First Brazilian Real Time Network DGPS through the Internet: Development, Application and Availability Analyses

Abstract

First Brazilian Real Time Network DGPS through the Internet: Development, Application and Availability AnalysesThe Global Positioning System (GPS) is widely used by the civil community. Differential GPS (DGPS) was developed to provide better accuracy than autonomous GPS. The DGPS concept is based on the high correlation of errors due to atmospheric effects, satellite clocks and orbits. However, as the baseline grows, its efficiency decreases because the error correlation is reduced. This limitation can be handled by using a reference station network and applying the network DGPS concept (called NDGPS). In this paper, the goal is to present aspects related to the development and application of NDGPS in real time at the São Paulo state network in Brazil. The NDGPS corrections were computed from data received via the Internet using NTRIP (Networked Transport of RTCM via Internet Protocol). Our implementation was based on BNC (BKG Ntrip Client) software. NDGPS provided RMS improvements of up to 59% in horizontal components and 31% in vertical components when compared to DGPS. The availability of the system, the first of this nature in Brazil, was also analyzed within the context of the SP State GNSS Network, located in the southeastern region of Brazil. The results also serve as an indication of the quality of local internet infrastructure for using in geodetic positioning.