POST PROCESSING OF GPS DATA

Key Words: RINEX, Geoid Models, Orthometric Height,

Ellipsoidal Height, Baseline Solution, Normal
Section, RMS Error, Reference Variance, Quality
Factor Ratio, Float Solution, Fixed Solution, Network
Adjustment, Minimally Constrained Adjustment,
Fully Constrained Adjustment, Error Ellipses
GPS equipment vendors/manufacturers usually provide postprocessing software with their equipment

It is generally not possible to process data collected by receivers of

one manufacturer with software from other vendors/manufacturers

If this needs to be done, the data must be collected by using

RINEX format and the software should be able to process RINEX
data

Post processing software includes modules, in general, for

Mission planning
Download(and upload) data files to and from the
receivers or other data collection devices such as TDC1
Baseline computation
Network adjustment

They may also include

Some utilities such as database management and graphics
State plane coordinate computations on NAD27 and
NAD83
Coordinate transformations
Geoid models to compute orthometric heights

It is a good practice to download data to a computer and make

backups at the end of the day

Receivers usually creates a separate data file for each GPS session

There are also other files created for broadcast ephemeris,

ionospheric correction data and other information pertaining to the
session such as satellites tracked and cycle slips, etc.

Each manufacturer may have a unique file naming convention, but

generally consists of station ID (or receiver serial number), Julian
day (Day number of the year) and GPS session number on that day

Some data processing can be done in the field using portable

computers to ensure the integrity of data; this is especially
important if the project is far away from the regular office

File editing and error checking is one of the most important preprocessing tasks; this includes checking and correcting station
names and antenna heights by cross referencing with station logs

Baseline Processing
After the data editing, data can be processed to compute baselines
between points

Most software allows the user to compute all possible baselines or

only the independent ones

Coordinates of control points could also be input at this time, but

this can also be done when adjusting the network in a static survey

Since only the baseline components such as length, azimuth and

height difference are important for error checking, control point
coordinates are not important at this stage

Baseline processing software usually computes the following

Baseline vector components in WGS84 Cartesian
coordinate system
Baseline length
Normal section azimuth
Ellipsoidal height difference

Baseline solution also computes the latitude and longitude of the

second point by holding the latitude and longitude of one point to
the values determined by the receiver or input by user

There are three types of baseline of solutions, namely triple

difference solution, double difference float solution and double
difference fixed solution the meaning of which will be discussed in
a later section

Triple difference solution is generated by eliminating the integer

bias factor but is not very accurate, especially because cycle slips
have not been taken into consideration but for very long baselines,
e.g. 60 km. or longer, this solution may be used

Double difference float solution is obtained after fixing cycle slips

but the integer bias is still not determined exactly

Most favorable solution is the double difference fixed solution

which is generated after a successful determination of integer
ambiguities

A fixed solution may not be possible if the occupation time is too

short, noise in data or there are too many cycle slips

Along with baseline lengths, software also generates the following

which indicate the quality of the solution
Reference variance of the least squares solution and RMS
error of the baseline length
Quality Factor Ratio

The reference variance shows the goodness of fit of data to the

mathematical model used in the least squares solution and a value
close to 1 is expected

Root mean Square (RMS) error represents some average residual

size and smaller the RMS value is more precise the baseline
components are

Quality factor ratio is the ratio of the reference variances of second

best fixed solution the best fixed solution; a high number is
preferable

Baseline solutions should be examined to make sure that they are

acceptable and meet the project requirements

If problematic baselines are found, the cause should be found or it

should be re-observed

If baseline vectors are in a network, loop closure checks can be

made to isolate problematic baselines

This is similar to checking the linear closure in a loop traverse

The baseline vectors forming loops must come from different

sessions

The closure can be indicated as an absolute value as well as a ratio

as in a closed traverse

Kinematic GPS surveys produce radial lines from a base station,

and therefore, no loop closure checks are possible

Checks can be built in by using multiple base stations

Network Adjustment
Most control networks are surveyed by static method and an
adjustment of the network must be done after the computation of
baselines and quality control checks

Recall that quality control checks include checking the solution

type, reference variance and quality factor ratio, if available, and
loop closure checks

All baselines determined to be problematic should be removed

from the adjustment

Redundant baselines are needed not only to do a meaningful

adjustment but also to be able to remove all suspect baselines

The first adjustment called minimally constrained adjustment only

uses one point as fixed

This point may or may not be a control point but all three
coordinate values, that is two coordinate values to fix horizontal
position and one value to fix vertical position must be used

Minimally constrained adjustment helps further isolate problematic

vectors and check internal inconsistencies of the net

First, the outcome of chi-square test is checked if the Least Squares

adjustment of the net is acceptable; Failure of this statistical test is
an indication of one or more of the following
weaker network geometry/low degree of freedom, that is, not
enough redundant baselines
problematic baseline(s), that is, measurement outliers
improper weighting or setup errors such as antenna centering
and antenna height measurement errors

Geometry/Degree of Freedom is a network design issue and must

be corrected by perhaps measuring additional baselines

Problematic baselines can often be detected by examining the

standardized residuals of length, azimuth and difference in
ellipsoid height

Based on the distribution of residuals of the data set used in the

adjustment and the expected level of confidence, the largest
acceptable residual (critical Tau value) could be computed

A histogram of standardized residuals can also be if prepared by

the software

Baselines with standardized residuals larger than the critical Tua

vales are considered outliers

Most adjustment software usually flag these baselines

If there is sufficient redundancy in the adjustment, bad baseline(s)

can be disabled and a new adjustment can be done without them

If there are no flagged baselines and the chi-square test has failed,
change the weighting strategy by changing the scaling factor of
weights

Chi-squared test is a statistical test performed on the a posteriori

reference variance (variance of unit weight) that is dependent on

the size of residuals, weights applied and the degree of freedom of

the adjustment

Realize that the weights applied to observations depend on the

estimated observation errors and in turn the size of residuals
depend on the weights applied to observations

As the residuals of observations are expected to be equal to the

estimated error, the expected value of the reference variance is one

This seldom is the case as it is very difficult to estimate

measurement errors accurately

Depending on the degree of freedom and the expected confidence

level, the chi square test will pass even if the variance of unit
weight is slightly more or less than one

The reason for very large variance of unit weight is

underestimating the measurement errors (large weights) or
blunders in observations (large residuals) or both

This is generally the case in most GPS network adjustments as

weight are based on the baseline processing and the estimated
baseline component errors are generally small

If there are no bad baselines, above can be corrected by applying a

scalar factor to all weights to bring residuals in line with estimated
errors

If the minimally constrained adjustment is acceptable, the error

ellipses can be checked to find points where coordinates have large
standard deviations

If there are redundant vector to such a point, problem vector(s) can

be isolated by removing/adding vectors one at a time and readjusting the net

If minimally constrained adjustment is successful, fully

constrained adjustment is performed by entering the coordinates of
all fixed (existing control) points and running the adjustment again

Fully constrained adjustment is to fit all the observations to all the

control points that will be held fixed

Results of the fully constrained adjustment too should be examined

for its validity just like the minimally constrained adjustment

If problems are detected, most probable cause may be that the

coordinates of one or more fixed control points may be in error

If fully constrained adjustment also passes Chi-square test and if

all standardized residuals are below the critical Tau value, the error
ellipses should be checked again to ensure that size and
distribution of coordinate errors are acceptable

Error ellipses indicate a confidence region for the actual position of

the point around the computed position

The confidence level used is generally 95%

Most post-processing software allow computation of geodetic

coordinates (latitude, longitude) or state plane coordinates directly

Routines are also available for transforming coordinates into local

systems

Nature of GPS surveys is such that the adjustment is always done

in 3-D space even if the user is only interested in 2-D coordinates

Approximate elevations (orthometric heights) of points can be

computed by applying geoid heights to geodetic (ellipsoidal)
heights determined by GPS

Post processing software can covert all geodetic heights to

orthometric heights if a geoid model such as GEOID99 is available
in the database

However, if more accurate elevations are required, the FGCC

guidelines should be strictly followed for field data collection as
well as for processing, and will be discussed in a later section

QUESTIONS
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What is the primary object of post processing of GPS data ?

What quantities are computed by post processing software ?
Why is it important to edit GPS data prior to post processing ?
What quantities/values are most likely to be in error in a GPS data file ?
What information could be extracted from the name of a GPS data files ?
In addition to measurements, what other information is available in GPS data file ?
What types of solutions are generated by post processing software ?
Why is one type baseline solution preferred to other solutions ?
What quality factors are generated by baseline computation software and what does
each of them indicate ?
10. What are the methods used for isolating bad baselines ?
11. What are the reasons for a bad baseline solution ?
12. In addition to baseline length, what other quantities/values are available after a
baseline solution ?
13. What is minimally constrained network adjustment ?
14. Why is a minimally constrained adjustment done first ?
15. What information do the error ellipses convey ?