GNSS antennas have no fixed electrical reference point. The variation of the phase centre is modelled and tabulated in antenna calibration tables, which include the offset vector (PCO) and phase centre variation (PCV) for each frequency according to the elevations and azimuths of the incoming signal. Used together, PCV and PCO reduce the phase observations to the antenna reference point. The remaining biases, called the residual offsets, can be revealed by circulating and rotating the antennas on pillars. The residual offsets are estimated as additional parameters when combining the daily GNSS network solutions with full covariance matrix. We present a procedure for validating the antenna calibration tables. The dedicated test field, called Revolver, was constructed at Metsähovi. We used the procedure to validate the calibration tables of 17 antennas. Tables from the IGS and three different calibration institutions were used. The tests show that we were able to separate the residual offsets at the millimetre level. We also investigated the influence of the calibration tables from the different institutions on site coordinates by performing kinematic double-difference baseline processing of the data from one site with different antenna tables. We found small but significant differences between the tables.
We provide a survey on the joint European research project “GeoMetre”, which explores novel technologies and their inclusion to existing surveying strategies to improve the traceability of geodetic reference frames to the SI definition of the metre. This work includes the development of novel distance meters with a range of up to 5 km, the realisation of optical multilateration systems for large structure monitoring at an operation distance of 50 m and beyond, and a novel strategy for GNSS-based distance determination. Different methods for refractivity compensation, based on classical sensors, on dispersion, on spectroscopic thermometry, and on the speed of sound to reduce the meteorological uncertainties in precise distance measurements, are developed further and characterised. These systems are validated at and applied to the novel European standard baseline EURO5000 at the Pieniny Kippen Belt, Poland, which was completely refurbished and intensely studied in this project. We use our novel instruments for a reduced uncertainty of the scale in the surveillance networks solutions for local tie measurements at space-geodetic co-location stations. We also investigate novel approaches like close-range photogrammetry to reference point determination of space-geodetic telescopes. Finally, we also investigate the inclusion of the local gravity field to consider the deviations of the vertical in the data analysis and to reduce the uncertainty of coordinate transformations in this complex problem.
The datum problem is a fundamental issue in the network adjustment when connecting a local measurement network to an external reference frame. Datum elements in 3D networks are scale, translation, and orientation. We consider here the local tie network at geodetic core stations, where the external reference frame is the latest ITRF realization, ITRF2014, in the mean epoch of terrestrial observations.Accurate distance measurements are used for the determination of the network scale. Thus the improvement of its accuracy and the inclusion of weather measurements to account for refraction errors are essential. For rotation and translation of the network, we need external information. Angle observations are related to the coordinate system of the instrument (e.g. a tachymeter) which is usually aligned to the plumb line. Instruments have different vertical orientation at every station point and the direction of the plumb line does not coincide with the normal vector of the reference ellipsoid. Horizontally the observed set of angles are oriented in arbitrary or approximately oriented directions.External information which is needed for solving the absolute orientation are datum points, providing the link to the global coordinate system, and correction terms for the vertical orientation (deflection of the vertical), which can be derived from combined terrestrial/GNSS observations, from a gravity based geoid model, or from astronomical observations.In this article, we present the solutions/options for the datum problem in the framework of the EMPIR GeoMetre project using the example of the ITRF core stations Metsähovi and Wettzell using transformation-free approaches. The inclusion of distant targets is promising, since in small networks even a millimeter change in the coordinates of a datum point can significantly affect a local tie vector. It is shown that at both stations the determination of the deflection of the vertical using different techniques yield the same results within the measurement error.
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