Bringing GPS into harsh environments for fully automated deformation monitoring

Engineering projects that require deformation monitoring frequently utilize geodetic sensors to measure displacements of target points located in the deformation zone. In situations where control stations and targets are separated by a kilometer or more, GPS can offer higher precision position updates at more frequent intervals than can normally be achieved using total station technology. For large-scale deformation projects requiring the highest precision, it is therefore advisable to use a combination of the two sensors. In response to the need for high precision, continuous GPS position updates in harsh deformation monitoring environments, a software has been developed that employs triple-differenced carrier-phase measurements in a delayed-state Kalman filter. Two data sets were analyzed to test the capabilities of the software. In the first test, a GPS antenna was displaced using a translation stage to mimic slow deformation. In the second test, data collected at a large open pit mine were processed. It was shown that the delayed-state Kalman filter developed could detect millimeter-level displacements of a GPS antenna. The actual precision attained depends upon the amount of process noise infused at each epoch to accommodate the antenna displacements. Higher process noise values result in quicker detection times, but at the same time increase the noise in the solutions. A slow, 25 mm displacement was detected within 30 min of the full displacement with sigma values in E, N and U of ±10 mm or better. The same displacement could also be detected in less than 5 h with sigma values in E, N and U of ±5 mm or better. The software works best for detecting long period deformations (e.g., 20 mm per day or less) for which sigma values of 1–2 mm are attained in all three solution components. It was also shown that the triple-differenced carrier-phase observation can be used to significantly reduce the effects of residual tropospheric delay that would normally plague double-differenced observations in harsh GPS environments.

Spin rate estimation of sounding rockets using GPS wind-up

Carrier phase wind-up is a well-known effect that arises from the relative rotation between a transmitting and receiving antenna. In GPS measurements at L1 frequency, this effect translates into an error of 19.029 cm per full relative rotation of antennas. Since this effect is independent of the satellite elevation for pure rotation about the antenna boresight axis, it is usually absorbed by the clock estimation in navigation algorithms. Therefore, the impact of wind-up is usually neglected for applications that do not require accuracies to the cm level like RTK. However, in receiving platforms with high rotation rate, the accumulated wind-up value can be important and actually be larger than receiver noise or even ionospheric variations. Therefore, in such scenarios, the wind-up contribution can be isolated and used as a source of information to compute the spin rate of such platforms using an appropriate combination of GPS observables. This work shows some results of a coarse, yet simple, approach to monitor the rotation angle and spin-rate of spin stabilized sounding rockets flown by DLR.     

球面Delaunay三角网更新算法及其在GPS网络中的应用研究

本文利用球面Delaunay三角网(SDTIN)的定义开发出一种SDTIN的快速更新算法。使用国际大地参考框架(ITRF)的GPS站点构造了全球SDTIN,并通过插入新站点和删除原站点来验证该算法的正确性。并用更新算法与重新构造算法进行了效率比较。该算法已经成功的应用在自主开发的网络RTK系统中。     

首都圈地区现今地壳运动的GPS观测与构造活动模拟

利用首都圈地区1992~2004年间280多个GPS点位复测资料,获得了该地区高精度的地壳形变速度场,相对欧亚板块的水平速度场由北向南由4 mm/a逐渐增加到9 mm/a;采用边界元(BEM)理论及位移不连续的多边形元素构建断层的三维模型,并利用均匀介质且各向同性的半无限线弹性空间模型反演计算了断层滑移量,模拟了GPS点位的位移场,在此基础上获得了主要活动断层和首都圈地区的地表、地表下15km和25 km剖面的静态位移场、应力及应变场。结果表明,GPS点位的模拟位移场与观测值在南北向和东西向的误差分别为0.68 mm及0.77 mm,各个主要活动断层在1992~2004年间的构造活动较弱,随着深度的增加,剖面的应变逐渐增加。     

GPS现代化后L_2载波的定位精度研究

利用实际采集的数据,从信噪比和定位残差上分析了L2载波的数据质量,指出GPS现代化后,用L2C码恢复的L2载波信噪比明显提高,与L1载波信噪比接近,两者的差值仅在5 dBHz以内;用L2C码恢复的L2载波比GPS现代化前的L2载波的信噪比更加稳定,不容易受卫星高度角的影响;同时利用L2C码恢复的L2载波的定位残差比没有L2C码的L2载波小,定位精度明显提高。     

基于VRS的GPS测量误差分析

系统误差包括卫星轨道误差、卫星钟差、接收机钟差及大气折射误差等。是GPS测量的主要误差源。但系统误差通常可以采用适当的方法来减弱或消除,如建立误差改正模型对观测值进行改正,或选择良好的观测条件,采用适当地观测方法,进行线性差分等.本文介绍了基于VRS的GPS测量要解决的一个主要问题即在系统运行中产生的各种误差进行改正,使之减小或者消除。并就影响VRS精度的各种误差予以分析     

浅析WAAS完好性算法

广域增强系统完好性是度量系统时空可用性的关键指标,它关系到用户所获得的改正信息是否真实可靠。在阐述广域增强系统完好性定义的基础上,对完好性算法流程、思路进行了分析。     

Affine distortion of small GPS networks with large height differences

GPS is a promising tool for real-time monitoring of deformations of slopes or large structures. However, remaining systematic effects in GPS phase observations after double differencing and application of a priori models affect the resulting coordinates. They complicate the proper separation of the actual deformations from pseudo-deformations induced by the systematic effects. This paper shows that for small monitoring networks (baseline lengths <5 km) only affine distortions of the network geometry are generated by the remaining distance dependent systematic effects, e.g. unmodelled tropospheric and ionospheric propagation effects, or satellite orbit errors. Hence, a generic correction model is given by a three-dimensional affine transformation involving a maximum of 12 transformation parameters. For the determination of these parameters, four high quality GPS stations are necessary which are not affected by the actual deformations to be monitored. Based on the analysis of network geometries of synthetic GPS networks with large height differences and considering the physics of the GPS observations it is shown, however, that less than 12 parameters are sufficient for the computation of the corrections. The proposed 8 parameter model was applied to the GPS monitoring network of the Gradenbach landslide. For this small network with large height differences, it was shown that the distortions can be reduced by about 75%.     

Modeling long-period noise in kinematic GPS applications

We develop and test an algorithm for modeling and removing elevation error in kinematic GPS trajectories in the context of a kinematic GPS survey of the salar de Uyuni, Bolivia. Noise in the kinematic trajectory ranges over 15 cm and is highly autocorrelated, resulting in significant contamination of the topographic signal. We solve for a noise model using crossover differences at trajectory intersections as constraints in a least-squares inversion. Validation of the model using multiple realizations of synthetic/simulated noise shows an average decrease in root-mean-square-error (RMSE) by a factor of four. Applying the model to data from the salar de Uyuni survey, we find that crossover differences drop by a factor of eight (from an RMSE of 5.6 to 0.7 cm), and previously obscured topographic features are revealed in a plan view of the corrected trajectory. We believe that this algorithm can be successfully adapted to other survey methods that employ kinematic GPS for positioning.     

GPS随机软件中的对流层模型及对基线处理的影响

介绍了对流层延迟的性质及常用GPS随机软件中对该项误差的处理方式,讨论了常用的对流层延迟处理手段,通过对实例数据的分析比较,说明对于某些工程测量项目,采用GPS随机软件的默认设置,仅仅依靠差分仍不能消除残余对流层延迟对高程精度的影响,必须认真处理对流层延迟误差。