorange measurements by GPS receivers ~ 1% Accuracyofpseudorange measurementsbyGPSreceivers 1%
ofcorrelationpeakwidth:
3mwithC/Acode
0 3 m with P code 0.3mwithPcode
Lowaccuracybutabsolutemeasurements
Phasemeasurements(L1,L2): ( , )
Geometricrange+clockoffsetinitialphaseambiguityN:
=r f/c+t fN
Accuracy of phase measurements in GPS receivers ~ 0 005 cycle AccuracyofphasemeasurementsinGPSreceivers~0.005cycle
(0.005x20cm=0.2mm)millimeter accuracytheoretically
possible
V t t b t bi Veryaccuratemeasurementsbutambiguous
Positioning principles Positioningprinciples
Absolutepositioning
R l ti iti i Relativepositioning
Estimation and elimination of measurement Estimationandeliminationofmeasurement
biases.
Datadifferencing
Positioningprinciples:Absolute
Positioning
ij true range between satellite i and receiver j ij =truerangebetweensatellitei andreceiverj
Tj =timeofreceptionofthesignalatreceiverj
Xi,Yi,andZi =theknowncoordinatesofthefourobservedsatellites
Xj Yj and Zj = the unknown coordinates of receiver j Xj ,Yj ,andZj =theunknowncoordinatesofreceiverj
t =theunknownreceiverclockerror
c =isthespeedofelectromagneticradiationinspace.
Positioningprinciples:Relative
Positioning
Measurement Biases MeasurementBiases
GPSPhaseObservationEquation
(
ij = receiversatellite range as computed using the phase observable
( )
i i i
j j j j
T n
(
= +

ij receiver satelliterangeascomputedusingthephaseobservable
Tj =timeofreceptionofasignalatreceiverj
ij =truerangebetweensatellitei andreceiverj
rcj and sci = receiver and satellite clock errors respectively rcj andsci =receiverandsatelliteclockerrorsrespectively
=lengthoftheobservedwave
nij =istheintegernumberofcycleambiguity
t h dd d d t th t h i d l atmos =phaseaddedduetotheatmosphericdelay
atmos =phaseduetounmodeled errors.
Thetruerangeij couldbeestimatedonlyiftheclockerrors,
atmosphericdelayandcycleambiguitiesareresolvedor
eliminatedbydatadifferencing.
Data differencing: Single Differencing Datadifferencing:SingleDifferencing
Datadifferencing:DoubleDifferencing g g