CHAPTER FIVE

Introduction to GNSS

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 Contents

5.1. The development of GNSS

5.2. Components of GNSS

5.3. GPS positioning methods

5.4. Errors in GPS

5.5. Point and relative GPS

5.6. Application of GPS

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5.0 Introductions

• Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is a

general term describing any satellite constellation
that provides;

• Positioning,

• Navigation, and

• Timing services

• GNSS provide PNT services on global or regional

basis.

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 Cont’d
• Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are at
their core, a timing system where all satellites
clocks are closely synchronized.

• Satellites broadcast coded signals at exact times

and the user’s receiver receives the coded
messages and can estimate the time it took for
each signal to travel from the GNSS satellite
antenna to the user’s antenna.

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 Cont’d
• Once the time of flight is estimated the distance
can be approximately computed by multiplying
the time of flight by the speed of light to
arrive at a distance measurement in metres for
each satellite.

• GNSS satellites also broadcast messages that

enable the user’s GNSS receiver to determine the
satellites antenna position at the time the signal
was broadcast (Cartesian X, Y, Z coordinates).

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 Cont’d
• To estimate the ground antenna position the
receiver must measure the time delay from at
least four satellites, as four unknowns have to be
estimated. These are:

1. Easting (X)

2. Northing (Y)

3. Altitude (Z) and

4.Receiver clock time (T)

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 Cont’d
• The basic GNSS concept shown in Figure below,
illustrates the steps involved in using GNSS to
determine time and position through to the end
user application.

Basic concept of GNSS 7

5.1 The development of GNSS

• GNSS development has an interesting aspect due

to its sensitive nature.

• Considerable events or developments are always

subject to a couple of differentiators:

i. Technological developments and

ii.Political decisions

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 Cont’d
• GPS and GLONASS in all stages of improvements
are strictly related to those differentiators.

• The approval and startup of the European Galileo

program is considered by far the most real
innovation.

• Technological and political decisions in Galileo

substantiate that interoperability and compatibility
must be reached in the forthcoming years. Such
issues are the true GNSS improvement for the
benefit of institutions and organizations.

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5.2 Components of GNSS

• GNSS satellite systems are GPS (US), GLONASS

(Russia), Galileo (EU), BeiDou/Compass (China),
IRSS/NAVIC (India), and QZSS (Japan) consist of
three major components or “segments”:

Space segment,

control segment and

user segment

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Cont’d

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 Cont’d
Space Segment

• The space segment consists of GNSS satellites,

orbiting about 20,000 km above the earth.

• Each GNSS has its own “constellation” of

satellites, arranged in orbits to provide the
desired coverage.

• Each satellite in a GNSS constellation broadcasts a

signal that identifies it and provides its time,
orbit and status.

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 Cont’d
Control Segment
• The control segment comprises a ground-based
network of master control stations, data
uploading stations and monitor stations.

• Monitor stations, usually installed over a broad

geographic area, monitor the satellites’ signals and

status, and relay this information to the master

control station.

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 Cont’d
• The master control station analyses the signals
then transmits orbit and time corrections to the
satellites through data uploading stations.

• In each GNSS system, the master control station

adjusts the satellites’ orbit parameters and
onboard high-precision clocks when necessary to
maintain accuracy.

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 Cont’d
User segment
• The user segment consists of equipment that
processes the received signals from the GNSS
satellites and uses them to derive and apply
location and time information.

• The equipment ranges from smartphones and

handheld receivers used by hikers, to
sophisticated, specialized receivers used for high
end survey and mapping applications.

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 Cont’d
Three steps to determine the position of one point in
GNSS

Step 1 - Satellites serve as reference points.

Step 2 -The satellite distance / GNSS antenna,

measured continuously.

Step 3 - The position is calculated by solving

spherical intersection equations.

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 Cont’d
• A GNSS receiver needs a minimum of 4 satellites
to be able to calculate its own position.

• Three satellites will determine;

latitude,

longitude, and

height

• The fourth one synchronizes the receiver’s internal

clock.

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 Cont’d
• The GNSS receiver locks on to one satellite and
calculates the range to be for example 22,000 km.

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 Cont’d
• Now, consider that the receiver picks up a signal
from a second satellite and calculates the range
between the receiver and the satellite to be
26,000 km.

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 Cont’d
• When a GNSS receiver is locked onto 3 satellites,
its position is somewhere at the intersection of 3
circles which result from the intersection of three
spheres.

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 Cont’d
• An extra 4th satellite’s range measurement
removes timing offset errors.

• Distances to four satellites enable the receiver

to resolve ambiguity in spatial positioning.

• In order to solve for these four unknowns,

pseudo-range measurements must be taken to
a minimum of four satellites to triangulate the

position of the receiver.

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5.3 GPS positioning methods
• The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a U.S.-
owned utility that provides users with positioning,
navigation, and timing (PNT) services.

• This system consists of three segments:

Space segment,
Control segment, and
User segment

 The U.S. Air force develops, maintains, and

operates the space and control segments.

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 Cont’d
GPS Segments

GPS consists of three distinct segments:

• The space segment - Satellites orbiting the earth

• The control segment - stations positioned on the

earth's equator to control the satellites.

• The User segment - Any body that receives and

uses the GPS signal.
 Cont’d

GPS Segments
 Cont’d
Space Segment

• The space segment is designed to consist of 24

satellites orbiting the earth at approximately at
height 20,200 km in every 12 hours.

• The satellites are arrayed in 6 orbital plane inclined

550 to the equator.

• The space segment is so designed that there will be

a minimum of four satellites visible above a 150 cut
- off angle at any point of the earth's surface at any
time.
 Cont’d
• Four satellites are the minimum that must be visible for
most applications.

• Each GPS satellite has four very accurate and precise

atomic clocks (Rubidium and Cesium standards) and
has a microprocessor on board for limited self-
monitoring and data processing.

• The GPS satellites essentially provide a platform for

radio transceivers atomic clocks, computers and
various ancillary equipment's used to operate the
system.
 Cont’d

GPS elevation angle

GPS Constellation
 Cont’d
Control Segment
• 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, Hawaii and
Kwajalein Island.
 Cont’d
• 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.

 Cont’d
• Master Control Station (MCS) - Prediction of
ephemerides and clock behavior

• Monitor Station (MS) - Control of ephemerides

and satellite clocks.

• Ground Antenna (GA) - Uplink of Navigation

Message to Satellites
Cont’d
 Cont’d
 GPS signals
GPS signals and services
Designation Frequency Description

L1 1575.42 L1 is modulated by the C/A code

MHz (Coarse/Acquisition) and the P-code
(Precision) which is encrypted for military and
other authorized users.
L2 1227.60 L2 is modulated by the P-code and, beginning
MHz with the Block IIR-M satellites, the L2C
(civilian) code. L2C has begun broadcasting
civil navigation (CNAV) messages.
L5 1176.45 L5, available beginning with Block IIF
MHz satellites, has begun broadcasting CNAV
messages
 Cont’d
User Segment
• The user segment comprises of anyone using GPS
receiver to receive GPS signals and determine
their position and /or their time.

• Typical applications within the user segment are

Land Navigation for vehicle location, surveying,
marine navigation, areal navigation, machine
control etc.
5.4 Errors in GPS
• The ‘time of flight’ of radio signals from several
satellites to a receiver is used to calculate
pseudorange or pseudo-distances.

• The term ‘pseudorange’ is used to distinguish it

from true range, as it may be affected by various
sources of error in time of flight measurement.

• Even the smallest timing errors can result in large

position errors: for example, a 10 ns timing error
might imply a 3m pseudorange error.

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 Cont’d
• Various types of error may degrade precision,
including the following:
Ionospheric and tropospheric errors
Satellite clock errors
Ephemeris data errors
Receiver quality
Multipath error
Dilution Of Precision (DOP)

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 Cont’d

Contributing source Error range

Satellite clocks ±2m

Orbit error ±2.5m

Ionospheric delay ±5m

Tropospheric delay ±0.5m

Receiver noise ±0.3m

Multipath ±1m

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5.5 GPS positioning modes

• Positioning with GPS can be performed by either

of two ways:

I. Point Positioning

II. Relative Positioning

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 Cont’d
I. 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.

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 Cont’d
• 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.

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 Cont’d
II GPS Relative Positioning
• GPS relative positioning, also called Differential
Positioning, employs at least two GPS receivers
simultaneously tracking the same satellites to
determine their relative coordinates.

• Of the two receivers, one is selected as a

reference or base, which remains stationary at a
site with precisely known coordinates.

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 Cont’d
• 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.

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 Cont’d
• Techniques in Relative positioning
Post processing operation
• Static GPS positioning

• Rapid static GPS positioning

• Stop and Go GPS positioning

Real time operation

• Real time DGPS

• RTK GPS

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5.6. GPS Application
• 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.

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 Cont’d
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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 Cont’d
• 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.

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 Cont’d
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.

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 Cont’d
• The most important one is the intervisibility
between the points is not required with GPS.

• This means that extensive traversing is

eliminated, clear cutting is not required and
intervening privates 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.

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 Cont’d
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.

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 Cont’d
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.

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 Cont’d
• 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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Thanks

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