GPS Surveying II

5.1 Introduction to GPS

The NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based radio-positioning and time-
transfer system designed, financed, deployed, and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense. GPS
has also demonstrated a significant benefit to the civilian community who are applying GPS to a rapidly
expanding number of applications. What attracts us to GPS is:
▪ The relatively high positioning accuracies, from tens of meters down to the millimeter level.
▪ The signals are available to users anywhere on the globe: in the air, on the ground, or at sea.
▪ It is a positioning system with no user charges that simply requires the use of relatively low cost
hardware.
▪ It is an all-weather system, available 24 hours a day.
▪ The position information is in three dimensions, that is, vertical as well as horizontal
information is provided.
Global positioning system (GPS)
GPS works on the principle of triangulation. By knowing its distance from three or more satellites, the
receiver can calculate its position by solving a set of equations. Information from three satellites is
needed to calculate longitude and latitude at a known elevation; four satellites are needed to include
altitude as well.

The Global Positioning system is comprised of three segments:

1. Satellite Constellation called space segment
2. Ground control/Monitoring network called operation control segment
3. User receiving equipment called user equipment segment
1. Space Segment
The satellite constellation contains the satellites in orbit that provide the ranging signals and data
messages to the user equipment.
The satellite constellation consists of the nominal 24-satellites. They are positioned in six earth-centered
orbital planes with four satellites in each plane. 1
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The nominal orbital period of a GPS satellite is half of a sidereal day (11 hour & 58 minutes). The orbits
are nearly circular and equally spaced about the equator at a 60o separation with an inclination relative
to the equator of nominally 55o. The orbital radius is approximately 26,600km. This satellite
constellation provides a 24 hour global navigation and time determination capability. Any satellite can
be identified by the pseudo-random (PRN) codes that it generates on-board.

2. Operational Control Segment (OCS)

▪ The control segment consists of one master control station, 5 monitor stations and 4 ground
antennas distributed amongst 5 locations roughly on the earth’s equator.
▪ These stations are at Colorado Springs, Ascension Island, Diego Garcia, Hawai and Kwajalein
Island.
▪ The control segments track the GPS satellites, update their orbiting position and calibrate and
synchronize their clocks.
▪ A further important function is to determine the orbit of each satellite and predict its path for
following 24 hours.
▪ This information is uploaded to each satellite and subsequently broadcast from it. This enables
the GPS receiver to know where each satellite can be expected to be found.
▪ The satellite signals are read at 5 monitor stations and measurements are then sent to the master
control station in Colorado Springs.
▪ Here they are processed to determine any errors in each satellite. The new ephemeredes (satellite
position as a function of time). Clock corrections and other broadcast message data are then sent
back to three monitoring stations (Diego Garcia, Ascension & Kwajalein) equipped with ground
antennas and uploaded to the satellites and broadcasted.

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3. Equipment Segment (User Segment)

The user receiving equipment, referred to as a GPS receivers, processes the L-band signals transmitted
from the satellites to determine user position, velocity and time (PVT).
Basically, there are two types of receivers
i. Hand held single frequency Receivers
ii. Geodetic Receivers of Dual Frequency.
Selection of the GPS receiver depends on the user’s application. GPS employs time of Arrival (TOA)
ranging for user position determination. By making TOA measurements to multiple satellites, three
dimensional positioning is achieved. The satellite ranging signals travel at the speed of light (3x108
m/s). It is assumed that satellite ephemeris are accurate (i-e the satellite locations are precisely known)
Three GPS satellites are required to fix the planimetric position. (Latitude – Longitude or Northing-
Easting co-ordindes) four GPS. Satellite configuration can give height in addition to planimetric
position. There are some difficulties in defining heights above datum such as mean sea level and with
real time data processing and control. Despite of these drawbacks, GPS has been very successfully used
in surveying and other fields.
The general overall uses of GPS and numerous.

Basic Principles of GPS

▪ GPS is based on the principle of resection i.e. Receiver’s position (X, Y, Z) can be determined
given the distances from objects whose positions are known.
▪ Analytically, from the known positions of three objects and their distance from unknown
position, we get three-distance equation involving three unknown corresponding to the unknown
position of the receiver.
▪ These three equations can be solved form three unknowns (X, Y, Z).

R2

R3

R1 Receiver Position 3
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5.2 GPS details
Positioning or finding the user’s location with GPS requires some understanding of the GPS signal
structures and how measurements can be made. Likewise as the GPS signals are received through a GPS
receiver, understanding the capabilities and limitations of the various types of GPS receivers is essential.
Furthermore, the GPS measurements, like all measurable quantities, contain errors and biases, which can
be removed or reduced by combining the various GPS observable.
GPS Signal Structure:
❑ Each GPS satellite transmits a microwave radio signal, composed of two carrier frequencies (or
sine waves) modulated by two digital codes and a navigation message.

❑ Each satellite
broadcast – 2
carrier phase at a
fundamental frequency of 10.23 MHZ (Sine ways)
❑ L1 carrier broadcasted at 10.23 MHZ x 154 = 1572.42 MHZ and L2 carrier broadcasted at 10.23 x
120 = 1227.60 MHZ
❑ The two carriers L1 and L2 are modulated by two Digital Codes and a Navigation Message.
❑ L1 carrier wavelength is 19cm and L2 carrier wavelength is 24.4 cm
❑ L1 carrier has 2 – codes modulated upon it
a) C/A code – Coarse Acquisition Code modulated at 1.023 MHZ (10.23 /10)
b) P code – Precise Code modulated at 10.23 MHZ.

/ 10
10.23 MHz L1 Carrier
X 154
Fundamental 1572.42 MHz
Frequency

C/ A Code P- Code
1.023 MHz 10.23 MHz

L2 Carrier
X 120 1227.60 MHz P- Code 4
10.23 MHz
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❑ All of the GPS satellites transmit same L1 & L2 carrier frequencies

❑ Code modulation is different for each satellite which minimize the signal interference
❑ Each code consists of streams of binary digits, zeros and ones, known as bits or chips. The codes are
commonly known as PRN codes because they look like random signals (i.e. they are noise like
signals).
❑ The C/A Code is modulated onto L1 carrier only while P-Code is modulated onto both L1 and L2
carriers
❑ C/A code is a stream of 1023 binary digits (i.e. 1023 zeros and ones) that repeats itself after every
millisecond. This means that chipping rate (speed) of C/A code is 1.023 Mbps (Mega bits per
second)
❑ Each satellite is assigned a unique C/A code, which enables the GPS receivers to identify which
satellite is transmitting a particular code
❑ P – Code is a very long sequence of binary digits that repeat itself after 266 days.
❑ It is 10 times faster than C/A code, i.e. its rate is 10.23 Mbps
❑ Multiplying the repeat time it takes the P- Code to repeat itself, 266 days, with its rate, 10.23 Mbps,
tells us that the P – code is a stream of 2.35 x 1014 bits or chips.
❑ The 266-day- long code is divided into 38 segments; each is 1 week long
❑ Of these 38 segments, 32 segments are assigned to various GPS satellites
❑ That means each satellite transmits a unique 1 – week segment of the P– code that is initialized every
Saturday/Sunday midnight crossing.
❑ The remaining 6 segments are reserved for other uses
❑ Each GPS satellite is usually identified by its unique 1- week segment of P – code.
❑ For Example, A GPS satellite with an ID of PRN 20 refers to a GPS satellite that is assigned 20 th –
week segment of the PRN P-Code
❑ The GPS navigation message is a data stream added to both L1 and L2 carriers as binary biphase
modulation at low rate of 50 kbps.
❑ It consists of 25 frames of 1500 bits each or 37,500 bits in total.
❑ This means that the transmission of the complete navigation message takes 750 seconds or 12.5
minutes
❑ The navigation message contains the coordinates of GPS satellites as a function of time, the satellite
health status, the satellite clock correction and atmospheric data.
❑ Each satellite transmits its own navigation message.
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What do you mean by Modulation?
❑ Carrier waves are designed to carry the binary C/A and P – codes in a process known as
modulation.
❑ Modulation means the codes are superimposed on the carrier waves.

GPS Receivers
▪ Most important hardware in GPS surveying operations is the Receivers. There are literally
hundreds of different GPS receivers available in the market.
▪ They are generally capable of achieving accuracies from sub meter to sub-centimeters.
▪ The price of receiver ranging from $100 for simple hand held units to $15,000 for sophisticated
geodetic quality units.
GPS Receivers Components:
A. Antenna: GPS receiver requires an Antenna attached to it either internally or externally
The antenna receives the incoming satellite signal and then converts its energy into an electric
current. It is designed to collect only the L1 frequency or both L1 and L2. Coaxial cables are
used to connect antenna with sensor.
Types of Antenna
1. Micro strip Antenna – Receive one or both the frequencies.
2. Dipole Antenna – Stable phase center & simple construction.
3. Choke Ring – built with several concentric rings & reduce multiple paths.
B. Pre – Amplifier:
▪ GPS signal induces a voltage in the antenna that is sent from receiver to preamplifier.
▪ In preamplifier, signal power is increased and filtered to reduce interference.
C. The RF section: Signal processing is done here
▪ Signal processing is easy if the signals arriving at the antenna are lowered to a common
▪ Frequency band.
▪ To accomplish this – incoming frequency the incoming frequency is combined with a signal at a
harmonic frequency.
▪ The two frequencies are multiplied together in a device known as Mixer.
D. Channels: The antenna itself does not sort the information gathered. The signals from different
satellites enter the receiver simultaneously. In the Channels of the RF section the signals are
identified and differentiated from one another. It is a combination of hardware & of software to
separate one signal from other. At any given time- only one frequency from one satellite can be
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on one channel at a time. A receiver can have 3 – 40 physical channels. 12-channel parallel
receiver is common.
E. E. Microprocessor: Processed signals are displayed on display unit and or at the same time
recorded at storing device using micro- Processor.
F. Power System: the entire system is attached to Battery
Types of Receiver:
1. Single frequency code receiver
▪ Measures the pseudo-ranges with C/A code only. It is less expensive and least accurate.
2. Single frequency carrier smoothed code receiver
▪ It also measures the pseudo – ranges with the C/A code only. However, with this receiver
type, the hither resolution carrier frequency is used internally to improve the resolution of code
pseudo range, which results in high precision measurements.
3. Single frequency code and carrier receivers
▪ Output the raw C/A code pseudo ranges, L1 carrier phase measurements and the navigation
message.
4. Dual frequency
▪ Expensive & more accurate. Measuring, L1 and L2, C/A code and navigation message.
➢ Single frequency receiver access – L1 frequency only
➢ Dual frequency receivers access both L1 and L2 frequencies
Pseudo Range Measurements:
Pseudo range is a measure of the range or distance between the GPS receiver and satellite. Either P –
code or C/A code can be used for Pseudo Range measurement. Let us assume that both satellite and
receiver clocks are perfectly synchronized. When the PRN code is transmitted from the satellite, the
receiver generates exact Replica of that code. After some time, equivalent to the Signal travel time in
space, the transmitted code will be picked by the receiver. By comparing the transmitted code and its
replica, the receiver can compute the signal travel time.
Multiplying the travel time with speed of light gives the range between satellite and receiver.
Unfortunately, the assumption that the receiver and satellite clocks are synchronization is not exactly
true In fact, measured range is contaminated, along with other errors, by synchronization error between
the satellite and receiver clocks. For this reason, this quantity is referred to as pseudo range not the range
GPS was designed so that range determination by C/A code measurement is less precise then that of
military P – code measurement.

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Carrier Phase Measurement:
Another way of measuring the range to satellites can be obtained through the carrier phases. The range
is sum of the total number of full carrier cycles plus fractional cycles at the receiver and satellites
multiplied by carrier wavelength.
i.e. Range = [Total no of full carrier waves cycles + Total no of partial cycles] x Carrier WL.
Range measured with carriers are far more accurate than those obtained with the codes (pseudo range)
This is due to the fact that WL (or resolution) of carrier phase 19 cm in case of L1 and 24.4 cm in case
of L2 are much smaller than those of codes 300m and 30 m in case of C/A code and P-code respectively.
Problem: Carrier waves are pure sine waves – which means all the cycles look the same, therefore, GPS
receiver has no means to differentiate one cycle from another. i.e. when receiver is switched on – it
cannot determine total no of complete cycles between the Satellite and Receiver It can only measure
fraction of cycle very accurately, while the initial no of complete cycles reaming unknown This is called
Initial Cycle Ambiguity.

Fortunately, receiver has a capability to keep track of phase change. That means initial cycle ambiguity
remains unchanged over the time as long as no signal loss occurs. If the initial cycle ambiguity
parameters are resolved, accurate range measurement can be obtained which leads to accurate position
determination. This is achieved through relative positioning technique using two GPS receivers
simultaneously tracking same satellites.

5.3 GPS Positioning Modes

▪ Positioning with GPS can be performed by either of two ways:
1. Point Positioning
2. Relative Positioning.
1. GPS Point Positioning
▪ GPS point positioning, also known as Standalone or Autonomous positioning, involves only
one GPS receiver.
▪ That is only one receiver simultaneously tracks four or more GPS satellites to determine its
own coordinates with respect to the center of the earth.
▪ As the satellites coordinates are given in the WGS-84 system, the obtained receiver coordinates
will be in WGS-84 system as well. These are transformed to local coordinates system through
transformation parameters.
2. GPS Relative Positioning;
▪ GPS relative positioning, also called Differential Positioning, employs at least two GPS
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receivers simultaneously tracking the same satellites to determine their relative coordinates.
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▪ Of the two receivers, one is selected as a reference or base, which remains stationary at a site
with precisely known coordinates. The other receiver known as Rover or Remote receiver has
its coordinate unknown. The rover receiver may or may not be stationary depending up on the
type of GPS operation.
▪ GPS relative positioning provides a higher accuracy than that of autonomous positioning.
▪ The shorter the distance between the two receivers, the more similar the errors. Therefore, if
we take the difference between the measurements of the two receivers (hence, the name
“differential Positioning”), the similar errors will be removed or reduced and accuracy will be
more.
Static GPS Positioning:
▪ Static GPS surveying is a relative positioning technique that depends on the carrier phase
measurements.
▪ It employs two or more stationary receivers simultaneously tracking the same satellites.
▪ One receiver, the base receiver, is set up over a point with precisely known coordinates such as
survey monuments. The other receiver, the remote receiver is set up over a point whose
coordinates have to be determined.
▪ In principle, this method is based on collecting simultaneous measurements at both the base
and remote receivers for a certain period of time, which, after processing, yield the coordinates
of the unknown point. The observation or occupation time varies from about 20 minutes to a
few hours, depending on the distance between the base and the remote receivers. (I.e. the
baseline length), the number of satellite visible and satellite geometry.
▪ The measurements are usually taken at a recording interval of 15 or 20 second called epochs.
▪ After completing the field measurements, the collected data is downloaded from receivers in to
PC for processing. Different processing options may be selected depending on the user
requirement.
▪ Static GPS surveying with the carrier phase measurements is the most accurate positioning
technique. This mainly due to the significant change in satellite geometry over the long
observation time span. This is mainly used for new control point establishment in the area.
Real Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS
▪ RTK surveying is a carrier phase based relative positioning technique that, like the previous
methods, employs two or more receivers simultaneously tracking the same satellites.
▪ This method is suitable when:

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- Survey involves a large number of known points located in the vicinity (i.e. within up to 10-15
km) of known point.
- The coordinates of the unknown points are required in real time and
- The line of sight, the propagation path, is relatively unobstructed.
▪ In this method, the base receiver remains stationary over the known point and is attached to a
radio transmitter. The rover receiver is normally carried in backpack and is attached to radio
receiver.
▪ Similar to the conventional Kinematic GPS method, a data rate as high as 1 HZ (one sample
per second observation time) is required.
▪ The base receiver measurements and coordinates are transmitted to the receiver through the
communication radio link. The built in software in a rover receiver combines and process the
GPS measurements collected at both the base and the rover receivers to obtain the rover
coordinates in real time. That is no post processing is required.
▪ The expected positional accuracy is of the order of 2 to 5cm which can further be improved by
staying over the point for a short period of time, for example, about 30 seconds, to allow for
averaging the position.
▪ The computed rover coordinates for the entire survey may be stored and downloads at a later
time in to CAD software for further analysis.
▪ This method is mainly used with dual frequency receivers.
▪ Under the same conditions, the positioning accuracy of the RTK method is slightly compared
with that of the conventional kinematic GPS method.
▪ This is mainly because of the time tags (or time stamps) of the conventional kinematic data
from both the base and rover match perfectly in processing. With RTK, however, the base
receiver data reaches the rover after some delay (called latency). Data latency occurs as result
of formatting, packetizing, transmitting and decoding the base data.
▪ To match the time tag of the rover data, the base data must be extrapolated which degrades the
positional accuracy.
5.4 GPS Errors and Biases
Accuracy and Precision:
Before talking about errors and accuracy of GPS, we should know what Accuracy and Precision mean?
The term accuracy refers to how close an estimate (or measurement) is to true but unknown values. The
precision refers to how close an estimate is to the mean estimate.

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GPS Pseudo Range and Carrier Phase measurements are both affected by several types of random errors
and biases.
These errors are classified as:-
a) Errors originated at satellites

b) Errors originated at Receivers

c) Errors due to signal propagation through Atmosphere (Atmospheric Effect)
d) Geometric Location of GPS satellites also affects the accuracy (DOP)
5.5. Datum and Coordinate System
The ability of GPS to determine the precise location of user anywhere, under any weather conditions,
attracted millions of users worldwide from various fields and backgrounds. However, one common
problem that may newcomers to GPS face is the issue of datum and coordinate systems. As many users
are interested in the horizontal component of the GPS position, the issue of map projection is also to be
understood. For the sake of completeness, the height systems are also required to understand.
1. Datum:
▪ The fact that the topographical surface of the earth is highly irregular makes it difficult for the
geodetic calculation.
▪ Datum is a reference surface through which the position of any point is done both horizontally
and vertically.
▪ To understand how the size and shape of earth is determined, three surfaces have to be
understood clearly. These are:
▪ Earth Physical Surface: this is the actual topographical surface on which earth measurements
are made. It is not suitable for exact mathematical calculations because of its highly irregular
nature.
▪ Geoid Surface: is an equi-potential surface that best approximate the mean sea level (MSL).
For each point on this surface the gravitational force is same. It cannot be determined
geometrically but must be determined by observations point by point.
▪ At Geoidal surface, the direction of gravity and axis of a level Theodolite are perpendicular to
it. That is the reason why Geoid is used as reference datum for measurements of heights.
▪ However, the surface has rather disagreeable mathematical properties and not suitable as a
surface on which to perform mathematical computations.
▪ Reference Ellipsoid: is a mathematical surface with arbitrarily defined geometrical figure. It
closely approximates the Geoid or the actual topographical surface.
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▪ The reference ellipse is defined by its semi major axis (a) equatorial radius and its flattening
constant (f) which is defined as f = a-b/a where ‘b’ is polar radius called semi minor axis.
▪ The parameters of this ellipsoid (a & f) are chosen depending up on the shape of Geoid it is
referred to fit.
An appropriate positioned reference ellipsoid is known as Geodetic Datum.
This is, geodetic datum is a mathematical surface or a reference ellipsoid with a well-defined origin and
orientation.
▪ E.g. Geocentric Datum is a Geodetic Datum with its origin coinciding with the center of earth.
▪ Geodetic Datum is determined by specifying 8 parameters. 2 parameters to define the
dimension of reference ellipsoid (a and b), 3 parameters to define the position of its origin and
3 parameters to define the orientation of three axes with respect to earth.
2. Coordinate System:
▪ The most commonly used coordinate system today is the latitude, longitude and height system
also known as Geodetic Coordinate system.
▪ The prime meridian and the Equator are the reference planes used to define the latitude and
longitude.
▪ The geodetic latitude (s) of a point is the angle from the equatorial plane to a line normal to the
reference ellipsoid.
▪ The geodetic longitude (d) of a point is the angle between a reference plane and a plane passing
through the point, both planes being perpendicular to the equatorial plane.
▪ In a Geodetic Coordinate system, the third dimension is given by the Ellipsoidal Height (h).
The ellipsoidal height at a point is the distance from the reference ellipsoid to the point in a
direction normal to the ellipsoid.
▪ This height is not normally used. As they are difficult to determine. The Orthometric height of
a point is defined as the linear distance from that point to the reference equi-potential surface
of the earth’s gravity field (Geoid). The difference between the Ellipsoidal height and the
Orthometric height is referred to as the Geoid – Ellipsoid separation (N)
▪ Cartesian coordinate system: earth centered X, Y; Z Cartesian coordinates also known as
Space coordinates define 3D position with respect centre of the reference ellipsoid.
▪ Z-axis points towards North Pole. The X-axis is defined by the intersection of the plane
defined by the prime meridian and the equatorial plane. The Y-axis completes a right handed
orthogonal system by a plane 90o east of the X-axis and its intersection with equator.
Relation between Cartesian and Geodetic Coordinate systems:
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▪ Geodetic coordinates (Φ, λ, h) can easily be transformed in to Cartesian coordinates (X, Y and
Z). To do this the ellipsoidal parameters ( a and f) must be known.
▪ It is also possible to transform Geodetic Coordinates (Φ and λ) in to rectangular grid
coordinates (northing and easting).
GPS coordinates System:
▪ The world geodetic coordinates system – 84 (WGS-84) are a 3D earth centered reference
system developed by U.S. Defense Mapping Agency, now called NIMA (National Imagery and
Mapping Agency).
▪ This system is an official GPS reference system. Any one uses GPS ephemeris to obtain its
position will get its position in WGS-84 coordinate system.
▪ WGS-84 is a global datum which best approximate the size and shape of the earth globally.
Datum Transformation:
▪ WGS-84 is a Global Datum. However, local coordinates are used in a particular country based
on the local ellipsoid. This means for any area the existing coordinates used for mapping
purposes are in local coordinates.
▪ That is why transformation of Global Datum to local is required.
▪ Local datum is limited in accuracy to a fine area surrounding the point of origin.
▪ Coordinates can be transformed from one datum to other using standard formula/equations if
the relationship between the two datum are known.
5.6. GPS Applications
GPS has been available for civil and military use for more than two decades. That period of time has
witnessed the creation of numerous new GPS applications. Because it provides high accuracy
positioning in cost effective manner, GPS has found its way in many industrial applications, replacing
conventional methods in most cases. For example, with GPS, machineries can be automatically guided
and controlled. This is especially useful in hazardous areas, where human lives are endangered. This
unit explains the usefulness of GPS in some of the applications.

GPS for Vehicle Navigation:

▪ When traveling through unfamiliar areas, vehicle drivers often use paper road maps for route
guidance. This requires identification of features both on the ground and on the map. This
creates problems and often leads to missing the correct path.
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▪ This is overcome by a new technology, incorporating GPS with digital road maps and
computer system. Driver can obtained the route guidance electronically with a touch of a
button.
▪ The role of GPS in this technology is to continuously determine the vehicle's location.
GPS in Cadastral Surveying:
▪ Cadastral surveys establish property corners, boundaries and areas of land parcels. For this
conventional surveying methods have been used and are still being used for that purpose.
▪ There are several advantages of using GPS for cadastral surveying. The most important one is
the indivisibility between the points is not required with GPS. This means that extensive
traversing is eliminated, clear cutting is not required and intervening privities is avoided.
▪ Other advantages include the fact that GPS provides user defined coordinates in a digital
format, which can easily exported to any GIS system for further analysis.
▪ The accuracy obtained with GPS is consistent over the entire network; such accuracy is lacked
by conventional surveying methods.
GPS for Precision Farming:
▪ GPS applications in precision farming include soil sample collection, chemical applications
control (pesticides or fertilizers) and harvest yield monitors.
▪ When collecting soil samples, GPS is used to precisely locate the sample points from
predefined grids.
GPS for Civil Engineering Applications.
▪ Civil engineering works are often done in complex and unfriendly environment, making it
difficult for personnel to operate efficiently.
▪ Constructions firms are using GPS in many applications such as road construction. Earth
moving and fleet management.
▪ In road construction and earth moving, GPS combined with wireless communication and
computer systems, is installed onboard the Erath moving machine.
▪ Designated surface information, in digital format, is uploaded into the system. With the help
of computer display and the real time GPS position information, the operator and view whether
the correct grade has been reached.

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