GPS POSITIONING

PRINCIPLE & METHODS

DR JAYANTA KUMAR GHOSH
CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

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 CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. PRINCIPLE OF GPS POSITIONING
3. GPS POSITIONING METHODS
3.1 Based on the number of receivers
Single Point Positioning
Relative Positioning
3.2 Based on the movement of receiver
Static Positioning
Absolute, Relative and Rapid
Kinematic Positioning
Single Point
Relative
3.3 Based on the mode of processing
Post-Mission Processing
Stop & Go, Kinematic, KOF
Real-Time Processing
Differential Positioning, RTK, RTN

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 INTRODUCTION
Though principle of working of GPS is very simple, but
positioning operations involved in GPS surveying vary
significantly depending on factors like field condition,
purpose, accuracy etc. These are relatively straight
forward and produce reliable result within standard
specifications with little effort. There are different
methods available for GPS positioning and these
methods are completely different from those of
conventional methods for land surveying. So, there is a
need to know thoroughly about the principle of
positioning as well as methods for GPS positioning.
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 PRINCIPLE OF GPS POSITIONING
• Analytical RESECTION
• Unknown position determined from known
distances of three pre well-defined positions.
• Three known positions and their three known
distances from the unknown position
(represented by three unknown coordinates)
provide three distance equations. Solution of
these three equations provides location of
unknown position.
• In GPS, satellites positions and their ranges
(distances of the satellites from the receiver)
can be computed from their respective signals.
• From these data, unknown position of the
receiver get computed applying the method of
resection.

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GPS POSITIONING & METHODS
• Receivers get positioned for collection of GPS
measurements/data;
• Different ways of receivers positioning leads to
different surveying methods.
• Methods depends on different criteria, such as
the type of receivers or number of receivers or
movement of receivers and /or on the processing
strategy of data.
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 METHODS : Based on Number of Receivers
• Single Point Positioning or
Relative Positioning.
• Single Point Positioning
Only one GPS receiver - either in
stationary or in movement.
Applied for determining the
absolute position of a station
(with reference to IGS stations),
for precise point positioning (PPP)
or for autonomous positioning
during navigation/reconnaissance
survey.

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 METHODS : Based on Number of Receivers
Relative Positioning
• two or more GPS receivers are being used simultaneously to receive
signals from same set of GPS satellites.
• one of the receivers is placed in static condition on a (reference) station
whose (true or arbitrary) position is known and is termed as reference
receiver.
• Other receiver/s, either in stationary or in movement, is/are placed at
position/s whose position/s is/are to be determined. These unknown
locations of receivers are known as rover stations and the receivers
placed on rover stations are known as rover receivers.
• Record data having same epoch interval; otherwise, epoch interval by
rover receivers should be less for reference receiver.
• To determine the positions of rover stations, carrier-phase and/or
pseudo-range measurements of both the reference and rover receivers,
from the same set of four or more satellites, are used.
• Relative positioning provides higher accuracy than the single point
positioning.
• At any epoch, errors associated with GPS observations from the same set
of satellites, to the receivers within certain baseline length, is more or
less same. Thus, during reduction, errors get cancelled or reduced and
resulting improvement in accuracy of positioning.
• Most of the GPS surveying methods are fundamentally based on relative
positioning technique and thus, the method is extensively used during
GPS surveying .

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 METHODS : Based on Movement of Receivers
• Static or Kinematic types based on whether the receiver is in static or dynamic
condition during the collection of data.

• STATIC POSITIONING
– Receiver/s is/are kept in stationary during the period of observation
– Data gets post-processed.
– Adopted for precise/accurate estimation of parameters.
– Higher accuracy through precise ephemerides during post-processing.

• Absolute Positioning
– Single point static positioning method
– For establishment of control points in stand-alone condition;
– Duration of observation depends on the quality of control point to be established
– Epoch of observation is usually high.
•

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 METHODS : Based on Movement of Receivers…
STATIC POSITIONING
• Relative Static Positioning
– Receivers are stationary centered above the stations.
– Any number of rover receivers connected to a single reference receiver station.
– Capable of providing most accurate position;
– Duration of observation depends on accuracy requirement, baseline length, number and geometry of
satellites, field condition, type of receivers, type of processing software etc.
– Most preferred method for establishment of control points.

• Rapid Static Positioning

– fundamentally same as that relative static positioning.
– difference lies in shorter occupation time at the rover stations and consequently
– reduced epoch interval, of the order of 5 seconds.
– Used to establish lower level control points
– For small baselines (within 10 kilometers).

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METHODS : Based on Movement of Receivers…
• Kinematic Positioning
– At least, one of the GPS receivers is in a state of movements while taking the observation;
– Types based on the number of receiver/s, time of processing of collected data etc.
– Adopted for collection linear object data, data of objects in kinetic conditions etc.
– Accuracy varies with its type.
• Single Point Kinematic
– single receiver lies in the state of motion during observation
– provides position in real time.
– Accuracy least.
– Used for reconnaissance/Navigation and collection of initial data.
• Relative Kinematic
– Either or both the reference and rover receivers are in the state of motion at the time of taking
observations.
– Position either in real-time or post-processing mode.
– More accurate in PP mode.
– Used for land surveying work.

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 METHODS : Based on GPS Data Processing
• Two types based on the instant of processing of observations: Post
processing (PP) and Real-time (RT).
• Post processing (PP)
– gets processed well after field observation.
– For high-accuracy works
– Precise-ephemerides get used
– Three types
• Stop and Go surveying
• Kinematic Surveying
• Kinematic on Fly (KOF) surveying.

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 METHODS : Based on GPS Data Processing
PP: STOP AND GO SURVEYING
• Base receiver is placed in static condition over a control point /
reference station;
• Rover receiver initialized at any point (< 2 Km from the reference
station) in static condition to resolve ambiguity of the carrier phase
observables.
• During initialization, at least 4 or more common satellites for
initialization period (5 to 15 minutes) at certain epoch interval.
• After initialization, rover is moved from point to point to collect
data at certain epoch interval 1-5 seconds for certain duration (30
seconds to 2 minutes) and then, get it stopped (not switched off)
once the duration of observation is over.
• Epoch interval for base receiver should always be less than or
equal to that of rover receiver.
• All throughout both the reference as well as rover receivers should
get locked to at least four (preferably five) common satellites.
• In case, loss of lock of common satellites falls below four, re-
initialization is required.
• Ideally suited for collection of geo-spatial data from small areas (up
to 20 kilometer from reference station) where points are close
together and obstructions to the satellite signals are minimum.

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 METHODS : Based on GPS Data Processing
• PP- KINEMATIC SURVEYING
– Initialization as in stop and go method;
– Rover receiver in kinematic condition once
the initialization is over
– Collects observations at a pre-set epoch
interval.
– Ideal for locating linear objects such as edges
of roads, sides of river, road profiles etc.
• PP - Kinematic On Fly Surveying
– no initialization
– rover receiver always in kinematic condition
– used during for hydrographic survey
(tracking boats etc).

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METHODS : Based on GPS Data Processing
REAL TIME (RT) GPS SURVEYING
– Relative positioning in which corrections and/or measurements during observation get
transmitted from one or more “Known” reference stations to one or more rover
station/s at “Unknown site/s” in real-time.
– Less accurate due to small difference in epochs of measurements (at the reference
site) and implementation of the correction (at the rover site) and use of broadcast
ephemerides.
– Requires transmission protocol, data format, data communication link from reference
to the rover etc.
– Gaining popularity due to boost in ICT
– Useful for RT data acquisition, recovery and staking out
– Depending on the source of errors measurements, RT GPS surveying gets classified
into two types: Differential GPS (DGPS) and Real Time Kinematic (RTK).

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 METHODS : Based on GPS Data Processing
RT- Differential GPS (DGPS) method
• Transmitted Errors based on pseudo-code observables
• A-priori accurate position of reference station used to compute differential
correction parameters and position solution for the rover receiver/s.
• information to be broadcast get generated from GPS observations at a central
server in real time and get transmitted over large areas at low data rates
supported by low-frequency and maintain high accuracy over hundreds of
kilometers.
• The DGPS rover receivers receive and apply these corrections to their GPS
observations or computed positions.
• DGPS services using cell phones and Internet connections from point-to-
multipoint is becoming widely prevalent.
• In general, navigation applications are well served by DGPS method.
• Provides 1-10meter planimetric accuracy during navigation and 0.1 -1 meter
level accuracy in positioning.

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DGPS Positioning
 METHODS : Based on GPS Data Processing
• Real Time Kinematic (RTK) method
– Connectivity same as DGPS but having specific protocol
(higher bandwidths for its broadcast through radio
beacon or TCP/IP data connection);
– broadcast differential corrections based on frequency
carrier phase observations;
– provides centimeter-level accuracy within 10 kilometer
radial distance from the reference station.
– Accuracy reduces as the baseline distance between
rover and reference increases.
• RTN
– RTK method of surveying
– Differential errors and/or measurements are based on
local and/or regional network of reference stations
observations.
– Requires two-way communication links - to transmit
the approximate position of the rover receiver to the
processing center and to receive back corrections.
– Correction models used to predict the differential errors
associated with a baseline between a master reference
station and the rover's position.

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 Summary of Today’s Class
• GPS position is based on method of ANALYTICAL RESECTION.
• Positions and ranges of 4 or more satellites available from GPS signals helps in determining the
unknown position of receiver.
• Based on different criteria, there exists many positioning methods.
• Choice of a particular method for any GPS surveying depends on many factors like objective of
project, accuracy requirement, site condition, costs etc.
• Single point kinematic method may be used for reconnaissance purpose.
• Static method of GPS surveying is used for points having high accuracy, for large baseline
distances or in case of weak satellite geometry.
• For short baselines having centimeter level accuracy rapid static surveys may be used.
• For delineating linear features such as edges of road, river boundaries etc Kinematic surveying is
being used.
• Stop & Go method of survey is suitable in cases where large number of consecutive points to be
surveyed in an open area.
• For land surveying work, post-processing method using precise ephemerides should be
preferred.

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Further reading:
• A Text Book on GPS Surveying by Jayanta Kumar Ghosh,
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (An Amazon
Company), US [www.amazon.com/dp/1522952748].

Meet You Next Class on

“DEMONSTRATION OF GPS POSITIONING METHODS”

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