Summary Review of GPS Technology for Structural

Health Monitoring
Seok Been Im, Ph.D.1; Stefan Hurlebaus, Ph.D., M.ASCE2; and Young Jong Kang, Ph.D., M.ASCE3
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Abstract: Over the last two decades, global positioning system (GPS) technology has been developed rapidly and recently applied to civil
structures for appropriate monitoring of structural performance. Currently, the GPS technique can only be applied to flexible structures having
lower modal frequency ranges, and it still has remaining issues when it comes to obtaining accurate measurements. However, the application of
GPS is promising as a monitoring tool because it can measure dynamic characteristics and static displacements in real time, whereas the con-
ventional monitoring system using accelerometers cannot measure static and quasi-static displacements. Furthermore, rapid advancements in
GPS devices and algorithms can mitigate erroneous sources of GPS data, and integrated systems using GPS receivers with other supplement
sensors are capable of providing accurate measurements. Therefore, GPS technology can provide accurate displacements of structures in real
time, and stress and strain conditions of the structures can be computed using finite-element models and numerical analyses. It is also expected
that damage localization and severity can be identified using the dynamic characteristics of structures obtained from GPS. This paper summa-
rizes the use of GPS technology for structural health monitoring. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0000475. © 2013 American Society of
Civil Engineers.
CE Database subject headings: Geographic information systems; Monitoring; Span bridges; Monitoring.
Author keywords: GPS; Health monitoring; Long span bridges; Real-time monitoring.

Introduction
In recent years, civil structures and buildings have been getting
bigger and more slender for economical and aesthetic reasons. A
large number of long span bridges, such as cable-stayed bridges and
suspension bridges, have been constructed to reduce the overall cost
of the substructure, because substructure costs significantly increase
when bridges are located in seas, valleys, and developed urban areas.
Recently, many countries have emulatively constructed high-rise
buildings because the building can be a tourist attraction and
a landmark for the country. Thus, long span bridges and high-rise
buildings can be significantly affected by live loads such as a
wind load. Many more concerns have been raised regarding the
dynamic responses of long span bridges and high-rise buildings to
assure their structural performance. The importance of monitoring
high-rise buildings cannot be overemphasized because the areas are
densely populated. Additionally, bridges face severe environmental
effects leading to corrosion, and the original dynamic characteristics
can be changed because of the deterioration of their structural inte-
grities. Furthermore, over the last several decades, the requirements
for bridges have changed: vehicles are heavier, faster, and using the
1
Manager, ENG Center, Samsung C&T, HongWoo Annex Bldg. 7F
1327-1, Seocho-Gu, Seoul, 137-858 Korea. E-mail: sbeeni75@gmail.com
2
Assistant Professor, Zachry Dept. of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M
Univ., College Station, TX 77843-3136 (corresponding author). E-mail:
shurlebaus@civil.tamu.edu
3
Professor, School of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineer-
ing, Korea Univ., Seoul, 136-713 Korea. E-mail: yjkang@korea.ac.kr
Note. This manuscript was submitted on March 1, 2011; approved on
August 2, 2011; published online on August 5, 2011. Discussion period
open until March 1, 2014; separate discussions must be submitted for
individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Structural Engi-
neering, Vol. 139, No. 10, October 1, 2013. ©ASCE, ISSN 0733-9445/
2013/10-1653–1664/$25.00.
bridges more frequently. Increased traffic loads call for more oner-
ous use requirements than were expected at the time of their original
design. Therefore, continuous monitoring has to be performed using
an appropriate method to secure the performance of high-rise
buildings and bridges up to their physical design limits and close
to their planned lifetimes.
Conventional monitoring methods have been used with accel-
erometers and surveying equipment, such as the theodolite. The
accelerometer monitoring system is capable of measuring the dy-
namic response of structures and its measuring coverage is broad;
that is, it is applicable for identifying high frequency ranges.
However, it cannot assess static and quasi-static displacement, and
numerical integration errors may be included. Thus, the acceler-
ometer system requires appropriate postprocessing to reduce in-
tegration error; it is limited in determining a double integration
constant in real-time monitoring applications (Celebi 2000; Lee
and Shinozuka 2006; Park et al. 2007). The permanent static dis-
placements caused by long-standing or impact loads are significant
especially for bridge structures because erosion and settlement of
bridges caused by tidal effects, ship collisions, or other impacts may
cause entire bridges to abruptly fall. However, the information for
permanent displacement of the bridges cannot be obtained from
the accelerometer system (Fujino et al. 2000; Masri et al. 2004).
To monitor the static displacements of structures, conventional
survey methods can be used, but their results are affected by
surveyors and are not provided in real time. Thus, alternative ways
have been developed in response to increased requirements for
monitoring dynamic and static displacements in real time. The
global positioning system (GPS) and the newly developed tech-
niques, such as terrestrial positioning systems, laser displace-
ment sensors, and photo/video imaging methods, have been
applied to long span bridges and examined for their feasibility
(Lee and Shinozuka 2006; Park et al. 2007; Wahbeh et al. 2003).
However, the vision-based approaches have some limitations.
First, the vision capabilities of monitoring devices can be affected

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J. Struct. Eng., 2013, 139(10): 1653-1664

 by passing vehicles. Also, their monitoring distances may be
limited to a few hundred meters. Finally, it is required to have fine
weather conditions because dust, rain, or surrounding lights may
result in measurement errors.
GPS technology was initially used to identify the status of aerial
navigation and aircraft landing using the measurements of differ-
ential carrier phase (DCP) (Teague et al. 1995; Wang et al. 2001).
Later, GPS was applied to geodetic surveying and monitoring of
static and dynamic displacements. The GPS is capable of providing
fast and accurate measurements of static position, and it has been
used in the survey of long span bridges (Norgard 1996). The rapid
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advancement of the GPS device and algorithms has enabled the
monitoring of bridges in real time (Kijewski-Correa et al. 2006; Duff
and Hyzak 1997). However, GPS monitoring is limited in its ap-
plication to relatively lower-frequency structures because the max-
imum sampling rate of the latest receivers is 100 Hz (Ogaja et al.
2007). In addition, the application of GPS may lead to critical errors
because of multipath effects, geometry effects of satellites, tropo-
spheric delay, cycle slips, etc., during monitoring. Although GPS
monitoring can be applied only to flexible structures having a lower
modal frequency range and still has unresolved issues in its ap-
proach, it is still a viable and promising tool for monitoring static and
dynamic displacements given the rapid advancement of GPS devices
and algorithms. It is also expected that the obtained displacements
from GPS may possibly assess damage localization by the change
of frequency and the stress conditions of members by inverse analysis
if all the erroneous sources are resolved.
This paper aims to provide a better understanding of GPS
technology and a summary review of recent applications of GPS
technology for structural health monitoring. The paper is orga-
nized as follows: first, the GPS is introduced, and approaches to
apply the GPS technique in structural monitoring are described.
Second, field applications for GPS monitoring are provided,
and the improvements of GPS devices and integrated systems
are then introduced. To propose an effective and practical GPS
approach, the improved GPS devices, optimal algorithms, and
other supplementary sensors are described. Finally, multiple ap-
proaches for erroneous source mitigation are provided to ease
the development of an optimal GPS monitoring and assessment
system.
What Is Global Positioning System?
GPS is a satellite-based radio navigation system created by the U.S.
DOD. Twenty-four GPS satellites were initially orbiting more than
20,000 km above the earth, and currently, more satellites continu-
ously transmit digital radio signals free of charge. The satellites were
designed to orbit twice a day, and at least four GPS satellites are
available to provide radio signals at any location on earth unless
blockages exist (Daly 1993).
The GPS digital signals consist of two parts: a carrier phase code
and a pseudorandom code. The signals contain the information of
satellites’ locations and the exact times using atomic clocks installed
in satellites. On the basis of the information, the receiver computes
the relative positions between the satellites and the receiver (Fig. 1).
Therefore, a GPS receiver is capable of identifying the location and
speed of the receiver by tracking the signals. In addition, GPS
measurement is independent to all weather conditions; thus, con-
tinuous measurements of satellite signals are possible without
disturbance from reflecting objects near the receiver. GPS has been
widely used in navigation systems including aircrafts, vehicles,
ships, and for identifying positions.
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Methods to Apply Global Positioning System in
Structural Monitoring
For structural monitoring based on GPS technology, there are two
approaches to apply in the early stage: one is the fixed network
system and the other is the mobile system (Duff and Hyzak 1997).
The conventional GPS technique in the fixed network system was
used for surveying, and it required an observation time of one to
several hours to identify position coordinates. For the fixed network
system, two receivers are used, and the computation of differences
between two receivers is capable of measuring the change in po-
sition. To obtain high-quality phase data, the rover GPS receiver has
to be fixed or positioned shortly from the reference GPS. This
technique uses the average time to reduce erroneous sources and is
appropriate for long-term monitoring. The mobile survey method
cannot detect short-term motions of structures, but it can measure
long-term displacements. By obtaining several measurements along
a bridge, this technique assessed geometric changes induced by
settlement and bending. To assess short-term displacements, the
fixed network system was then advanced with improved algorithms.
Thus, the advanced approach significantly reduced monitoring time
and was called the fast static (FS) method (Gili et al. 2000). Sub-
sequently, real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS was developed, and it can
monitor the dynamic displacements while roving (Gili et al. 2000;
Brown et al. 1999). The schematics of FS method and RTK GPS
method are shown in Fig. 2.
Based on the Nyquist theorem, the minimum sampling rate has to
be twice as high as the frequency of a monitoring structure to obtain
reliable data (Shannon 1949). Currently, the performance of GPS
receivers has rapidly improved and has a sampling rate up to 50–
100 Hz (Table 1). Table 1 exhibits up-to-date GPS receivers, and
their accuracies for FS and RTK monitoring are based on the
brochures provided by manufacturers. Recent studies on GPS
monitoring with advanced device and algorithms exhibited that the
GPS technique can measure low amplitudes of displacements within
millimeter levels of accuracy (Roberts et al. 2004b; Larocca 2004;
Watson et al. 2007).
Applications of Global Positioning System in
Structural Monitoring
During the early stage of structural health monitoring with GPS, the
technology had been applied to large structures to monitor long-term
Fig. 1. Calculation of distance between GPS satellite and receiver
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Fig. 2. Schematic of FS and RTK method

static displacements caused by external loads (Ogaja et al. 2007).
After the advent of RTK GPS sensors, the GPS technique has been
used for monitoring the dynamic, as well as static, displacement of
flexible structures.
Long-Term Monitoring for a Dam and Landslide
In 1995, GPS was installed at the Pacoima Dam in California after
the reference point of a conventional survey system was destroyed
by earthquakes (Hudnut and Behr 1998). Although the installed
system could not measure the real-time displacement of the dam
during an earthquake, it effectively monitored the static displace-
ment after the earthquake. The installed GPS receiver had a sampling
rate of up to 2 Hz, but GPS signals were recorded once every 30 s.
Because of the low sampling rate, the GPS could not detect dis-
placement of the dam influenced by water level, but it measured the
displacement by seasonal temperature change.
Field monitoring with GPS was performed to identify move-
ments during a landslide in Vallcebre, Spain (Gili et al. 2000).
Fourteen instances of GPS monitoring had been carried out be-
tween December 1995 and February 1998 to identify changes of
surveying points. From the testing, FS and RTK methods were
applied and compared. Based on the results, the FS method exhibited
slightly better precision than the RTK method (for the horizontal
direction, the error is 30 mm for FS method but 40 mm for RTK), but
it required several minutes of monitoring while the RTK method
measured in real time.
Monitoring for a Tower and Chimney
In 1993, one of the earliest applications of GPS monitoring was
performed to identify dynamic deformation of flexible structures.
The single frequency receiver having a 10-Hz sampling rate was
used in the field application, and the test was performed at the

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 Table 1. Currently Manufactured GPS Receivers for RTK Monitoring Based on Brochures in 2011
Accuracy (vendor claimed precision)
Manufacturer Receiver model Direction Fast static Real-time kinematic Sampling rate (Hz)
Leica Viva GS15 Horizontal 5 mm 1 0:5 ppm 10 mm 1 1 ppm 20
Vertical 10 mm 1 0:5 ppm 20 mm 1 1 ppm
Javad Triumph-1 Horizontal 3 mm 1 0:5 ppm 3 baseline 10 mm 1 1 ppm 3 baseline 100
Vertical 5 mm 1 0:5 ppm 3 baseline 15 mm 1 1 ppm 3 baseline
NovCom SF-3050 Horizontal Not available 10 mm 1 0:5 ppm 100
Vertical Not available 20 mm 1 1 ppm
NovAtel SMART-MR15 Horizontal Not available 10 mm 1 1 ppm 20
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Vertical Not available Not available

Septentrio AsteRx2e Horizontal Not available 6 mm 1 0:5 ppm 25
Vertical Not available 10 mm 1 1 ppm
Sokkia GRX1 Horizontal 3 mm 1 0:5 ppm 10 mm 1 1 ppm 20
Vertical 5 mm 1 0:5 ppm 15 mm 1 1 ppm
Topcon GR-5 Horizontal 3 mm 1 0:5 ppm 10 mm 1 1 ppm 100
Vertical 5 mm 1 0:5 ppm 15 mm 1 1 ppm
Trimble NetR9 Horizontal 3 mm 1 0:1 ppm 8 mm 1 1 ppm 50
Vertical 4 mm 1 0:4 ppm 15 mm 1 1 ppm

Calgary tower in Canada (Lovse et al. 1995). The least square es-
timation approach was used to resolve the ambiguities on the fly,
and chokering groundplanes around the GPS antennas were used to
reduce multipath effects. From the postprocessing, the GPS data
identified a main frequency of 0.36 Hz and displacement of 616 mm.
However, the GPS monitoring required postprocessing to provide
better precision.
To monitor the quick displacement of high-rise structures, Breuer
et al. (2002) assessed the accuracy of GPS monitoring using two
preliminary tests. From the results, they concluded that GPS data are
independent of the different distances between the reference and
rover GPS stations, and the precision of GPS monitoring is closely
related to the number and geometry of satellites. After the pre-
liminary test, they applied the GPS technique to the Stuttgart TV
tower and the chimney of the Opole Power Station to evaluate
whether GPS monitoring is capable of measuring small displace-
ments caused by weak winds. From the field test of the TV tower,
a constant frequency of 0.2 Hz was obtained from 2-min mea-
surements. In that research, a Leica 300 GPS unit was used with the
kinematic on the fly algorithm, which required 100–300 data points
to resolve ambiguous data.
Tamura et al. (2002) used a RTK-GPS (Leica MC1000), having
a sampling rate of 10 Hz, to assess the wind-induced response of
a full-scale tower. After validation of the RTK-GPS system, they
applied the system to a tower in Tokyo. The GPS detected a static
displacement of 4 cm caused by a typhoon and identified a 4-cm
deformation caused by heat stress. Also, the GPS results identified
a peak frequency of 0.57 Hz for the tower, which agreed with ac-
celerometer results. Li et al. (2006) developed the integrated system
using both GPS and accelerometer sensors to monitor broad ranges
of frequencies. They installed the integrated system to the same
steel tower in Tokyo with an anemometer and strain gauge, and it
exhibited a clear peak frequency of 0.57 Hz.
Monitoring for High-Rise Buildings
by installing a GPS antenna on its roof (Celebi et al. 1998, 1999;
Celebi and Sanli 2002). The results showed that a GPS system can
identify the dynamic response of the test setup and building with
sufficient accuracy. In their analysis, they used a cross-spectrum on
two orthogonal and horizontal displacements because the obtained
GPS signals were noisy and had small amplitudes (Celebi et al.
1998). Also, they developed a software tool that can assess dis-
placement caused by earthquakes and severe wind in real time. The
software provides warning when the displacements of a monitored
structure exceed its threshold (Celebi 2000).
To monitor structural integrity of a high-rise building in Singapore,
conventional accelerometer systems installed at the roof and base-
ment have been used since 1993. However, the conventional sys-
tems have difficulty in monitoring permanent static deformation
and dynamic response in real time. Thus, GPS was applied in the
building along with the conventional monitoring system (Brown-
john et al. 2003, 2004). Three Leica SR530 receivers and Ski-Pro
software were used in the GPS application (Brownjohn et al. 2004).
The GPS results demonstrated that the system can identify dynamic
characteristics of the building caused by wind loads. Also, real-
time GPS monitoring can provide correlations between loadings
and response, and structural conditions of the building can be
predicted using this relationship.
To better monitoring high-rise buildings in urban areas, Kijewski-
Correa et al. (2006) executed precalibration of GPS system. They
identified background noise of GPS signals using the concept of
position quality thresholds and assessed the effect of frequency and
amplitude of dynamic motions as considering the structural behaviors
of high-rise buildings. Also, Kijewski-Correa and Kochly (2007)
studied the multipath effect because surrounding buildings in urban
areas can be a source of multipath of GPS signals. After the validation,
the GPS monitoring system was applied to full-scale structures in
Chicago. From the full-scale tests, the GPS results showed good
correlations with accelerometer results for the dynamic response of
the building.

Recently, a large number of high-rise buildings have been con-

structed, and the monitoring of static and dynamic displacement of
the buildings has become more important to secure their structural
integrities. Celebi et al. created a test setup that simulated a 30- to
40-story flexible building and then monitored a 44-story building
Monitoring for Long Span Bridges
Given recent advancements in bridge construction, a growing
number of long span bridges have been constructed because of re-
duced substructure costs and enhanced aesthetic beauty of bridges.

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 Because of their slender geometry, bridges can be significantly af-
fected by wind, vehicle, and other impact loads. Bridges may also
suffer large deformations caused by temperature changes. Thus,
bridges have to be continuously assessed by appropriate monitoring
methods to secure their structural performance. Because the moni-
toring systems need to identify static, dynamic, and permanent
displacements in real time, the GPS technique has been broadly used
for bridge monitoring.
Ashkenazi and Roberts (1997) applied kinematic GPS sensors to
monitor the displacement of the Humber Bridge in the United
Kingdom. To monitor the deformation of main structures in the
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bridge, GPS antennas were installed on the bridge deck and pylons.
Two Ashtech Z-XII dual-frequency GPS receivers and a pair of
Racal Delta Link II UHF telemetry links systems were used in this
monitoring. In the preliminary test, the zero-baseline test, the ki-
nematic GPS system was assessed, and the results revealed that the
resolution was 61 mm in the horizontal direction and 63 mm in the
vertical direction. For the bridge monitoring, the static reference
point was determined as the top of the bridge-control building near
the bridge. The monitoring of Humber suspension bridge was
performed on a calm day to minimize error caused by wind load.
From the results, it was seen that the GPS data could be interrupted
by passing trucks. Therefore, a GPS antenna was subsequently
installed at an elevated position using a pole, but critical vibrations
on the pole were caused by wind loads. Fig. 3 exhibits GPS antennas
recently installed at the Youngjong Grand Bridge in Korea, and they
are installed at stiff poles to minimize the effect of wind loads.
A long span suspension bridge requires careful concern for ve-
hicle loads because unpredicted traffic loads caused by over-
population may lead to critical deterioration (Roberts et al. 1999).
To assess the dynamic response when applying heavy loads,
Roberts et al. applied five fully loaded trucks to the Humber Bridge.
Eight GPS receivers were used for bridge monitoring: five receivers
were installed on the bridge, two receivers were placed at reference
points, and one receiver was located on a truck. The receivers on the
bridge were attached with specially designed clamps that reduce
antenna vibration caused by wind loads. The test was performed
while the bridge was partially closed, but the effects of other vehicles
Fig. 3. GPS antennas installed at stiff poles (Youngjong Grand Bridge, Korea)
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J. Struct. Eng., 2013, 139(10): 1653-1664
were minimized because the testing was done at night (1:00 a.m.).
From the finite-element analysis (FEA), the deflection at midspan
was predicted to be 440 mm; the displacements measured 420 mm by
GPS systems and 430 mm after the filtering process.
Three cable-supported bridges—the Tsing Ma Suspension Bridge,
the Kap Shui Mun cable-stayed bridge, and the Ting Kau cable-stayed
bridge—have been monitored through the existing Wind and
Structural Health Monitoring System (WASHMS). The current
monitoring was examined by accelerometers, but this may lead to
critical error in monitoring because the integration process may
include uncertainty for integration constants and cannot provide
absolute displacements. Thus, Wong et al. (2001a, b) installed GPS
systems on cables, decks, and pylons to monitor the displacement
of bridge components to improve accuracy of the WASHMS. The
improved GPS system can measure vertical displacement within
20-mm precision and within 10-mm accuracy in the horizontal
direction (Wong et al. 2001a). The GPS data were transferred using
optical fibers to remove the potential loss of signals caused by large
vehicle interruption. Based on the assessments of wind load, tem-
perature load, traffic load, and railway load, the cable force and
strains/stresses for main structural components were assessed in
the GPS-on-structure instrumentation system (OSIS).
Jiang et al. (2002) introduced a real-time GPS monitoring system
developed at Tsinghua University and applied the system to the
Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong and Humen Suspension Bridge in
China to assess dynamic responses of the bridges. In their GPS
applications, the on-the-fly ambiguity resolution technique was used
to reduce errors caused by satellite constellation and atmospheric
delay. Thus, 3 min of GPS data were needed for data processing to
extract erroneous sources. They also proposed a display system
using three vibration modes obtained from fast-Fourier transform
(FFT) analysis of GPS data. In their display systems, computer
simulation methods were used to provide three-dimensional (3D)
deformations of bridges in real time (Xinzheng et al. 2004). Guo
et al. (2005) also assessed and monitored displacements of the
Humen Bridge using RTK GPS sensors. Seven GPS stations on the
bridge (five more GPS stations will be installed later) were in-
stalled for bridge monitoring, and a fiber optical communication
 system was used with them. To obtain reliable GPS data, GPS
signals at each station were compared with others to ensure time
synchronization, and the effect of the geometry of the satellites was
considered using geometric dilution of precision. From a continuous
5-month period of monitoring results, they analyzed vertical dis-
placement of the deck caused by temperature change. They estimated
the frequency characteristics of the Humen Bridge and compared
them using FEA. Although the mode shape of the first asymmetrical
torsion was slightly different from FEA results, other modal fre-
quencies based on GPS data were analogous to FEA results.
Wieser and Brunner applied the GPS monitoring system to the
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cable-stayed Rosenbrücke Bridge in Austria, and they installed the
GPS stations at pylons and on the bridge deck (Wieser and Brunner
2002). The results showed that the GPS application provided re-
liable accuracy for pylons without filtering (2 mm for horizontal
direction and 4 mm for vertical direction). However, they concluded
that GPS monitoring was not appropriate for bridge decks because
cables installed in bridges can lead to multipath effects, and thus,
reliable GPS data cannot be obtained from the GPS stations near
cables. Another cable-stayed bridge in Canada was assessed using
GPS (Larocca 2004). The dynamic characteristics of the Hawkshaw
cable-stayed bridge was identified using vehicle loads. During
monitoring, five GPS receivers (a pair of NOVATEL OEM4-DL4
and three TRIMBLE 5700) having a 5-Hz sampling rate were in-
stalled, and one triaxial accelerometer, ENTRAN EGA3, was placed
on the bridge. Using different weights of trucks, the dynamic be-
haviors of the bridge in the vertical and horizontal directions were
assessed. The GPS results exhibited that the frequencies of the bridge
were 0.57 Hz for the vertical direction and 0.60 Hz for the horizontal
direction. The conventional instrument verified the GPS data and the
precision of GPS data for amplitude ranged between 0.5 and 0.8 mm.
Recently, a cable-stayed bridge over the River Tamar in Australia
was monitored using GPS technology. The GPS results were com-
pared with analysis results obtained from Space Gass structural
analysis software (Larocca 2004). The GPS results exhibited that the
GPS monitoring successfully identified static displacements from
thermal effects and dynamic displacements by traffic loading. The
resolution of GPS results was accurate at the millimeter level.
Improvement of Global Positioning System Device
Up-to-date GPS sensors and related devices are being rapidly de-
veloped. In the early stages of GPS application, the measurements
of DCP were used to identify the status of aerial navigation and
aircraft landing (Teague et al. 1995). The DCP measures the phase
difference of the same carrier signal between two antennas. On the
basis of test results in the laboratory, the GPS DCP system is a viable
device for monitoring displacements of structural systems at the
centimeter level when the bandwidth of the structures is up to 2 Hz.
The carrier phase measurements using the relative position of
receivers can identify positions with high precision, but the signals
can be affected by cycle slip or interruption of surrounding objects
such as cables and vehicles (Brown et al. 1999). The traditional carrier
phase measurements require that both receivers are stationary
during monitoring. However, the improved RTK GPS technique
can measure the position of the installed receiver in real time while
it is roving. Thus, the RTK GPS technique was applied for monitor-
ing of structures. Although conventional monitoring systems using
accelerometers can measure the high-frequency range of vibration
in structures, they may tend to drift over time and cannot detect
low-frequency vibration ranges. However, GPS can monitor low-
frequency vibrations and detect static displacements, whereas ac-
celerometers cannot.
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From the Nyquist theorem, GPS devices having low data sam-
pling rates cannot be applied to relatively rigid structures (Roberts
et al. 2004b). Thus, GPS monitoring has been performed success-
fully, especially in flexible large-scale structures, because their
modal frequencies are low ( ,1 Hz). However, the performance of
GPS receivers has rapidly improved, and a receiver having a sam-
pling rate up to 100 Hz has even been developed (Ogaja et al. 2007).
Roberts et al. (2004a) assessed a GPS receiver, JNS 100, which is
capable of measuring data up to 100 Hz, while comparing it with the
Leica SR 510 receiver and accelerometer. Recently, Psimoulis et al.
(2008) used a GPS receiver having a sampling rate of 20 Hz and
identified the oscillation frequency up to 4 Hz. During data pro-
cessing, the least square–based techniques, permitting spectral
analysis and the traditional FFT technique, were considered, and the
WINWWZ software was used in the analyses (Psimoulis et al. 2008).
From the results, the GPS system could identify the dynamic
characteristics up to 4 Hz, and results were more accurate up to 2 Hz.
Validation of Global Positioning System Precision
Recently, the GPS precision has been advanced with rapid im-
provement of GPS system, and it will be getting better starting 2018
because more GPS satellites will be available based on Galileo plan
currently being propelled by the European Union (EU) and European
Space Agency (ESA) (Spiegel 2010). The GPS precision is generally
validated by comparison of GPS and accelerometer data (Kijewski-
Correa and Kochly 2007; Moschas and Stiros 2011). The displace-
ments obtained from GPS are converted to acceleration data using
a double numerical differentiation procedure.
In addition, the GPS precision can be verified in preliminary tests
by installing a GPS sensor on a motion simulator. Tamura et al.
(2002) assessed a RTK-GPS system using an electronic exciter
providing sinusoidal vibration (Fig. 4). The GPS technique exam-
ined the dynamic response when the natural frequency was ,2 Hz
and the displacement was .2 cm.
To improve the precision of GPS monitoring for high-rise
buildings, Kijewski-Correa et al. (2006) conducted experiments
using a motion simulator to validate the GPS system and back-
ground noise. Also, Nickitopoulou et al. (2006) statistically assessed
GPS data using a prototype specimen including a rotation rod, and
the obtained GPS data were compared with real coordinates of the
Fig. 4. Evaluation of RTK GPS using sinusoidal exciter
 specimen (Fig. 5). In the research, outlier data in GPS monitoring
were statistically determined to confirm the accuracy of data. The
results exhibited that GPS data can statically measure displacement
having harmonic motion when the amplitude of displacement is
.15 mm (level of outlier , 15%). Recently, Casciati and Fuggini
(2009) validated the precision of a dual frequency GPS receiver,
and they performed static and dynamic tests using an electro-
magnetic motor making the GPS to move linearly. Their results
showed that the GPS detected millimeter level dynamic motion up
to 2 Hz.
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Improvement of a Single-Frequency Receiver
with an Optimal Algorithm
To monitor structural displacements in detail, densified GPS stations
are required, but it is costly to establish a dense GPS network using
dual frequency receivers. Although the dual-frequency receiver is
highly accurate, it is 10 times more expensive than the single-
frequency receiver. Thus, Rizos et al. (2000) compared the ac-
curacy of both dual- and single-frequency receivers. The four
single-frequency receivers, Canadian Marconi Company GPS re-
ceivers and Trimble 4000SSE receivers, were installed by Uni-
versity of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers at Tsukuba, Japan,
and the data obtained from the newly installed network were
compared with the data obtained from the currently established
network, GEONET, using dual-frequency receivers. The data from
both networks were postprocessed by specially revised Bernese GPS
software. It was found that results from single-frequency receivers
have good agreement with the results from dual-frequency receivers
in the horizontal direction (the accuracies showed better than 5 mm
for the single one and 2 mm for the dual one). However, the ac-
curacies for the vertical direction showed critical differences be-
tween both networks (the accuracies showed better than 3 cm for the
single one and 6 mm for the dual one). In the meantime, Forward
et al. (2001) proposed a switched GPS antenna array system that uses
a single GPS receiver connecting with multiple antennas to improve
the accuracy of monitoring with a single-frequency receiver. This
approach reduced the cost of implementing the GPS monitoring
Fig. 5. Prototype experimental device for validating GPS precision performed by Nickitopoulou et al. (2006)
JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / OCTOBER 2013 / 1659
J. Struct. Eng., 2013, 139(10): 1653-1664
system and demonstrated reliable precision (4 mm error in the
horizontal direction and 10 mm error in the vertical direction).
However, the single-frequency GPS is limited in its application
to bridge monitoring because it takes 30 min to resolve the integer
ambiguities at the beginning of monitoring and after a cycle slip.
Cosser et al. (2004) revised Kinpos software for dual frequency
data and applied the revised software to single frequency data. The
single frequency receiver with the revised software reduced am-
biguity time and improved the data accuracy. In field tests, dual and
single receivers were applied to short and long span bridges
(Wilford Suspension Bridge and Humber Suspension Bridge), and
then the results from both receivers are compared. The results
exhibited that the data from dual receivers were better, but single
receivers also provided reliable monitoring data for both bridges.
Larocca et al. (2005) also used single-frequency GPS receivers
with the phase residual method (PRM) to identify the dynamic
characteristics of the Pierre-Laporte Suspension Bridge in Canada.
They compared the modified on-the-fly ambiguity resolution and
PRM algorithm, and both methods showed good agreement with
each other. Also, the GPS with PRM successfully measured dy-
namic displacements and was not affected by bad geometry of
satellites.
Improvement of Global Positioning System Antenna
The multipath effect in GPS monitoring has been a long-standing
issue because it can degrade the accuracy of GPS data. To reduce
the multipath effect, chokering groundplanes were used to apply
GPS monitoring at the Calgary tower in Canada (Lovse et al. 1995).
Then, the choke-ring, which can mitigate the multipath effect, was
applied to the GPS antenna (Duff and Hyzak 1997; Roberts et al.
2000, 2004b; Kijewski-Correa and Kochly 2007; Wieser and Brunner
2002; Cosser et al. 2004; Kijewski-Correa et al. 2004; Satirapod and
Rizos 2005). The choke-ring antenna consists of a central antenna
and several conductive rings around the antenna (Fig. 6). However,
all GPS signals obtained from multipath cannot be completely
eliminated. Thus, postprocessing algorithms are needed to select
more accurate GPS data.
 Fig. 6. Choke-ring antenna
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Integrated Global Positioning System System Using
Other Sensors
Although GPS application is still promising with its rapid ad-
vancements, other sensors have been combined with GPS to im-
prove their monitoring range and accuracy. First, The Applied
Research Laboratories at The University of Texas at Austin (ARL:
UT) combined a carrier phase GPS kinematic system with a servo-
accelerometer to improve the accuracy in low-amplitude responses
(Tolman and Craig 1997). The advanced system using an acceler-
ometer improved the precision at the 1 mm level, while the current
kinematic GPS developed by ARL:UT measured the displacement
with the precision level of 3–5 mm using an averaging approach. In
the system, the GPS antenna and accelerometer were fixed together,
and two different data were combined by a Kalman filter. During field
tests, the displacements at benchmark locations were measured for
10215 min to collect sufficient data for the averaging approach.
Roberts et al. developed the hybrid system consisting of a GPS
system and triaxial accelerometer (Fig. 7) (Roberts et al. 2000, 2001b,
2004b; Meng et al. 2007). In the preliminary tests, the hybrid system
was verified (Roberts et al. 2000). The test was performed using the
platform including choke-ring or lightweight antenna and triaxial
accelerometers, and it was controlled manually. In the setup, the GPS
data rate was set to 10 Hz and the GPS cut-off angle was 15
. The data
synchronization between GPS and accelerometers was carried out
using a cross-correlation algorithm, and the modal frequency was
extracted by spectrum analysis. After the assessment of the hybrid
system, three Leica CRS1000 series receivers, three Leica SR530
receivers, Leica AT504 choke-ring antennas, and AT302 antennas
were installed to monitor the Nottingham Bridge with a Kistler triaxial
accelerometer. The developed system was applied to a small sus-
pension footbridge in Nottingham, and the obtained GPS data were
postprocessed with Leica Ski-Pro software (Brownjohn et al. 2004). In
postprocessing, reliable GPS data can be obtained by FFT analysis,
window filter, consideration of data overlap, and spectrum analysis.
However, it is possible that the actual signal can be filtered out in the
inverse FFT analysis when cutoff frequency is poorly selected. Thus,
the support of a triaxial accelerometer is required to determine an
appropriate cutoff frequency. In this research, the developed device
and algorithms could detect the small displacement of the footbridge
with millimeter level of precision. The hybrid system was also applied
to the Wilford Bridge in the United Kingdom (Meng et al. 2007). The
dynamic responses of the bridge were obtained by applying forced
vibration, decayed free vibration, and ambient vibration caused by
casual traffic and wind loads. In the research, a peak-picking approach
that uses a bandpass filter and FFT was used to identify modal fre-
quencies of the bridge. The difference among various vibration types
was not critical (, 2%), and the computed modal frequencies had
good agreement with FEA results. The accelerometers and GPS in the
hybrid system validated each other’s results, which improves
accuracy.
Similar ideas for measurement using both GPS and accel-
erometers have been tested in other studies. Celebi and Sanli (2002)
1660 / JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / OCTOBER 2013
J. Struct. Eng., 2013, 139(10): 1653-1664
Fig. 7. Schematic of hybrid GPS system
applied a GPS technique and accelerometers to monitor static and
dynamic displacements of a building. While performing field tests,
however, they encountered some trouble; it was difficult to maintain
abundant numbers of satellites and to connect different software
between GPS and accelerometers because of numerous debugging
problems. Chan et al. (2006a, b) integrated the GPS data and ac-
celerometer data to enhance both benefits of the sensors. They also
proposed a data processing approach using empirical mode de-
composition and an adaptive filter. The integrated system and
proposed algorithm were tested using a two-dimensional (2D)
motion simulation table, and the test results exhibited that the
monitoring results were significantly improved. However, GPS data
contain a lot of noise in lower frequency components, and vertical
displacements have more severe noise than horizontal displace-
ments. To combine different sampling rates of GPS and accel-
erometers, Smyth and Wu (2007) introduced a multirate Kalman
filtering approach with a smoothing scheme to improve the dis-
placement data. From the results, they proposed a technique that can
provide very accurate velocity and displacement even while having
a high level of noise and a small dynamic displacement case. Re-
cently, Hann et al. (2009) proposed an algorithm for assessing struc-
tural integrity during the seismic loads while using accelerometers
and GPS data. The convex integral-based fitting and piecewise linear
least squares fitting methods were used in this algorithm. The algo-
rithm is capable of accurately identifying stiffness and permanent
displacements in multiple-story buildings under seismic loads.
Although the hybrid system using GPS and triaxial accel-
erometers was developed to improve the GPS monitoring accuracy
and range, accelerometers may have error caused by drifting sen-
sors, especially during long-term monitoring, and cannot improve
the accuracy of vertical displacements. Also, the measurement ac-
curacy depends on the monitoring location and surroundings be-
cause of the availability of GPS satellites. Under certain conditions
such as urban areas, for instance, available satellites for GPS mon-
itoring are insufficient because of signal blockage by high-rise
buildings. When the number of satellites is insufficient, both the
GPS alone and the GPS with other sensors such as a triaxial accel-
erometer cannot achieve good accuracy for monitoring displace-
ments. Thus, Dai et al. (2000) used pseudolites (PLs), which can
generate GPS-like signals, to improve the bad geometry of satellites
and assessed the accuracy of the proposed system. In their exper-
iment, NovAtel GPS receivers were used with three IntegriNautics
IN200CXL pseudolite devices, and possible errors caused by
location-dependent, multipath, and troposphere delay effects were
considered. From the results, the vertical direction errors were
mitigated to the same as the horizontal ones, and the accuracy of
GPS data was significantly improved. Also, Wang et al. developed
a pseudosatellite system that was installed on the ground and
 assessed the feasibility of the system (Wang et al. 2001; Wang 2002).
Although the results have biased (shifted) because of systematic
error, it was shown that the GPS and PLs system can improve
displacement monitoring better than GPS-only data can. However,
the positioning of PLs was difficult because the small changes
between PLs may lead to problems in signal tracking, multipath, and
tropospheric delay. Also, more efforts are needed to determine
optimal frequencies of PLs. To augment GPS signals and improve
GPS accuracy, Meng et al. (2003, 2004) proposed the use of the
GPS/triaxial accelerometer system with a ground-based satellite
system. They applied three ground-based PLs satellite constellations.
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Using an analytical simulation, the optimal locations of PLs were
determined. The results showed that the application of three PLs
made it possible to measure displacements with same accuracy for
all 3D directions and improved the accuracy of measurement, even
including signal blockages.
To improve the monitoring range and accuracy of GPS, a vision-
based approach was applied with the GPS technique (Kijewski-
Correa et al. 2004; Psimoulis and Stiros 2008). Kijewski-Correa
et al. (2004) proposed an integrated system using GPS and terres-
trial positioning systems. This approach was expected to mitigate
errors caused by multipath and insufficient numbers of satellites for
GPS monitoring. Psimoulis and Stiros (2008) used the combined
system of GPS and robotic total stations (RTSs) to identify dynamic
characteristics of relatively rigid structures (modal frequencies are
up to 3–4 Hz). GPS monitoring was performed using a conventional
antenna, JPS Legent-E, and dual-frequency receivers, JPS Legent-
H, having a sampling rate up to 20 Hz. RTS was used to supplement
the missing data of GPS and Leica TCA1201; with a sampling rate
of up to 10 Hz, and was also used with a high-quality reflector. The
RTS reflector and GPS antenna were installed on top of the oscil-
lating wagon. The GPS receiver was located on a stable position 10–
20 m away from the wagon and the RTS was fixed at a stable position
40–70 m away from the wagon. To resolve the phase difference
between both independent measurements, the cross-correlation
approach was used. From the results, the GPS and RTS approach
measured the modal frequencies up to 4 Hz with good precision, and
the precision was improved when getting higher amplitudes and
lower modal frequencies. The application of a spectral analysis can
also mitigate the effects of loss or discontinuity of signals. However,
the GPS and RTS technique still needs to consider good constel-
lation of satellites and the effect of multipath signals. Also, RTS
requires good weather, which allows clear air for the emitted ray, and
the distance between RTS and reflector is limited to up to few
hundred meters with clear sight.
Mitigation of Erroneous Sources in Global Positioning
System Monitoring
GPS monitoring is expected to be a promising tool for structural
health monitoring, but the system has inherent erroneous sources
because of the effects of satellite constellation, multipath, tropo-
spheric delay, and cycle slips. First of all, the multipath effect in
GPS monitoring has been a long-standing issue because it can de-
grade the accuracy of GPS data. The multipath effect is strongly
affected by the surroundings of a GPS receiver, and it is difficult to
isolate the receivers from the surroundings. This multipath effect can
be magnified when GPS data include measurements from a low
elevation satellite. Second, the geometry and available numbers of
satellites can significantly affect the monitoring results. Especially
in urban areas, it is difficult to maintain sufficient numbers of viable
satellites and a good satellite constellation. Also, a cycle slip induced
by unexpected errors caused by a discontinuous signal, weak signal,
JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / OCTOBER 2013 / 1661
J. Struct. Eng., 2013, 139(10): 1653-1664
or receiver failure, and a signal delay in the atmosphere may occur in
GPS monitoring. These errors need to be considered and mitigated
during postprocessing to provide better accuracy for monitoring.
Although the multipath effect can be mitigated when using
a choke-ring antenna or removing reflectors near the antenna, all
GPS signals obtained from multipath cannot be eliminated. Thus,
a considerable amount of research has been performed to mitigate
or eliminate erroneous sources in GPS monitoring. Roberts et al.
(2001a, 2002a, b) applied the adaptive filtering (AF) approach,
which uses the cross-correlation between two consecutive times
to reduce the multipath effects. Using the AF algorithm, the errors
caused by tropospheric delay, cycle slip, and background noise
were mitigated in GPS monitoring. They concluded that the AF
approach with the hybrid system using GPS and accelerometer
sensors can achieve the precision of millimeter level for vertical
displacements (Roberts et al. 2002a, b). Satirapod and Rizos (2005)
applied a wavelet decomposition technique to identify errors caused
by the multipath effect. After using the proposed approach using
a wavelet transform, the carrier phase multipath can be removed
from the original GPS data. To assess a medium span suspension
bridge, the Nottingham Wilford Suspension Bridge, Meo et al. (2006)
used the RTK GPS sensors with two different filtering techniques.
They used an adaptive filtering technique and band pass filter with
wavelet decomposition scheme to reduce the multipath effect and
noise in signals. To mitigate the multipath effect, Shengxiang et al.
(2006) recorded GPS data for 2 successive days and then applied the
wavelet filtering method and differential correction to the data. After
treating data, the accuracy of GPS monitoring critically improved
vertical displacements at the millimeter level. Kijewski-Correa and
Kochly (2007) verified the accuracy of GPS monitoring results with
accelerometer results using a shake table. They identified multipath
effects using Fourier and wavelet spectra and the GPS Distortion
Signature. Based on GPS data from 2 consecutive days, the errors
caused by multipath and change of satellite constellation were
identified. When the GPS Distortion Signature was not available in
the field, the multipath could be identified by wavelet spectra and be
eliminated by a filtering approach. Larson et al. (2007) developed a
mitigation technique using aspect repeat time adjustment (ARTA),
which can reduce the multipath error considering repeatability of
GPS data. Using the ARTA technique, the SDs of GPS data for the
horizontal direction were significantly improved in their research.
Further, it is significant to collect GPS data when having best
constellation of satellites because the lower elevation satellites may
lead to a critical error by multipath. Based on the wavelet analysis,
Aram et al. (2007) proposed an algorithm for picking up the GPS
data during the best satellite geometry. By applying wavelet fil-
tering to residuals in received data, the multipath value can be
approximated, and the best satellite condition can be selected.
As discussed previously, signals from lower elevation satellites
may lead to critically delayed signals by multipath. Thus, the multi-
path effect can be mitigated using an elevation cutoff angle during
data processing. Ogaja and Satirapod (2007) used a simple spectral
analysis process to identify frequencies by multipath in the obtained
high rate (1 Hz) GPS data. From the identified frequencies for
multipath, the site characteristics in GPS signals can be classified.
Also, the application of a spectral analysis can mitigate the effect
of loss or discontinuity of signals (Psimoulis and Stiros 2008).
For mitigation of errors caused by tropospheric delay and cycle
slip, Kijewski-Correa et al. (2004) used a differential GPS (DGPS)
configuration to minimize errors caused by local atmospheric con-
ditions and times at receivers. To reduce effects from the satel-
lite constellation, Larocca et al. (2005) applied the GPS technique
with the PRM algorithm at the Pierre-Laporte Suspension Bridge in
Canada. Kijewski-Correa et al. (2006) conducted experiments using
 a motion simulator to calibrate the GPS system and to validate
background noise. To identify background noise in GPS signals,
they proposed a new concept of position quality threshold (PQT),
and the results exhibited that low-frequency motions were better
identified when having low amplitude motion.
In-Depth Structural Health Monitoring Using Global
Positioning System Data
Structural health monitoring of civil structures has raised much
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concern for public safety. Damage identification in its early stage is
very significant, especially for flexible structures such as long span
bridges and high-rise buildings, because initial damage may lead to
rapid deterioration caused by dynamic loadings. Therefore, it would
be advantageous to detect damage in its early stages, not only to
ensure public safety, but also to prevent severe damage and to re-
duce structural maintenance and repair costs.
As previously mentioned, GPS technology can provide in-
formation for static displacements, dynamic displacements, and
modal frequencies of structures. Using GPS data, the application
of GPS is expected to monitor structural stress conditions, damage
location, and damage severity. The FEA can provide stress and
displacement results under certain loading conditions. Under the
assumption that all structural members are elastic ranges, displace-
ments of a structure are almost linearly correlated to stress con-
ditions of all members. Thus, displacement results using GPS can
estimate stress conditions of structural members through FEA.
Wong et al. (2001a, b) applied GPS sensors on cables, decks, and
pylons of the three cable-supported bridges in Hong Kong to mon-
itor displacement of bridge components. In the monitoring system
for three bridges, GPS-OSIS, wind load, temperature load, traffic
load, and railway load were collected. From the GPS data and
loading conditions, they induced the strain and stress level of
structural components, such as bridge decks and cables, using the
finite-element model. Yoshida et al. (2003) proposed a hybrid
system for combining FEA and RTK-GPS data to assess and monitor
stress levels of a building. The modal frequencies obtained from
FEA, SAP2000, were compared with the dynamic characteristics
obtained from GPS data analyzed by the frequency domain de-
composition method to validate the FEA. To monitor the integrity of
the building, the hybrid system calculated member stresses using tip
displacements obtained from a GPS system. Also, the system can
provide an alarm system in real time when a member stress exceeds
the allowable stress level.
Recently, Moschas and Stiros (2011) applied a GPS system
having a sampling rate of 10 Hz to a steel truss pedestrian bridge in
Greece. They proposed a multistep filtering procedure to minimize
noise in GPS signals, and the postprocessed GPS data identified
modal frequency and small vibration of the bridge. Although the
results exhibited a close agreement with accelerometer data, some
peaks in frequency domain of the GPS data were missed because of
the small sampling rate. Kaloop and Li (2011) used the GPS system
installed in the Tianjin Yonghe Bridge in China and assessed the
sensitivity of GPS signals caused by damage of the bridge. From the
long-term monitoring and observations in the bridge, they proposed
an approach to predict structural damages using maximum power
spectral density of GPS signals.
Conclusions
To maintain sound performance in the service life of civil structures,
continuous monitoring has to be carried out using an appropriate
method. Conventional monitoring methods using accelerometers
1662 / JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / OCTOBER 2013
J. Struct. Eng., 2013, 139(10): 1653-1664
and theodolites have been commonly used for assessing structural
integrity. However, their shortcomings do not allow them to effec-
tively evaluate structural performance in real time. Although the
accelerometer monitoring system can assess dynamic characteristics
of structures as providing up to high-frequency ranges, it is difficult
to identify static and quasi-static displacement using accelerometers.
In addition, it may lead to critical errors in monitoring because the
integration process may include uncertainty while determining
a double integration constant. Thus, the accelerometer system
requires appropriate postprocessing to reduce integration error.
Also, possible error caused by sensor drift may occur while per-
forming continuous and long-term monitoring. The monitoring of
static displacement has been performed using vision-based sur-
veying tools, but it can be affected by passing vehicles or weather
conditions. Furthermore, the application of vision-based surveying
tools is typically limited to distances of a few hundred meters.
GPS technology has advanced considerably and is capable of
monitoring displacements in real time. Thus, GPS is applied to civil
systems and is gaining attention as an alternative monitoring method
because it can assess static displacements and dynamic character-
istics. Although the application of GPS as a structural health mon-
itoring method is now limited in flexible structures such as high-rise
buildings and cable-supported bridges and may include systematic
errors caused by multipath and constellation of satellites, it is still
promising because rapidly developing GPS devices, algorithms, and
integrated systems with other sensors can mitigate erroneous data of
GPS measurements and improve its accuracy. In addition, the ap-
plication of GPS with FEA results can provide stress and strain
conditions of structures in real time. Based on the Galileo plan
currently being carried out by the EU and ESA, the GPS precision
while monitoring dynamic displacements will be rapidly improved
by 2018. Thus, it is expected that GPS will be more broadly used and
be an effective tool for structural health monitoring in civil structures.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by a grant (Code 10 Technology Inno-
vation E05) from the Construction Technology Innovation Program
funded by the Ministry of Land, Transportation and Maritime
Affairs (MLTM) of the Korean government.
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