Applications of the Global

Positioning System
Prof. Thomas Herring
Department of Earth, Atmosphere
and Planetary Sciences
12.080 Seminar Fall 2004.
http://geoweb.mit.edu/~tah
tah@mit.edu

Overview
Briefly review history of GPS: original aims of
few-meter positioning
Examine some MIT projects where GPS is
used to make sub-millimeter position
measurements and study deformation
processes.
New Zealand
Oil field deformation
North America Plate deformation
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GPS Original Design

(circa 1970)
Started development in the late 1960s
as NAVY/USAF project to replace
Doppler positioning system
Aim: Real-time positioning to < 10
meters, capable of being used on fast
moving vehicles.
Limit civilian (non-authorized) users to
100 meter positioning.
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GPS Design
Innovations:

Use multiple satellites (originally 21, now ~28)

All satellites transmit at same frequency
Signals encoded with unique bi-phase,
quadrature code generated by pseudo-random
sequence (designated by PRN, PR number):
Spread-spectrum transmission.
Dual frequency band transmission (allows
propagation delay due to the ionosphere to be
removed):
L1 ~1.5 GHz, L2 ~1.25 GHz

Use of phase measurements allows millimeter

level position determinations
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Latest Block IIR satellite

(1,100 kg)

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Total system cost is over $10B

Average cost per satellite is
~$60M
None of these costs are passed
directly to users.
Satellites transmit signals that
any one with the correct
receivers can use (no use tax
on receivers)
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Measurements
Measurements:
Time difference between signal transmission from
satellite and its arrival at ground station (called
pseudo-range, precise to 0.110 m)
Carrier phase difference between transmitter and
receiver (precise to a few millimeters)
Doppler shift of received signal
All measurements relative to clocks in ground
receiver and satellites (but use of multiple satellites
and receivers allow this problem to be removed).
High precision, dual frequency receivers now $4000$6000
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Satellite constellation
Since multiple satellites need to be seen
at same time (four or more):
Many satellites (original 21 but now 28)
High altitude so that large portion of Earth
can be seen (20,000 km altitude MEO)

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Current constellation
Relative sizes
correct (inertial
space view)
Fuzzy lines
not due to orbit
perturbations,
but due to
satellites being
in 6-planes at
55o inclination.
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Some MIT projects using GPS

The MIT Geodesy and Geodynamics group (
http://geoweb.mit.edu) is involved in many projects around the
world with using GPS.
Three projects to discuss (all involving measurement of height
changes)
Uplift in New Zealand Southern Alps
Subsidence in oil fields
Uplift and subsidence across North America (response to
last ice-age: Glacial Isostatic Adjustment GIA)
All these projects involve collaborations with other groups.

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A Direct Geodetic Measurement of the

Uplift Rate of the Southern Alps
John Beavan1
Mikael Denham2
Paul Denys2
Brad Hager3
Tom Herring3
Chuck Kurnik4
Dion Matheson1
Peter Molnar5
Chris Pearson2

GNS
2 Otago University
3 MIT
4 UNAVCO
5 Univ. Colorado
1

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New
Zealand
Tectonic and
bathymetric
setting
Central South Island
experiences oblique
continental collision at
about 40 mm/yr
Shortening component
normal to Alpine fault is
about 10 mm/yr

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Image from NIWA

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd

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SAGENZ Profile: Karangarua to Lake Tekapo

Southern Alps Geodetic Experiment - New Zealand
Australian Plate
QUAR

MTJO

Christchurch
40

m
/y
r

Pacific Plate

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Image courtesy of Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center

OCCUPATION STRATEGY for CONTINUOUS and

SEMI-CONTINUOUS GPS STATIONS

Permanent ground marks at all sites, with force-centered antenna

mounts

Five sites occupied continuously, with data transmitted by radio

modem and dial-up internet

Six other sites occupied semi-continuously by rotating 3 receivers

between the sites every 3 months

60-second sampling used to enable 3 months of data to be stored

in internal memory

Same antennas used at each site during each occupation

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A Southern Alps semi-continuous GPS station

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Sometimes we have to find the sites

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And test snow integrity

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SAGENZ GPS STATIONS

SE

Fault

NW

VEXA
WAKA
QUAR

PILK

KARA

MTJO
NETT

REDD

LEOC

MAKA

Alpin
e

CNCL

Continuous station

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Image courtesy of Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center

Semi-continuous

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Vertical position
time series after
filtering to remove
annual signals and
common-mode
noise

RMS about a straight line

fit is typically
2.5 - 4 mm. Worst case
(NETT) is 6.5 mm.

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Measured uplift rates and 95% confidence

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For a complete
change in
climate:
Oil field
monitoring in
Oman.
Summer daytime
temperatures of
50C (120F)

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Basic GPS setup

Site at the
suspected
center of the
subsidence

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Continuous GPS site (5 of these)

Telemetry antenna

Passive cooled equipment box

Solar panel

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QuickTime and a
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Drilled-braced monument
GPS Monument and antenna
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Pillar is ~3 meters deep

Rover GPS sites

(45 of these)

QuickTime and a
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QuickTime and a
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355 mm

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Time series
of height
estimates in
the center of
the field
Error bars scaled
based on global
GPS analysis

Receiver failure
and repair

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Two analyses
shown that treat
atmospheric delay
differently

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Horizontal
motion at
REM3

Note: if the site

were truly at the
center of the
subsidence, no
horizontal motion
would be
expected
Some non-steady
motion can be
seen

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Deformation from 9-months GPS

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Postglacial rebound in North America

Here is combine temporal changes in position
estimates from ~300 sites across North
America.
These results are generated by many different
groups and need to be carefully evaluated.
The results from the best sites are used to
infer which GIA models best match the
measurements. (Depends on structure of the
Earth)
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Fit of COD to GIA: 9/1995-3/2004: 17 sites

This minimum
moves with
increasing LT

Lithosphere Thickness (LT) 71 km

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Details here depend

geographic sites distribution

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Comparison of PUR solution (red, 50% confidence ellipses) with

GIA model 71 km LT, UM 1, LM 2x1021 Pa-s
Fit: 26-sites
N 0.6 mm/yr
E 0.3 mm/yr
U 1.9 mm/yr

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Time series of Site GDAC for North and Height

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Conclusions
GPS dual-use technology: Applications in civilian
world widespread
Geophysical studies (mm accuracy)
Engineering positioning (<cm in real-time)
Commercial positioning: cars, aircraft, boats (cm to
m level in real-time)
MIT has projects using GPS in many parts of the
world studying a variety of problems
Plate Boundary Observatory will be a major project
over the next 10 years in the US

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