Improved Tropospheric Delay Estimation for Long Baseline, Carrier-Phase Differential GPS Positioning in a Coastal Environment

Karen M. Cove, Marcelo Santos, David Wells, Sunil Bisnath

Abstract:	Long baseline, carrier-phase differential GPS positioning in a coastal environment poses unique challenges. It is well known that differential GPS positioning results degrade as baseline length increases due to several sources of error, including the error introduced by differential troposphere. The effect of the troposphere on GPS has been extensively discussed by numerous researchers, either by comparing the resolution of tropospheric prediction models or by assessing the tropospheric delay directly on GPS measurements and results. In order to improve the estimation of tropospheric delay in the coastal environment, a project has been undertaken by the University of New Brunswick (UNB) and the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). The project includes extensive GPS and meteorological data collection in the Bay of Fundy in Canada. The goal of the research is to examine methods for improving tropospheric delay estimation by employing various sources of data. This includes the use of surface meteorological parameters and Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model data. For this research, NWP data are accessed from the Canadian Meteorological Centre’s (CMC) regional model and from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) tropospheric delay product. Tropospheric delays modelled from the NWP model data are compared with those from global prediction models. Results in this paper will demonstrate the effect of using surface meteorological data and NWP model data to estimate the tropospheric delay in a coastal environment.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 17th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2004) September 21 - 24, 2004 Long Beach Convention Center Long Beach, CA
Pages:	925 - 932
Cite this article:	Cove, Karen M., Santos, Marcelo, Wells, David, Bisnath, Sunil, "Improved Tropospheric Delay Estimation for Long Baseline, Carrier-Phase Differential GPS Positioning in a Coastal Environment," Proceedings of the 17th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2004), Long Beach, CA, September 2004, pp. 925-932.
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