Technical Reports About Waypoint Software Products and Their Applications

Precise Point Positioning 

  • Tightly Coupled Processing of Precise Point Position (PPP) and INS Data
    Presented at ION GNSS 2009, NovAtel announced a major enhancement to Inertial Explorer 8.30 – a tightly coupled GPS/INS module which requires GPS data from only one receiver (i.e. no base station). Previously, tightly coupled processing was supported only in differential processing. Tightly coupled processing allows GPS data to be used even where only two satellites are tracked. This can significantly reduce IMU error growth where satellite drop outs occur due to, for example, sharp turns. Tightly coupled processing has the added advantage of being a simpler workflow in that GPS and IMU data are processed in a single step. Presented in this paper are results from seven flights processed with simulated 25 degree, 45 degree, and 70 degree turns.
  • Static Precise Point Positioning Accuracy in GrafNav 8.10
    Four days of data from five permanent GPS stations are used in this report to evaluate static Precise Point Positioning (PPP) performance in GrafNav 8.10. Results show that horizontal accuracies of 1 cm and vertical accuracies of 2.5 cm are achievable provided 24 hours of open sky, low multipath dual frequency GPS data. RMS and 95% results are summarized for 1, 2, 3, 6, 12 and 24 hours of data collection in order to give an overall impression of static PPP performance as a function of observation length.
  • Airborne Multi-Pass Precise Point Positioning in GrafNav 8.10
    New to GrafNav 8.10 (scheduled for release January 2008) is an improved Precise Point Positioning (PPP) method referred to as Multi-Pass. Multi-Pass PPP improves kinematic PPP results by up to 40% as compared with results from the original PPP processor introduced in GrafNav 7.80. This report presents results from five aerial surveys processed in GrafNav 7.80 and GrafNav 8.10. For each flight the PPP solutions are compared with a high quality differential solution.
  • Airborne Precise Point Positioning (PPP) in GrafNav 7.80 with Comparisons to Canadian Spatial Reference System (CSRS) Solutions
    GrafNav 7.80 is scheduled for release March 15 2007. A major new feature included in this release is a Precise Point Positioning (PPP) processor. Three airborne flights are processed with GrafNav's PPP processor and were also submitted to the CSRS for processing. Both PPP results are compared with a differential truth solution.

Inertial Explorer 

  • Aerial Photogrammetry Test Flight Results
    This paper demonstrates how NovAtel’s GPS/INS technology, SPAN (Synchronized Position Attitude Navigation), can be integrated into an aerial photogrammetry application, with the Inertial Explorer® software package, providing post-processing capability
  • Tightly Coupled Processing of Precise Point Position (PPP) and INS Data
    Presented at ION GNSS 2009, NovAtel announced a major enhancement to Inertial Explorer 8.30 – a tightly coupled GPS/INS module which requires GPS data from only one receiver (i.e. no base station). Previously, tightly coupled processing was supported only in differential processing. Tightly coupled processing allows GPS data to be used even where only two satellites are tracked. This can significantly reduce IMU error growth where satellite drop outs occur due to, for example, sharp turns. Tightly coupled processing has the added advantage of being a simpler workflow in that GPS and IMU data are processed in a single step. Presented in this paper are results from seven flights processed with simulated 25 degree, 45 degree, and 70 degree turns.
  • GPS/INS Integration in Real-time and Post-processing with NovAtel’s SPAN System
    This paper outlines the architecture of the SPAN GPS/INS system. System capabilities in real-time and post-processing are described. Performance is verified in two different environments: airborne and land.

RTKNav 

  • Tracking Sonobuoy's with RTKNav (PDF - 113KB)
    This report describes how RTKNav was used to process data from GPS equiped sonobuoys in the calibration of underwater sonar systems. This report is provided here with the kind permission of Gregory J. Baker of the Defense Research Establishment and Hermes Electronics Inc.
  • Reliable Single Frequency Dual Antenna Processing System for Marine Dredging Applications (PDF - 547KB)
    GPS real-time kinematic (RTK) has been utilized for harbor dredging applications for a number of years. Such applications require both accurate position and heading in order to obtain the location of the dredging vessel implements. The method described here involves mounting two remote GPS antennae on the vessel, denoted R1 and R2. Their distance separation is pre-calibrated and will remain constant with vessel dynamics. A base station (M) is also employed on shore. The vessel's position is obtained by solving for the vector M-R1 or M-R2, while vessel azimuth is computed from R1-R2. Optimal accuracies are obtained using on-the-fly (OTF) techniques.

GrafNav/Net 

  • GrafNav Volcano Monitoring
    NovAtel’s Waypoint GrafNav software post-processes data from the crater of Mt. St. Helens.
  • Kinematic Batch Processing Accuracies of One Data Set at Varying Baseline Distances using CORS Stations in GrafNav Version 7.50 (PDF - 209KB)
    This report shows obtainable accuracies for one data set when batch processing using CORS base station data. In each run, three CORS stations are used at average baseline lengths of 130 km, 545 km and 1,270 km. Results are compared with the processing results from three locally established base stations which had an average baseline length of 14 km during the survey. Batch processing results are presented both with Waypoint's older style of batch processing as well as the new style available in version 7.50. The new method of batch processing uses all of the data simultaneously in one Kalman filter.
  • Static Baseline Accuracies as a Function of Baseline Length, Observation Time and the Effect of using the Precise Ephemeris (PDF - 112KB)

    Examined in this report are static baseline accuracies for baseline lengths of 5, 20, 40, 60, 200, 300, 400, 500, 700, 800, 900 and 1000 km. Each baseline is processed with 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 hours of data with both the broadcast and precise ephemeris in order to establish:
    1. When the precise ephemeris begins to make a measurable difference
    2. What level of accuracy to expect for given baseline lengths and occupation times
    3. How much data should be collected before little or no improvement is seen in the convergence of the solution
  • Kinematic Monitoring of Different Baseline Lengths (PDF - 2.61MB)
    This research report observes the effects and precision of GPS processing solutions that are kinematic. Statistical measures of the Kinematic Ambiguity Resolution algorithm are presented as well as the accuracy attained from each test.
  • Tracking the relative motion of four space payloads launched from a sub-orbital NASA rocket (PDF - 157KB)
    This report describes the use of moving baseline software in tracking post-mission, the relative trajectories of 4 Ashtec G12 HDMA GPS receivers attached to payloads jettisoned from a Black Brant XII rocket.