DGPS

DIFFRENTIAL GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

Civil Engineering Department

University of Management and Technology, Lahore
 Differential GPS
• Normal GPS (Global Positioning System) is not
accurate enough for the applications. For greater
accuracy, a Differential GPS system will be
implemented.
• Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) is an
enhancement to Global Positioning System that
provides improved location accuracy, from the 15-
meter nominal GPS accuracy to about 10 cm in case
of the best implementations.
 Differential GPS

• DGPS uses a network of fixed, ground-based

reference stations to broadcast the difference
between the positions indicated by the GPS
satellite systems and the known fixed positions.
 Differential GPS
• These stations broadcast the difference between the
measured satellite pseudoranges and actual
(internally computed) pseudoranges, and receiver
stations may correct their pseudoranges by the same
amount. The digital correction signal is typically
broadcast locally over ground-based transmitters of
shorter range.
• The pseudorange (from pseudo- and range) is
the pseudo distance between a satellite and a
navigation satellite receiver—for instance Global
Positioning System (GPS) receivers.
 Differential GPS
• To determine its position, a satellite navigation
receiver will determine the ranges to (at least) four
satellites as well as their positions at time of
transmitting.
• Knowing the satellites orbital parameters, these
positions can be calculated for any point in time. The
pseudo-ranges of each satellite are obtained by
multiplying the speed of light by the time the signal
has taken from the satellite to the receiver.
• As there are accuracy errors in the time measured,
the term pseudo-ranges is used rather than ranges
for such distances.
 Differential GPS
• GPS systems have created the most accurate
positioning systems in human history.
• The system in your car knows when you come to the
corner and which way to turn. But even with that
precision, there are applications that would benefit
from even more exact positioning measurements.
• For example, a trucking company might like to know
on which side of the street their vehicle is parked.
That is where DGPS comes in.
 Differential GPS
• DGPS uses a network of fixed, ground-based
reference stations to broadcast the difference
between the positions indicated by
the satellite systems and the known fixed positions.
• These stations broadcast the difference between the
measured satellite and actual (internally computed)
pseudo ranges, and receiver stations may correct
their pseudo ranges by the same amount.
• The digital correction signal is typically broadcast
locally over ground-based transmitters of shorter
range.
 Differential GPS
• The military requires very precise measurements
across their battle scene.
• The DGPS receiver system run by the Indian US and
Canadian Coast Guards that guides shipping,
especially in harbor as they maneuver.
• But other private users can find the increased
accuracy useful as well.
 History of DGPS
• Differential GPS (DGPS) is a relatively simple
technique to improve positional accuracy and
integrity.

• This technique was developed in the early 1980s,and

it is widely used in various forms.
 Rover
• A rover is a survey tool used to receive signals from
the satellite and a base station to calculate the grade.
 DGPS in Detail
• DGPS is a method of improving the accuracy of your
receiver by adding a local reference station to
augment the information available from the
satellites. It also improves the integrity of the whole
GPS system by identifying certain errors.

• Differential GPS uses one unit at a known location

and a rover. –The stationary unit compares its
calculated GPS location with the actual location and
computes the error. –The rover data is adjusted for
the error.
 DGPS in Detail
• The stationary unit compares its calculated GPS
location with the actual location and computes the
error.
• The rover data is adjusted for the error.
• The underlying premise of differential GPS (DGPS) is
that any two receivers that are relatively close
together will experience similar atmospheric errors.
 DGPS in Detail
• DGPS requires that a GPS receiver be set up on a
precisely known location. This GPS receiver is the
base or reference station.

• The base station receiver calculates its position

based on satellite signals and compares this to the
known location.
 DGPS in Detail
• The difference is applied to the GPS data recorded by
the second GPS receiver, which is known.
• The corrected information can the roving receiver.
• Differential correction techniques are used to
enhance the quality of location data gathered using
global positioning system (GPS) receivers.
• The corrected information can be applied to data
from the roving receiver in real time in the field using
radio signals or through post-processing after data
capture using special processing software.
 DGPS Types
There is two types of DGPS system.
– Real-Time DGPS
– Satellite Differential Services
Real Time DGPS
Satellite Differential Services
 Advantages
• GPS is quite accurate; however, using DGPS pushes
its accuracy even further.
• Provide accurate data with in a minute.
• DGPS helps to know perfect location on the earth
and sea also.
 Limitations
• The coverage area to take advantage of DGPS is
limited.
• To ensure greater coverage area more DGPS stations
need to be added.
• The position accuracy degrades as the separation
between DGPS and aircraft GPS-Rx increases.
THANKS