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A Global Positioning System (GPS) Reference Station Network for Kuwait
Juergen Rueffer
General Manager
ALLSAT GmbH,
Germany
Email: rueffer@allsat.de
Satellite positioning has been used for the past 20 years, but accuracy of positioning by satellites with a stand-alone receiver is limited, e.g. as a result of insufficiently modelled orbit data (broadcast ephemeris) and errors induced by the modified path of the GPS signal in the atmosphere. These effects can be eliminated by the formation of differences. With a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) one GPS reference station is installed temporarily on a known position calculating correction parameters and sending them to a GPS rover receiver. While collecting data from more than one GPS reference station within a network, models for those effects can be calculated to use the correction data for longer distances between reference stations and hundreds of rover receivers. Precise DGPS positioning in a GPS reference station network enables accuracies of a few centimetres in position and in height.
The advantage of a GPS reference station network in comparison with one single GPS reference station is the high availability of the correction data, the increased accuracy within an extensive area and the multitude of different users at the same time. For the user there is no need to care about the GPS reference station as the GPS network will be monitored continuously. So such a network is of outstanding significance for areas with growing infrastructure and with continuous update of GIS databases as well as for organisations responsible for the operation and maintenance of suppliers eg. for energy and water.
This paper describes the design of a complete GPS reference station network, and discusses benefits for field surveying and GIS data acquisition in Kuwait by combining state-of-the-art GPS and GIS techniques.
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