Chapter 3 – GPS Errors and Biases

Sources of error in GPS measurements

Selective Availability

Satellite clock errors

Satellite geometry

Satellite Orbits

Multipath effect

Atmospheric effects

 Receiver clock inaccuracies and rounding

errors
Relativistic effects
 Errors in GPS measurements

 GPS pseudo range and carrier –phase measurements are both

affected by several types of random errors and bias(systematic
errors). These errors classified as those originating at the satellites,
those originating at the receiver and those that are due signal
propagation (atmospheric refraction)
 Satellite dependent errors: ephemeris, or orbital errors,
satellite clock errors, and the effect of selective availability.
 Signal propagation dependent errors: the delays of the GPS
signal as it passes through the ionospheric and tropospheric
layers of the atmosphere (ionospheric and tropospheric delay).
 Receiver dependent errors: receiver clock errors, multipath
error, receiver noise, and antenna phase center variations.
 Satellite Orbits errors

 An ephemeris error is a difference between the expected and

actual orbital position of a GPS satellite, since modeling the forces
acting on the GPS satellites will not be perfect.
 It is the uncertainty in the position of the satellites.
 Although the satellites are positioned in very precise orbits, slight
shifts of the orbits are possible due to gravitation forces.
 Sun and moon have a weak influence on the orbits.
 The orbit data are controlled and corrected regularly and are sent
to the receivers in the package of ephemeris data.
 Therefore the influence on the correctness of the position
determination is rather low, the resulting error being not more than
2 m.
 Satellite clock errors

 Even though GPS clocks are the most accurate clocks, they are not
perfect. This is because the satellite's atomic clocks experience
noise and clock drift errors.
 The onboard clocks errors are typically less than 1ms and vary
slowly.
 These errors are common to all users observing the same satellite,
and can be removed through differencing between the receivers
observables.
 Applying the satellite clock correction in the navigation message
can also correct the satellite clock errors.
 Selective availability errors

 Intentional degradation of GPS timing and/or satellite position

data to decrease the accuracy of calculated position.
 On May 1, 2000 the selective availability (SA) was turned off.
 For civil GPS receivers that leads to a less accurate position
determination (fluctuation of about 50 m during a few minutes)
 Multipath errors

 It is occurs when the GPS signal arrives at the receiver antenna

through different path.
 These paths can be the direct line of sight signal and reflected
signals from an objects surrounding the receiver antenna.
 The multipath effect is caused by reflection of satellite signals
(radio waves) on objects.
 The reflected signal takes more time to reach the receiver than the
direct signal
 Multipath effect is occurs both in carrier phase and pseudo range
measurements but, much larger in the pseudo range
measurements.
 Cont’d

 For GPS signals this effect mainly appears in the neighborhood

of large buildings, water body, or other elevations.
 The resulting error typically lies in the range of a few meters.

Multipath effect
 Cont’d

There are different methods to reduce multipath effect:

 Selecting an observation site with no reflecting object.
 Use antenna ground plane to avoid reflections from the
ground.
 Deploy absorbing material on the ground.
 Select carefully designed antennas, e.g. choke ring antennas.
 Atmospheric effects

 This is the reduced speed of propagation in the troposphere and

ionosphere.
 While radio signals travel with the velocity of light in the outer
space, their propagation in the ionosphere and troposphere is
slower.
 GPS works best in open areas with clear view of the sky.
 1. Ionosphere delay

 The ionosphere is a dispersive medium, which means it bends the

GPS radio signal and changes its speed as it passes through the
various ionospheric layers to reach a GPS receiver.
 Bending the GPS signal path causes a negligible range error,
particularly if the satellite elevation angle is greater than 5°.
 It is the change in the propagation speed that causes a significant
range error, and therefore should be accounted for.
 The ionosphere speeds up the propagation of the carrier phase
beyond the speed of light, while it slows down the P- code and the
navigation message by the same amount.
 Can be removed by using dual frequency receiver .
 2. Tropospheric delay

 It is atmosphere region which extends up 50 km from the surface

of the earth.
 it delays GPS carriers and codes identically by refraction.
 The reasons for the refraction are humidity, pressure, and
temperature in the troposphere, caused by different weather
conditions.
 The error caused that way is smaller than the ionospheric error.
 The measured satellite-to-receiver range will be longer than the
actual geometric range, which means that a distance between two
receivers will be longer than the actual distance.
 But cannot be eliminated by combining L1 and L2 frequency
observations since it is frequency independent.
 Receiver Clock inaccuracies and rounding errors

 GPS receivers use inexpensive, less accurate crystal clocks than

space segment clocks. Because of this, receiver clock error is much
larger than satellite clock error,
 Despite the synchronization of the receiver clock with the satellite
time during the position determination, the remaining inaccuracy of
the time still leads to an error of about 2 m in the position
determination.
 But it can be eliminated by differencing observations between
satellites by the same receiver.(differencing B/n satellites.)
 In some applications, external atomic clocks are used instead of the
internal receiver clock, but it is too expensive to use in every work
 Rounding and calculation errors of the receiver sum up
approximately to 1 m.
 Antenna-phase-center variation

 Antenna-phase-center is the point on the receiver at which the

signal is received.
 Generally, the antenna phase center does not coincide with the
physical (geometrical) center of the antenna.
 It varies depending on the elevation and the azimuth of the GPS
satellite as well as the intensity of the observed signal.
 The size of the error caused by the antenna-phase-center variation
depends on the antenna type, and is typically in the order of a few
centimeters.
 For highest accuracy requirements only calibrated antennas should
be used.
 Relativistic Effects

 The inertial coordinate system at rest, its origin located at the

centre of the Earth, is taken as reference to view all GPS related
activities.
 Because of the large motion velocities and near circular orbits of
the GPS satellite, the non-negligible gravitational potential
difference between the satellite and the users, as well as the
rotation of the Earth, the relativistic effects have to be taken into
account.
 Frequency effect
 Path range effect
 Earth’s rotational effect …
 Satellite geometry errors

 Satellite geometry describes the position of the satellites to each

other from the view of the receiver.
 dilution of precision(DOP) values measure the effect of satellite
geometry.
 The lower the value of DOP number, the better geometric strength
and vice versa.
 For an accurate position determination, the GDOP value should not
be greater than 5.
 Cont’d

 HDOP-values below 4 are good, above 8 bad.

 Based on which factors are used for the calculation of the
DOP values, different variants are distinguished:
 GDOP (Geometric DOP); examining the effect of satellite
geometry on overall-accuracy; 3D-coordinates and time .
 PDOP (Positional DOP); Position accuracy; 3D-coordinates

 HDOP (Horizontal DOP); represents the effect of satellite

geometry on the horizontal component (positioning
accuracy; 2D-coordinates).
 Cont’d

 VDOP (Vertical DOP); represents the satellite geometry

effect on the vertical component (positioning accuracy;
height).
 TDOP (Time DOP); time accuracy; time.

 The error in the position determination caused by the

satellite geometry also depends on the latitude of the
receiver and the best solution is good planning using soft
wares.
 GPS mission planning

Even under the full constellation of 24 GPS satellites,

there exist some periods of time where only four
satellites are visible above a particular elevation angle,
which may not be enough for some GPS works.
Such a satellite visibility problem is expected more at
high latitudes (higher than about 55°) because of the
nature of the GPS constellation.
This problem may also occur in some low- or mid-
latitude areas for a particular period of time.
 Cont’d

Because the satellite geometry changes over time, the

satellite visibility problem may be overcome by
selecting a suitable observation time, which ensures a
minimum number of visible satellites and/or a particular
maximum DOP value.
To help users in identifying the best observation
periods, GPS manufacturers have developed mission-
planning software packages, which predict the satellite
visibility and geometry at any given location.
 Out put of planning software

 Sky plot, which represents the user's sky window by a series of

concentric circles.
 The center point represents the user’s zeniths.
 The intermediate circle represents different elevation angles.
 Outer circle represents his/her horizon and is also graduated from 0 to
360 to represent the satellite azimuth (direction) at any time.
 In sky plot the relative satellite location , satellite azimuth and elevation
are obtained.
 Satellite availability plot, which shows the total number of the
visible satellites above the user-specified mask angle, and the
satellite geometry plot.
 The satellite geometry plot is normally represented by the PDOP,
HDOP, and VDOP.
Sky Plot
Satellite Numbers
Satellite geometry
 Anti-Spoofing (AS)

 It refers to the encrypting of the precise positioning information

(the P-Code) in the GPS signal to prevent unauthorized use.
 Anti-Spoofing entails the encryption of the P-code, i.e. use of a
protected code named Y-code.
 Only authorized users will have the means to get access to the P-
code while AS is activated.
 Anti-Spoofing (AS) has the aim to prevent an adversary from
generating a copy of the GPS signal, and to “spoof”, or mislead, a
receiver.
 Cont’d

 The encrypted P-code is referred to as a Y-code. AS has been

active on all Block II satellites nearly continuously since
February 1994.
 As a consequence, SPS users only have clear access to the L1
carrier signal because L2 exclusively carries the encrypted P-
code.
 Receiver manufacturers therefore have developed proprietary
techniques to gain access to L2 signals under AS, however with
decreased quality.
 COMMON ERRORS IN GPS OBSERVATIONS

 Common errors during GPS observation caused by user side

includes:
 Setting up over wrong point
 Not using well adjusted tribrachs
 Not observing long enough during a session
 Poor planning (selection of points that may cause cycle slips
or multipath or poor PDOP)
 Interruption due to power failure (not checking batteries prior
to departure)
 Reading and recording wrong antenna height