Nationwide DGPS: 2003 and Beyond

D.B. Wolfe, C.L. Judy, A.B. Kritz, J.A. Chop, M. W. Parsons

Abstract:	The US Coast Guard is part of the team chartered by the Department of Transportation to implement the world’s largest ground-based Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) service, Nationwide DGPS (NDGPS). The NDGPS expansion effort, scheduled to have over 126 Broadcast Sites, is designed to provide double terrestrial DGPS coverage across the continental United States to meet most surface transportation navigation requirements. Presently there are 80 remote transmitting sites broadcasting C/A code corrections to users in the United States. These sites are a combination of the Maritime system (53 sites) and the Nationwide system (25 sites). Initial implementation of the system provided DGPS coverage to harbors and harbor approaches in the U.S. The Nationwide DGPS expansion continues with 4 new operational broadcast sites within the last 12 months increasing single terrestrial coverage to over 80% of the country. Efforts are underway to improve the accuracy, availability, and reliability of this augmentation system. The Nationwide Control Station, fielded in 2002, provides real-time monitoring and control of this extensive network. Implementation of the Nationwide DGPS system involves a highly collaborative inter-agency effort that minimizes cost and maximizes efficiency by facilitating a wide range of services provided by various state and federal government agencies. These collaborative efforts mutually benefit participating agencies by sharing property, equipment and maintenance resources resulting in low-cost expansion of agency services to their respective user groups. This paper reviews the history of the Coast Guard’s Differential GPS program and how collaboration with state and federal partner agencies has resulted in significant expansion and improvement. The paper discusses the current status of the NDGPS project, ongoing engineering initiatives and several exciting potential engineering initiatives to improve and increase capabilities. The purpose of this paper is to propose new concepts and is not intended to reflect USCG direction or policy. Use of company names, trademarks, or copywrited material is not an endorsement of any product or service.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2003 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 22 - 24, 2003 Disneyland Paradise Pier Hotel Anaheim, CA
Pages:	548 - 557
Cite this article:	Wolfe, D.B., Judy, C.L., Kritz, A.B., Chop, J.A., Parsons, M. W., "Nationwide DGPS: 2003 and Beyond," Proceedings of the 2003 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, Anaheim, CA, January 2003, pp. 548-557.
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