The Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) of the International GNSS Service (IGS) - Achievements, prospects and challenges

Incorrect modeling of troposphere delays is one of the major error sources for space geodetic techniques such as Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) or Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). Over the years, many approaches have been devised which aim at mapping the delay of radio waves from zenith direction down to the observed elevation angle, so-called mapping functions. This paper contains a new approach intended to refine the currently most important discrete mapping function, the Vienna Mapping Functions 1 (VMF1), which is successively referred to as Vienna Mapping Functions 3 (VMF3). It is designed in such a way as to eliminate shortcomings in the empirical coefficients b and c and in the tuning for the specific elevation angle of $$3^{\circ }$$
 . Ray-traced delays of the ray-tracer RADIATE serve as the basis for the calculation of new mapping function coefficients. Comparisons of modeled slant delays demonstrate the ability of VMF3 to approximate the underlying ray-traced delays more accurately than VMF1 does, in particular at low elevation angles. In other words, when requiring highest precision, VMF3 is to be preferable to VMF1. Aside from revising the discrete form of mapping functions, we also present a new empirical model named Global Pressure and Temperature 3 (GPT3) on a $$5^{\circ }\times 5^{\circ }$$
 as well as a $$1^{\circ }\times 1^{\circ }$$
 global grid, which is generally based on the same data. Its main components are hydrostatic and wet empirical mapping function coefficients derived from special averaging techniques of the respective (discrete) VMF3 data. In addition, GPT3 also contains a set of meteorological quantities which are adopted as they stand from their predecessor, Global Pressure and Temperature 2 wet. Thus, GPT3 represents a very comprehensive troposphere model which can be used for a series of geodetic as well as meteorological and climatological purposes and is fully consistent with VMF3.

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VMF3/GPT3: refined discrete and empirical troposphere mapping functions

The International GNSS Service (IGS) real-time service (RTS) provides access to real-time precise products such as orbits, clocks and code biases, which can be used as a substitute for ultra-rapid products in real-time applications. The true performance of these products can be assessed by the Analysis Centers daily statistics derived from the comparison with IGS rapid products. Additionally, indirect verification is performed by their application to various precise point positioning strategies. Monitoring results and basic descriptions of these products are available at the official RTS Web page ( http://rts.igs.org/ ). We present a more detailed description of RTS products. Information from various sources is collected to provide products application methodology and describe their important features. We provide extended verification of the products using 1 week of real-time correction data. Results are presented separately for GNSS constellations, considering satellite block and type of onboard clock. Comparison with ESA/European Space Operations Centre final products proves the high accuracy of RTS orbits and clocks, which is 5 cm for GPS orbits, 8 cm for GPS clocks, 13 cm for GLONASS orbits and 24 cm for GLONASS clocks. The real-time correction performance is also examined regarding availability and latency. In general, the availability of corrections was beyond 95 % for GPS and beyond 90 % for GLONASS. Since the increasing degradation of product quality with latency is critical for real-time applications, the relation between product latency and accuracy is analyzed. It confirms that high-rate stream update intervals are suitable for the data provided and that the obsolete data should not be used. To avoid this, we propose a method of short-term prediction of RTS corrections that extends the application period of obsolete correction data without a significant loss in orbit quality. Using polynomial fitting, it is possible to forecast the orbit corrections reliably up to 8 min for GPS and 4 min for GLONASS.

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IGS RTS precise orbits and clocks verification and quality degradation over time

. Global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) have revolutionised positioning, navigation, and timing, becoming a common part of our everyday life. Aside from these well-known civilian and commercial applications, GNSS is now an established atmospheric observing system, which can accurately sense water vapour, the most abundant greenhouse gas, accounting for 60–70 % of atmospheric warming. In Europe, the application of GNSS in meteorology started roughly two decades ago, and today it is a well-established field in both research and operation. This review covers the state of the art in GNSS meteorology in Europe. The advances in GNSS processing for derivation of tropospheric products, application of GNSS tropospheric products in operational weather prediction and application of GNSS tropospheric products for climate monitoring are discussed. The GNSS processing techniques and tropospheric products are reviewed. A summary of the use of the products for validation and impact studies with operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) models as well as very short weather prediction (nowcasting) case studies is given. Climate research with GNSSs is an emerging field of research, but the studies so far have been limited to comparison with climate models and derivation of trends. More than 15 years of GNSS meteorology in Europe has already achieved outstanding cooperation between the atmospheric and geodetic communities. It is now feasible to develop next-generation GNSS tropospheric products and applications that can enhance the quality of weather forecasts and climate monitoring. This work is carried out within COST Action ES1206 advanced global navigation satellite systems tropospheric products for monitoring severe weather events and climate (GNSS4SWEC, http://gnss4swec.knmi.nl ).

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Review of the state of the art and future prospects of the ground-based GNSS meteorology in Europe

In order to improve the performance of precise point positioning (PPP), this paper presents a new data processing scheme to shorten the convergence time and the observation time required for a reliable ambiguity-fixing. In the new scheme, L1 and L2 raw observations are used and the slant ionospheric delays are treated as unknown parameters. The empirical spatial and temporal constraints and the ionospheric delays derived from a real-time available ionospheric model are all considered as pseudo-observations into the estimation for strengthening the solution. Furthermore, we develop a real-time computational procedure for generating uncalibrated phase delays (UPDs) on L1 and L2 frequencies. The PPP solution is first carried out on all reference stations based on the proposed scheme, undifferenced float ambiguities on L1 and L2 frequencies can be directly obtained from the new scheme. The L1 and L2 UPDs are then generated and broadcasted to users in real-time. This data product and also the performance of the new PPP scheme are evaluated. Our results indicate that the new processing scheme considering ionospheric characteristics can reduce the convergence time by about 30 % for float kinematic solutions. The observation time for a reliable ambiguity-fixing is shortened by 25 % compared to that of the traditional ambiguity-fixed kinematic solution. When the new method is used for static reference stations, the observation time for ambiguity-fixing is about 10 min in static mode and only 5  min if the coordinates are fixed to well-known values.

A method for improving uncalibrated phase delay estimation and ambiguity-fixing in real-time precise point positioning

Realtime satellite clock corrections are usually estimated using undifferenced phase and range observations from a global network. Because a large number of ambiguity parameters must be estimated, the computation is time-consuming. Consequently, only a sparse global network of limited number of stations is processed by most IGS Realtime Analysis Centers with an update rate of 5 s. In addition, it is very desirable to build the capability to simultaneously estimate clock corrections for multi-GNSS constellations. Although the estimation can be sped up by epoch-differenced observations that eliminate ambiguities, the derived clocks can contain a satellite-specific bias that diminishes the contribution of range observations. We introduce a computationally efficient approach for realtime clock estimation. Both the epoch-differenced phase and undifferenced range observations are used together to estimate the epoch-differenced satellite clocks and the initial clock bias for each satellite and receiver. The biased clock corrections accumulated from the estimated epoch-differenced clocks are then aligned with the estimated clock biases and provided as the final clock corrections to users. The algorithm is incorporated into the EPOS-RT software developed at GFZ (GeoForschungsZentrum) and experimentally validated with the IGS global network. The comparison with the GFZ rapid products shows that the accuracy of the clock estimation with the new approach is comparable with that of the undifferenced approach, whereas the computation time is reduced to one-tenth. As a result, estimation of high-rate satellite clocks from a large reference network and tracking satellites of multi-GNSS constellations becomes achievable.

A computationally efficient approach for estimating high-rate satellite clock corrections in realtime

https://www.pecny.cz/sw/docu/papers/2013-ASR-preprint.pdf

Real-time zenith tropospheric delays in support of numerical weather prediction applications

An increasing number of GNSS reference stations are installed around the world to provide real-time precise positioning services. In most of the current services, a full network solution is required for the precise determination of biases. Such a network solution is time consuming and difficult to achieve for very large regions such as Europe or China. Therefore, we developed a multi-layer processing scheme for precise point positioning (PPP) regional augmentation to avoid processing large networks. Furthermore, we use L1 and L2 raw observations and estimate atmospheric delays, which were properly constrained to the atmospheric corrections derived from the reference stations. Therefore, inaccurate representation of atmospheric delays due to temporal and/or spatial atmospheric fluctuations in the processing can be compensated. The proposed scheme of PPP regional augmentation was implemented into the operational real-time PPP service system at GFZ for validation. The real-time orbit and clock corrections, the uncalibrated phase delays, and regional augmentation corrections are generated by this system. The augmentation corrections from the regional network are investigated and the positioning performance in terms of positioning accuracy and time for fixed solution is demonstrated in real-time. Our results indicate that a reliable fixing is possible after 5 s on average. The positioning accuracy is about 12, 10, and 25 mm in east, north, and vertical direction, respectively.

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Real-time precise point positioning regional augmentation for large GPS reference networks

A new concept is described for calculating the tropospheric zenith wet delay (ZWD) and its vertical approximation derived from the original profile of meteorological data. A new parameter of ZWD exponential decay is introduced which, together with a reference value, represents ZWD corrections accurately up to 10 km altitude. The new parameter considerably improves ZWD vertical reduction and surface ZWD calculation using the model of Askne and Nordius (1987). This development reduces the original large data set of a numerical weather model to an accurate grid representation at a reference level that may be more effectively disseminated. This can be used in regional augmentation models for precise positioning and navigation.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/2014GL060271

Jan Dousa

Papers

Review of the state of the art and future prospects of the ground-based GNSS meteorology in Europe

A computationally efficient approach for estimating high-rate satellite clock corrections in realtime

Real-time zenith tropospheric delays in support of numerical weather prediction applications

Real-time precise point positioning regional augmentation for large GPS reference networks

An improved model for calculating tropospheric wet delay