GPS Geodesy and Kinematic Topography Measurements and Results

Abstract

For over 30 years Sercel has been studying and manufacturing high accuracy commercial electronic equipment used for maritime radiolocation and land surveys. To answer the present and future needs in these fields, Sercel developed two types of GPS receivers intended for high accuracy, real time dynamic positioning (TR5S) and geodesy or survey (NR52). Software has been developed that allows the user, thanks to very accurate GPS data gathered by these receivers, to work out either fix position solutions with a decimetric precision within a few minutes, or with a centimetric precision within a few tens of minutes. This software is very flexible (multisite and multisession solutions) and offers a very high computation speed using light processing means. This paper addresses Sercel's latest software, which allows accurate determination of the trajectory of any mobile (land mobile, maritime mobile, or plane). This software has been set up and tested under severe conditions. The accuracies obtained are about 10 to 50 cm, three‐dimensional, and have a fast data sampling rate and a very low noise measurement. Original and effective answers have been brought to the difficult problem of temporary satellite masks. This software and equipment has been proved operational in various fields. This paper describes the equipment and methods used and the results obtained from field and flight tests.