IGS Products and Applications

Jan Kouba
Geodetic Survey Div.
NRCan
Canada

Content

IGS Combined Products

Use of IGS Products

Objectives
Description
Precision/availability
Consistency

Relative Positioning
Precise Point Positioning/Navigation
Compatibility
Scientific Applications

IGS Products Limitations and Solutions

Future Developments

IGS PRODUCTS
Support practical positioning and scientific applications of GPS, such as
surveying, navigation and national geodetic control networks
monitoring of Earth rotation, deformation and atmosphere (trop. & ion.)
easy access and contributions to ITRF, time transfers, etc.

Provides convenient and precise IGS reference system through

the core IGS combined products: orbits, Earth rotation parameters (ERP), station
positions/velocities and satellite/station clocks
additional combined products, consistent with the core products: tropospheric
zenith path delays (ZPD), ionospheric TEC (total electron count) maps and
associated rec./satellite diff. calibration biases (DCB)
IGS combined orbits (since 1994) ; clocks and ERP (since 1995); station
positions (since 1996) and tropospheric ZPD (since 1997)

IGS Products are more precise and reliable than the individual AC solutions
(up to 8 Analysis Center solutions combined)

IGS Product Description

Core Combined Products: orbits/clocks/ ERP/station positions

IGS Final orbit, clock and ERP combined solutions (12 day delay)
IGS Rapid orbit, clock and ERP combined solutions (17 hour delay)
IGS Predicted orbit and clock combined solutions (1 hour before the observation day)
Nine Associate ACs (AACs) produce regional station position solutions in SINEX format
Up to eight ACs, AACs contribute global orbit, ERP, global station position (SINEX)
solutions and up to five ACs clock solutions

Combined Zenith Path Delay (ZPD)

seven ACs, produced by GFZ, since Jan. 1997
Weekly files by site, 2 hour resolution (four weeks delays)

Combined Global Ionosphere Maps of Total Electron Content (TEC)

Five ACs, AACs, Combined TEC and DCBs (Differential Code Biases) in IONEX format,
produced by ESA since June 1998
Daily files, 2 hour resolution (four weeks delay)

Analysis Center Functions

IGS Analysis Centers (AC): are the basis of all IGS products, improved IGS

products are largely due to AC improvements!

Typically performs continuously (daily): three types of global solutions
(Predicted, Rapid and Final) utilizing complex and sophisticated software, often
developed in house over many years
Conforming to IGS/IERS standards, but innovations are encouraged .
Documentation on an each AC(ccc) approach is at the IGS CB Archives:

http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/igscb/center/analysis/ccc.acn

Continuously involved in research & developments: striving for the best

solutions and sharing scientific results amongst AC colleagues
Helpful and healthy competitions amongst all ACs

Associate Analysis Centers (AACs):

typically do not perform all global solutions, e.g. the Rapid only, or only certain
specific solution products, such as:
RNAAC (Regional Network AAC), GNAAC (Global Network AAC), IAAC
(Ionospheric AAC) etc.

IGS PRODUCT Table

IGS Combined Product Precision
Product

Available

Interval

Satellite Orbits&clocks
Predicted
Rapid
Final

Real-time
17 hours
12 days

15 min
15 min
15 min

IGS Combined (Prelim.) Station

Weekly solutions

2-4 weeks

Earth Rotation Parameters

Rapid PM
17 hours
Final PM
Rapid UT /LOD
Final UT /LOD
Tropospheric ZPD
Ionosph. grid TEC

12 days
17 hours
10 days
<4 weeks
<4 weeks

7 days

1 day
1 day
1 day
1 day
2 hours
2 hours

Precision

orbits

clocks

50 cm
10 cm
5 cm

30 ns
.5 ns
.3 ns

Positions

Velocities

3-5 mm

1-3mm/y

parameters
.2 mas.

rates/LOD
.4 mas/d

.1 mas
.10 ms
.05 ms
4 mm
1 TEC unit

.2 mas/d
.06 ms/d
.03 ms/d

(~10cm)

IGS Orbit Improvement

1994 to Mid 1999

IGS PRODUCTS

(AC performance)

BROADCAST (BRD), IGS PREDICTED (IGP) and IGS UTRA_RAPID

(IGU) ORBIT RMS WITH RESPECT TO THE IGS RAPID (IGR)
ORBITS
7

WEIGHTED RMS(m)

brd

5
4
igp
3
2
igu
1
0
16-Nov-99

16-Dec-99

15-Jan-00

14-Feb-00

DATE

15-Mar-00

14-Apr-00

14-May-00

IGS Orbit Comparison

Earth Rotation Parameters

Consistency of IGS Products

Consistent with the current international conventions

International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) Conventions 1996
International Terrestrial Frame (ITRF)(currently ITRF97)

IGS CORE products (orbits/clock/ERP/stations) are mutually consistent

Since December 1998, combination of minimally constrained AC solutions
Nearly exact ITRF transformations (e.g. for the ITRF97-ITRF96 and the future
changes)
ITRF realizations used for IGS Products (for more details see the presentation
on: IGS ITRF Realization and Transformations) :

ITRF92
ITRF93
ITRF94
ITRF96
ITRF97

Jan 2, 1994(Wk 0730) to Dec 31, 1994 (Wk 0781)

Jan 1, 1995(Wk 0782) to Jun 29, 1996 (Wk 0859)
Jun 30, 1996(Wk 0860) to Feb 28, 1998 (Wk 0946)
Mar 1, 1998(Wk 0947) to July 31, 1999 (Wk1020)
Aug 1, 1999(Wk 1021) to present (since Feb 27, 2000 IGS
ITRF97 (SINEX))

IGS satellite clock solutions are aligned to the GPS time via broadcast clock
corrections:

USE of IGS PRODUCTS

IGS Products greatly enhance and simplify (no need for complex global
GPS solutions) all GPS analyses and applications such as:
Positioning/navigation
Global, Regional and Local
Relative positioning with respect to the IGS station Polyhedron of about 200 stations at
the mm/ppb level (IGS orbits/ERP and station positions can be fixed even for
baselines 2000 km and longer). No need for precise satellite clocks (nearly
eliminated)!
Absolute, precise point positioning (ppp) worldwide, with respect to the IGS
Reference Frame (IGS orbit/clocks/ERP held fixed) at mm precision level
Absolute, precise point navigation worldwide (ground, air, LEO satellites - no base
stations needed!), at a cm precision level

Global Change Monitoring: solid Earth, atmosphere and oceans

ERP monitoring
plate motion and crustal deformation monitoring, volcanoes, etc.
monitoring of atmosphere (troposphere and ionosphere)

Precise time and freq. transfers (future contributions to UTC)

Relative Positioning
Relative position precision at ppb/mm
IGS Orbits, ERP, base station position solutions can be held fixed at the IGS
solutions for all, even extreme, baseline lengths at ppb/mm precision level (in
ITRF insensitive to ERP)
When using double differencing, potentially more robust (than precise point
positioning), the IGS products ease data cleaning, ambiguity fixing
Complete covariance/correlation matrix available (e.g. for in SINEX format)
Suitable for continental, regional, national ITRF densification (e.g. EUREF normal equation matrix stacking of RNAAC SINEX solutions)
Warning: fixing IGS orbits/ERP implies very precise reference orientation and scale
even for (SINEX) unconstrained solutions! (I.e. no stations fixed)
For long baselines (~ 1000km) ITRF orientation/scale changes need to be taken into
account prior normal matrix stacking

Insensitive to incompatibilities and clock errors

Insensitive to clock errors and all small (cm) ITRF changes for baselines <1000km

Relative Positioning
Relative Positioning Rrequirements for cm Precision ( double differenced phase data with, or without phase
ambiguity fixing ; ~ 1 h occupancy)
IGS Products/ Baseline

< 10 km

10 100 km

100 1000 km

>1000 km

IGS Orbits
IGS ERP****
IGS Sat Clocks
IGS Iono Delays
IGS Tropo Delays
IGS ITRF Trasform

No (Broadcast)
No
No
IGS iono*
Nominal/IGS tropo
No

IGS Rapid
No
No
IGS iono*
IGS tropo/ estimate
No

IGS Rapid/Final
No
No
No**
Estimate
No

IGS Final
No
IGS Rapid/Final
No**
Estimate
Yes

ERROR MODELS
IGS Ant phase center
No
Yes***
Yes***
Solid Earth tides
No
No
Yes
Ocean loading
No
No
Yes
Relativity correction
No
No
Yes
Sat phase wind up
No
No
No
Single frequency data; ** Two frequency data; *** For different antenna types only;
**** IGS ERP implied by IGS Orbits

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Precise Point Positioning

IGS combined Orbits, clocks held fixed in single point solutions

Equivalent to back substitution into complex, global (IGS) solutions
An efficient, flexible and convenient interface/access to the IGS reference frame
mm precision level for static point positioning worldwide, no base (IGS
Polyhedron) station positions/data required
cm precision level for (epoch by epoch, ground, air, LEO sarellite) navigation, no
base (DGPS) station positions/data required.
Efficient and precise solutions for station clocks and tropospheric ZPDs
Disadvantages (wrt to double differencing/relative positioning)
More difficult to clean/edit data and/or to fix integer phase ambiguities
Sensitive to clock errors and to incompatibilities (see below) and even small
reference (ITRF) changes; orbits/clocks/ERP must be consistent!
Correlation/variance matrix (amongst stations) lost and not available, thus not
well suited for national/continental ITRF (SINEX) densification

Precise Point Positioning

Static Point Positioning Requirements (undifferenced phase/pseudorange data; < 1 h occupancy)
IGS Products/precision
IGS Orbits
IGS ERP***
IGS Sat Clocks
IGS Iono Delays
IGS Tropo Delays
IGS ITRF Trasform

< 1 cm
IGS Final
No
IGS Final
No**
Estimate
Yes

1 10 cm
IGS Rapid/Final
No
IGS Rapid/Final
No**
Estimate/IGS tropo
No

10 100 cm
IGS Rapid/UltraR
No
IGS Rapid/UltraR
IGS iono*
IGS tropo/estimate
No

>100 cm
No (Broadcast)
No
No (Broadcast)
IGS iono*
Standard/nominal
No

ERROR MODELS
IGS Ant phase centre
Yes
Yes
No
No
Solid Earth tides
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Ocean loading
Yes
Yes
No
No
Relativity corrections
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Sat phase wind up
Yes
Yes
No
No
* Single frequency data; ** Two frequency data; *** IGS ERP implied by IGS Orbits

Note: in near future, the Ultra Rapid IGS orbits (Ultra R ) <12 h prediction) is to replace
the IGS Predicted (IGP) Orbits (<48h prediction)

Precise Point Positioning (PPP)

Precise Navigation
Navigation/Kinematic Point Positioning Requirements (undifferenced phase and pseudorange data;
instantaneous occupancy)
10 50 cm
IGS Rapid/Final
No
IGS Rapid/Final
No**
Estimate/IGS tropo
No

50 500 cm
IGS Rapid/Final
No
IGS Rapid/Final
IGS iono*
IGS tropo/estimate
No

IGS Products/ precision

IGS Orbits
IGS ERP ***
IGS Sat Clocks
IGS Iono Delays
IGS Tropo Delays
IGS ITRF Trasform

< 10 cm
IGS Final
No
IGS Final
No**
Estimate
Yes

>500 cm
No (Broadcast)
No
No (Broadcast)
IGS iono*
Standard/nominal
No

ERROR MODELS
IGS Ant phase centre
Solid Earth tides
Ocean loading
Relativity corrections
Sat phase wind up
* Single frequency data;

Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
** Two frequency data *** IGS ERP implied by IGS Orbits

Comparison of Point Positioning Results

at Three Stations
Final IGS Obits/clocks, Precise Point Navigation
35
30

3D RMS (cm)

25
20
15
10
5
0
948

952

956

960

964

BRUS

968

972

USUD

976

WILL

980

984

988

Compatibility
IGS CORE products (orbits/clock/ERP/stations)
Mutually compatible and consistent since Dec 1998
Consistency of orbits and clocks is of utmost importance for precise point positioning
IGS station (SINEX) solutions are compatible/consistent with IGS antenna offsets (station log
files) and the antenna calibration (phase center) tables (IGS_01.pcv) at IGSCB Archives
IGS satellite clock solutions are based on/compatible with the following
assumptions/conventions:
Periodical special relativistic correction
Cross correlation type of pseudoranges

: - 2 . X .V/c2 applied
: C/A; P2= C/A + (P2-P1)
: P1, P2 (After April 2, 2000, Wk 1056)

Adopted satellite antenna offsets (X,Y,Z m)

Block II/IIA
: 0.279 0.000 1.023 (in the satellite fixed frame)
Block IIR
: 0.000 0.000 0.000
no L1-L2 satellite/receiver calibration delayed applied

Ionospheric TEC grid maps, satellite/receiver calibration biases must be of the same solutions
and
corresponding mapping function and DCBs must be used for all ionospheric applications (to derive
slant ionospheric delays)

Compatibility

Solid Earth tides have once and twice daily periods; can reach up to 300 mm in height and
up to 50 mm in latitude and longitude.

Compatibility

Ocean Loading Effects have once and twice daily periods; can reach up to 50 mm in height
and up to 10 mm in latitude and longitude.

Scientific Applications
Earth Orientation Parameter (EOP) monitoring
IGS Polar Motion rates of unprecendeted precision (0.1 mas/day) and resolution
(1 day, or even 2 hours for CODE AC solutions!)
Continuously available with delays of less than 24h (IGS Rapid)
Independent short period (<30 days) nutation determination (by CODE AC)

Global Change Studies

Correlation studies of ERP rates Atmospheric (AAM) and Oceanic Angular
Momentum (OAM)
Water vapor studies (TZPD, MET LEO satellite missions)
Gravity LEO satellite missions (CHAMP, GRACE, etc.)
Ionospheric studies and correlation with EOP, atmosphere, etc.

Precise time/frequency transfers

Current limitation - temperature calibration/control
Potentially at a few tens pico seconds or below the 10 -15/day level

Scientific Applications

Correlation between Polar Motion Rates (Xrt, Yrt (not shown)) and OAM+AAM is nearly always better
than 0.8 (except for the low signal period at or below 0.25 mas/d)

Water Vapor Estimates Comparison

at Station Potsdam

Partial Water Vapor (PWV) from GPS at IGS station POTS (Germany) agrees with
Water Vapor Radiometer (WVR), well within one mm (Courtesy of GFZ).

Limitations and Solutions

IGS Combined Orbits :

In 24 h files with 15 min sampling (0-23:45 GPS time); can be easily
concatenated to span daily boundaries; easily be fitted with low order
polynomials for continuous representation
Small daily discontinuities (at the dm level)
Possible orbit origin offsets (biases at the cm level)
Improvements at the AC level, I.e. smaller daily AC orbit discontinuities
(<dm) and smaller orbit origin offsets (< cm) required

IGS Combined ERP:

May be biased at the .1 mas level due to AC ERP biases
New IGS SINEX ERP combination should help (started Feb 20, 2000)

IGS Combined Clocks (see also compatibility):

Daily clock discontinuities (< 1 ns)
New- improved station clock combinations: improved editing, orbit/clock
consistency, smaller daily AC clock solution discontinuities

Recent Changes and Improvements

IGS Preliminary SINEX Combined Products became official
From Feb 20/00 (GPS Week 1050), aligned to ITRF97 ( using min. constraints)
See IGS Mail #2740 for more details

New IGS ITRF97 realization (through the IGS SINEX combined solution
IGS00P04.snx product)

From Feb 27/00 (GPS Week 1051); delay increased from 10 to 12 days
Improved ITRF97 realization for the IGS Final orbits/ERP/clocks
No noticeable changes to the IGS users (no transformation, no steps!)
See IGS Mail #2750 and #2751 for more details

New Pseudorange bias convention starts on Apr 02/00(wk 1056)

P1, P2 replace the current convention: C/A, P2= C/A + (P2-P1)
Important for IGS clock users (precise point positioning, time transfers)
See IGS Mail #2744 for more details and the adopted C/A-P1 biases

IGS Ultra-Rapid Comb. Orbits/clocks testing started Mar 2/00!

Future Developments
Improved IGS ITRF realization (see the next presentation)
Weekly, Preliminary SINEX combinations, official since Feb 20, 2000
Up to 250 IGS Polyhedron stations IGS Combined SINEX solutions
Continuous plate motion monitoring/quality check (under way)

Ultra Rapid products Pilot Project (<50cm, testingsince March 2, 2000)

3 hour delivery delays, may replace both IGR & IGP in near future
48h orbits, twice daily, increased reliability for prediction portions (<12h)

Improved IGS satellite/station clock combinations (April 2000 )

5 min. Station/sat. clock combinations, improved editing, orbit/clock consistency
Clock alignment to UTC (IGS/BIPM Time transfer Pilot Project)
To support LEO POD and precise, cm navigation at any interval

Ionospheric (global) TEC products to become official ?

QUESTIONS?
Jan Kouba
Geodetic Survey Division
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)
615 Booth Street
Ottawa, Canada K1A OE9
kouba@geod.emr.ca
Tim Springer (The IGS AC Coordinator)
Astronomical Institute, Univ. Bern
Springer@aiub.unibe.ch
For details on IGS Products, see the IGS Annual Reports
http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/pub.html