6/29/2015

AutomatedDataCollection(GPSandGIS)Part1

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INWHICHyoulearnthebasictheoreticalframeworkofGPSpositionfinding,andpracticeusingaGPS
receivertocollectcomputerreadabledata.

OVERVIEW
HowdTheyDoThat?
BynowyouhavedeterminedthatGPSreallyworks.Thatlittlegadgetcanactuallytellyouwhereyouare!
How?!
Thefundamentalsofthesystemarenothardtocomprehend.Butmisconceptionsabound,anditisamazing
howmanypeopledontunderstandtheprinciples.Inafewminutes,assumingyoukeepreading,youwillnotbe
amongthem.
Welookfirstatatwodimensionalanalogy.Youarethecaptainofanoceangoingshipoffthewesterncoast
ofsomebodyofland.Youwishtoknowyourposition.Youhaveaboard:
anaccuratetimepiece
theabilitytopickupdistantsoundsignals(amegaphonewiththenarrowendatyourear,perhaps?)
amapshowingthecoastandthelocationsofanysoundhouses(asoundhouseislikealighthouse,butit
emitsnoiseinstead)and
theknowledgethatsoundtravelsabout750milesperhour,whichisabout20kilometers(km)perminute,
or1/3kmpersecond.
Suppose:

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Figure21.Measuringdistancebymeasuringtime.
1.ThereisasoundhouselocatedatS1onthediagraminFigure21.
2.Eachminute,exactlyontheminute,thesoundhousehornemitsablast.
Withtheseelements,youcandeterminethedistanceofyourvessel,V,fromthesoundhouse.Todoso,you
notewhenyourclockmarksanexactminute.Thenyoulistenforthesoundsignal.Whenitcomes,youagain
notethesecondhandoftheclock.Youthenmaycalculatedfrom
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wheredisthedistanceinkmfromthesoundhouseandsisthenumberofsecondsittookforthesoundto
reachyou.
Supposeittook30secondsforthesignaltoarrive.Youwouldknowyourshipwas10kmfromsoundhouse
S1.
Ingeometricterms,youknowonlythatyourshipislocatedsomewhereonthesurfaceofaspherethathasa
radiusof10km.Youcanreducethisuncertaintyconsiderablysinceyourshipisfloatingontheocean,soyou
knowyouraltitudeisfairlyclosetomeansealevel(MSL).Thusyoucouldconsideryourselftobeonacircle
witharadiusof10km.
That,however,doesnotpinpointyourlocation.And,bylookingatthediagram,youcanseethat,ifyouare
moving,youmightbeinalotoftrouble,sincecontactwiththegroundisnotrecommendedforships.How
couldyoudetermineyourpositionmoreexactly?Byfindingyourdistancefromasecondsoundhouse.
Supposeyouusethesametechniqueasabove,listeningtosoundhouseS2.Youfinditis15kmaway.Then
thequestionis:whereis(are)thepoint(s)thatare10kmawayfromS1and15kmawayfromS2?Ifyou
solvethisproblemgraphically,bydrawingtwocircles,youfindtheyintersectintwoplaces.Oneofthese
locationsyoucanprettywelleliminatebynotingthatyourshipisnotsittingonaprairieorinaforest.Basedon
themeasurementfromthesecondsoundhouse,youknowyourpositionasaccuratelyasyourmeasuringdevices
andmapwillletyouknowit.
Itisobviousthatyoucanfindyourpositionbydrawingcircles.Youcanalsofindyourpositionbypurely
mathematicalmeans.(Youwoulddeterminethecoordinatesoftheintersectionofthetwocirclesfromtheir
formulasbysolvingtwosimultaneousequations.Thenyouwouldconsiderlengthsofthesidesofthetriangle
formedbythetwosoundhousesandtheship.Thisprocessissometimescalledtrilateration.(Atriangleisa
trilateral,asafoursidedfigureisaquadrilateral)
Aswiththesoundhouses,distancesdeterminedbythemeasurementoftimeformthefoundationofGPS.
(Suchdistancesarereferredtoasranges.)RecallthebasisforthelastthreelettersoftheacronymNAVSTAR:
TimeAndRanging.

Figure22.Earthandapointtobefound.

HowItWorks:MeasuringDistanceByMeasuringTime
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Howdotheconceptsillustratedaboveallowustoknowourpositiononorneartheearthssurface?Thelength
ofthatanswercanvaryfromfairlyshortandsimpletofarmorecomplicatedthanyouare(orIam)interested
in.Atitsmostdetailed,GPSisrocketscience,brainsurgery,nuclearphysics,andthetheoryofrelativityall
rolledintoone.
Basically,distancestoseveralsatellites(fourareneededforagood3Dspatialfix)arecalculatedfrom
measurementsofthetimesittakesforradiowavestoreachfromthesatellites,whosepositionsareknown
precisely,tothereceiverantenna.
Toillustrate,letslookatthesebasicideasbyseeinghowtheshipexamplediffersfromNAVSTAR.
NAVSTARgivesus3Dlocations:Unlessweareinfactonthesea,inwhichcaseweknowouraltitude,the
problemoffindingourlocationisthreedimensional.GPScanprovideourpositiononorabovetheearths
surface.(Belowistrickybecauseoftheradiowavelineofsightrequirement.)Butthemethodtranslatesfrom
twotothreedimensionsbeautifully.
Thesoundhousesaresatellites:Ratherthanbeingsituatedinconcreteonacoast,thedevicethatemitsthe
signalisasatellite,zippingalonginspace,inanalmostexactlycircularorbit,atmorethantwomilesper
second.Itisimportanttonote,however,thatatanygiveninstantthesatellites(spacevehicles,orSVs)areeach
atoneparticularlocation.

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NAVSTARusesradiowavesinsteadofsound:Thewavesthatareusedtomeasurethedistanceare
electromagneticradiation(EM).Theymovefasterthansoundalotfaster.Regardlessoffrequency,ina
vacuumEMmovesatabout299,792.5km/sec,whichisroughly186,282statutemilespersecond.

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Figure23.TheEarthandGPSsatellites.
LetsnowlookattheconfigurationofGPSwithadrawingoftruebutextremelysmallscale,startingwith
twodimensions.Supposewerepresenttheearthnotasaspherebutasadisk(likeacoin),witharadiusof
approximately1unit.(Oneunitrepresentsabout4000statutemiles.)Wearelivingontheedge(punintended)
soweareinterestedinpointson,orjustoutside(e.g.,airplanesandorbitingspacecraft)theedgeofthecoin.We
indicateonesuchpointbyxonthediagramofFigure22.Wewanttofindoutwherexis.
SupposenowthatwehavetwopointsonthedrawingofFigure23,calledaandb.Theyrepresenttwo
oftheNAVSTARsatellites,suchthatwecandrawstraightlinesfromatoxandfrombtox.We
requirethatthelinesnotpassthroughourEarth.Thesepointsaandbareeachaboutfourunitsfromthe
centerofthecoin(thusthreeunitsfromtheedgeofthecoin).

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Figure24.DistancesfromxtotheGPSsatellites.
Measurethedistance,orlength,fromatox(callitLa)andfrombtox(callitLb).Thelines
LaandLbrepresenttheunobstructedlinesofsightfromthesatellitestoourreceiverantenna.Ifweknow
thepositionsofaandbandthelengthsofLaandLbwecancalculatethepositionofxthroughthe
mathematicalprocessoftrilateration1showninFigure24.
Itisintuitivelyobviousthatwecanlocateanyx,givenknowledgeofthepositionsofaandb,andof
thelengthsLaandLb:xmustlieonacirclecenteredatawithradiusLaandalsomustlieonanother
circlecenteredatbwithradiusLb.
Toformalizeabitwhatwelearnedfromtheexamplewiththeshipandthesoundhouses,twosuchcircles
either(1)donotintersect,(2)touchatasinglepoint,(3)toucheverywhere,or(4)intersectattwopoints.
Possibility(1)isclearlyout,becausewehaveconstructedourdiagramsothatthecirclesintersectatx.
Possibility(2)seemsunlikely,giventhegeometryofthesituation,andgiventhatthelinesegmentsconnecting
thepointswithxmustnotpassthroughthedisk.Possibility(3)isout:thecircleswouldhavetohavethesame
centersandradii.Weareleftthenwithpossibility(4),shownasFigure25:therearetwopointsthatareat
distanceLafromaandLbfromb.Oneoftheseisx.Theotherisalongwayfromthedisk,is
thereforeuninteresting(wellcallitpointu),andiscertainlynotx.
Thepointsaandb,ofcourse,representtwooftheGPSsatellitesatapreciseinstantoftime,andpoint
xrepresentsthepositionoftheGPSreceiverantennaatthatsameprecisemoment.(The0.1secondthatit
takesforthesignalsfromthesatellitestoreachthereceiveriscompensatedforinthedesignofthesystem.)
Thisisfinefortwodimensions.Whathappenswhenwemovetothree?Fromaconceptualpointofview,the
coinbecomesasphere,xresidesonthesphere(orveryslightlyoutsideit),andweneedtoaddapoint
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(satellite)c,somewhereelseinspace(notintheplaneformedbya,b,andx)inordertobeableto
locatethepositionofx.Theproblemwesolvehereisfindingtheintersectionofthreespheres(insteadoftwo
circles).
Whiletheprocessoffindingthisintersectionismoredifficultmathematically,andhardertovisualize,itturns
out,again,thatthereareonlytwopoints,justoneofwhichmightreasonablybex.
Youmaydeducethisasfollows.Considerinitiallytheintersectionofthesurfacesoftwospheres.First,forget
aboutthespecialcasepossibilitythattheydontintersectatall(theircentersareseparatedbymorethanthesum
oftheirradii,oronespherecompletelycontainstheother),andthecaseinwhichtheytoucheverywhere(same
centers,sameradii).Nowtheymusteithertouchatasinglepoint(unlikely)orintersectformingacircle.Soour
problemofvisualizationisreducedtofindingtheintersectionofthiscircleandthesurfaceofthethirdsphere.If
youagaindiscardsomespecial,inapplicablecases,youseethattheintersectioncanbeonlytwopoints,where
thecirclepiercesthesphere.Onlyoneofthesepointscanbex.
Intheory,oneshouldneedonlythreesatellitestogetagood,threedimensional(3D)fix.Youmayrecallthat
whenyoutookthereceiverintothefield,however,youneededfoursatellitesbeforetheunitwouldcalculatea
position.Why?Briefly,thereasonhastodowiththefactthattheclockinareceiverisnotnearlyasgoodasthe
four$50,000clocksineachsatellite,sothereceivermustdependonthesatelliteclockstosetitselfcorrectly.
So,inasense,thefourthsatellitesetsthereceiversclock.Inactuality,however,allfoursatellitescontributeto
findingapointinfourdimensionalspace.

Figure25.Findingxbytheintersectionofcircles.
YounowknowthetheoreticalbasisforGPS.Itisnotunlikelythatyouhaveseveralquestions.Iwilldeferthe
answerstoafewthatwehaveanticipatedsothatwecantakeupanissuethatbearsmoredirectlyonthe
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fieldworkyouareabouttodo.

FactorsAffectingWhenandHowtoCollectData
NeitherGPSnoranyothermethodcantellyouexactlywhereanobjectontheearthssurfaceis.Foronething,
anobject,nomatterhowsmall,cannotbeconsideredtobeinexactlyoneplace,ifbyplacewemeanazero
dimensionalpointspecifiedbycoordinates.Anyobjectoccupiesaninfinitenumberofzerodimensionalpoints.
Further,therearealwayserrorsinanymeasuringsystemordevice.
Nowthatwehavethrownouttheideaofexactlocation,theissuebecomes:whatkindofapproximationare
youwillingtoaccept(andpayfor)?Therearetwophilosophiesyoumightconsider:
goodenough
thebestthatisreasonable
Youmightusegoodenoughwhenyouknowforcertainwhatgoodenoughis.Forexample,ifyouare
bringingashipintoaharbor,goodenoughmightbelocationalvaluesguaranteedtokeepyourshipoutof
contactwiththeharborbottom,orbetweenbuoys.
Youmight,ontheotherhand,usethebestthatisreasonablewhenyoudontreallyknowwhatgood
enoughis.Forexample,ifyouarebuildingadatabaseofcityblockoutlines,youmightnotbeabletoforetell
theusestowhichitmightbeput.Yourimmediateneedsmightsuggestthatonelevelofaccuracywouldbe
appropriate,butseveralmonthslateryou(orsomeoneelse)mightwantahigherlevelofaccuracyforanother
use.Soitmightbeworthexpendingtheextraresourcestocollectdataatthehighestlevelofaccuracythatyour
budgetandthestateoftheartwillallow.
ThemajorfactorsthatrelatetotheaccuracyofGPSmeasurementsare:
satelliteclockerrors
ephemeriserrors(satellitepositionerrors)
receivererrors
ionosphereerrors(upperatmosphereerrors)
troposphereerrors(loweratmosphereerrors)
multipatherrors(errorsfrombouncedsignals)
Thereareseveral50centwordsabovethathaventbeendefined.Wewilldeferdiscussionofmostofthe
sourcesoferroruntillater,primarilybecause,atthemoment,thereislittleornothingyoucandoaboutthem
besidesknowingoftheirexistenceandunderstandinghowtheyaffectyourresults.Inthelongrunyoucandoa
lotabouttheseerrorsbyamethodcalleddifferentialcorrection.Butfirstwewillconsideranissuecalled
DilutionofPrecision(DOP)because:
High(poor)DOPvaluescanmagnifytheothererrors,
DOPvaluescanbemonitoredduringdatacollectionandthedataloggercanmaskoutdatawithexcessive
DOPvalues,
DOPvalues,whichcanbepredictedconsiderablyinadvanceforanygivenlocation,canperhapsbereduced
byselectingappropriatetimestocollectdata,and
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DifferentialcorrectioncannoteradicateerrorscreatedbyinappropriateDOPvalues.
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BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part1
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part2
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part3
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part4
BasicConcepts(GPSandGIS)Part5

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