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Global Navigation
Satellite Systems

Aims
After studying this chapter you should be able to:
G Describe how Global Navigation Satellite Systems (or GNSS) have
developed and the impact they have had on engineering surveying
G Explain how the Global Positioning System (or GPS) can be used to take
code and phase measurements to determine position and be able to
explain the difference between these
G Identify the various sources of error in GPS and explain how each of these
affects the accuracy obtained
G Understand the reasons why differential and relative methods are
essential for high precision surveying with GNSS
G Outline the methods involved when performing static and kinematic
surveys with GNSS
G Distinguish between the different types of GNSS receivers and systems
currently available and be able to find further information to help choose
one of these for engineering surveys
G Identify the main applications for GNSS in civil engineering and
surveying
G Keep up with developments in GNSS and network RTK

This chapter contains the following sections:

7.1 The development of GNSS 248
7.2 Components of GNSS 251
7.3 GPS positioning methods 256
7.4 Errors in GPS 261
248 Surveying for engineers

7.5 Differential and relative GPS 269

7.6 Surveying methods used with GNSS 275
7.7 GNSS instrumentation 285
7.8 GNSS in engineering surveying 290
Exercises 300
Further reading and sources of information 302

7.1 The development of GNSS

After reading this section you should know that the term Global Navigation Satellite
Systems (GNSS) refers to the Global Positioning System (GPS) and all of the other
satellite positioning systems currently in use and under development. You should
also understand the reasons why GPS was originally planned and developed. This
section includes the following topics:
G Global Navigation Satellite Systems
G NAVSTAR GPS

Global Navigation Satellite Systems

Alongside conventional methods of surveying using instruments such as levels,
theodolites and total stations, surveyors and engineers now use satellite surveying
systems for many routine applications on site. Developed by the USA, the Global Po-
sitioning System, or simply GPS, is the predominant satellite surveying system in use
at present and this is something that is now familiar to most people. Today, walkers
can use a handheld GPS receiver, as shown in Figure 7.1, to locate their position on a
chart or map, and motorists can have a dashboard mounted display for this – many
different versions of these devices are now available. GPS has found widespread use
in aviation, navigation, scientific areas such as weather prediction and oceanogra-
phy, and for locating features in Geographic Information Systems. It is used in site
surveying for everyday tasks ranging from control surveys and setting out to machine

Figure 7.1 G Garmin GPSmap 60C GPS receiver (courtesy Garmin Ltd).
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 249

Figure 7.2 G Surveying with GNSS (courtesy Trimble & KOREC Group).

control. However, compared to conventional methods of surveying, which rely on

the measurement of heights, angles and distances taken by observing with levels,
theodolites and total stations, GPS is very different, as a receiver determines and then
displays the three-dimensional coordinates at each point surveyed. The GPS equip-
ment used when surveying is more sophisticated than a handheld receiver and is usu-
ally pole-mounted, as shown in Figure 7.2: these receivers and their software can
display coordinates at the centimetre level.
Because the use of GPS for positioning in surveying and in many other everyday
applications has been so successful, more satellite networks are now in use or are
planned. These include the GLObal NAvigation Satellite System (GLONASS), the Rus-
sian version of GPS; the European Union’s Galileo system; and China’s Compass sys-
tem. Of these, GLONASS is operational but the full constellation of satellites is not yet
launched, whereas Galileo and Compass are under development. All these satellite
positioning systems are known collectively as Global Navigation Satellite Systems,
abbreviated to GNSS.
As GPS is the most widely used GNSS, this will be described in more detail than the
others in the following sections.

NAVSTAR GPS
Designed primarily for military users, GPS is managed and under the control of the
United States Department of Defense (DoD). The development of GPS began in the
early 1970s and evolved from the US space programme. At this time, the DoD de-
cided that it wanted a worldwide navigation and positioning system for passive mili-
tary users (passive because users should not transmit anything, as they might be
detected), and a system that could be denied to an enemy and have unlimited users.
It was to operate in real time for all military applications, varying from the infantry (a
soldier with a receiver in a backpack or handheld device) through to aircraft naviga-
tion and missile guidance systems. The development of the NAVSTAR (NAVigation
Satellite Timing And Ranging) Global Positioning System began in 1973, with the
first satellite being launched in 1978; it was fully operational by 1993. The potential
250 Surveying for engineers

for civilian use of GPS was quickly realised by the surveying and navigation profes-
sions, and applications were soon recognised and hardware and software developed
for these.
With GPS, it is possible to obtain a position (as three-dimensional coordinates)
anywhere on the Earth at any time of the day or night in any weather conditions by
receiving and processing signals from orbiting GPS satellites. To do this, the orbits of
the satellites are always known and broadcast to the user. To locate position, a GPS re-
ceiver determines the distances to a number of satellites, which are the equivalent of
orbiting control points; a computer then calculates the three-dimensional coordi-
nates of the user. In some respects, GPS position is determined in a similar manner to
a distance resection (as described in Section 6.7) in which distances are measured at
an unknown point to control points whose coordinates are known. However, GPS is
very different compared with conventional (or terrestrial) surveying.
Since GPS is a passive system and users simply receive GPS signals, there is no limit
to the number of GPS receivers that can use GPS signals at the same time without
overloading the system – this is a similar situation to TV and radio, where millions
can tune in at any time without affecting the broadcast. This is a big advantage for a
large-scale position-fixing system, but because of this GPS signals are complex, and
receivers must be capable of collecting a large amount of information to be able to
determine position.
The theoretical and scientific backgrounds to GPS and the other GNSS are very
complicated and a full knowledge of these is not needed to be able to use GNSS in en-
gineering surveying. However, while those using satellite surveying systems for con-
struction work are not expected to be GNSS specialists, they do need to know enough
about it to assess where GNSS is useful on site and what its advantages and limitations
are. This chapter covers the operating principles of GNSS, the equipment available
for survey work and the field procedures and applications it has on site. Chapter 8
gives details of the way in which GNSS coordinates are defined and how these are
transformed for use on site.

Reflective summary
With reference to the development of GNSS, remember:
– Although there will be several Global Navigation Satellite Systems in use eventu-
ally, the Global Positioning System is the predominant GNSS.
– The operation of GPS is the responsibility of the United States Department of De-
fense and it is under military control at all times.
– GPS(GNSS) is very different from conventional (or terrestrial) surveying, and new
ways of surveying have to be learnt in order to use it properly.
– Although anyone who uses GNSS does not have to have an expert knowledge of
them, in order to understand their advantages, limitations and best applications
on site, some of the basics of GNSS should be learnt.
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 251

7.2 Components of GNSS

After studying this section you should know that the space segment of GPS is the sat-
ellite constellation and the control segment consists of a series of tracking stations
and control centres. You should be aware of the function that each of these fulfils
and be aware of the information that each satellite broadcasts. You should know that
in addition to GPS, there are several other satellite navigation systems being de-
ployed or under development.
This section includes the following topics:
G GPS segments
G GPS signal structure
G Additional satellite surveying systems

GPS segments
Each GNSS consists of three segments, called the space segment (the satellites orbit-
ing the Earth), the control segment (stations positioned around the Earth to control
the satellites) and the user segment (anybody that receives and uses a GNSS signal).
The segments of GPS are described in this section.
The space segment of GPS consists of a minimum of 24 satellites, all of which are in
orbits 20,200 km above the Earth with an orbital period of 12 sidereal hours. Because
the sidereal day is slightly longer than the solar day, it appears to an observer on the
Earth that the satellites return to the same positions four minutes earlier each day.
This has practical implications, as a good satellite configuration for observations on
one day may change to a less favourable one on the following and subsequent days.
Great care was taken when designing the GPS satellite constellation, as it is necessary
to have the optimum satellite coverage on the Earth from the minimum number of
satellites. To achieve the best coverage, the satellites are located in six orbital planes
spaced equally around the plane of the equator, but inclined at 55° to the equator.
The satellite constellation is shown in Figure 7.3.

Figure 7.3 G GPS satellite constellation (courtesy Leica Geosystems).

252 Surveying for engineers

Various generations (blocks) of GPS satellites have been launched. There are no op-
erational Block I satellites today, and most currently in use are Block IIA, IIR and IIR-M
satellites, where the R stands for replenishment. The generation of GPS satellites cur-
rently being launched are known as Block IIF satellites where the F stands for follow-
on. A further generation known as Block III satellites are also being deployed.
As the accurate measurement of time is essential in GPS, each satellite is fitted with
up to four atomic clocks. Block IIA satellites have caesium or rubidium clocks on
board with extremely high accuracies of up to 1 in 1012 whereas the later satellites use
highly stable hydrogen maser clocks with an even better accuracy of 1 in 1014.
A number of tracking stations at fixed locations around the world form the control
segment of GPS. The Master Control Station (MCS) is located in the Consolidated
Space Operations Center (CSOC) at Schriever Air Force Base near Colorado Springs in
the United States. An alternative MCS is located at Vandenberg Air Force Base in
California.
To be able to position accurately with GPS, the exact position of each satellite has
to be known at all times (remember that the satellites are in effect the GPS control
points). This relies on very accurate orbital data and very accurate timing so that a re-
ceiver can calculate the position of a satellite at a given time. As they orbit the Earth,
the satellites are subjected to the varying gravitational attraction of the Earth, the at-
tractions of the Sun and Moon and solar radiation pressure. All of these cause the sat-
ellite orbits to change with time, and these have to be measured and predicted by
some means. Despite their phenomenal accuracy, the satellite clocks drift and they
must be kept synchronised with GPS time as defined at the CSOC. To ensure that ac-
curate orbital data is used, a network of tracking stations around the Earth continu-
ously monitors all of the GPS satellites in view at all times and this orbital data is
relayed to the MCS, where it is used to predict future orbits for the satellites. As well as
this, the clock in each satellite is also monitored and compared to GPS time to enable
corrections to be computed in order to keep the satellite clocks in step with GPS time.
The predicted satellite orbital positions (which are known as ephemeris predictions)
and satellite clock corrections computed at the MCS are sent to ground antennae at
the tracking stations, where this information is uploaded to the satellites every two
hours and then broadcast via the GPS satellites to users of the system. This enables
each GPS receiver to determine the positions of the satellites at any given time.
The user segment of GPS consists of anyone, civilian or military, who uses a GPS re-
ceiver to determine their position. As already noted, there is now an extensive civil-
ian GPS community and as far as construction work is concerned, GPS is used for
control surveys, mapping, setting out, machine control, monitoring and
measurement of volumes.

GPS signal structure

Satellites in the various GNSS constellations continuously broadcast electromagnetic
signals that are in the L-band used for radio communication.
The precise atomic clocks in the GPS satellites have a fundamental clock rate or fre-
quency f0 of 10.23 MHz and the L1 and L2 frequencies assigned to GPS are derived
from the atomic clocks as L1 = 154 × f0 = 1575.42 MHz and L2 = 120 × f0 = 1227.60
MHz. Both the L1 and L2 signals act as carrier waves and have information modu-
lated onto them that can be used by a GPS receiver to determine position. Unlike to-
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 253

tal stations which use intensity modulation for measuring distances using a laser or
infrared carrier wave (this is described in Section 5.2), GPS uses phase modulation on
the two L-band waves.
A navigation code or message is also modulated on both the L1 and L2 carriers. This
has a low frequency of 50 Hz and contains various sub-frames of information,
including:
G A clock correction – remember that the tracking stations in the ground segment
measure and upload this correction to each satellite and rather than keep altering
the atomic clock to keep it in step with GPS time, a correction is applied by a GPS
receiver to determine GPS time at the satellite.
G Satellite ephemeris or orbital information – this is obtained from the data collected
by the tracking stations and a prediction computed by the MCS at Colorado
Springs.
G Atmospheric correction data from the tracking stations.
G An almanac which tells a receiver how to find all the other satellites – this is not the
same as the orbital information above and only gives a receiver enough
information to track another satellite, not to compute its position.
G Satellite health data for each satellite which informs a GPS user of any malfunction
on any satellite before a receiver tries to use that particular satellite.

As well as the navigation code, two binary codes are continuously modulated onto
the L1 signal; these are called the Coarse/Acquisition or C/A code and the Precise or P
code. They are not the same as the data contained in the navigation code and are not
uploaded to the satellites by the control segment – they are continually broadcast by
each satellite and are processed by a GPS receiver to obtain the raw data for time and
distance measurements. Both of these codes are known as Pseudo-Random Noise or
PRN codes and although they appear to be random they are generated in known
sequences that can be replicated.
Each satellite broadcasts a unique C/A code on the L1 carrier at a rate of 1.023 mil-
lion bits per second (Mbps or a frequency of f0 ¸10 = 1.023 MHz), and this is repeated
every millisecond. Because this gives a chip length (equivalent to one bit of informa-
tion) of 293 m, this means that measurement of distance on the C/A code is carried
out using a wavelength of 293 m. As the C/A code can be accessed by anyone with a
GPS receiver, it is known as a civilian code or signal.
There is only one P code, which has a frequency of 10.23 Mbps (frequency of f0 =
10.23 MHz and chip length 29.3 m) which consists of 37 one-week segments. This is
available on both the L1 and L2 carriers and each satellite broadcasts a different por-
tion of the P code. GPS satellites are identified according to which portion of the P
code they transmit; for example, satellite PRN 10 (or SV 10 where SV = Space Vehicle)
has week 10 of the P code assigned to it. Remembering that GPS was primarily de-
signed for military applications, the P code is almost always encrypted by the DoD
and changed to a secret Y code that can only be read by users approved by the US mil-
itary and by using special GPS receivers. This is known as anti-spoofing (AS), but many
of the manufacturers of civilian GPS equipment have designed receivers that can ac-
cess some of the P code and take measurements with it even when the Y code is in
operation.
254 Surveying for engineers

Fundamental
frequency
10.23 MHz
10

L1 C/A Code P-Code

×154 1575.42 MHz 1.023 MHz 10.23 MHz

L2 P-Code
1227.60 MHz 10.23 MHz
×120

Figure 7.4 G GPS signal structure (courtesy Leica Geosystems).

The relationship between the various GPS signals and the fundamental frequency
is shown in Figure 7.4.
The L1 and L2 signals described above are transmitted by all of the Block IIA and
IIR satellites. The Block IIR-M satellites transmit the L1 signal with C/A and P codes,
but a second civilian signal is added to L2 and this is known as the L2C signal. As the
Block IIF satellites are launched, a third civilian signal known as L5 will become avail-
able. The L5 signal is designed primarily for transport safety but will also improve the
performance of GPS in other applications. Block IIF satellites will also broadcast the
L1 C/A code and L2C signal. A fourth civilian signal L1C is planned for GPS and this
will be transmitted by Block III satellites as these are launched.

Additional satellite surveying systems

As well as GPS, there are several other satellite navigation systems being deployed or
under development.
GLONASS is an abbreviation for the GLObal NAvigation Satellite System operated by
the Russian Aerospace Agency for the Russian Federation. The first satellite was
launched for GLONASS in 1982 and the system was at one time fully operational in
1995, when 24 satellites were in orbit. Following this, economic difficulties pre-
vented new satellites being launched to replace those going out of service and the
number of satellites dwindled to 10 at one point. However, there is a commitment
from the Russian aerospace industry to restore GLONASS to full operating capability.
In many respects, this is a very similar system to GPS and the full constellation of 24
satellites will orbit at an altitude of 19,100 km and have a period of 11 hours 15 min-
utes. The planned GLONASS constellation has three orbital planes at 65° inclination
to the equatorial plane of the Earth, such that five satellites will always be in view.
Each satellite transmits two L-band signals, the frequency of which is different for
each satellite, and instead of broadcasting satellite positions on the WGS84 coordi-
nate system, GLONASS uses the PZ90 reference frame.
Galileo is a new global navigation satellite system being developed by the European
Commission and the European Space Agency. In contrast to the military controlled
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 255

GPS, Galileo will be operated by the European Union and will provide an accurate,
guaranteed global positioning service under civilian control. When fully deployed,
the system will consist of 30 satellites (27 operational + 3 spares) located in three me-
dium Earth orbit planes with an inclination of 56° at an altitude of 23,616 km and
with a period of 14 hours 22 minutes; each satellite will transmit six navigation sig-
nals. The ground segment will consist of two Galileo Control Centres located in Eu-
rope that will control the satellites and produce updates to navigation messages.
There will be a global network of 20 Galileo Sensor Stations continuously monitoring
the satellites, whose data will be sent to the control centres through a communica-
tions network. The exchange of data between the control centres and satellites is
accomplished using 15 uplink stations, again located around the globe.
Compass is a GNSS project being developed by China (it is also known as Beidou in
Chinese). This will be a constellation of 35 satellites which will include five geosta-
tionary orbit satellites and 30 medium Earth orbit satellites, all of which will provide
global coverage. Each satellite will transmit signals in the E-band using structures
similar to GPS, GLONASS and Galileo.
When all of these are fully operational, a user will be able to determine position
with the same receiver from all available satellites in all of these navigation systems.
Receivers that are capable of processing GPS as well as signals from other satellite sys-
tems are known as GNSS receivers. A combined constellation of over 100 satellites
will provide enormous benefits in global satellite surveying and receivers plus soft-
ware are in place or being developed to make full use of these.

Reflective summary
With reference to compenents of GNSS, remember:
– GPS is organised into a space segment consisting nominally of 24 orbiting satel-
lites and the control segment consisting of an operations centre in Colorado, USA
and tracking stations situated around the world.
– When determining position with GPS, very accurate timing is required to ensure
that all measurements are synchronised with GPS time. This is the reason very ac-
curate (and very expensive) clocks are installed in each satellite.
– The signals broadcast by each satellite contain all the information a user needs to
determine position. The signal structure is quite complicated but it is made up of
two basic parts – PRN codes for determining distances and a navigation message
for determining the positions of the satellites.
– As new satellites are launched, more signals are being added to GPS to improve
its performance, especially for civilian users.
– As well as GPS, more satellite positioning systems such as GLONASS, Galileo and
Compass are planned. GLONASS, the Russian equivalent of GPS, is operational,
but the full constellation of satellites is not yet launched, whereas Galileo and
Compass are at an early stage of development.
256 Surveying for engineers

7.3 GPS positioning methods

After studying this section you should be aware that there are two basic methods for
determining position with GPS equipment – code ranging and carrier phase measure-
ments. You should understand how each of these is used to determine position and
you should appreciate the difference in accuracy that these are capable of producing.
This section includes the following topics:
G Code ranging
G Carrier phase measurements

Code ranging
To locate a position, a GPS receiver determines distances to a number of different GPS
satellites and then uses these to compute the coordinates of the receiver antenna. In
GPS, there are two observables that can be used to determine distance – pseudoranges
and the carrier phase. Most GPS receivers are capable of determining pseudoranges by
code ranging and this provides low-accuracy, generally instantaneous, point posi-
tions with handheld and GIS receivers. Carrier phase measurements are used in sur-
veying for high-precision work using GNSS receivers (these are sometimes called
geodetic or survey receivers).
Code ranging (also known as the navigation solution) is carried out with a single re-
ceiver. To determine the distance to each satellite in view, a receiver measures the
time taken for a PRN code (for example the C/A code on the L1 signal) to travel from a
satellite to the receiver and then calculates the distance or range R between the two as
R = cDt, where c is the signal velocity (the speed of light) and Dt is the time taken for a
code to travel from the satellite to the receiver (called the propagation delay). In the-
ory, the measurement of the propagation delay Dt requires the time at which a code
leaves the satellite to be determined as well as the time of arrival at the receiver. How-
ever, all measurements have to be taken by the receiver and it is difficult to measure
these times directly. To overcome this problem, the following method is used by a
GPS receiver when code ranging (note that the process described below refers to the
L1 C/A code only):
G All the satellites transmit the L1 signal, which includes an individual C/A code to
identify each satellite.
G When a receiver locks onto a satellite, the incoming signal triggers the receiver to
generate a replica C/A code which is identical to that transmitted by the satellite.
G The replica code is then compared to the satellite code in a process known as auto
correlation, in which the receiver replica code is shifted in time until it is in phase,
or correlated, with the satellite code.
G The amount by which the receiver-generated code is shifted is equal to the
propagation delay Dt between the satellite and the receiver. Using this method to
determine the propagation delay avoids the need to measure the time of departure
and arrival of the C/A code.
G As before, multiplying Dt by the signal velocity c gives the range R between the
satellite and the receiver.
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 257

This method will only work if the C/A code transmitted by the satellite and the
replica C/A code generated by the receiver are synchronised with GPS time. As
already stated, all of the satellites are fitted with atomic clocks whose offsets from GPS
time are precisely known through the navigation message. Consequently, the C/A
codes transmitted by a satellite are synchronised exactly with GPS time. For practical
reasons, and because it would cost too much, it is not possible to install atomic clocks
in a GPS receiver. Instead, they have electronic clocks (oscillators) installed with
accuracies much less than those of atomic clocks. As a result, receiver clocks are not
usually synchronised with GPS time and the receiver-generated replica C/A codes will
contain a clock error. Consequently, the receiver is not able to determine Dt exactly,
and all distances (or ranges) it measures will be biased and are called pseudoranges – it
is essential that the clock errors in the receiver that cause these biases are removed
from measurements.
As well as pseudorange measurements, a receiver will also process the navigation
code, and from this it computes the position of each satellite it tracks at the time the
measurements are taken.
To compute position, the satellites are treated as control points of known coordi-
nates to which distances are determined using a receiver located at a point whose po-
sition is unknown. In Figure 7.5, the range R from point P to any satellite S can be
defined as

R = r + c(dt – dT)
where
R = the geometric range from satellite S to P
r = the pseudorange measured from satellite S to P
dt = the satellite clock offset from GPS time
dT = the receiver clock offset from GPS time

Since the satellite clock offset dt can be modelled using data contained in the navi-
gation code, this equation reduces to R = r – c dT.
The geometric range R is given by

Figure 7.5 G Code ranging with GPS.

258 Surveying for engineers

R = ( XS - XP )2 + (YS - YP )2 + ( ZS - ZP )2

in which XS, YS and ZS are the known coordinates of the satellite and XP, YP and ZP
are the unknown coordinates of point P.
Combining the two equations for R gives a code ranging equation as

r - c dT = ( XS - XP )2 + (YS - YP )2 + ( ZS - ZP )2

If observations are taken to four satellites simultaneously, four code-ranging equa-

tions will be obtained and these can be solved to give the four unknowns: the receiver
coordinates XP, YP and ZP and its clock offset dT.
As can be seen, it is necessary to track and measure to at least four satellites in any GPS
survey. The satellite constellation described earlier makes this possible by placing the
satellites at high altitudes in six orbital planes so that position can be determined
anywhere on the Earth’s surface. However, tracking four satellites does not guarantee
that a position will be computed successfully, and sometimes more are needed.
This is a simplified model of pseudoranging and it is shown in the next section that
the distances determined from measurements taken to satellites are subject to several
other errors, as well as those due to timing.
Code ranging fulfils the original aims of GPS. Because it is possible to determine
the receiver clock error dT quite easily in this process, the quartz crystal clocks in GPS
receivers need not be as accurate as atomic clocks and this makes the receivers much
less expensive and suitable for field use. In any given navigation solution, the code-
ranging equations are solved many times using a computer and software installed in
the receiver – the operator does not have to perform any calculations and merely
reads the position displayed by the receiver in real time or records this.
When using GPS for code ranging, the C/A code broadcast on the L1 frequency al-
lows access to the Standard Positioning Service or SPS, which is used for many civilian
applications and has a three-dimensional accuracy of about 10–15 m. One of the ben-
efits of having several signals available on GPS is that the service is not easily denied
due to interference or jamming of the L1 signal and accuracy improves. If measure-
ments are taken using the L1 C/A code and the new L2C code, the accuracy improves
to 5–10 m and by adding the L5 code to both of these, it is anticipated that the accu-
racy of GPS code ranging will improve further to 1–5 m. To reflect the fact that GPS
coordinates, like other quantities in surveying, have a measurement uncertainty as-
sociated with them, this accuracy is quoted at the 95% probability level. This means
that 95% of the time, the results obtained from the SPS will be as good as or better
than 10–15 m but there is a 5% chance they may not be. For a general discussion of
errors in surveying and an explanation of the significance of probability in measure-
ments, see Chapter 9 Measurements, errors and specifications. The P (Y) code broadcast
on L1 allows access to the Precise Positioning Service or PPS which is much more accu-
rate. However, because of anti-spoofing only the military, equipped with special GPS
receivers, can read the P (Y) code directly.

Carrier phase measurements

Even with the planned improvements to the GPS signal structure, the accuracy of
code ranging is clearly inadequate for high-precision surveying, where accuracies at
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 259

the centimetre level are required. In order to achieve such accuracies, it is necessary
to use a technique which involves carrier phase measurements. In this, a more accurate
form of measurement of the distance between a satellite and receiver is used based on
the phase measurement method used in electromagnetic distance measurement as
described for total stations in Section 5.2. In this, an electromagnetic wave (of wave-
length l) is transmitted between instrument and reflector and the distance between
these is given by Nl + Dl in which Nl is the whole number of wavelengths l in the
distance and Dl is the fractional part of a wavelength in the distance. A total station
measures the fractional component of a distance Dl by comparing the phases of sig-
nals transmitted and received by the same instrument. It determines N by measuring
the distance using different wavelengths.
The way in which a GPS receiver measures distances to satellites by this method is
as follows.
G Measurement of the fractional part of the carrier wavelength D in the distance between
receiver and satellite
When determining Dl with a GPS receiver, the modulated C/A codes could be used
to do this but it would not be measured very accurately because each bit of infor-
mation on the C/A codes has a wavelength of about 300 m. However, if the carrier
waves are used instead of the C/A codes to measure Dl, a much better accuracy can
be obtained because their wavelengths are much shorter than those of the C/A
codes. For example, the L1 signal has a carrier wavelength of 0.19 m and because
phase measurements can be taken on a carrier wave with a resolution of about 1%,
the distance between a satellite and a receiver can be resolved, in theory, to within
a few millimetres. A GPS receiver measures the fractional part of the distance be-
tween satellite and receiver by mixing an incoming satellite carrier wave with a car-
rier wave of the same frequency generated by the receiver. When mixed, these two
signals give a carrier beat signal which has a phase equal to the difference in phase
between the satellite and receiver signals: this is measured and converted into a
distance. Because carrier waves and phase measurements are used to determine Dl,
it is called the carrier phase.
G Measurement of the whole number of carrier wavelengths Nl in the distance between
receiver and satellite
In the carrier phase method, when a receiver locks on to a satellite and a measure-
ment is taken, the distance between them is given by Nl + Dl where N is the integer
number of carrier wavelengths at lock-on between receiver and satellite (see Figure
7.6). Because the carrier phase cannot discriminate one wavelength from another,
the integer number N of carrier wavelengths between satellite and receiver must
also be determined to give the distance between satellite and receiver. In other
words, the problem is how to find N in Nl + Dl in order to resolve what is known as
the carrier phase ambiguity or simply the integer ambiguity. This is very difficult to do
because of the one-way communication between the satellites and receivers, the
long distances involved and because the satellites are always moving. The starting
point for most ambiguity resolution techniques is for the receiver to use code rang-
ing and a navigation solution to obtain an approximate position. Using this, the
integer ambiguity is solved using a number of different methods. In one, the posi-
tion of the receiver is estimated using carrier phase data from multiple observa-
tions – the error in the estimate is then found by checking the solution against
260 Surveying for engineers

Nl = integer number of carrier

l
wavelengths between
satellite and receiver

l = carrier wavelength
(= 0.19 m on L1)
Dl = carrier phase

Figure 7.6 G Carrier phase measurement.

further phase measurements taken as the satellite constellation changes over a

long period of time. For a quicker solution, other strategies involve trial and error
in which statistics are used to give the optimum position of the receiver from a
number of different possible solutions. In all cases, the receiver software will calcu-
late the reliability of the solution obtained but it has to be noted that the statistical
tests fail sometimes so ambiguity resolution is not always possible and GPS cannot
always be used. The methods used in ambiguity resolution are discussed further in
Section 7.5 Differential and relative GPS: Precise relative GPS.

Reflective summary
With reference to GPS positioning methods, remember:
– To determine position using GPS, distances are measured between a receiver and
satellites using two methods: code ranging and carrier phase measurements.
– Code ranging, which is also called the navigation solution, involves measuring the
distances to a satellite using the C/A and other codes that are modulated on the
L-band signals. This is only capable of producing three-dimensional accuracies of
about 10–15 m at present with a single receiver accessing the Standard Position-
ing Service. It is expected that this will improve and may eventually be in the 1–5
m range.
– GPS receivers that use codes only are not very expensive but not very accurate.
These include most handheld and GIS receivers.
– Carrier phase measurements use L-band carrier waves to measure a distance be-
tween a receiver and satellite. Each distance has two components: determining
the carrier phase or fractional part of a wavelength in the distance between a re-
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 261

ceiver and satellite and resolving the integer ambiguity to determine the whole
number of wavelengths in the distance between a receiver and satellite.

– Carrier phase measurements are capable of determining highly accurate dis-

tances, and therefore positions, with accuracies from 10–50 mm. However, these
are much more complicated because of integer ambiguities.

– GPS receivers that use codes and carrier phase measurements are very expensive
but very accurate. These are used extensively in engineering surveying.

– All GPS coordinates have a degree of uncertainty associated with them. For exam-
ple, the accuracy of the Standard Positioning Service is quoted with a 95% proba-
bility.

– All measurements with GPS require that at least four satellites are tracked simulta-
neously in order to be able to compute a three-dimensional position.

– Although the way in which GPS receivers determine position has been described
in this section, GNSS receivers use similar methods.

7.4 Errors in GPS

After studying this section you should be aware of the various sources of error, and
their possible magnitude, in GPS surveys. You will be aware that these errors fall into
one of three categories: satellite-dependent, receiver-dependent and signal-depend-
ent. You should also know that the errors can either be modelled or suitable field pro-
cedures can be used to minimise or even remove them. You should also be aware that
the types of error expected for GNSS are similar to those for GPS.
This section includes the following topics:
G Satellite-dependent errors
G Receiver-dependent errors
G Signal-dependent errors

Satellite-dependent errors
The GPS and GNSS errors that fall into this category are satellite clock errors, satellite or-
bital errors and satellite geometry.

Satellite clock errors

For GPS point positioning, the satellite clock error is computed using corrections
broadcast in the navigation code – this reduces the error from this source to about
2 m for pseudoranges. For carrier phase measurements, this error can be eliminated
using double-differencing, a technique used when relative positioning with GPS (see
the next section).
262 Surveying for engineers

Satellite orbital errors

As already stated, the orbital data (or ephemeris) broadcast by each satellite is updated
every two hours by the control segment of GPS. However, because the satellites are
subject to variations in the parameters used to predict their orbits, the orbital data is
never exact and errors of up to 2–3 m in pseudoranges can be expected from this
source.
As a guide, inaccuracies in carrier phase measurements as a result of incorrect satel-
lite orbits can be related to the length of a GPS baseline as follows (for an explanation
of what a baseline is, see Section 7.5 Differential and relative GPS: precise relative GPS)
d
baseline error » ´ orbital error
20,000

where d is the baseline length in km and the baseline and orbital errors are in metres.
For example, if a baseline of 10 km is being measured and the broadcast orbital er-
ror is between 2 and 10 m, this causes a baseline error of 1–5 mm. At 50 km, the errors
are 5–25 mm.
To improve the accuracy of GPS results, as well as the real-time broadcast satellite
orbital data, post-computed satellite orbital information is also available. This is a
computation of the orbit of each satellite, but after it has occurred: the data for com-
puting these is obtained by the tracking stations in the control segment of GPS re-
cording the positions of the satellites as they pass overhead. This information can be
obtained from the International GNSS Service. Because post-computed orbits are very
accurate (better than 5 cm), using these to compute position eliminates satellite or-
bital errors. They can only be used after a measurement has been taken, but it would
only be necessary to use this data in combination with carrier phase measurements
and only when the best possible accuracy is required. For further details, see Section
8.6 OS Net.

Satellite geometry
In Section 6.7 it was stated that, for intersection and resection, the geometry of the
control stations and unknown point should be well conditioned; otherwise the accu-
racy of computed coordinates could be poor. This is also true for GPS and the position
of the satellites at the time of observation is a crucial factor in determining the
accuracy of GPS coordinates.
As shown in Figure 7.7, if the satellites are all close to each other in the same part of
the sky, this will produce a poor geometry and a poor accuracy in a GPS position. On
the other hand, if the satellites are spread over a large area of the sky, a good geometry
is obtained and the accuracy of GPS coordinates is much better. The effect of satellite
geometry is assessed in GPS using Dilution Of Precision (DOP) factors – a low DOP fac-
tor means the satellite geometry is good and a high DOP means the geometry is poor.
Most receivers used for high-precision surveying are able to compute DOP values
from a knowledge of the satellite almanac, the receiver position and the time of ob-
servation. GPS processing software can also be used to predict what the DOP values
will be for a survey area, helping the GPS survey planning process. This is discussed
further in Section 7.8.
The DOP factors used in surveying are
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 263

Poor satellite geometry

= high DOP

Good satellite geometry

= low DOP

Figure 7.7 G Satellite geometry and Dilution of Position (DOP).

VDOP = Vertical Dilution Of Precision

HDOP = Horizontal Dilution Of Precision
PDOP = Positional Dilution Of Precision
GDOP = Geometric Dilution Of Precision
All of these indicate the uncertainty in a GPS position that results from the satellite
configuration and receiver position at the time of measurement. Perhaps the most
useful of these is the GDOP, which indicates the degradation of the full three-dimen-
sional position and time. Clearly, a low GDOP is desirable for any survey and the best
way of ensuring this is obtained is to observe to as many satellites as possible but
avoiding those at low elevations. A GDOP greater than 3 is poor and above 5 is
seriously poor.

Receiver-dependent errors
The GPS and GNSS errors that fall into this category are receiver clock error and anten-
nae.

Receiver clock error

The receiver clock error is determined by taking observations to at least four satellites
and performing a navigation solution. For carrier phase measurements, this error can
be eliminated using double-differencing, a technique used when relative positioning
with GPS (see the next section).
264 Surveying for engineers

Antennae
When carrying out high-precision surveys with GPS, the antenna is usually tripod
mounted. As with total stations and theodolites, any centring and levelling of a tri-
pod and tribrach must be done properly or errors of the same magnitude as the
miscentring will be introduced into measurements.
A GPS measurement is taken to the antenna at a point called its electrical phase cen-
tre. The relationship between the phase centre and the mark on the antenna which is
used to measure its height above ground will be published by the manufacturer. This
height difference, plus the height of the antenna above the survey point must be
known and recorded. It is vital that the make and model of the antenna being used
are entered correctly into the processing software to correctly identify the position of
the phase centre and that the height of the antenna above the survey point is care-
fully measured. Doing either of these incorrectly is one of the most common sources
of error in GPS work and can cause big vertical inaccuracies.

Signal-dependent errors
The GPS and GNSS errors that fall into this category are ionospheric and tropospheric
delays, multipath, cycle slips and Selective Availability.

Ionospheric and tropospheric delays

As described for total stations in Section 5.5, it is well known that the speed of electro-
magnetic radiation is affected by the medium through which it is travelling. GPS sig-
nals, which are in the electromagnetic part of the spectrum, must pass through the
atmosphere as they approach the Earth, which causes the signals to be refracted. The
effect of this is to slow down the PRN codes modulated onto the L-band carriers but
to advance the phase: these introduce errors into pseudorange and carrier phase
measurements.
The ionosphere is a layer in the atmosphere extending from about 50–1000 km
above the Earth and it consists of free electrons, the density of which change accord-
ing to the rate at which gas molecules in the ionosphere are ionised by the Sun’s ul-
traviolet radiation. Ionospheric refraction is a function of free electron density and it
varies with magnetic activity, location, time of day and the direction of a GPS obser-
vation. During daylight hours, the slowing effect of the ionosphere on electromag-
netic GPS signals (known as ionospheric delay) is much worse than at night, it is also
higher from November to March than at other times of the year and can be quite se-
vere at times of high sunspot activity, which varies on an 11 year cycle. The error in
pseudorange measurements resulting from ionospheric delay is typically 5 m but it
can be much larger.
A property of ionospheric refraction is that it is dispersive and frequency-depend-
ent. This means that each L-band signal is affected differently and dual-frequency re-
ceivers that can measure on L1 and L2 are able to measure different arrival times for
each signal. These differences can be used to calculate an estimate for the ionospheric
delay which can then be removed from observed data to give an ionosphere-free observ-
able. As single-frequency receivers cannot do this, they have to model the delay using
information contained in the navigation message – this removes 50–70% of the er-
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 265

High elevation satellite

re
Low elevation satellite he
sp
Atmo

Figure 7.8 G Effect of satellite elevation.

ror. However, the L2C signal transmitted by the newer Block IIR-M and Block IIF sat-
ellites contains additional ionospheric corrections in the navigation message to
improve the accuracy of pseudoranges.
After the ionosphere, the next layer that GPS signals encounter is the stratosphere,
followed by the troposphere. The troposphere is the closest layer to the Earth and ex-
tends for about 10 km; above this is the stratosphere which extends to 50 km, where it
meets the ionosphere. As far as GPS is concerned, the effects of the troposphere and
stratosphere are combined and give rise to tropospheric refraction and a tropospheric delay
which is typically about 1 m for pseudoranges. Tropospheric delays are not frequency-
dependent and cannot be removed from measurements taken on different frequencies
(signals). Two models are required to correct for tropospheric delays because tropo-
spheric refraction has dry and wet components – the dry component is closely related
to atmospheric pressure and is easier to measure than the wet component, which is de-
pendent on the amount of water vapour in the troposphere. At present, tropospheric
modelling can remove almost all of the tropospheric delay for GPS measurements
taken along baselines up to 40 km and where the heights at each end of the baseline are
similar (for an explanation of what a baseline is, see the next section on differential and
relative GPS). However, for the best possible height determination with GPS, it is very
important that users are aware of the limitations of failure to correctly model tropo-
spheric effects. Although a dry model can remove 90% of the error, the remaining 10%
wet component is very difficult to model and centimetre errors can easily propagate
into computed heights. For the most accurate positioning, the wet component is
parameterised and computed instead of being modelled.
A factor that is crucial to both ionospheric and tropospheric effects is the satellite
elevation. Signals from low elevation satellites will have a longer distance to travel
through the atmosphere than those at high elevations, as shown in Figure 7.8. Con-
sequently, these will experience greater ionospheric and tropospheric delays and be-
cause it is very difficult to model the troposphere at very low elevations, pseudorange
errors from this source can increase by a factor of 10. To overcome these problems,
signals from low elevation satellites are generally not used by inserting a cut-off or
mask angle in the receiver software to exclude them from any processing – a typical
value for this is a vertical angle of 10–15° above the observer’s horizon.
266 Surveying for engineers

Figure 7.9 G Multipath error. Figure 7.10 G Ground plane antenna

(courtesy Trimble & KOREC Group).

Multipath
The antennae used with GPS receivers are designed to track satellites over wide areas
and cannot be made directional. Because of this, multipath errors can occur in GPS
measurements when a satellite signal does not travel directly to the receiver but is re-
flected off a nearby surface first (see Figure 7.9). The reflected signals can interfere
with those arriving directly from other satellites and can cause errors of up to 1 m in
pseudoranges. More importantly, multipath errors can also cause a receiver to lose
lock on a satellite because it cannot process the reflected signal. This in turn may
cause the DOP to deteriorate and may cause difficulties in resolving integer ambigu-
ities. Because they depend on the location of a receiver in relation to its surround-
ings, multipath errors cannot be removed by using any differential or relative
methods.
Surfaces such as tall buildings (especially those with glass sides) and chain link
fences have been found to cause serious multipath errors, and one way of reducing
these, especially in built-up areas, is to choose antenna locations for receivers that are
as far as possible from reflective surfaces.
Multipath effects are worse at low elevation angles and other ways of dealing with
these is to use specially made antennas that stop reflected signals from reaching the
receiver, to automatically detect them in the receiver
software or to use a combination of these. An example
modification to the antenna is to use a ground plane (Fig-
ure 7.10) which is a circular metallic disc about 500 mm
in diameter that is attached underneath the antenna to
prevent low angle reflections reaching it. Another exam-
ple for high-precision surveys is to use a choke ring an-
tenna (Figure 7.11). Figure 7.11 G Choke ring
antenna (courtesy Leica
Geosystems.)
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 267

Nl Nl

nl

Carrier phase Carrier phase

N = initial cycle count n = observed cycle count

(a) (b)
Figure 7.12 G Cycle counts in ambiguity resolution: (a) at lock-on (b) new position af-
ter lock-on.

Cycle slips
When a receiver locks on to and measures a distance to a satellite by the carrier phase
method, the distance between the receiver and any satellite is given by the whole
number of wavelengths in the distance between receiver and satellite Nl plus the car-
rier phase. The integer ambiguity N that is resolved to a particular satellite is called
the initial cycle count (see Figure 7.12(a)). This does not change from the time the re-
ceiver locks onto a satellite and as the receiver is moved to another position and a
new measurement is taken, the receiver counts the number of whole wavelengths, or
cycles, that the distance between receiver and satellite changes by. Consequently,
carrier phase measurements rely on the ambiguities being resolved to determine the
initial cycle count N at lock-on together with an observed cycle count n as shown in Fig-
ure 7.12(b). A cycle slip occurs when the receiver loses lock on a satellite during a mea-
surement and it counts the wrong number of cycles that have occurred since N was
determined. Cycle slips can occur when the line of sight to a satellite is obstructed or
poor quality signals are received for some reason (poor-quality signals often have a
low signal to noise ratio, making them difficult to detect). Poor reception is com-
monly caused by adverse atmospheric conditions, multipath errors and by using low
elevation satellites.

Selective Availability
When designing GPS, the US DoD intended that measurements taken with the L1 C/
A code would only give an accuracy of about 150 m for code ranging and that a 15 m
accuracy was only possible by using the encrypted P code. This would stop civilian or
other users from obtaining a high accuracy from GPS. In practice, however, it is possi-
ble to obtain accuracies as good as 10 m even with the L1 C/A code. This was looked
on as a security risk by the DoD because GPS could be used for precise positioning by
those hostile towards the US and led to the implementation of Selective Availability or
268 Surveying for engineers

SA. The effect of this was twofold: first, the accuracy was made worse by applying a
dither to satellite clocks so that it was difficult to measure propagation delays precisely
and second, the navigation message was altered so that satellite orbits would be com-
puted incorrectly (this is known as epsilon). With SA, the accuracy of code ranging de-
grades from 10 m to about 100 m.
Fortunately, SA was switched off on 2 May 2000 by presidential order. However,
there is always a possibility that it could be turned on again.

Reflective summary
With reference to errors in GPS, remember:

– The types of error expected for other GNSS are similar to those for GPS.
– Although GPS surveys do not require any observations or readings to be taken in
the same way as for other surveys, the results they produce are still subject to er-
rors and it is important to know what these are, what their possible magnitudes
are and how to control them.

– The worst sources of error in GPS are ionospheric and tropospheric delays, and
the way in which these are compensated for is by mathematical modelling. Al-
though this is the subject of much research at present, by combining measure-
ments taken on different signals, ionospheric delays can be estimated quite well
to give an ionosphere-free observable. Tropospheric modelling is also quite reli-
able for baselines up to about 20 km providing the correct model is used.

– For most GPS surveys, it is recommended that no satellites with an elevation of

less than 10–15° above the horizon are used because the signals from these expe-
rience very large ionospheric and tropospheric delays.
– Another serious source of error is a poor satellite geometry resulting in a high dilu-
tion of position. Unlike ionospheric and tropospheric delays, this is a site-depend-
ent error and can be controlled by choosing appropriate times to take
measurements.
– Multipath is another site-dependent error – this can be very difficult to detect. It is
possible to perform tests to identify if a particular site suffers from multipath but
these can be elaborate and take a long time to carry out. For these reasons, it is
important to reduce multipath errors as much as possible through careful siting.
If very large multipath errors are suspected, it is best to change the siting of a GPS
point or to use a total station for measurements.
– Some care is needed with the antenna in a GPS survey. It is vital to measure the
height correctly and to enter the exact make and model into the receiver’s pro-
cessing software (sometimes called its firmware) so that it can determine the cor-
rect phase centre offset.
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 269

7.5 Differential and relative GPS

After studying this section you should know that the accuracy of GPS is improved
considerably by using differential and relative methods. You should be aware that
differential methods are used with code measurements and relative methods with
carrier phase measurements. You should have an understanding of how these meth-
ods bring about a better accuracy. Furthermore, you should appreciate that differen-
tial and relative results can be real-time or post-processed.
This section includes the following topics:
G Improving the accuracy of GPS
G Differential GPS (DGPS)
G Precise relative GPS

Improving the accuracy of GPS

In the previous section, the various sources of error that can affect GPS observations
have been discussed. Combining all of these gives an accuracy for code ranging of
around 10–15 m using the C/A code on the L1 frequency but this will improve to 5–
10 m as the L2C code becomes available across the GPS constellation. Eventually, this
accuracy will be 1–5 m with the deployment of the Block IIF and Block III satellites.
These improvements in accuracy are possible as the additional signals have a higher
power, they enable better modelling of ionospheric delays to be carried out using a
single receiver and they are less susceptible to interference and jamming.
For many applications requiring spatial information, the accuracy of code ranging
and carrier phase measurements can be improved by using differential and relative
methods, in which two or more receivers work together. One of the receivers is lo-
cated at a point whose coordinates are already known – this is called a reference re-
ceiver. The type of reference receiver used can vary considerably. For small, local sur-
veys it could be a single receiver located at a base station that is placed at some conve-
nient point close to or on site. Alternatively, it can be a receiver that is part of a
network of reference receivers put in place by a commercial or national mapping or-
ganisation. During a survey or when setting out, the reference receiver stays in the
same (known) position and another receiver called a rover moves around the survey
area or site collecting data and calculating position at points whose coordinates are to
be obtained or set out.
Using information from satellites it has locked on to, the reference receiver is able
to compute a position based entirely on satellite data but which also includes errors
due to ionospheric and tropospheric delays, clock biases and incorrect satellite orbits.
The coordinates computed by the reference receiver from satellite data are then com-
pared with those already known and this gives a set of corrections equal to the differ-
ence between measured and known coordinates at the reference receiver’s position.
Because the rover will be using signals that have propagated along similar paths from
the same satellites as used by the reference receiver, it is assumed that similar errors
will be obtained in the coordinates calculated by the rover. Since the reference re-
ceiver can compute corrections for these, the positions computed at the rover can
also be corrected but only when the data collected at the reference receiver is com-
bined with that collected by the rover. Measurements at the reference receiver and
270 Surveying for engineers

rover are combined either in real-time with a radio or telecommunications link be-
tween the two or the observations can be stored and the results obtained later by post-
processing using a computer. In summary, an improvement in the accuracy of mea-
surements is made possible in differential methods by correlating the errors in two or
more receivers, assuming they are all observing the same satellites.
In real-time differential and relative surveying, the data collected by the reference
receiver must be continuously transmitted to the rover so that it can compute a cor-
rected position or corrections. For some surveys, a rover (or rovers) might receive data
via a radio link from a transmitter at a base station. There are many different types of
radio link that can be used to broadcast correctional data and the performance of
these depends on a number of factors, including the frequency and power of the
transmitter together with the type of antenna used and its position. Instead of a radio
link, mobile phone networks are also used to transfer data from a reference receiver to
each rover in a survey. When the rover has received correctional data from a refer-
ence receiver, it instantly computes and displays the corrected three-dimensional co-
ordinates of the survey point. Although the reference receiver can calculate a set of
corrections for use by the rover, in some receivers the rover uses the raw data col-
lected by the reference receiver to calculate the corrections itself instead of relying on
the reference receiver to do this.
In post-processed differential and relative surveying, all of the data collected by the
reference receiver and rover are downloaded into a computer when the fieldwork has
been completed. Using post-processing software, both sets of data are combined and
the coordinates of each survey point are computed. The accuracy of post-processed
results can be better than that for real-time measurements but for most applications
of GPS in civil engineering and construction, the advantage of having real-time re-
sults automatically computed by a rover far outweighs any differences there are in
the accuracy of the results that can be obtained.
Whatever method is used in differential surveying, it must be realised that it does
not remove site dependent errors such as those giving a poor DOP or problems due to
multipath and atmospheric conditions. In addition, it does not remove any errors
caused by incorrectly configuring the antenna.

Differential GPS (DGPS)

Differential GPS (or DGPS) is the name given to differential methods that are usually
applied to code measurements only. Compared to conventional code ranging, DGPS
can deliver accuracies of about 0.1–5 m depending on the receiver and antenna used
and how corrections are transmitted to each rover. This represents an improvement
in accuracy compared to that currently available for code ranging on the SPS.
Although users can establish their own base stations, DGPS real-time correction ser-
vices are available that make it possible for a user to carry out GPS surveys without hav-
ing to do this and to use one receiver only – these are known as Ground Based
Augmentation Systems (GBAS). Some GBAS use powerful radio transmitters located at
permanent base stations that provide a network of beacons transmitting GPS differen-
tial correction data over a large geographical area, as shown in Figure 7.13. For exam-
ple, in the UK, the General Lighthouse Authority (GLA) provides a public marine DGPS
service based on 14 ground-based reference stations (for further details visit http://
[Link]/). These are linked to radio transmitters located at lighthouses
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 271

situated at points along the coastline, plus

two augmenting transmitters inland, each
GPS broadcasting over long ranges. To use this
signals service, a rover must be fitted with a radio
modem and antenna to enable it to receive
the GLA correction message. The GLA ser-
vices are provided free of charge, but some
GBAS are operated by privately owned
companies and are available by subscrip-
tion only. Whatever service is used, there
RTC is a common format or standard in use for
Mc
orre broadcast of electronically transmitted
ctio
Base station ns data called the Radio Technical Commission
for Maritime Services, Study Committee-104
Rover
(RTCM SC-104) and all receivers that want
to use DGPS correction services generally
Figure 7.13 G Differential GPS (DGPS).
receive data in this format (which is
known as the RTCM format).
In addition to ground-based beacon
transmitters, there are some satellite correction services available. Known as Satellite
Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS), these use a network of ground tracking stations
that collect GPS data and compute corrections – the corrections are then transmitted
to SBAS satellites which in turn broadcast corrections to any user with a receiver
adapted for this. Three such systems are the European Space Agency funded European
Geostationary Navigational Overlay Service (EGNOS) satellite system, the Wide Area Aug-
mentation System (WAAS) in the USA and the Multifunctional Transport Satellite Aug-
mentation System (MSAS) in Japan. These are all intended for reliable and accurate
positioning of aircraft but with the side benefit that anyone with a receiver can access
the data transmitted without charge. Strictly speaking, these augmentation systems
are not differential and a user computes a corrected absolute position directly from
incoming GPS and SBAS signals rather than fixing position relative to a base station.
There are also a number of commercially available SBAS systems.
EGNOS consists of three geostationary satellites and a network of 34 monitoring
stations, four master control centres and number of uplink stations. The monitoring
stations collect data from GPS satellites, and this is passed to the master control cen-
tres where real-time correction data for satellite orbital and clock errors and for iono-
spheric effects are computed. Using a telecommunications link, these are sent to the
EGNOS satellites by the uplink stations. EGNOS aims to provide an accuracy of 1–2 m
horizontally and 2–4 m vertically for satellite position fixing across Africa, the Atlan-
tic and Middle East, but primarily in Europe for users with an EGNOS-compatible
receiver.
The WAAS is based on a network of 38 ground reference stations. Each of these re-
ceives signals from GPS satellites which are relayed to a wide area master station
where a correction message is computed: this is then uplinked to two geostationary
satellites. The accuracy quoted for a WAAS receiver is of the order of 1–2 m for point
positioning over an area covering North America and the eastern Pacific Ocean.
MSAS also uses two geostationary satellites to provide a similar accuracy over Asia
and the western Pacific.
272 Surveying for engineers

These three systems combined cover most of the world but there are others provid-
ing global coverage. One of these is known as Omnistar in which DGPS corrections at
the sub-metre level are provided on a subscription basis (see [Link]
for further details).
All of these augmentation systems utilize GPS signals but some combine these with
signals from the GLONASS constellation. They will also be compatible with Galileo
when this is operational.
In a similar manner to an augmentation system, it is also possible to obtain some
differential corrections with a single GPS receiver from the navigation message and
by using data contained in the L2C signal. When a receiver collects data from both
the L1 C/A code and L2C signals, because these have PRN codes at two different fre-
quencies, ionospheric corrections can be estimated for a single satellite using differ-
ent codes together with information contained in the L2C navigation message.
One of the major applications of DGPS has been for marine navigation both for
commercial and recreational purposes. They are also used for aircraft navigation and
land-based vehicle tracking but one of the growth areas for these in surveying is in
the collection of data for geographical information systems. GPS receivers made for
GIS data collection are sometimes called GIS receivers. An advantage when working
with real-time GIS data collection systems is that the results obtained can be verified
on site, and it is possible to instantly check and plot the features and attributes sur-
veyed on a pre-loaded map or GIS layer. This equipment is described further in
Section 7.7.

Precise relative GPS

With an accuracy at the metre level or sub-metre level, Differential GPS is still not
good enough for most work on site. In order to improve this accuracy, another type
of differential surveying, known as precise relative GPS, is applied to carrier phase mea-
surements. As with DGPS, at least two receivers are required for carrying out precise
relative GPS with reference receivers being located at a base station or positions in a
network that have known coordinates. By combining the data collected by the refer-
ence receivers with that from a roving receiver, it is possible to obtain the coordinates
of the unknown points much more accurately. The methods used for obtaining the
coordinates of the rovers are outlined in the following paragraphs.
Rather than determine the distances by code ranging to satellites, the processes
used in precise relative GPS enable the vector between the reference and rover receiv-
ers to be determined. This is called a baseline and the baseline vector components DX, DY
and DZ obtained by GPS along a baseline are used to compute the unknown coordi-
nates of the rover XP, YP and ZP using

XP = XREF + DX YP = YREF + DY ZP = ZREF + DZ

where XREF, YREF and ZREF are the known coordinates of the reference receiver.
For precise relative GPS, differencing techniques are used to remove most errors in
the baseline vector components. These rely on the reference receivers and rovers col-
lecting data by observing the same satellites at the same time and at the same rate (or
epoch). The vector components along the baseline between the reference and rover
are derived by subtracting (or differencing) the vectors measured to satellites and this
can be done in three ways as follows:
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 273

G A single difference is formed when the vectors between one satellite and two
receivers (the rover and reference) are subtracted. This gives a carrier phase
measurement of the vector between the reference and rover receivers that
completely removes the satellite clock error. Also, if both receivers are within 20
km of each other, they will experience nearly identical ionospheric, tropospheric
and orbital errors so the effects of these can also be significantly reduced.
G A double difference is formed when the vectors between two satellites and two
receivers (all taken at the same time) are subtracted. This removes all the errors that
single differencing does, but has the added advantage that the receiver clock errors
are also completely removed. This is the process used by most GPS software as it
can be used to determine the vector between the reference and rover receivers that
is free of timing errors and one in which the effects of ionospheric and
tropospheric delays are reduced.
G A triple difference is formed by subtracting two double differences taken at two
different times (epochs). When these differences are formed, integer ambiguities
are removed.
To process a baseline, a GPS receiver with the appropriate software on board or
post-processing software is required. The complete process for ambiguity resolution
is shown in Figure 7.14 and begins with a code ranging solution by measuring
pseudoranges and this defines a search area at a rover which can be thought of as a
three-dimensional volume of uncertainty in which the receiver position lies.
Following this, the process of resolving the integer ambiguity starts: recall from

Pseudorange measurement

Triple differences Solution

Cycle slip detection

and correction

Float
Double differences
solution

Integer ambiguity search

and fixing

Double differences Fixed

Fixed ambiguities solution

Compute baseline
vector components

Figure 7.14 G Ambiguity resolution.

274 Surveying for engineers

Section 7.3 that the ambiguity is N in the carrier phase measurement Nl + Dl between
a satellite and receiver and is the integer number of complete carrier wavelengths
between the receiver and satellite at the instant the receiver locks on to the satellite.
When triple differences are formed, the integer ambiguity N is temporarily
eliminated from a carrier phase measurement and a better estimate of position is
computed using these to give the solution in Figure 7.14. Following this, triple
differences are used to detect any cycle slips and then the receiver starts forming
double difference equations: these give the best possible accuracy but require that the
integer ambiguity is resolved. Resolving the ambiguity is a process of estimation and
the receiver starts a search routine by computing the most likely ambiguity
resolutions to all the satellites it is locked on to. This is called a float solution (see
Figure 7.14) and gives an accuracy for a baseline that does not normally meet
specifications. Using a second set of observations, the process is repeated and a
second set of ambiguities is obtained. The two sets of ambiguities are compared and if
they are not the same, the receiver keeps computing further sets until both are
accepted, at which point the ambiguities are considered to be resolved. At this point,
the baseline components are recomputed holding these ambiguities fixed to give
what is known as the fixed solution shown in Figure 7.14, which produces baseline
components of much better precision. The procedure is continually repeated and the
ambiguities are constantly checked to see if they are acceptable. If, for some reason,
they are not, the receiver changes to a code solution and the whole ambiguity search
routine starts all over again. Care must be taken to ensure that the fixed solution is being
used when taking measurements in precise relative GPS.
The factors affecting the reliability of an ambiguity resolution are:
G The baseline length – this should be as short as possible.
G The GDOP throughout the process – a factor of 5 or less is desirable.
G Multipath errors – both reference and rover should have a clear view of the sky in
all directions.
G Being able to detect cycle slips.
G The search strategy used by the rover – this can vary between manufacturers.
With a resolved ambiguity solution, double differences are used again to compute
least squares values for the baseline vector components. A least squares solution (see
Section 9.5) is necessary because even in a relatively short observation period, a
considerable amount of positional information is generated. Consequently, all GPS
surveying relies entirely on sophisticated software to process all the data collected.
Although the methods described above apply to how a receiver operates in real
time, precise relative GPS can also be carried out by post-processing the results ob-
tained. In this case, the post-processing software installed in a computer will follow
similar procedures to resolve ambiguities and calculate coordinates.
By using precise relative GPS, the positional accuracy of carrier phase measure-
ments is between 10 and 50 mm.
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 275

Reflective summary
With reference to differential and relative GPS, remember:

– The accuracy of GPS measurements is improved a significant amount by using

differential and relative methods. These require a reference receiver to be located
at a known point and a rover to be located at the point whose coordinates are to
be determined. By combining the measurements from both receivers, it is possi-
ble to reduce and even eliminate some of the GPS errors.

– The results from differential and relative GPS can be real-time or post-processed.
Real-time requires that a communication link is established between the refer-
ence receiver and each rover. Post-processing requires all the measurements to
be stored on site and the position of unknown points to be computed at a later
stage.

– Differential GPS (or DGPS) is a term applied to differential code measurements

that can be taken with a single receiver only. This is made possible by using a real-
time correction service known as an augmentation system.

– Augmentation systems can be ground-based such as the one provided by the

GLA in the UK or satellite based such as the EGNOS in Europe. With the proper re-
ceiver and associated software, accuracies at the metre level are possible with
these.
– For precise positioning at the centimetre level with GPS, precise relative methods
have to be applied to carrier phase measurements.
– Differencing techniques are used to remove errors from carrier phase measure-
ments – double differences are formed to compute position and triple differences
are formed to help resolve integer ambiguities and detect cycle slips.
– In this section, although the ways in which GPS accuracy can be improved have
been given, the same methods are used by other GNSS receivers and software.

7.6 Surveying with GNSS

After studying this section you should be familiar with the methods that can be used
with GPS and GNSS receivers to take survey measurements.
This section includes the following topics:
G Static surveys
G Rapid static surveys
G Kinematic and RTK surveys
G Why more satellites are better
276 Surveying for engineers

Static surveys
Although there are several methods that can be used for surveying on site with GNSS,
the DGPS and augmentation systems referred to in previous sections are only used in
engineering surveys for small scale mapping, in data collection for GIS and for navi-
gation, all of which generally require low accuracy, at around the metre level. For
high-precision surveying at the centimetre level, GNSS methods all rely on two or
more carrier-phase receivers collecting satellite data at different points.
Static surveying was the first high-precision method developed for satellite survey-
ing and is the most accurate method for measuring baseline vector components, es-
pecially at longer distances. In this, the reference receiver is located at a known
control point and a rover is set up at a point whose coordinates are to be determined.
Both receivers are generally tripod-mounted (but could be on a pillar) and they col-
lect data simultaneously during a survey which must be to at least four common sat-
ellites and which can be up to several hours duration. The length of time that the
receivers are set up at control points and switched on collecting data is known as the
observation (or occupation) time and this depends on the accuracy required, the type of
receiver used, the number of satellites observed plus their geometry, and the length
of the baseline between the reference and rover. Generally, as the distance between
the reference and rover increases, the observation times must also increase to main-
tain precision. Accuracy can be improved if measurements are taken in two inde-
pendent sessions at different times and with different satellites. As a guide, with a
good GDOP, an observation time of several hours may be required for a precision of
5–10 mm in plan and 10–20 mm in height. The reason a relatively long observation
period is needed is to allow the satellite geometry to change sufficiently so that
enough data is available to resolve integer ambiguities and to allow systematic errors
to be removed. Although it is possible for the receivers to collect data continuously,
this would cause problems with the huge amount of data that would be collected
over the long observation times required. Consequently, all GNSS receivers are set to
record data at an interval known as the epoch rate, which for a static survey is usually
30 s: this means that a receiver takes an instantaneous set of measurements to all
satellites in view every 30 s. When these are processed with data at a reference station
taken at the same epochs, a mathematical solution for the baseline is obtained.
All the data collected is post-processed using software to give the baseline vector
components between the reference receiver and rover. As described in the previous
section, baselines are processed by using triple differences first to remove any cycle
slips followed by double differences on the carrier phase measurements. Statistical
methods are used to solve the integer ambiguities. For best results, as many errors as
possible should be removed from the observations. To do this, a dual-frequency re-
ceiver that can process, for example, the GPS L1 and L2 signals should be used so that
the effects of ionospheric refraction can be minimised. In addition, precise orbital
satellite data should be used – this is more accurate than the broadcast data. It is ob-
tained from the tracking stations which monitor the GNSS satellites, but the satellite
orbits are computed after they have passed by. Because of this, precise orbital data is
only available for post-processing after the fieldwork for a survey has been com-
pleted. Table 8.1 gives details of the different GPS satellite orbital products that are
currently available. See Section 8.6 for further details of the methods used to process
static observations.
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 277

Under ideal conditions and with proper observation times, static GNSS can have an ac-
curacy of about 5 mm + 0.5 ppm of the baseline length and 10 mm + 0.5 ppm verti-
cally. The ppm or parts per million component (equivalent to 1 mm per km) refers to
the length of baseline between the reference receiver and rover: so at 30 km, the hori-
zontal and vertical accuracies would be 20 mm and 25 mm respectively. These accu-
racies are often quoted by manufacturers as root mean square (rms) errors, which are
equivalent to a standard deviation. This means that, under normal conditions, about
two thirds of measurements will have errors better than the rms value, but some will
be worse. Further details of the way in which standard deviations are applied to
survey measurements are given in Chapter 9.

Rapid static surveys

GNSS is now the preferred method for control surveys on large construction sites.
The static method described above can be used for these surveys, but the rapid static
method provides an alternative if baselines are not as long and the accuracy specifica-
tion not so high. This is a technique similar to static positioning, but has shorter oc-
cupation times. This is made possible because the epoch rate is shortened to 5 or 10 s
and if set at 5 s, it is possible to compute the same number of differences in 10 min-
utes as in one hour with an epoch rate of 30 s.
As before, a reference receiver is located at a known point and the rover (or rovers),
occupy the unknown points. Because the method relies on faster ambiguity resolu-
tion, dual-frequency receivers must be used together with special post-processing
software. In addition, a good satellite geometry (low GDOP) is essential as well as ob-
served data that is free of cycle slips, multipath and interference. All of these condi-
tions are needed because the software has to compute each baseline observed with
less information than for the static method. Another restriction is that baselines
should not be longer than 40 km and the shorter these are, the better. The reason for this
is that over longer baselines, the errors due to atmospheric effects and in satellite or-
bits do not cancel at both receivers, with the result that resolving ambiguities
becomes very difficult.
At the longer observation times, the accuracy of rapid static surveying is of the or-
der of 5–10 mm + 0.5 ppm horizontally and 10–20 mm + 0.5 ppm vertically. This is
slightly less accurate than the static method because it is more sensitive to environ-
mental conditions and there are limitations in the processing software which cannot
model atmospheric effects as well as for static observations.

Kinematic and RTK surveys

For site work, kinematic GNSS is used for control surveys, detail surveying (mapping)
and construction measurements. As for all precision surveying with GNSS, kinematic
methods require one or more reference receivers to be located at known positions,
whether these are local or part of a commercial network. However, compared to static
surveys, the rover is moved from point to point during a survey and this is why it is
called kinematic (or on the move) surveying.
During a post-processed kinematic survey, all the data collected by the reference and
roving receivers is stored in handheld computers, controllers or on board receivers
and then transferred to a host computer after the fieldwork has been completed. The
278 Surveying for engineers

Rover moved from point-to-point

Stop-and-go surveying

Figure 7.15 G Pole-mounted RTK system for stop-and-go surveying and setting out (cour-
tesy Phoenix Surveying Equipment Ltd).

host computer is then used to compute the positions of all the points surveyed. Con-
sequently, the results for the coordinates of all the surveyed points are not immedi-
ately available. A major disadvantage with post-processed surveys is that setting out
cannot be done. This problem is overcome by using a real-time kinematic (or simply
RTK) GNSS surveying system in which correctional data is transmitted from the refer-
ence receivers to a rover which combines the reference station observations and coor-
dinates with its own observations to compute position. To be able to work in real
time, the software that would be used for post-processing has to be installed in the
rover and it is also fitted with a communications link. As they can compute position
in real time, RTK systems are used extensively for setting out on site and for detail
surveys because it is possible to check work before leaving the site.
When using an RTK system for a detail survey, the rover stops at discrete points
and collects data for a short period of 1 or 2 s (this method is also known as stop-and-
go surveying) after which a feature code can be entered into the receiver or its data col-
lector to identify the point. To do this, the receiver and antenna are usually pole-
mounted as shown in Figure 7.15: a pole-mounted receiver and antenna is also used
when setting out. Topographic and GIS surveys can also be carried out using a
handheld receiver as shown in Figure 7.16. The complete system can also be
mounted on a vehicle of some sort as shown in Figure 7.17, with data collected at pre-
determined intervals. This is a very useful technique in construction surveys for mea-
suring longitudinal profiles and cross-sections very quickly and for obtaining data for
forming digital terrain models, especially those covering large areas.
RTK surveys can be carried out using two methods in which correctional data is
continuously transmitted between reference receivers and the rovers used on site. In
one method, a reference receiver is installed close to a site at a location known as a
base station and one or more rovers work in conjunction with this. This has several
names, including local base station RTK, conventional RTK or single reference station
RTK: local base station RTK will be used in Surveying for Engineers. A local base station
RTK system is set up by the contractor and is usually based on an arbitrary local coor-
dinate grid – on some sites, more than one base station may be established. In the sec-
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 279

Figure 7.16 G Handheld GNSS receiver (courtesy Phoenix Surveying Equipment Ltd).

Rover moves continuously

Predetermined intervals set

for data collection

Figure 7.17 G Vehicle-mounted RTK system (courtesy Trimble & KOREC Group).

ond RTK method, a network of reference receivers set up by a national mapping

agency or other commercial organisation is used to replace base stations and one or
more rovers work in conjunction with these on site: this is known as network RTK or
network GPS: network RTK will be used in Surveying for Engineers. Local base station
RTK and network RTK are described separately in the following sections.

Local base station RTK

The key component of any RTK system is the communications link between the ref-
erence station and rover – without this, RTK surveys are not possible. To be able to
transmit correctional data, a local base station reference receiver has a communica-
tions device attached to it (this is a radio modem, cellular modem or a mobile phone)
and it sends corrections or all the satellite data it collects to the rovers working on
site. Each rover also has a communication device fitted and receives data from the ref-
erence receiver as well as collecting positional information from satellites. To com-
280 Surveying for engineers

GPS
signals

Comm
unicati
ons link

Reference receiver Rover

and transmitter at
base station
Figure 7.18 G Local base station RTK.

pute position, both of these sets of data are processed instantaneously by a rover and
it displays coordinates and heights in real time.
Many local base station RTK systems use UHF or VHF radio modems which are sup-
plied as part of the receiver and a base station with a radio transmitter is shown sche-
matically in Figure 7.18 and on site in Figure 7.19. The range over which local base
station RTK can be carried out using a radio link depends on the power of the trans-
mitter at the base station. In the UK, the output power of private radio transmissions
is limited to 0.5 W and this restricts the range of local base station RTK surveys to
within about a 5 km radius of the base station. A radio link should generally be line-
of-sight between the base station and each rover, but on many sites this is not possi-
ble because of natural obstructions such as hills, trees and vegetation or obstructions
caused by buildings and other structures. To overcome this problem, base stations

Figure 7.19 G RTK base station showing reference receiver (left) with UHF transmitter
(courtesy Thales).
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 281

Base station
should be located on high ground or
the transmitter can be mounted on a
pole, mast or tall building – a higher
base station radio transmitter will re-
duce line-of-sight problems and will
Rover increase the range of radio communi-
Repeater station cation. As well as ensuring good com-
Figure 7.20 G Repeater station. munications at the base station, it
should also be sited to avoid multipath
errors occurring at the reference receiver’s GPS antenna. Another means of improv-
ing the range is to use repeater stations – these receive a signal from the base station
and then re-transmit it as shown in Figure 7.20. A further problem that can be en-
countered with radio communication is interference, and care must be taken to en-
sure that no other radio conflicts are caused by other users of the same frequencies in
the survey area, especially from other RTK users.
Another technology used for linking a base station to a rover is to transfer data us-
ing mobile telephone networks. These do not suffer the disadvantages of a radio link
and can be used at much longer ranges from the base station but are more expensive.
The most common types of mobile phone connection used are GSM (Global System
for Mobile communications) in which the user pays for the time that the phone is con-
nected, and GPRS (General Packet Radio Services), in which the user pays for the
amount of data transmitted during a survey. The best option is GPRS, as this is
cheaper, but the coverage tends to be concentrated on urban areas and it is essential
to check this for the survey area before work begins. In addition, even with adequate
coverage, mobile phone companies give priority to voice calls over data calls and at
times of high usage of the phone network, data will not be transferred.
Whatever communications are established between a reference receiver and
rover, a factor known as latency must be considered. This is the time taken for trans-
mitting the data from the reference station to the rover and processing it. This is typi-
cally 0.05 s but will cause problems if too long.
At the start of a local base station RTK survey, the rover has to resolve ambiguities
before it can calculate position: the process the receiver uses to do this is called an in-
itialisation. Most manufacturers have developed a method known as on-the-fly (or
OTF) to do this and it is not necessary for the rover to remain stationary during in-
itialisation, which is completed within 60 seconds by most receivers. When initialis-
ing, it is especially important that the signals obtained are free of cycle slips and
multipath and it is best to move to an area where there is a clear view of the sky. A
problem when initialising local base station RTK is that the longer the distance be-
tween the base station and the rover (the baseline), the longer it takes to fix the initial
integer ambiguities. To check that the system has initialised correctly, it is recom-
mended that a point with known coordinates is visited as soon as this is complete so
that a comparison can be made.
Throughout a local base station RTK survey, the reference and rover must maintain
lock on the same satellites during the observation session. If lock is maintained, the
rover need only collect data over a very short time at each surveyed point, because
the integer ambiguity is known from the initialisation and the rover keeps a cycle
count between it and each satellite as they both move. Each new calculation of posi-
tion is then simply due to changes in satellite and rover positions which only require
282 Surveying for engineers

a relatively small amount of data to compute. If lock is lost at any time and fewer than
four satellites are tracked, re-initialisation of each rover is required before the survey
can continue: this can be done relatively easily with OTF and the system will usually
re-initialise automatically when the satellite coverage resumes. One way to avoid loss
of lock is not to move too close to any object that might prevent signals reaching the
antenna, for example, when getting too close to a building or under trees.
The accuracy of local base station RTK is typically 10 mm + 1 ppm horizontally and
20 mm + 1 ppm vertically, but this can degrade in unfavourable observing condi-
tions. The length of baselines should not exceed 15–20 km.

Network RTK
As the distance between the reference receiver and rover in local base station RTK gets
longer, the errors due to atmospheric effects and in satellite orbits do not cancel at
both receivers, with the result that resolving ambiguities becomes very difficult and
differential surveying is no longer viable. With local base station RTK, this usually oc-
curs when the baseline length approaches 20 km. Other problems associated with lo-
cal base station RTK are the security of the base station as this is usually left
unattended and that many systems rely on one reference receiver which could fail:
maintaining a second receiver at the base station is also expensive.
All of these problems are overcome by using network RTK. As its title suggests, this
operates using a network of fixed reference stations that have been established at reg-
ular intervals across a region; the size of the interval depends on the size of the region
and this can vary from 20–100 km. Each reference station consists of a GNSS antenna
and receiver located at a secure site whose coordinates are known. These base or refer-
ence stations operate 24 hours a day and they are permanently connected to a secure
control centre where satellite data is continuously being processed. In many coun-
tries, the network and control centre are installed and maintained by a national or
state mapping organisation and these networks can consist of many reference sta-
tions covering large geographical areas. The satellite data from the reference stations
is passed to a commercial network RTK provider who delivers the infrastructure to
make the data received at the permanent reference stations available to end users,
usually on a subscription basis. This infrastructure may consist of another control
centre which houses all the hardware and software plus communication system used
by the network provider to compute and transmit GNSS correctional data. This data
is sent to the surveyor or engineer on site in an RTCM format (preferably using a
GPRS connection, but GSM is also possible), or by using a radio modem. Because net-
work RTK relies heavily on data transfer from the network provider, if problems occur
with the GPRS or GSM coverage, a radio repeater can be used. This device tells the
user how good the local phone strength is and the repeater is securely located at a
point on or near to a site with a good phone signal. The rover is then taken to the
nearby survey area where phone coverage is poor. The repeater connects to network
services and receives correctional data and transmits this to the rover via a radio link.
Some repeaters have two SIM cards and can switch to GSM if GPRS is not available.
Because the permanent reference stations replace base stations, with network RTK
it is possible to carry out surveys with a single receiver and achieve accuracy at the
centimetre level.
RTK network providers use the raw GNSS observations in one of three ways.
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 283

G In the Virtual Reference Station (VRS) method, when a rover arrives on site at any
point within the network, it sends its approximate position to the network
provider via the Internet by using a mobile phone connection or radio modem.
Using its own software and computers to process satellite data from the nearest
reference stations in the network, the RTK provider then models and computes
ionospheric, tropospheric and satellite orbital errors for a virtual reference station
created in the immediate vicinity of the rover. This data is used to send corrected
code and phase data to the rover as if it was coming from a local base station on
site. When received, all the rover has to do with this data is calculate very short
baselines to the virtual station as corrections have already been calculated. The
VRS method assumes that the network provider transmits reliable GPS (GNSS)
data, leaving the rover to compute baselines only.
G In the Master Auxiliary Correction (MAC or MAX) method for applying network
corrections, the rover again sends its approximate position to the network
provider. The network provider then selects a subset of reference stations from the
network that are nearest to the rover (typically six), the closest of which is called a
master station and the others auxiliary stations. Raw GPS code and phase data at
the master station and correctional data formed at the auxiliary stations are then
transmitted by the network provider to the rover. The rover, instead of the
network provider, then uses this data to model and compute network corrections
and then its position. This is equivalent to using the master station as if it is a single
base station, and because distance-dependent errors have been modelled, long
baseline lengths between the master station and the rover are possible.
G When using the i-MAX system (individualised Master Auxiliary Corrections), the
network provider again uses the rover’s position to assign master and auxiliary
stations. Using these, network corrections for the region are determined and
interpolated (or individualised) for the master station. The rover then computes its
position using data sent by the network provider as if this was transmitted by the
master station with corrections (equivalent to using a local base station). The i-
MAX system is similar to the VRS method but instead of creating a virtual station,
correctional data is assigned to a real network station.

In Great Britain, the Ordnance Survey has established a national GNSS

infrastructure known as OS Net which is described in more detail in Section 8.6. This
consists of over 100 permanent GNSS stations at 50–80 km intervals covering Great
Britain, and although it was developed initially for Ordnance Survey field surveyors it
also provides Ordnance Survey partners with real-time GPS data which forms the basis
of a number of commercially available network RTK positioning products. The RTK
network providers using OS Net are Leica’s SmartNet, Trimble’s VRS NOW and
Topcon’s TopNET Plus. The accuracy expected from these positioning services with a
single GNSS receiver at most locations throughout Great Britain is about 10–20 mm in
plan and 15–30 mm in height. Because atmospheric and orbital errors are modelled by
the network providers, the distance-dependent component of the accuracy is reduced
compared to local base station RTK. However, these accuracies can deteriorate if the
observing conditions are poor, for example when the satellite geometry is
unfavourable (when a high GDOP occurs) and if multipath errors are present.
Many other countries and regions have also established RTK networks and these
are used extensively in engineering surveying.
284 Surveying for engineers

Checking RTK surveys

As with other equipment used in engineering surveying, an attempt should always be
made to evaluate the precision that can be obtained when using GNSS in surveying
and construction. ISO 17123 Part 8 GNSS field measurement systems in real-time kine-
matic (RTK) specifies field procedures to be adopted when determining the precision
that can be obtained when using RTK GNSS equipment. The tests described in this are
intended to be field verifications of the ability of an RTK receiver and system to meet
specifications when it is used on site – they are not complicated laboratory calibra-
tions. As they are easily carried out, it is recommended that the tests proposed in this
standard are adopted for all site work. For a full reference to ISO 17123 Part 8 see Fur-
ther reading and sources of information at the end of this chapter.

Why more satellites are better

As discussed in previous sections, additional satellite surveying systems are becoming
available (these include GLONASS, Galileo and Compass).
For surveying, GLONASS is currently used in conjunction with GPS and not as an
alternative. Despite the technical difficulties caused by the differences between GPS
and GLONASS, receivers are available that are compatible with both systems. When
Galileo and Compass are operational, receivers will be available to process signals
from these as well as GPS and GLONASS. The benefit of using GNSS receivers that can
process data from each constellation are that there will always be more satellites
available compared to using GPS on its own. The advantages of this are:
G Better satellite coverage enables more observations to be taken over longer periods
each day.
G Much faster and more reliable ambiguity resolution is made possible, reducing the
time required for initialisations in RTK surveys.
G It allows users to attempt measurements in areas where GNSS has difficulty
operating, such as under trees, in deep valleys and in built-up areas surrounded by
tall buildings (these are known as urban canyons).
G Positional accuracy is less susceptible to the influence of satellite geometry.
G The effects of multipath and interference are mitigated.
However, having more satellites available does not always mean that better
accuracy will be obtained.

Reflective summary
With reference to surveying with GNSS, remember:
– There are three techniques available for taking measurements with GNSS for site
work – static, rapid static and real-time kinematic (RTK).
– Static surveying is used to fix the positions of control points in primary networks
where the points are a long way apart and where high accuracy is required.
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 285

– Rapid static surveys are similar to static surveys and are used to fix the positions of
control points in secondary and other networks. The accuracy is not quite as
good as that for static surveys but the method is quicker and more suited to
shorter baselines. It is becoming the standard method for establishing survey
control on medium to large sized construction sites.

– All the results obtained from static and rapid static surveys have to be post-pro-
cessed. This involves storing all the observations taken whilst on site and then
transferring these to a computer, which is used to calculate the coordinates of all
the points surveyed.

– RTK surveying is the preferred method for all survey work with GNSS on site
mainly because all the results obtained with it are real-time – no post-processing
is required. This means that measurements taken for a detail or other dimensional
survey can be checked, verified and edited on site and, of course, means that it
can be used for setting out.

– By using Network RTK it is possible to achieve accuracies at the centimetre level

with a single receiver at almost any location.

– RTK surveys deal with errors that are associated with atmospheric conditions, sat-
ellite orbits and timing. They do not remove any site-dependent errors in GNSS
measurements such as those caused by an unfavourable satellite configuration at
the time of measurement (a high DOP), multipath and interference.
– For all relative methods, it is best to avoid situations where weather conditions are
very different at each point, for example when a front is moving across the area,
otherwise tropospheric errors may not be modelled properly.

7.7 GNSS instrumentation

After studying this section you should be aware of the different types of GNSS re-
ceiver that are available for engineering surveys and their accuracies. You should
know that there are two types of receiver that can be used – GIS and GNSS receivers.
You should also realise that for nearly all work on site, high-precision GNSS receivers
are required.
This section includes the following topics:
G GIS receivers
G GNSS receivers

GIS receivers
GIS receivers use a combination of code ranging and DGPS to determine position, al-
though some are capable of working in an RTK mode. The Trimble GeoXT and the
Leica Zeno 15 GNSS/GIS handheld, shown in Figure 7.21, are specifically aimed at
GIS data capture and asset location. As already stated, these are mostly code-based re-
286 Surveying for engineers

Trimble GeoXT Leica Zeno 15

Figure 7.21 G GIS receivers (Trimble & KOREC Group and Leica Geosystems).

ceivers with modifications and have accuracies ranging from sub-metre to about 5 m.
At the sub-metre level, the receiver operates in conjunction with an augmentation
system (GLA, EGNOS, WAAS, MSAS and Omnistar) relying on RTCM broadcast dif-
ferential corrections or uses network RTK. These enable real-time data collection to
be carried out, but another way to achieve sub-metre accuracies is to post-process the
data collected. Most GIS receivers use the Windows Mobile 6 operating system. They
have Bluetooth wireless technology to connect to DGPS sources and to download
data (Bluetooth technology is described in the next section on GNSS receivers) and
touch screens, and some have digital cameras and laser distance meters built into
them. To improve reception of the satellite signal, a separate antenna can be used
which is mounted on a backpack, or even on a moving vehicle. Apart from GIS appli-
cations, these receivers can be used for mapping at medium and small scales and for
taking preliminary measurements for determining quantities on site.

GNSS receivers
The category of receiver that is required for nearly all work in surveying on construc-
tion sites is a high-precision GNSS receiver (sometimes called a geodetic or survey receiver).
These can process signals from GPS and GLONASS satellites and are Galileo-ready,
can work with most augmentation systems, use precise relative methods for deter-
mining position and are capable of performing static and RTK surveys with
accuracies at the centimetre level.
Although the technical specifications for GNSS surveying systems can appear to be
very complicated, the key parameters to note for any GNSS receiver are the number
of channels available, which observables are measured and what survey methods it
can perform. The industry standard for the number of channels a GNSS receiver will
have is 72, but some have more than 100. The number of channels indicates the
number of satellites and signals that the receiver processes simultaneously. For exam-
ple, to track 10 satellites on the GPS L1, L2 and L5 signals at the same time requires 30
channels. Because GNSS receivers can process signals from the Russian GLONASS sys-
tem as well as GPS signals, this requires more channels and as an increasing number
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 287

of receivers will be made to process signals from Galileo and Compass when opera-
tional, even more channels will be needed to accommodate these. To achieve the ac-
curacies needed for surveying, it is necessary for GNSS receivers to take a
combination of code plus carrier phase measurements – these vary from receiver to
receiver, where each combination has its advantages and disadvantages. Receivers
that can measure on all the signals available and on different constellations are al-
ways preferred as these generally improve accuracy and enable a quicker and more re-
liable ambiguity resolution to be computed. All will be capable of performing static
and rapid static surveys for control work where results are post-processed using soft-
ware provided by each manufacturer for use with their receivers. For on site applica-
tions, a receiver and system with full RTK capability is required so that setting out and
machine control can be carried out. All receivers can perform RTK surveys with a lo-
cal base station or by using network RTK corrections. Most receivers can also be used
in DGPS mode and are compatible with an augmentation system – the accuracy in
this mode will be suitable for mapping purposes and earthworks only and may
require post-processing, but the advantage of operating in this mode and with
network RTK is that only one receiver is required.
The main components of an integrated GNSS system are the antenna which is con-
nected to the receiver, together with a radio modem or mobile phone module, power
supply and a controller. The antenna can be tripod mounted for static surveys but for
RTK surveys the complete system is usually mounted on a detail pole. In this configu-
ration, the antenna, receiver, modem and batteries can all be placed in a single hous-
ing at the top of the pole with the controller mounted at waist height on the pole –
this is a type of handheld computer or data collector that is used to operate the sys-
tem and to store and process observations (for a full description of these refer to Sec-
tion 5.4). Data can be stored internally by the receiver or by using SD and CF memory
cards. Power is supplied by lithium-ion batteries because these are very light. This is
especially important because all the equipment is carried on the detail pole.
Figure 7.22 shows a selection of GNSS receivers for use on site. As well as the equip-
ment shown here, a base station may be required (see Figure 7.19) consisting of a full
tripod mounted set up with radio transmitter or cell phone. A computer is also
needed if results are to be post-processed.
A feature that is incorporated into GNSS receivers is Bluetooth wireless technology.
This enables portable equipment such as computers, mobile phones and other elec-
tronic devices to communicate with each other without using cables. When they are
within range of each other (about 10 m), Bluetooth devices will detect each other and
establish contact – if they are programmed to communicate a link is then established
between them for data transfer. In order for Bluetooth devices to work alongside each
other they must be capable of identifying and connecting only with other intended
users and must ignore others. To do this, a user can define a selection of other equip-
ment as trusted devices – when any equipment fitted with Bluetooth is switched on it
scans for other trusted devices within range and lists any of these it finds. If found,
the user can then select one from the list and connect to it. A form of radio communi-
cation known as spread spectrum is used in Bluetooth technology. This enables any
two devices, when they are connected, to change their frequency of communication
across a wide part of the radio spectrum and at a fast rate. Because the sequence of fre-
quencies used and rate at which they change is only known to the two connected de-
vices, other Bluetooth devices can even be within range of these and not interfere.
288 Surveying for engineers

Leica GPS 1200+

Sokkia GSR2700 ISX

Topcon GR-3
Figure 7.22 GNSS receivers (courtesy Leica Geosystems, Sokkia Topcon Co Ltd and
G

Phoenix Surveying Equipment Ltd).

Spread spectrum technology also makes Bluetooth communication very resistant to

interference from other nearby electronic equipment using the same frequencies. In
the UK, it is illegal for private users to use spread spectrum technology for broadcast-
ing over wide areas, so this technology can only be used by low-power devices that
are close to each other and not for an RTK link between a reference receiver and rover.
With Bluetooth technology installed in GNSS equipment there is no need to have a
cable connecting the receiver to the controller, and when the controller is taken to a
total station or computer data can also be transferred to these without cables. For fur-
ther details on Bluetooth visit [Link] and for general
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 289

(a) (b)
Figure 7.23 G Leica Smart- Figure 7.24 G (a) Leica SmartPole on site and (b) Trimble
Station (courtesy Leica Geo- I.S. (I.S. = Integrated Surveying) Rover (courtesy Leica
systems). Geosystems and Trimble & KOREC Group).

information on specifications for infrared wireless communication, refer to the

Infrared Data Association (IrDA) on [Link]
A logical progression in the development of GNSS receivers and total stations is to
integrate these into one instrument. The Leica SmartStation shown in Figure 7.23
combines their GPS SmartAntenna (an antenna and receiver mounted in a single
housing) with their TPS 1200 total station already shown in Figure 5.24 and else-
where in the book. When the SmartStation is used in GNSS mode, the SmartAntenna
is connected to the top of the TPS1200 together with an RTK communications de-
vice. In this configuration the TPS1200, through its keyboard and display, acts as if it
were a controller. At the start of a survey, the SmartStation uses RTK methods to de-
termine its coordinates, after which the SmartAntenna and communications device
are removed. Knowing the position of the instrument, the TPS1200 is then used as a
total station to take measurements either manually or in robotic mode. Taking this a
stage further, Leica have marketed the SmartPole which comprises a pole-mounted
SmartAntenna, 360° prism and controller, as shown in use with a robotic total station
in Figure 7.24(a). Trimble manufacture a similar device known as the Trimble I.S.
Rover as shown in Figure 7.24(b) with their R8 GNSS receiver, multitrack target and
control unit. Surveys can be carried out with the SmartPole and I.S. Rover using a
combination of GNSS and total station measurements.
Many other developments are taking place in the design and manufacture of GNSS
receivers and systems, and new hardware and software is being introduced all the
time, for all types of receiver. In addition, the range of equipment currently available
for surveying with GNSS is extensive. For information, all the manufacturers and
suppliers advertise regularly and produce many brochures which are updated fre-
quently. As well as this, because GNSS is the subject of much research and develop-
ment, many of the journals associated with surveying, engineering and construction
publish a substantial number of scientific and other papers concerned with GNSS on
a regular basis. To keep up to date with this rapidly changing technology, refer to the
information given at the end of the chapter.
290 Surveying for engineers

Reflective summary
With reference to GNSS instrumentation, remember:

– There are various categories of GNSS receiver available. For site surveying, GIS re-
ceivers with accuracies at the sub-metre level can be used for detail surveying and
data collection for earthworks and with accuracies at about the metre level, for
data collection in GIS. For all other work on site, GNSS receivers are required
which are capable of accuracies at the centimetre level.

– GNSS equipment consists of an antenna, receiver, communication device for

real-time work, controller and power supply (batteries). All of this can be tripod
mounted for static surveys but it is mounted on a detail pole for kinematic sur-
veys: this makes the equipment very portable and suitable for activities such as
setting out.

– The specification for a GNSS receiver required for site use will vary according to
the work it is to be used for, but the better (and more expensive) equipment has
over 100 channels, can process signals from GPS, GLONASS and other constella-
tions, will have advanced data communications (such as Bluetooth) and may
have a controller with large graphic screen for editing and displaying data (this
might be Windows CE based).

– Instruments that combine GNSS with a total station in one instrument are avail-
able.
– Each manufacturer of GNSS equipment publishes a series of brochures with tech-
nical specifications to describe their products and these are updated frequently.
For the latest information, it is best to access their web sites. These are given in
Further reading and sources of information at the end of this chapter.

7.8 GNSS in engineering surveying

After studying this section you should have some understanding of the planning and
fieldwork required when using GNSS for site work.
This section includes the following topics:
G First considerations
G Control network and coordinate system
G RTK surveying with GNSS
G Satellite visibility

First considerations
Throughout the early years of GPS, it was only used in surveying for establishing the
positions of points in control networks covering large areas and even continents and
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 291

Table 7.1 G Applications of GNSS in engineering surveying.

GNSS technique Applications

Static Locating reference points for primary control networks, for
deformation surveys and for research and scientific studies
(e.g. sea level and tidal monitoring).
Rapid static Used for densifying control networks (e.g. adding secondary
control to primary control to define a site grid). Rapid static
can also provide the coordinates of reference points for local
base RTK.
Real-time kinematic Used for data collection in topographical (detail) surveys
(RTK) (stop-and-go method) and for surveys where data is collected
at pre-determined rates.
Required GNSS method for setting out and machine control
on construction sites.
Available as local base station RTK or network RTK.

often only for research purposes. Today, the situation has changed completely and
satellite positioning systems are now used extensively in surveying and on site for
many applications. Some of these are listed in Table 7.1, where the different methods
of surveying with GNSS in a construction and engineering environment are identi-
fied. For all of these, the basic principles of surveying remain the same as for those
used with total stations and other equipment – a control network is put in place first
from which other measurements are taken.
When it is used on site, GNSS equipment is often thought of as some sort of ‘black
box’ that just needs to be switched on and it will immediately start producing coordi-
nates, heights and other useful information at the press of a button or two. Unfortu-
nately this is not the case, and careful thought has to be given to a number of
questions when first using GNSS on site. These will include what equipment to use,
what coordinate system is to be adopted and the transformations that may be needed
to realise this, whether local base station or network RTK is to be used, who will oper-
ate the equipment and so on. These and other issues are discussed in this section.
The first question to be asked by anyone proposing to use GNSS is whether it is the
most appropriate method for their site. It may be useful to contact some sites that are
currently using GNSS to ask how it compares to total stations and other well estab-
lished methods of surveying. It is worth noting that GNSS is not as accurate as total
stations, theodolites and levels for measurements that are taken over relatively short
distances. This, plus the fact that GNSS equipment is more expensive than conven-
tional surveying equipment, may put GNSS at a disadvantage for work requiring a
high accuracy of better then 10 mm on construction sites. However, compared to to-
tal stations, GNSS has the advantages that it only requires a single operator to use it
(although some total stations are single operator – see Section 5.3 on robotic total sta-
tions), it is much quicker if a high density of points is to be set out and it is much
more cost-effective when collecting large amounts of data for detail surveys, in
sectioning and in three-dimensional modelling.
Having decided to use GNSS, it is recommended that each of the following are con-
sidered when choosing the equipment that will be used.
292 Surveying for engineers

G For all engineering and construction work, carrier phase high-precision GNSS
receivers are essential, as these will provide the best possible accuracy for measuring
and setting out. These are the most expensive type of GNSS receiver and some of
their specifications have already been discussed in the previous section.
G Precise relative positioning must be used, again to provide the best possible accuracy.
This can be local base station RTK, which requires base stations to be established,
possibly with repeaters on those sites where radio reception is difficult or requires
access to a mobile phone network. Alternatively, network RTK can be used.
G Regarding data management, it is advantageous if the data collectors/controllers
supplied with the GNSS receivers are compatible with other survey instruments on
site so that the data can be integrated with that from total stations, theodolites and
levels (examples of these are given in Section 5.4 that deals with electronic data
collection and storage).
G For some sites where the use of GNSS is only occasional, it may be more cost-
effective to hire the equipment required rather than purchase it, or even to contract
out the GNSS surveying altogether to a specialist company. This arrangement may
suit those sites where total stations are already available, as a specialist company
can then be employed to use GNSS methods to establish a primary or secondary
control network for the site, from which total stations can be used for the rest of
the work.
G The issue of training with GNSS is very important. If staff who are expected to use
the equipment have little or no experience of GNSS, training will have to be
provided. If any results are to be post-processed, tuition in the use of the software
for this will also have to be provided. Usually, training is offered by the
manufacturers and suppliers of GNSS equipment, and since learning how to use
GNSS hardware and software can be quite daunting at first, it is sensible to ask
them how many training sessions they provide as part of the equipment purchase.
G As well as training, it is advisable to find out what technical support is offered by a
manufacturer to assist with any problems that may be encountered after making a
purchase. One way of obtaining an independent view of this is to ask, as suggested
earlier, other users of GNSS at other sites as to how their equipment has performed,
what problems they may have encountered with it and what level of technical
support and backup they have received.
G Finally in this section, it is obvious that GNSS technology is developing at a fast
pace – will the equipment being purchased become out of date quickly or will it be
capable of using the extra signals proposed for GPS and the satellite coverage
planned for GLONASS and other constellations? Can the software installed in the
controllers be modified as better ways of resolving ambiguities and modelling
errors become available and can the post-processing software be updated as well?
Whatever work is planned for GNSS on site, it is recommended that the procedures
given in the relevant sections in the RICS Guidance Note Guidelines for the use of GNSS
in Surveying and Mapping are followed in order to obtain the best results (see Further
reading and sources of information at the end of this chapter).
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 293

Control network and coordinate system

At the planning stage of a construction project, a decision has to be made as to what
coordinate system is to be used on site for GNSS-based surveys, the density of control
points required and how these will have coordinates assigned to them.
GNSS control points for construction work may be split into primary control, which
consists of a few highly accurate control points and secondary control. A definition of
these is given in Section 9.4 and the way in which primary and secondary control can
be established on site is also discussed in Section 11.3. In Section 9.4, it is stated that
primary and secondary control should have accuracies conforming to those given in
publications such as BS 5964 Building setting out and measurement or the ICE Design and
Practice Guide The management of setting out in construction (see Further reading and
sources of information at the end of Chapter 9). The primary part of a GNSS network
should be observed by static methods and from this, a secondary network of control
points can be added again using static GNSS but rapid static observations or network
RTK could be used. For all of these GNSS methods of establishing control points, it is es-
sential to check that they meet specifications before using them. For those sites where
GNSS will be used for most setting out and for machine control, primary and second-
ary control are used to coordinate the positions of reference points in local base station
RTK and for checking purposes in both local base station and network RTK; usually this
only requires a low density of control points compared with the number of points re-
quired when using total stations and other optical equipment. For further details of the
methods that are used when setting out on site and how this influences the number of
control points needed, see Section 11.3.

Using site-based coordinates and heights

On many construction sites, setting out is done using coordinates based on a local
site-based system and these will be in the form of eastings, northings and heights of-
ten based on arbitrary datums. If GNSS is to be used on such a site for setting out and
machine control, the coordinates and heights displayed by controllers must also be
site-based. However, when a GNSS controller computes position from raw satellite
data, this is done using a coordinate system known as the World Geodetic System 1984
(or WGS84). Another coordinate system known as the European Terrestrial Reference
System 1989 (or ETRS89), which is a fixed definition of WGS84, is used in the UK and
Europe. Both of these are global three-dimensional Earth-centred coordinate systems
(even though ETRS89 is only valid across Europe) and are very different compared
with the two-dimensional plane grids used for traversing, resection and intersection
and are quite different from heights based on mean sea level. The reason satellites use
Earth-centred coordinate systems is discussed in Chapter 8 – this also includes
definitions of WGS84 and ETRS89.
Although the coordinates obtained on satellite-based global and regional coordi-
nate systems could be used on site, they are so different from the eastings,
northings and heights that are normally encountered they have to be transformed
into a readily understood version for everyday work. Coordinate transformations
between different plane grids are described in Section 6.3, where it is shown that a
transformation is a mathematical process that takes the coordinates of points in
one system and changes them into the coordinates in a different system. Although
294 Surveying for engineers

the process is much more complicated than the change between plane grids, trans-
forming global coordinates (GNSS coordinates) into site-based coordinates is also
possible. Several control points spread out across a site are needed to derive a reli-
able and accurate set of parameters for transforming GNSS coordinates to a site grid.
When deriving transformation parameters, GNSS coordinates must be obtained at
the same stations where site-based coordinates and heights are already known (five
is the minimum recommended number). When all of these coordinates have been
obtained, and using appropriate software, the transformation parameters for a site
can be derived and programmed into rovers: these can then display site-based coor-
dinates. So, to use site-based coordinates, the GNSS and local coordinates of several
control points are required and this demonstrates another need for good control on
site when working with GNSS, as well as the more obvious requirements for base
stations and for checking purposes. For some construction work, the procedure of
determining site and GNSS coordinates and deriving transformation parameters is
called calibration.
To enable accurate GNSS coordinates to be obtained at a control point, the Ord-
nance Survey has set up a system for providing these in Great Britain. To do this, a
user defines their position using data from OS Net stations. OS Net consists of a series
of GNSS reference stations located throughout Great Britain whose positions are pre-
cisely known in ETRS89. At each station, the Ordnance Survey have installed a high-
precision GNSS receiver that continuously collects satellite data – this data is avail-
able from the OS or through a network RTK provider in one of two ways:
G To obtain ETRS89 coordinates in a static or rapid static survey, a user places a GNSS
receiver at an unknown point on site and takes observations over a length of time
depending on the accuracy required, the type of receiver used and the distance to
the nearest OS Net stations. The on-site observed data is then combined with the
reference data from the OS Net stations in a post-processing procedure to
compute the precise coordinates of the unknown point on the ETRS89
coordinate system. This is capable of giving a position with an accuracy of 5–10
mm on ETRS89. Several other regions and countries have a similar set up
provided by their national mapping agency for determining accurate coordinates
on a system related to WGS84. Using static methods and OS Net data (or data from
other regional or national systems) is the recommended procedure for obtaining the
precise GNSS coordinates for control points in Great Britain (or elsewhere). A full
description of OS Net and how this is used to obtain ETRS89 coordinates by static
methods is given in Section 8.6.
G To obtain ETRS89 coordinates using network RTK, a user sets up a GNSS receiver at the
required points and collects data. The receiver must be configured to do this and
the user registered with an RTK network provider. Because the accuracy expected
will not be as good as taking static observations it is advisable to assess whether
network RTK results will meet specifications. As above, details of how network RTK
can be used in control surveys are given in Section 8.6.

Having obtaining the GNSS coordinates of control points, their site-based

coordinates have to be determined. For small sites, these can be obtained by
traversing and levelling (these procedures are described in Chapters 2 and 6), but as
the site gets larger, a network may have to be observed.
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 295

Using national coordinates and heights

Determining the local coordinates of control points on a large site can involve a
considerable amount of fieldwork. To overcome this problem, control points that
have been established in the area by a national mapping organisation could be used
instead. This would have the advantage that a control network is already available
and need not be surveyed. However, these points may not be sufficiently accurate,
as many national surveys were observed and computed some time ago using equip-
ment and methods that do not have the accuracies that are possible today, espe-
cially when using GNSS equipment. Consequently, if national control points with
published coordinates are to be used, it must be realised that the accuracy obtained
will be limited to that of the original survey, however good the subsequent GNSS re-
sults are. It is very probable that the accuracy of many national surveys will not
meet the specifications required at the present time for setting out and other work
on site.
In Great Britain, the Ordnance Survey has defined coordinates horizontally as Na-
tional Grid eastings and northings and vertically as a sea level height based on the
Ordnance Datum Newlyn and other offshore datums. To obtain these at any point, a
user determines ETRS89 coordinates at the point as described above by using static
methods or network RTK and then applies a set of national transformation parame-
ters, derived by the Ordnance Survey, for mathematically converting observed
ETRS89 coordinates directly into National Grid and Ordnance Datum Newlyn values.
By using this method, the national coordinates of any point can be obtained with ac-
curacies at the centimetre level. For construction projects in Great Britain, this is the
recommended method for obtaining National Grid and Ordnance Datum Newlyn
heights in a control survey. Because the method enables the national coordinates of
any point to be obtained, it can be used to provide control for any site, large or small.
Further details of the National Grid, Ordnance Datum Newlyn and associated
transformation parameters are given in Sections 8.7 and 8.8.
For most construction sites or projects, national coordinates and heights need only
be determined at key control points: the national control can then be carried
through the site by using traditional methods based on, for example, total stations
and levelling.

Using ETRS89 coordinates

As an alternative to either national or site-based coordinates, the ETRS89 coordi-
nates obtained at each control point can be used directly to define a project or site
datum if GNSS is to be used extensively on site. This is possible because most setting
out and machine control systems today make use of graphical displays to provide
positional information rather than asking the operator to process or read coordi-
nates, and it does not matter which coordinate system is used to provide this. How-
ever, this does have implications elsewhere for data management, as a project
would have to be designed using ETRS89 coordinates and these would have to be
known by some means at the design stage for downloading into a GNSS controller
ready for use on site.
This section is only an overview of the procedures involved in planning, observing
and processing a GPS control survey – for more information on these, the references
given at the end of the chapter should be consulted.
296 Surveying for engineers

RTK surveying with GNSS

In construction, RTK systems are used for control surveys; in mapping, for providing
data for measuring areas and volumes; in sectioning, when forming digital terrain
models; and for setting out and machine control. Some general information on RTK
methods is given in this section – further details of how GNSS is used in each of the
applications given above can be found in the subsequent chapters that deal with
these topics.
RTK surveys can be carried out by installing a local base station on site or by using
network RTK.

Surveying with local base station RTK on site

When local base station RTK is installed, it is necessary to establish a single or series of
base stations on site. These must be set up at secure locations, as the antenna, refer-
ence receiver and communication link at each base station will be left unattended for
long periods of time. There should be no obstructions to radio lines of sight or with
phone connections from these to each rover: some of the problems these cause and
how they might be overcome have already been discussed in Section 7.6 in Kinematic
and RTK surveys. Before work commences, particular attention should be given to en-
suring that the rover software (or firmware) and antenna settings are all configured in
accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. Failure to do this properly may
cause serious errors to occur in measured coordinates.
All local base station RTK surveys start with an initialisation to resolve ambiguities
which is normally done very reliably by a receiver and its firmware, but with local
base station systems this becomes increasingly difficult to do with long baselines.
During initialisation, five satellites must be observed at all times with a good GDOP
of less than five. If an initialisation takes a long time to resolve ambiguities,
multipath errors may be present at either the base station or rover – this should be in-
vestigated. A receiver will normally compute a float solution first, and when initial-
ised, the fixed solution improves the accuracy to the centimetre level. Particular care
should be taken to ensure that the fixed solution has been successfully completed
and is being displayed. To help with this, an audible/visual signal should be issued at
this point by the receiver to tell the operator that the initialisation is finished and
that ambiguities have been resolved.
It is good practice to make sure that as the rover displays position, it also displays
the errors this has. These are called coordinate quality indicators and they should be
checked at all times the rover is in use. Any sudden increase in these usually indicates
that ambiguities are not being resolved; this is often caused by loss of lock when in-
sufficient satellites are in view or by a poor communications link.
Following initialisation, it is advisable to occupy an independent point whose co-
ordinates are known to see whether these agree with those displayed by the control-
ler. This confirms that the ambiguities have been resolved correctly by the rover and
that the base station has had the correct coordinates assigned to it. A known point
should also be checked at regular intervals while work is in progress as well to ensure
the receiver and controller are working properly.
As discussed in the previous section, raw satellite coordinates have to be trans-
formed to the same coordinate system used on site and a transformation is needed to
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 297

Table 7.2 G Check list for local base station RTK.

G It is essential to locate the base station(s) at a wide open site with no obstructions
nearby.
G Baseline lengths should not exceed 15–20 km.
G To avoid processing signals from low elevation satellites it is necessary to set the
rover elevation mask to between 10 and 15°.
G The more satellites in view and being tracked the better – if possible use GNSS re-
ceivers rather than GPS receivers.
G The lower the GDOP the better – having more satellites in view helps to achieve this
but not always – remember to check GDOP values using the mission planning soft-
ware before work commences. If possible, set the GDOP filter to a value of 5.
G Beware multipath errors at the base station and rover positions – if suspected, are
there any buildings/features nearby that might be causing these?
G Beware long initialisation times, as this indicates something is wrong with satellite
coverage, communications or multipath.
G Beware mistakes with antennae heights and phase centre settings – it is easy to
measure or enter the wrong value into the reference and rover receivers.
G Survey with fixed solutions only – pay attention to the display on the data collector/
controller at all times.
G Always check known points before, during and after work.
G The accuracy displayed by the data collector/controller is usually for a standard devi-
ation which is only about half the error spread to get 95% confidence.
G Have back up batteries (and cables if used) with the rover at all times.
G Avoid getting too close to obstructions such as tall buildings and tree canopies.

do this. As a result, the density of control points required for reliable and efficient lo-
cally based RTK surveying can be more than that required merely for the setting up of
base stations. There should be a sufficient number of control points on site to enable
reliable transformations to be derived and for frequent checking to be carried out.
When measurements are taken after initialisation, at least four common base/rover
satellites must be tracked at all times and it is best to keep the rover antenna clear of
any possible obstructions caused by vegetation and buildings. If loss of lock occurs,
re-initialisation will automatically be carried out by the receiver, but any points sur-
veyed in between loss of lock and re-initialisation will have a poor precision and
should be re-observed.
The contents of Table 7.2 give a checklist for local base station RTK. This is based
on information taken from the National Geodetic Survey User Guidelines for Classical
Real Time GNSS Positioning (this can be downloaded at [Link]
PUBS_LIB/).

Surveying with network RTK on site

Network RTK is also used extensively on site and in the same applications as local
base station RTK. The way in which initialisations are carried out, the problems asso-
ciated with communications and the need for adequate control given above for local
298 Surveying for engineers

base station RTK also apply to network RTK. However, because the network is put in
place by a third party and is not under the control of the contractor on site, checking
and quality control become more important.
The way in which network RTK is implemented for any civil engineering or con-
struction project depends on the infrastructure put in place by a national or regional
mapping organisation and how this is made available to users by network RTK pro-
viders: this is discussed further in Section 8.6, where the infrastructure in place for
surveys in Great Britain, OS Net, is described.

A comparison of local base station and network RTK

At the start of a construction project, if GNSS is to be used, a decision has to be made
as to which RTK method to use. To help with this, the RICS have published a
Geomatics guidance leaflet entitled Virtually Right? – Networked GPS comparing local
and networked RTK (this can be downloaded at [Link] In
this, the benefits of using network RTK are given as:
G Because no base station is required, there is a cost saving.
G There is no need to consider the security of the base station.
G The base station cannot fail during a survey.
G Using a mobile phone link, the accuracy is the same as local base station RTK.
G The accuracy remains constant throughout the network unlike base station RTK
where errors increase with the distance between base station and rover.

The possible problems to be considered with network RTK are given as

G The system is not under the control of the site engineer and relies on third parties
to provide a GNSS correction service.
G There are many locations where mobile telephone coverage and Internet access is
unreliable for this method.
G If the coordinate system used by the network provider is not the same as that to be
used on site a transformation is required.
G The coordinate system that the network is configured in may be a national
coordinate system: if these coordinates are used on site they require scale factor to
be applied to avoid serious errors occurring (see Section 8.7).
G Over enthusiasm for the method may push the technique and the users beyond
their abilities as the method can be looked upon as a ‘black box’ that will solve all
positioning problems on site.

Satellite visibility
When performing any GNSS survey it is essential to determine, before work begins,
which satellites will be visible during an observation period, and whether this is for a
control survey, topographic survey or for setting out. In order to predict this, each
manufacturer provides mission planning software that computes and then displays the
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 299

bearing and elevation of each satellite for the times when observations are planned.
When a GNSS receiver has locked onto any satellite in the various constellations, the
controller decodes the current satellite almanac from the navigation message – this is
a record of the approximate positions of all the satellites as a function of time. To ac-
cess the almanac, the approximate latitude, longitude and height of a proposed con-
trol point or site together with the date and time are entered into the controller and
the mission planning software will display a satellite availability plot. On this, the
number of satellites in view and their GDOP are shown for a selected location, date,
time interval and for a specified mask angle (usually 10–15°). When using GNSS, a
maximum GDOP of 5 is often specified, but this can sometimes be reduced to 3 in or-
der to obtain best results. A satellite availability plot will show the times and duration
of any GDOP spikes that may occur during the proposed observation period – these
correspond to times when the satellites in view at the selected location form a poor
three-dimensional geometry and when GDOP values are unacceptable. Observations
should not be carried out at these times.
For critical work on site where GNSS methods are to be used for setting out, there
should be no significant obstructions to visibility where construction is to take place
and there should be a clear view of the sky above 10–15° all round the horizon at an-
tenna height on detail poles. If there are any trees, bushes or buildings nearby, the
positions of these should be surveyed in advance where possible (a magnetic bearing
and approximate vertical angle are all that is required) and this data should be en-
tered as an additional mask to the 10 – 15° already entered into the mission planning
software. This will then give a more realistic satellite availability plot and GDOP as it
accounts for any satellites that may be blocked by the obstructions.
As well as avoiding problems with satellite coverage, any power transmission lines
or mobile phone/radio masts close to a site may interfere with GNSS signals. Another
situation to be aware of is the possibility of multipath errors, and GNSS receivers
should not be placed at locations where signals can be reflected and received from
surfaces such as buildings, parked vehicles or even water.

Reflective summary
With reference to GNSS in engineering surveying, remember:
– Although it may seem to offer a solution to all measurement problems on site,
GNSS is not the only surveying method available – total stations and other optical
equipment are used just as much.
– Always ask the question ‘is GNSS the right equipment for this job or will some-
thing else do it better (and maybe cheaper)’?
– Choose your equipment carefully taking into account the level of training and
technical support on offer. Do you need to buy a GNSS system – is hiring a better
option?
– Some thought must be given to the coordinate system that will be used with any
GNSS equipment and how this is going to be realised. This will almost certainly
involve extra fieldwork and costs – if this is not done properly GNSS will not give
the correct results.
300 Surveying for engineers

– A GNSS control network consisting of one reference point only is not recom-
mended. These should consist of at least five or more points to enable reliable
transformation parameters to be determined and to provide points that can be
used for checking purposes.

– Like control networks measured with total stations, all observed GNSS control
networks must be checked by some means and must meet specifications.

– Before taking any observations with GNSS it is a good idea to check, in advance,
that the satellite coverage is going to be adequate, especially for programmed
construction work. If the coverage is poor for some reason, an alternative survey
method must be used.

– Observing a control scheme with GNSS requires careful planning and organisa-
tion, especially if the work covers a large area. It is not a good idea to simply arrive
on site and then start thinking about how the observations will be taken. Simi-
larly, RTK surveys must be planned in advance.

– When GNSS results are to be post-processed, it is necessary to know how to use

the software provided for this – because these programs are complicated, make
sure the manufacturer has provided adequate training in their use.

– The majority of GNSS survey work on site is done with RTK equipment. For this to
work correctly, radio or phone communications to each rover must be main-
tained at all times.
– After initialising an RTK receiver, it is best to check this has been done correctly by
placing the detail pole on a known point. This should also be done at frequent in-
tervals when setting out or taking other real-time measurements.
– Use of network RTK is a convenient way of setting out – the advantages and dis-
advantages of using this must be assessed before it is accepted for use on site.

Exercises
7.1 State the main function of the control segment of GPS and describe the
infrastructure that has been put in place to fulfil this.
7.2 Describe the GPS satellite constellation and explain why it has been
designed so that at least four satellites should always be in view from any
point on Earth.
7.3 Explain how the C/A and P codes differ on the GPS L1 signal.
7.4 List, with a brief explanation of each component, the information
contained in the GPS navigation message.
7.5 Describe the differences between the L1 and L2 signals transmitted by GPS
satellites.
7.6 Explain the difference between code ranging and carrier phase
measurements.
 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 301

7.7 In GPS positioning, explain the meaning of the following terms:

observable
propagation delay
autocorrelation
pseudorange
navigation solution
standard positioning service
integer ambiguity
7.8 List the errors that can have an effect on GNSS measurements with an
estimate of their magnitude when measuring pseudoranges.
7.9 Describe the phenomena that cause ionospheric and tropospheric delays to
satellite signals and how the effects of these can be removed from satellite
observations.
7.10 Dilution of position is an important factor in any satellite surveying system.
Explain how this can influence a GNSS measurement.
7.11 Explain what a multipath error is and suggest ways in which it can be
avoided.
7.12 How does post-processing differ from real-time surveying with GNSS?
7.13 Explain how EGNOS, WAAS and MSAS help improve the accuracy of GPS.
7.14 How is it possible to improve the accuracy of GNSS measurements using
differential and relative methods?
7.15 Explain how double and triple differences are used in precise relative
measurements.
7.16 What is a cycle slip and how is it possible to detect these?
7.17 What are the differences between static and rapid static surveying?
7.18 With reference to local base RTK, explain the meaning of the following:
base station
initialisation
repeater station
radio modem
7.19 With reference to network RTK, explain the meaning of the following:
Network RTK provider
VRS
MAC
i-MAX
RTCM, GSM and GPRS
OS Net
7.20 On site, GIS and GNSS receivers can be used. Describe the difference
between these and their applications in engineering surveying.
7.21 Explain how Bluetooth technology makes it possible for GNSS and other
surveying equipment to operate without cables.
7.22 If GNSS is to be used on site for the first time, discuss the factors that
should be considered before any equipment is purchased.
302 Surveying for engineers

7.23 Explain how it is possible to use National Grid coordinates and ODN
heights for GNSS surveys on site.
7.24 Explain how it is possible to use local grid coordinates and heights for GNSS
surveys on site.
7.25 What is mission planning software and how is it used?
7.26 Describe the improvements planned for GPS and discuss how these will
affect code ranging and RTK surveys in the future.
7.27 Describe the GLONASS, Galileo and Compass satellite surveying systems.
7.28 Use a search on the Internet to see the enormous amount of information
available on GPS(GNSS) from this source and the problems filtering it.

Further reading and sources of information

The following web sites are very useful for obtaining information on GNSS. A popular
web site is the Ordnance Survey on
[Link]

as it gives details of OS Net plus other background information on GPS and GNSS
from the Ordnance Survey.
Other sites include
[Link] (for GPS in US)
[Link] (for status of GPS)
[Link] (for status of Galileo)
[Link] (for status of GLONASS)
[Link] (for information on EGNOS)
[Link] (for information on WAAS)
[Link] (for information on the GLA)

The manufacturers’ web sites are

[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]

Some of the manufacturers have produced explanatory notes and some have
online tutorials.
When any of the major search engines are used to generate information on GNSS,
each one will produce a considerable amount of information. Some care (and time!)
is needed to filter these for suitable material.
The following journals include annual reviews of GNSS equipment and include
frequent articles on GNSS: Civil Engineering Surveyor, Engineering Surveying Showcase,
Geomatics World and GIM International (see Chapter 1 for further details). Other useful
journals are GPS World (see [Link] and Inside GNSS (see http://
[Link]/). The ASCE’s Journal of Surveying Engineering and the Survey Re-
view (see Chapter 1) also include many articles on GNSS.
The following publications are also recommended: