6/29/2015

DifferentialCorrection(GPSandGIS)Part1

Subscribe
whatwhenhow
InDepthTutorialsandInformation

DifferentialCorrection(GPSandGIS)Part1

ExploreNew
Zealand

TemukanKeindahanAlamKamidan
NikmatiLiburanImpianAndadiSini
newzealand.com/NewZealand

INWHICHwetakeacloserlookatthesubjectofGPSaccuracyandexploretechniquesthatreduceerrors.

OVERVIEW
GPSAccuracyinGeneral
WhenyourecordasinglepositionwithagoodGPSreceiver,thepositionrecordedwillprobablybewithin5to
15metershorizontallyofthetruelocationoftheantenna.
Whenasurveyorusesgood,surveygradeGPSequipmentheorshecanlocateapointtowithinacentimeter
ofitstruehorizontalposition.Whatarethefactorsthatallowthesurveyortobe1,000orsotimesmoreaccurate
thanyouare?Thisisacomplicatedsubject.Theanswerincludes"verygoodequipment,""measuringtheactual
numberofwavesinthecarrier"(asdifferentiatedfrominterpretingthecodesimpressedonthecarrier),and
"spendingalotoftime"ateachsite.1Wecancoveronlythebasicsinatopicofthisscope.Butyouwilllearn
howtoreduceerrorssothatyoucanrecordafixtowithinhalfametertothreemetersofitstruelocation.One
primarymethodofgainingsuchaccuracyiscalled"differentialcorrection."

DifferentialCorrectioninSummary
Inanutshell,thedifferentialcorrectionprocessconsistsofsettingaGPSreceiver(calledabasestation)ata
preciselyknowngeographicpoint.Sincethebasestationknowsexactlywhereitsantennais,itcananalyzeand
recorderrorsintheGPSsignalsitreceivessignalsthattrytotellitthatitissomewhereelse.Thatis,thebase
stationknowsthetruth,soitcanassesstheliesbeingtoldtoitbytheGPSsignals.Thesesignalerrorswillbe
almostequivalenttothesignalerrorsaffectingotherGPSreceiversinthelocalarea,sotheaccuracyof
locationscalculatedbythoseotherreceiversmaybeimproved,dramatically,byinformationsuppliedbythe
basestation.

ThinkingaboutError
Fortheloggingofagivenpoint,define"error"asthedistancebetweenwhatyourGPSreceiverrecordsasthe
positionoftheantennaandthetruepositionoftheantenna.
Itisusefultodissecttheideaof"error."Wecanspeakoferrorinahorizontalplaneanddifferentiateitfrom
theverticalerror.ThisisimportantinGPS,becausethegeometryofthesatellitesalmostalwaysdictatesthatno
http://whatwhenhow.com/globalpositioningsystemandgis/differentialcorrectiongpsandgispart1/

1/9

6/29/2015

DifferentialCorrection(GPSandGIS)Part1

matterwhatwedo,verticalerrorwillalmostalwaysexceedhorizontalerroronornearthesurfaceoftheearth.
Thefactthatallthesatellitesarenecessarilyabovethefixbeingtakengenerallymeansthatverticalerrorwill
be1.5to2.5asgreatashorizontalerror.
Anotherusefuldistinctionisbetweenwhatwemightcallrandomerrorandsystematicerror,orbias.Random
errorsaredeviationsfroma"true"valuethatfollownopredictablepattern.Systematicerrorsdofollowa
predictablepattern.Anexamplewillbeillustrative.Supposewehaveamachinedesignedtohurltennisballsso
thattheylandacertaindistanceawayonasmalltargetpaintedontheground.Ofcourse,noneoftheballswill
hitthecenterofthetargetexactlytherewillalwaysbesomeerror.
Whatfactorsmightcauseerrors?Theballsareeachofslightlydifferentweighttheyarenotsymmetricaland
willbeloadedintothemachineindifferentorientations.Sinceitishardtodeterminetheeffectsofthesefactors
ontheaccuracyoftheprocess,wesaythefactorsinducerandomerrors.Ifthereareonlyrandomerrorsinthe
process,someballswillhitshortofthecenterofthetarget,somebeyondit,someleft,someright,andsoon.If
weshoot100ballsfromthemachinewewillseeapatternofstrikesintheareaoftargetwhichappears
somewhatrandom,butwhichclustersaroundthetarget.
Nowsupposethatwehadsetupourmachineanditstargetwhentherewasnowind,butthenaconstantbreeze
of10milesperhourbeganblowingfromtherightacrossthepathofflightofthetennisballs.Thiswouldcreate
asystematicerror:eachballwouldlandsomewhattotheleftofwhereitwouldhavelandedinthenowind
condition.Wewillstillseearandompatternofhits,buttheaverageofallhitswillbesomewhattotheleftof
thetarget.Thisissystematicerrorthe"system,"includingthewind,causesit.Tocorrect,wecouldaimthe
machinesomewhattotheright.
Otherexamplesoffactorsthatmightcontributetoerrorsare:asthetemperaturechanges,thecharacteristics
ofthemachinemaychangetheatmosphericpressureandtherelativehumidityoftheairwillaffectthedragon
aballandsoon.Whetherthesemightberandomerrorsorsystematiconesmightbehardtodetermine.
Generally,randomerrorsarethosecausedbyfactorswecannotmeasureorcontrolsystematicerrorsarethose
wecanaccountfor,measure,and,perhaps,correctfor.

FirstLineofDefenseagainstError:Averaging
WhenIimpliedthatthesurveyorcouldbe1,000timesmoreaccuratethantheaveragepersonwithaGPS
receiver,Iwasbeingsomewhatdisingenuous,mostlyforeffect.Iwascomparingasinglereadingwith
inexpensiveequipmentwiththeaverageofmanyreadingsfromexpensiveequipment.Thisisnotafaircontrast,
sinceyoucanimprovetheaccuracyofthelessexpensiveequipmentbytakingmanyreadingsatafixedpoint.
Yourecallthatthestrikesofthetennisballs,withnowind,tendedtoclusteraroundthetarget.GPSreadings
tendtoclusteraroundthetruelocation.Wecanusethefactthatlargenumbersofrandomerrorstendtobeself
canceling.Thatis,theaverageposition(ifyoutakethemeansofmanylatitudes,ofmanylongitudes,ofmany
altitudes)willbemuchclosertothetruevaluethanthetypicalsinglemeasurement.
OnemeasureofaccuracyofGPSfixesiscalledCircularErrorProbable(CEP).Itistheradiusofacircle
expressedinalinearunit,suchasmeters.Foragivensituation,50%ofthefixeswillfallwithinthecircle,and
50%outside.Anothermeasureofaccuracyisbasedontwostandarddeviationsofanormaldistributioncalled
2dRMSwhereRMSmeansrootmeansquare.
Ninetyfivepercentofthefixeswillliewithinacirclewiththisradius.
ForNAVSTARGPS,anumberofexperimentssuggestthat50%ofthelatitudeandlongitudefixesyouobtain
withasinglereceiveroperatingbyitself(i.e.,autonomously)willliewithin12metersofthetruepoint.Fifty
percentofthealtitudefixeswillliewithin21meters.The2dRMSradiusis30metershorizontally,and70
metersvertically.Thesenumbersassumethatselectiveavailabilityisoff.
http://whatwhenhow.com/globalpositioningsystemandgis/differentialcorrectiongpsandgispart1/

2/9

6/29/2015

DifferentialCorrection(GPSandGIS)Part1

Ingeneral,themorefixesyoutakeandthemoretimeyouspend,thebetteryouraveragewillbe.Ifyouare
preparedtotakedataatonepointforseveralweekstoseveralmonthsyourerrorwillgetdowntoapproximately
onetotwometers,basicallyduetothelawoflargenumbers.2Thismaynotbeapracticalwaytoreduceerror
inmostapplications.
Anotherapproach,whichisrelatedtoaveraginginadifferentway,istouse"overdetermined"position
finding.Asyouknow,foursatellitesarerequiredfora3Dfix.Butsupposeyourreceiverhasaccesstofiveor
moreatagiventime.Eachsetoffourofthesatellitesavailablewillprovideadifferentopinionontheposition
ofthepointbeingsought.Acompromiseagreementbasedonallthesatellitesinputisprobablybetterthanthe
positionindicatedbyanyonesetoffour.TheGeoExplorermaybesettocollectdatainthisway.

SourcesofGPSError
NowlookatthespecificsourcesoferrorsinGPSmeasurements.Typicalerrorsourcesandvaluesfor
receiversofthePathfinderclassare:
satelliteclocks <1meter
ephemeriserror <1meter
receivererror

<2meters

ionospheric

<2meters

tropospheric

<2meters

multipath

(dependsonthesituationandthereceivermaybelarge)

Thesevaluescorrespondtoaveragesofmanyreadingsratherthantheerrorthatmightbeexpectedfroma
singlereading.Althoughexperimentationshowsthatthemorefixesyourecordthebetterthedatabecome,the
increaseinaccuracycreatedbytakingalargenumberoffixesreallycannotbecountedupon.Theexistenceof
systematicerrorsthatmightbepresentbecauseofparticularatmosphericconditions(or,forcertain,when
selectiveavailabilitywasactive)makesthelawoflargenumbersinapplicable.Asyouwillseeshortly,thereare
betterwaystogetreallyaccuratedata.Andmuchmoreaccuratedataarealmostalwaysrequiredwhenusing
GPSforGISpurposes.

ClockErrors
Asyouknow,theabilityofaGPSreceivertodetermineafixdependsonitsabilitytodeterminehowlongit
takesasignaltogetfromthesatellitetothereceiverantenna.Thisrequiresthattheatomicclocksinthesatellite
besynchronized.Evenasmallamountofdifferenceintheclockscanmakeahugedifferenceinthedistance
measurements,becausetheGPSsignaltravelsatabout300,000,000meterspersecond.

EphemerisErrors
http://whatwhenhow.com/globalpositioningsystemandgis/differentialcorrectiongpsandgispart1/

3/9

6/29/2015

DifferentialCorrection(GPSandGIS)Part1

Thereceiverexpectseachsatellitetobeatacertainplaceataparticulargiventime.Everyhourorso,initsdata
message,thesatellitetellsthereceiverwhereitispredictedtobeattime"t"hence.Ifthisephemerisprediction
isincorrectthesatelliteisntwhereitisexpectedtobe,evenbyjustameterortwothenthemeasurementof
therangefromthereceiverantennatothesatellitewillbeincorrect.

ReceiverErrors
Theseerrorsresultfromanumberoffactorsrelatedtoreceiverdesign,cost,andquality.Somereceivers,for
example,cannotexactlymeasureandcomputethedistancetoeachsatellitesimultaneously.TheGeoExplorer
cantrackuptosixsatellitesatasinglemomentitisasixchannelreceiver.Inanyreceiverthecomputermust
workwithafixednumberofdigitsandisthereforesubjecttocalculationerrors.Thefactis,perfectionin
positioncalculationbycomputersimplyisnotpossible,becausecomputerscannotdoarithmeticonfractions
exactly.(Itistruethatothercomputeroperations,suchasadditionofintegers,areperfect.)

AtmosphericErrors
Formostofitstripfromthesatellitetothereceiverantenna,theGPSsignalenjoysatripthroughthevirtual
vacuumof"emptyspace."Halfofthemassoftheearthsatmosphereiswithin3.5milesofsealevel.Virtually
allofitiswithin100milesofthesurface.Sothesignalgetstogothespeedlimitforelectromagneticradiation
formorethan12,000ofthemorethan12,600milesofthetrip.Whenitgetstotheearthsatmosphere,however,
thespeeddropsveryslightlybyanamountthatvariessomewhatrandomly.Ofcourse,sincethecalculationof
therangetothesatellitedependsonthespeedofthesignal,achangeinsignalspeedimpliesanerrorin
distance,whichproducesanerrorinpositionfinding.
Significantchangesinsignalspeedoccurthroughouttheatmosphere,buttheprimarycontributionstoerror
comefromtheionosphere,whichcontainschargedparticlesundertheinfluenceoftheearthsmagneticfield,
andfromthetropospherethatdensepartoftheatmospherethatwebreath,thatrainsonus,andthat
demonstrateslargevariationsinpressureanddepth.
MoresophisticatedGPSequipmentcan"calculateout"mostoftheionosphericerrorbecauseitconsiders
boththefrequenciestransmittedbyeachsatellite.Sincetheionosphereaffectsthedifferentfrequencies
differentlyacorrectioncanbecalculated.Troposphericerrors,however,weseemtobeprettymuchstuckwith,
especiallyusingthemoderatelyinexpensivecodebasedequipmentavailabletocivilians.Thiswillchangewhen
asecondciviliansignalisaddedtothesystem.

MultipathErrors
Thiscanhappenifapartofthesignalisbouncedoffanobject,suchasabuilding.Thearrivaloftwoormore
partsofthesignalatdifferenttimescanconfusethereceiverandproduceafalsereading.Manyreceiversare
programmedtodisregardthesecondsignal.Butaproblemcanoccurifthedirectsignalisblockedbutthe
relatedbouncedsignalisseenbytheantennaandrecorded.

SelectiveAvailabilityAFormer(WeHope)SourceofError
UntilMay2,2000thelionsshareofthe"ErrorBudget"camefromdeliberatecorruptionofthesignalbythe
U.S.DepartmentofDefense(DoD).AsIhavesaid,theydidntwantthecivilianGPSreceivertobeableto
pinpointitsposition.Infact,intheearlydays,theydidntwantthecivilianworldtoknowGPSexisted.
Selectiveavailabilitywasonetechniquethemilitarycouldusetokeepthesystemfrombeingtooaccurate.
(Anotheriscalled"antispoofing.")Theerrorswereprobablyinducedbydithering(makinginaccurate)the
signalthattellsthegroundreceivertheexacttimeorbybroadcastingaslightlyfalseephemeris.Obviously,the
militarydidntwanttosaytoomuchaboutitstechniquesformakingthegoodGPSsignals"selectively
available"i.e.,availableonlytomilitaryreceivers.
http://whatwhenhow.com/globalpositioningsystemandgis/differentialcorrectiongpsandgispart1/

4/9

6/29/2015

DifferentialCorrection(GPSandGIS)Part1

TheDoDhad,onoccasion,turnedselectiveavailabilityoffbefore.(Twonotabletimeswereduringthe
MideastWarwithIraqandduringthealmostinvasionofHaiti.)
WithSAoffanautonomousreceivercansupplymuchmoreaccuratepositioninformation.The50%measure
(CEP)measureisabout12metershorizontallyand21metersvertically,duetotheerrorspreviouslydiscussed.
Ninetyfivepercent(2dRMS)ofthefixesfallwithin30metershorizontally,and52metersvertically.

ReducingErrors
Asitturnsout,mostoftheseerrorscanbe"calculatedout"ofthemeasurementsbytheprocesscalled
differentialcorrection.Tounderstandhowitworks,letmefirstshowyoutheresultsofanexperiment.
Figure413showstwosequencesofpoints(twodifferentfiles)takenwithaGeoExplorerreceiverplacedata
singlelocation,operatingduringtwodifferenttimeperiods.

Theneatstringatrightwasmadeoffixestakenabout6secondsapartthemessattheleftwasmeasuredby
takingpointsevery20secondsduringadifferenttimeperiod.(Thetickmarksare10metersapart.)Youshould
realizethateachandeveryfixhereisattemptingtoapproximatethesametrueposition.Theyshowupin
differentpositionsbecauseoftheerrorsdiscussedabove.Wedontknowwhatthetruepositionoftheantenna
was,butalmostcertainlyeachpointmissestheexact,truepositionbysomeamount.

Figure41.Twofilesofthesamepointdata(GeoExplorer).
Figure42showsdatacollectedatthesametimesasinthepreviousfigurethecomputationsoflocation
werebasedonthesamesetoffoursatellites.Theantennaforthisreceiver(aPathfinderBasic)wasinvirtually
thesamegeographiclocationastheother.
NowlookatacompositeofthetwosetsofdataasshowninFigure43.ThepointsoftheGeoExplorerdata
http://whatwhenhow.com/globalpositioningsystemandgis/differentialcorrectiongpsandgispart1/

5/9

6/29/2015

DifferentialCorrection(GPSandGIS)Part1

aremarkedwithboxesthePathfinderdataaremarkedwithcircles.
Whatisinterestingisthatthetwopatternsoffixesshowremarkablesimilarity.Pairsoffixestakenatthe
sametimefromthesamesetofsatellitesappearinaboutthesameposition.Thissuggeststhattheerrorfor
eachassociatedpairofpointsisalmostidentical,eventhoughthefixeshavecomefromdifferentreceiversand
differentantennas.Andthissuggestssomethingwhichturnsouttobetrue,thoughIhavenotprovedithere:
thatreceiverscalculatingfromthesamesignalswillsufferfromalmostthesameerrors,providedthatthe
antennasare"close."Whatsclose?Tworeceiverswithin500kilometers(300miles)willtendtoshowthesame
magnitudeanddirectionoferrorswithrespecttothetruelocationsoftheirantennas,providedthepositionsare
foundusingthesamesetofsatellites.

Figure42.Samepointaspreviousfigure(PathfinderBasic).

MoreFormally
Theexperimentdescribedabovedemonstratesthatmuchoftheerrorisinherentinthesignalsthatis,the
errorsoccurbeforethesignalsreachthereceiverantenna.
ToseehowthathelpsusremovemostoftheerrorfromaGPSfix,letsfocusonbothasinglepointonEarths
surface(atruepoint,"T"),anditsrepresentationintheGPSreceiver(themeasured,orobserved,point,"O").
SupposewetakeaGPSreceiverantenna,andplaceitpreciselyatthatknownpoint"T"apointthathasbeen
surveyedbyexactingmeansandwhosetruepositionisknowntowithinacentimeter.Wecallsuchanantenna
receiverconfigurationGPSbasestation.

http://whatwhenhow.com/globalpositioningsystemandgis/differentialcorrectiongpsandgispart1/

6/9

6/29/2015

DifferentialCorrection(GPSandGIS)Part1

Figure43.Compositeoffourfilessameantennalocations.

Figure44.Errorvectorfromobservedpointtotruepoint.
Nowconsiderthatanobservation"O"istakenbyabasestationreceiver.Sowehavethreeentitiesto
consider,asshowninFigure44:
thepositionof"T,"
thereading"O,"and
the"difference"between"O"and"T."
Wevedrawnanarrowfromthemeasuredpointtothetruepoint.Thisarrow,whichisshownintwo
dimensionsbutwhichwouldreallyexistinthree,hasbothalength(calledamagnitude)andadirection.An
http://whatwhenhow.com/globalpositioningsystemandgis/differentialcorrectiongpsandgispart1/

7/9

6/29/2015

DifferentialCorrection(GPSandGIS)Part1

entitythathasmagnitudeanddirectionisknownasavector.Welabelthevector"E,"for"error,"becauseit
representstheamountanddirectionbywhichthereadingmissedthetruepoint.UsuallywedontknowE,but
herewecancalculateit.Thefollowingdiscussionindicateshow.
Ingeneral,whenwehaveusedGPS,wehaveusedthereportedcoordinates,"O,"asanapproximationof"T."
Thevector"E"wasthe(unknown)amountbywhichwemisseddeterminingtheposition"T."Asanequation
wecouldwrite:wherewerecord"O"andwedisregard"E"tofindanapproximationof"T."Thatis,thetrue
coordinatesaretheobservedcoordinatesminustheerror.Atbest,wecouldestimatethemagnitudebutnotthe
directionof"E."(Itisimportanttorealizethatnoneofthesequantitiesarescalars[simplenumberslike23.5]
butarethreedimensionalentities,sothe""signindicatesvectorsubtraction.Theconceptweareattemptingto
communicatesurvivesthiscomplexity.)
Butifweknow"T"exactly,andofcoursewehavethemeasuredvalue"O,"thenwecanrewritethe
aboveequationtofind"E":
Whatgoodisbeingabletocalculate"E"?ItallowsustocorrectthereadingsofotherGPSreceiversinthearea
thatarecollectingfixesatunknownpoints.
Wedemonstratedabove,withFigures41,42,and43,thatiftwoGPSreceiverantennasareclose,and
usethesamesatellites,theywillperceivealmostthesameerrors.Thatis,foranygivenpointatanygiven
moment,"E"willbealmostexactlythesameforbothreceivers.Thus,foranynearbypointreportedbyaGPS
receiveras"o,"itstruevalue"t"canbecloselyapproximatedsimplybyapplyingtheequation:5
Sinceboth"o"and"E"areknown,theerroriseffectivelysubtractedout,resultinginanearlycorrectvalue
for"t,"asshownbyFigure45.
ThistechniqueprovidesanopportunityforcancelingoutmostoftheerrorinaGPSpositionfoundbyan
antennathatisclosetoanotherantennawhichisoveraknownpoint.AsImentionedbefore,"close"isabout
500kilometersor300miles.

http://whatwhenhow.com/globalpositioningsystemandgis/differentialcorrectiongpsandgispart1/

8/9

6/29/2015

DifferentialCorrection(GPSandGIS)Part1

Figure45.Knowerrorvectorappliedtopointobservedbyrover.
Theformulafortheamountoferroryoumightexpectwithdifferentiallycorrecteddataisdependentonthe
distancebetweenthebasestationantennaandtheroverantenna.Aruleofthumbisthatthefixwillbeinerror
byoneadditionalcentimeterforeachthreekilometersbetweenthetwoantennas.Thisrelationshipis
approximatelylinear:300kilometerswouldproduceerrorofaboutameter.
AdsbyGoogle

AdsbyGoogle

JavaPDF
PDFDocument
PDFTextExtraction

ACMotorControl
3PhaseInductionMotor
ExtractionTeeth

Nextpost:DifferentialCorrection(GPSandGIS)Part2
Previouspost:ExaminingGPSData(GPSandGIS)Part4
0

RelatedLinks
GlobalPositioningSystemandGIS
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part1
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part2
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part3
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part4
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part5

::SearchWWH::
Search
CustomSearch

HelpUnprivilegedChildrenCareersPrivacyStatementCopyrightInformation

http://whatwhenhow.com/globalpositioningsystemandgis/differentialcorrectiongpsandgispart1/

9/9