Experience with the ULISS-30 inertial survey system for local geodetic and cadastral network control

The capability of the recently developed SAGEM ULISS-30 inertial survey system for performing local surveys at high accuracies have been tested in a field campaign carried out November 1989 on the island of Fyn, Denmark, in cooperation with the Swedish National Land Survey. In the test a number of lines between existing national geodetic control points were surveyed, along with points in the less reliably determined cadastral network, forming an irregular network pattern of 10–15 km extent. The survey involved frequent offset measurements (up to 50–100 m) with an ISS-integrated total station. The profile geometries were not particularly suited for inertial surveys, with narrow and rather winding roads, necessitating frequent vehicle turns. In addition to the pure inertial surveys a kinematic GPS/inertial test was also carried out, using a pair of Ashtech L-XII receivers. The inertial survey results, analyzed with a smoothing algoritm utilizing common points on forward/backward runs, indicate that 5-cm accuracies are possible on reasonably straight profiles of 5 km length, corresponding to a 10 ppm best-case accuracy for double-run traverses. On longer, more winding traverses error levels of 10–20 cm are typical. To handle the inertial data optimally, proper network adjustments are required. A discussion of suitable adjustment models of both conventional and collocation type is included in the paper.