Estimating the Residual Tropospheric Delay for Airborne Differential GPS Positioning

J. Paul Collins and Richard B. Langley

Abstract:	In post-processing dual frequency GPS carrier phase data, the residual tropospheric delay can easily be the largest remaining error source. This error can contribute a bias in height of several centimetres even if simultaneously recorded meteorological data are used. This shortcoming is primarily due to the poor representation of the water vapour profile in the tropospheric delay models. In addition, a lack of real-time meteorological data would force the scaling of either surface values or standard atmosphere values, neither of which are likely to accurately represent the ambient atmosphere. To obtain the highest precision in kinematic GPS some advantage may be obtained by estimating the residual tropospheric delay along with the position of the moving platform. The simple tests reported in this paper removed biases of upto ten centimetres in height when estimating the residual tropospheric delay from GPS data recorded at an aircraft in flight. However, important limitations exist in the geometry of the satellite coverage which must be considered before the full reliability of the technique can be assessed.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1997) September 16 - 19, 1997 Kansas City, MO
Pages:	1197 - 1206
Cite this article:	Collins, J. Paul, Langley, Richard B., "Estimating the Residual Tropospheric Delay for Airborne Differential GPS Positioning," Proceedings of the 10th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1997), Kansas City, MO, September 1997, pp. 1197-1206.
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