GPS Performance Characteristics and Trends

Rob Conley, Mark Fryt, and Sean Scott

Abstract:	This paper provides up-to-date information regarding a wide range of GPS performance characteristics, based upon observations from the Federal Aviation Administration’s GPS Performance Analysis Network (GPS PAN).[l] GPS provides a service with a broad range of application, so performance must be examined from several perspectives to understand its implications for any given user group. GPS performance is also changing slowly over time. These time-varying dynamics are important to the identification of potential trends in performance, and in an assessment of GPS stability and maturity. The specific topics the paper addresses are listed below: . . The , Coverage and service availability patterns and trends. Two year trends in predictable positioning accuracy. Self-surveying accuracy with averaging times up to 24 hours, measured against DMA surveyed locations. Post-processed ionosphere-corrected, common-view time transfer performance across all GPS PAN monitor stations. Range-domain performance, to include range, rate and acceleration error characteristics and trends. Satellite outage patterns and trends. paper concludes with an assessment of performance implications for several key user applications. The infor- mation provided in this paper builds upon the body of work already established within the community regarding GPS performance, and adds long-term, continuous observations from several different perspectives. Identification of performance characteristics and trends, and the overall stability of the service, is important to all user groups. The paper provides information that is impor- tant particularly to differential applications, surveying, time transfer and synchronization (particularly of wide area dif- ferential reference station networks), and aviation opera- tions using GPS.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 8th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1995) September 12 - 15, 1995 Palm Springs, CA
Pages:	1363 - 1371
Cite this article:	Conley, Rob, Fryt, Mark, Scott, Sean, "GPS Performance Characteristics and Trends," Proceedings of the 8th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1995), Palm Springs, CA, September 1995, pp. 1363-1371.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In