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SOUTH TOTAL CONTROL (STC)

USER MANUAL

*ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


DIRECTROY
CHAPTERⅠ INSTALLATION AND UNINSTALLATION ............................................................................ 5

1.1. INSTALLATION ............................................................................................................................... 5


1.1.1. STC Recommending Installation Environment ................................................................. 5
1.1.2. Installation steps .............................................................................................................. 5
1.2. UNINSTALLATION .......................................................................................................................... 7

CHAPTERⅡ QUICK START GUIDE....................................................................................................... 9

2.1. STATIC DATA PROCESSING ................................................................................................................... 9


2.1.1. Create a new project ........................................................................................................... 9
2.1.2. Load raw data ................................................................................................................... 10
2.1.3. Baselines processing .......................................................................................................... 11
2.1.4. Network adjustment.......................................................................................................... 14
2.2. KINEMATIC DATA PROCESSING ........................................................................................................... 15
2.2.1. Single frequency data processing ...................................................................................... 15
2.2.2. Dual frequency data processing ........................................................................................ 17

CHAPTERⅢ MAIN INTERFACE ......................................................................................................... 21

3.1. MENU ......................................................................................................................................... 22


3.2. TOOLBAR ...................................................................................................................................... 22
3.3. PROJECT EXPLORER......................................................................................................................... 24
3.4. DISPLAY WINDOW (PLAN VIEW) ........................................................................................................ 24
3.5. PROPERTY WINDOW ....................................................................................................................... 25
3.6. OUTPUT WINDOW .......................................................................................................................... 26

CHAPTERⅣ FILE .............................................................................................................................. 27

4.1. NEW ........................................................................................................................................... 27


4.2. OPEN........................................................................................................................................... 31
4.3. LOAD ........................................................................................................................................... 32
4.3.1. RW5 File ............................................................................................................................ 33
4.3.2. EGStar Job ......................................................................................................................... 34
4.3.3. Gistar dat File .................................................................................................................... 36
4.3.4. Gistar shape(2d) Fille ......................................................................................................... 37
4.4. EXPORT(E).................................................................................................................................... 37
4.4.1. PlanView............................................................................................................................ 38
4.4.2. RoverToDxfFile/ RoverToShpFile/ RoverToKmlFile/ RoverToCsvFile ................................... 39

CHAPTERⅤ VIEW ............................................................................................................................ 40

5.1. TOOLBAR ...................................................................................................................................... 40


5.1.1. Standard ............................................................................................................................ 41
5.1.2. View Toolbar ...................................................................................................................... 41
5.1.3. Kinematic .......................................................................................................................... 41
5.1.4. Report Toolbar ................................................................................................................... 41
5.1.5. Project Explorer/Property/Output ..................................................................................... 41
5.2. SITES LIST ........................................................................................................................................ 42
5.3. SITES EDIT ..................................................................................................................................... 43
5.4. SITE OCCUPATION .......................................................................................................................... 43
5.5. RESIDUAL ANALYSIS......................................................................................................................... 44
5.6. BASELINES LIST .............................................................................................................................. 44
5.7. CLOSURE LOOPS LIST ....................................................................................................................... 45
5.8. CHECK RTK(P) .............................................................................................................................. 46
5.9. SEARCH BASELINE .......................................................................................................................... 46

CHAPTERⅥ PROJECT ....................................................................................................................... 48

6.1. PROJECT SETUP .............................................................................................................................. 48


6.2. LOAD RAW DATA ............................................................................................................................. 51
6.2.1 Static raw data loading ...................................................................................................... 51
6.2.2. Kinematic data loading ..................................................................................................... 54
6.3. EDIT TEMPLATE FOR CONTROL POINTS................................................................................................. 55
6.4. LOAD CONTROL POINTS ................................................................................................................... 56

CHAPTERⅦ PROCESS ...................................................................................................................... 58

7.1. BASELINE PROCESS SETUP ................................................................................................................ 58


7.1.1. Static ................................................................................................................................. 59
7.1.2. Quality ............................................................................................................................... 59
7.1.3. Satellites ............................................................................................................................ 60
7.1.4. Kinematic .......................................................................................................................... 60
7.2. BASELINE PROCESSING .................................................................................................................... 61
7.2.1. Quality check result ........................................................................................................... 61
7.2.2. View................................................................................................................................... 62
7.2.3. Adjust failed baseline ........................................................................................................ 66
7.2.4. Delete baseline and regenerate baseline .......................................................................... 72
7.3. KINEMATIC PROCESSING .................................................................................................................. 73
7.4. NETWORK ADJUSTMENT .................................................................................................................. 75
7.4.1. Network adjustment type .................................................................................................. 75
7.4.2. Step of network adjustment .............................................................................................. 75

CHAPTERⅧ REPORT ........................................................................................................................ 77

8.1. BASELINE REPORT ........................................................................................................................... 77


8.2. BASELINE LIST REPORT ..................................................................................................................... 77
8.3. QUALITY CHECK REPORT .................................................................................................................. 78
8.4. NET ADJUST REPORT ....................................................................................................................... 78
8.5. KINEMATIC POINT REPORT ................................................................................................................ 79
8.6. USER DEFINE REPORT ...................................................................................................................... 79
8.7. DATA QUALITY REPORT .................................................................................................................... 80

CHAPTERⅨ TOOL ............................................................................................................................ 81

9.1. ANTENNA MANAGEMENT(A) ............................................................................................................ 81


9.1.1. Import atx file .................................................................................................................... 82
9.1.2. Add Ant Info ...................................................................................................................... 82
9.1.3. Del Ant Info........................................................................................................................ 82
9.1.4. Edit Ant Info ....................................................................................................................... 83
9.1.5. Find Ant Info ...................................................................................................................... 84
9.2. COORDINATE SYSTEM MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................. 84
9.2.1. Edit parameters of coordinate system ............................................................................... 84
9.2.2. Add new coordinate system .............................................................................................. 87
9.3. UPDATE........................................................................................................................................ 90
9.4. REGISTER ...................................................................................................................................... 90
ChapterⅠ Installation and Uninstallation
1.1. Installation

1.1.1. STC Recommending Installation Environment


STC software can be installed directly from the CD or the hard disk. It needs at least 32M internal
storage and 200M hare disk. This software can be operated in the environment below:

Microsoft ® Windows 95, 97, 98,SE, ME

Microsoft ® Windows NT Service Pack 4 and the latter version

Microsoft ® Windows 2000/XP

Microsoft ® Windows7

Microsoft .Net Frameworks 2.0

1.1.2. Installation steps


Double click on the NCenter.exe installation program and then choose
installing language from the appearing dialog. After that the installshield wizard will detect the
installation component automatically, then appears the interface as shown following. Click on
“Next” button to continue.

The user name and company name are required to input in this interface, then click “Next” button
to go on.
In this step, the setup type should be chosen as complete or custom according to your requirement.
The complete option is recommended to choose to install all features.
And the default installation path of program is C:\Program Files\South Surveying and Mapping
Instrument\South Total Control.

Click on “Next” button to go to the next interface and click on “Install” button to start installing
the program. The installation process will take several minutes, please wait patiently until the
installation finish.
Click on “Finish” button and return to your computer desk, the STC shortcut is automatically
generated there. Then you can double click on this shortcut to start South Total Control program.

1.2. Uninstallation
In this section, you will get the steps how to uninstall STC program from your computer. This
section provides two methods to uninstall the program.
1, You can find the uninstalling program from Start—All Programs—South Surveying and
Mapping Instrument—South Total Control folder, then click on “Uninstall South Total Control”
option to start your operation.
Go to “Control Panel—Uninstall a program” interface on PC server, find STC option in
“Programs and Features” interface, then right click on this option and choose “Uninstall” option to
perform program uninstallation.

Before uninstalling the program, please make sure if the software has been turned off and save all
useful data and parameters already.
ChapterⅡ Quick Start Guide
In this chapter, we will explain the general procedure via STC software to resolve the data of static,
dynamic. You can find details or advance usage in the following chapters. This chapter helps you
to complete data processing rapidly.

2.1. Static data processing


SOUTH Total Control (STC) software can process static data in STH, Rinex, SP3 etc format, with
straightforward and simple operations giving you bran-new experience on your work. We will
demo a process below for one static job surveyed in Qatar to show general operational procedures
on STC.

2.1.1. Create a new project

From the main menu of STC, select File→New, or tap on the shortcut located in toolbar to

create a new project.

Here you can define project Name and storage Path, and choose either Metric or English unit for
your project. Click OK to enter Project Setup window, then set up the parameters for your current
project, such as company information, coordinate system, angle and coordinate display format,
limitation value for processing quality and so on.
For more detail information of Project setup, please move your step to chapterⅥ Project.
Click Apply to confirm all settings and click OK to finish creating new project.
During processing, you can click Project→Project setup to review and modify all settings above.

2.1.2. Load raw data

Select Project→Load raw data or tap on the shortcut located in toolbar to import all

static files you want to process. STC support importing of STH files downloaded from SOUTH
GPS receiver directly, or commonly-used Rinex format. Click Open to start importing

After STC gets all files imported, it will prompt a window to show Observation period, Data Type,
Manufacturer, Antenna Type, Antenna Height, Serial Number of the receiver observed the file, File
storage path. Importantly, we can modify antenna height in this window for our observation if we
didn’t set it a correct value in this field.

Click OK and the graph of static network will appear.

2.1.3. Baselines processing


At the beginning of baseline process, we need to set processing parameters matching with our
pre-planned specifications for static project. Select Process→Baseline process setup.
Static: To set process parameters for static observation data.

Quality: To set tolerance for static processing. Setting listed errors smaller value means higher
process accuracy requested for current project.
Satellites: To specify data from which satellites available for static processing, supported satellites
constellations are GPS, GLONASS and Compass.

Kinematic: For settings in kinematic processing.

Click OK to finish processing settings. Then click Process→Process all or the shortcut

located in toolbar, STC will start to process all baselines in this project.
If Solution type of each baseline turns out to be fixed after processing, it means that all baselines
are qualified and we can continue with network adjustment. Fixed baselines will be displayed on
survey graph in purple color.

Otherwise if some baselines did not turn fixed, we have to select unfixed baseline listed in the left
display frame, and try different groups of Cutoff angle and Interval to process this baseline again
and get fixed solution.
2.1.4. Network adjustment
Prior to network adjustment, we need to specify two or more points in static network as control
points, and input coordinates (BLH, XYZ or xyh) of them into STC.
In our demo project, we will specify GD10, n100, n300 as control points. Right click each point in
Station item in left display frame and set them As control point.
Now a tab Control point information will appear in the menu of specified control point, click it
and you can input Geodetic coordinates (BLH), Spatial coordinates (XYZ) and grid coordinates
(NEH or xyh). Control points will be displayed in square icon on survey graph.
Click Process→Net (Network) adjustment, and STC will adjust the whole network with known
coordinates of control points.

2.2. Kinematic data processing


STC program is also integrated with the ability of kinematic data processing, in this section you
will understand well how to use STC to perform the stop&go data processing.
This kinematic processing method is divided into two cases, one is to process data files which
recorded by single frequency receiver, the other one is to process the data files recorded by dual
frequency receiver.

2.2.1. Single frequency data processing


The single frequency data files recorded by south H68 receiver which owns the ability of
collecting kinematic data file, after finishing field data collection, download the correct raw data
files from base and rover to your computer.

Create a new project


Run STC program on computer and create a new project as same as static data processing.

Load raw data

Go to Project—Load raw data or tap the shortcut located in toolbar to find the folder where

your data files are stored.


Select the two kinematic files from base and rover then click ok button to go on, and modify the
station name and antenna height in next pop-up dialog.
Input control point coordinates
After loading raw data, set the base station as control point. Right click on the base station file and
choose “As control point” option, then the option of “Control point information” appears under
base data file, tap on this option to input coordinates for base station in property window located at
the right side.

Data processing

Go to “Process—Process all kinematic points” or tap on the shortcut located in toolbar, click

“Process all” button to start kinematic data processing and click “Save” button after the progress
finish.

In the Kinematic view all points are displayed with baselines connect to base station, if the
baselines displays in red, that means the quality of processing is RTD, in the Site list view you will
see the details result.
2.2.2. Dual frequency data processing
The difference between Single frequency and dual frequency data processing is to mark point ID
into dual frequency data file with RW5 file from SurvCE or ppk file from EGStar. We will take
using ppk files from EGStar for example.
At the first, all the procedures are same as to single frequency data processing, create new project, load
raw data files.

PPK file loading


After raw observation data files are loaded, go to “File—Load—EGStar job” and find where ppk file
under directory of your EGStar job folder (you should copy the whole folder of your job onto your
computer first).
Then you will be asked to import the system information in next dialog window. Select OK button and
return to higher level directory, there you will find the coordinate system information file with the
cp extension name is located in this directory, choose this file and click “Open” button to confirm
again if the ppk file matches to rover’s raw data file, and select OK button to finish loading ppk
file.
Data processing
Input the coordinates for control point then process all kinematic points (detail steps please refer to
single frequency data processing). Then you will see some solutions different from single frequency data
processing.
If the baselines display in RED, that means the processing quality is RTD;
If the baselines display in GREEN, that means the processing quality is FLOAT;
If the baselines display in BLUE, that means the processing quality is FIXED.
Processing result report
After finishing data processing, go to “Report—Kinematic point report” to output the processing
result.

You can also export the result as EXCEL or WORD report.


ChapterⅢ Main Interface
Run STC Software from the Start menu, or directly double click on Icon, then it enters the

main program. As shown in following picture.

Create a new project or open an existing project, you will get the toolbar activated and the entire
menu bar, and the other corresponding windows. Please see the following picture, menu bar and
toolbar are located at the top of main interface, and the project explorer window is located at left
side, on the contrary, there is the property window.

Menu bar
Toolbar

Property window
Project explorer
Display window

Message output window

Menu bar: The list menu is an important part of any type window. It supplies many command to
create engineering files, resolve data, and manage data.

Tool bar: It provides majority common shortcuts for fast operation. And the corresponding
command can be found in menu.

Display window: It is the user’s main working field, generally includes every type views

related to project.
Project Explorer: Users can browse all the observation data and baseline information here.
Message Output window: Output message of processing.

3.1. Menu
The main menu of the program consists of File, View, Project, Process, Report, Tools, Windows,
Help. Every menu item has a window shortcut key located in toolbar. The menu items provide the
operation to complete most of the data processing work and cover the main processing steps.

3.2. Toolbar
You can achieve the main operations through the Toolbars in the main program. It includes create
new project, open project, save project, import data, load control point, adjust the work field,
process the baseline, check report.

The detail instruction of each shortcut is described in following table.


Items Function Description
New Create a new project

Open Open an existing project

Save Save current project

Project setup Set up the parameters for current project

Load observation data Load static or kinematic observation data

Control point template edit Edit the coordinates template for control points

Cartesian Load Cartesian coordinates template for control


points
Geodetic Load Geodetic coordinates template for control
points
Plane Load Plane coordinates template for control
points
Height Load Height coordinates template for control
points
About Display software information, version and
copyrights
Zoom in Zoom in the view

Zoom out Zoom out the view

Recovery Recover the view

Move Move the map

Select Turn to mouse pointer from the other command

Site list Check the station list

Site edit Check the quality of satellites signals and edit the
bad signals
Baseline process View processed baselines list

Repeated baseline View the repeated baseline

Closure loop Check the closure loop

Display Return to plan view window

Process all baselines Process all baselines in current project

Process selected baseline Process the selected baseline

Process failed baseline Process the failed processing baseline

Clear baseline process result Clear the processing result of baseline

Process all kinematic points Process all points of kinematic project

Process selected points Process the selected points

Clear process result Clear the processing result of kinematic points

Baseline report Check and output a single baseline report

Baseline list report Check and output baseline list report

Loop closure report Check and output loop closure report


Net adjustment report Output Net adjustment report

Check report Output RTK check report

3.3. Project Explorer


The Project Explorer window is placed at the left of main interface. It is used to manage all context
of the project, including points list, baselines list, and observation files list. Click on “+” symbol
to open the corresponding contents, for example, click on “+” symbol before the station to view
relative data file to the point. Tap on the file, you will have the relative information displayed at
property window such as Point info, Geographical latitude and Cartesian coordinate.

3.4. Display window (Plan View)


This is the important working window of main interface which mainly displays the added
information such as site list, baseline, scale, grid and so on.
In the map, □ means that GPS observation site have been associated with the control site. And
○ means that GPS observation site is a common site.
3.5. Property window
The property window will display the different properties according to the selected node in project
explorer, if a point is selected, the corresponding information is displayed in property window, as
shown the left in following pictures.

Station properties Baseline properties


3.6. Output window
This window is mainly used to display the message of your operation, for example, if the
kinematic data is processed, it will display as “All kinematic points processed”. If the operation is
on static data processing, it will display as “All baselines processed”.
You can control this window to activate from “View—Toolbar--Output”.
ChapterⅣ File
This chapter provides information on using main commands from File menu, including New,
Open, Load and Export.

4.1. New
This command is used to create a new project for data processing at the beginning of starting job.
To create a new project, click on this command then the new project window will be pop-up, then
requires you to choose the unit, input a project name and set up the project saving path.
Click “Browse” button to control where the project is saved by browsing to the desired folder
where the job is to be created, then select OK button to continue.

Then set up the parameters for the project in such a following window, input general information
including company information and operators.

Go to “Datum” tab to set up your local coordinate system and check if the parameters are correct.
Click on the field at the right of coordinate system group to choose the country or region from
predefined list, then choose the correct coordinate system at the next field at the right side of
coordinate system. Drag the moving button or scroll the mouse wheel to check the parameters of
your local coordiante system.
If your local coordinate system is not listed under predefined list, you are able to click on “Edit”
button to self-define your local coordinate system at coordinate system manager (please take a
reference to Coordinate system manager for more detail information about how to create a
coordinate system)

The “Format” tab allows you to configure the unit and the precision for general items such as
coordinate, distance and angle, as well as the format of coordinate, you can set the coordinate to
display as spatial coordinate, geodetic coordinate or plane coordinate.

Move to “Quality” tab, this is allowed to control the quality of processing result, choose the
predefined standard from the list of specification name, or choose user defined option to
re-configure the parameters according to your requirement.
The “Output” tab is used to configure what kind of solution result and what kind of fields of points
to output in reports.

At the last tab of “View”, this is allowed to enable or disable what kind of solution to view, or if
enable to view the baselines between points, and whether to display the base station.
After all the parameters for the project are configured, click OK button to finish creating a new
project, then you will enter the main interface of South Total Control (STC). As shown in
following figure.

4.2. Open
This command is used to open an existing project which is saved for previous job.
Click on this command to browse to the folder where the project file is located, then choose the
project file with the .gnst file extension and then click “Open” button to load the data.
(If a project is saved, the .gnst file extension will automatically be appended to the file name)
4.3. Load
This “Load” command is mainly used for data post-processing and kinematic data processing.
Move the mouse pointer to this command and there appears 4 sub-command on the right, such as
RW5 File, EGStar Job, Gistar dat File and Gistar shape(2d) File.
4.3.1. RW5 File
RW5 file is the raw data file which is stored by Carlson SurvCE software, this file is mainly used
to process the data of Stop&Go job. Before loading RW5 file, the static raw data file stored by
dual frequency RTK rover receiver should be loaded first, then load RW5 file to match with this
static file in order to mark the points into the matched static data file from rover.

To load RW5 file, click on “RW5 File” command to browse the folder where this raw data file is
located, choose the file with rw5 extension and click on “Open”, then another window appears to
ask you to check if the RW5 file matches to rover’s raw data file, and select OK button to finish
RW5 file loading.
4.3.2. EGStar Job
This command is similar to the command of RW5 file loading that it is also used for kinematic
data processing.
Before loading EGStar job, the static raw data file stored by dual frequency RTK rover receiver
should be loaded first, then load the .ppk file from EGStar job to match with this static file in
order to mark the points into the matched static data file from rover.

Click on “EGStar Job” command to browse the folder where ppk file stored by EGStar is located,
choose the file with ppk extension and click on “Open”, then a dialog will be pop-up to ask you to
open a coordinate system information file from EGStar, select OK button and return to higher
level directory, there you will find the coordinate system information file with the cp extension
name is located in this directory, choose this file and click “Open” button to confirm again if the
ppk file matches to rover’s raw data file, and select OK button to finish loading EGStar Job.
4.3.3. Gistar dat File
This command is able to load the dat file recorded by South GISTAR program which can used to
collect the kinematic data.

Click on this secondary command, find the folder where dat file is stored, and then choose the
correct file and click on Open button to load this kind of data file, then program asks you to verify
again if this data file is matched to the raw data from rover, and click OK button to finish loading
GISTAR dat file.
4.3.4. Gistar shape(2d) Fille
As same as to the command of loading dat file from gistar program, this command is also allowed
to load the shape file output from South GISTAR program.

Click on this secondary command, find the folder where shp file is stored, and then choose the
correct file and click on Open button to load this kind of data file, then program asks you to verify
again if this data file is matched to the raw data from rover, and click OK button to finish loading
GISTAR shp file.

4.4. Export(E)
This command allows you to export job data to any kind of file format as you require, such as dxf
file, shp file, kml file and csv file. Move the mouse pointer to export command, there appears a
secondary dialog which prompts you to choose what kind of format you want to export.
NOTE: The secondary commands are available to use according to different processing type,
static or kinematic.
4.4.1. PlanView
This secondary command is activated under the condition of static data processing, and it is
usually used to export the processed data file to any kind of file format you need, such as dxf, shp,
kml or csv.

For example, after you finish the static data processing and you would like to export a dxf file for
your result, click on this command to browse a folder for this dxf where it will be saved, then
input a file name and choose dxf file type from “Save as type” dropdown list, select “Save” button
and click OK on next pop-up dialog saying “Writing dxf file done” for your final confirm.
4.4.2. RoverToDxfFile/ RoverToShpFile/ RoverToKmlFile/

RoverToCsvFile
These 4 secondary commands are activated under kinematic data processing, they are usually used
to export the kinematic lines to the specified file format you need, such dxf file, shp file, kml file
and csv file.

Take “RoverToDxfFile” for example, after loading kinematic data, this command will be activated
in black, move mouse pointer on this command to browse for a folder that select an export
directory for dxf file export, after your final confirm, click “OK” button and you will be prompted
by a pop-up dialog saying “Writing dxf file done”, select OK to finish this operation.
ChapterⅤ View
This chapter provides more information on using commands under View menu, in this chapter we
emphasis on some important commands including toolbar, sites list, sites edit, sites occupation,
residual analysis, baselines list, repeated baselines list, closure loops list, kinematic, check RTK
and search baseline.

5.1. Toolbar
The toolbar is mainly used to control tool shortcuts located under main menu bar, move the mouse
pointer upon Toolbar command, there is another secondary menu appears on the right, check on
the option to display the corresponding tool shortcuts on toolbar.
5.1.1. Standard
The standard option is to control the shortcuts of general purpose commands such create a new
project, open an existing project, save project, load observation raw data for current project.

5.1.2. View Toolbar


Usually, the view toolbar contains the shortcut of zoom in, zoom out, recovery, move, select, sites
list, sites edit, baselines process, repeated baselines, closure loop and display.

5.1.3. Kinematic
The kinematic toolbar is mainly used to control the shortcuts of data processing performance, such
as process all baselines, process selected baseline, process failed baseline, clear baseline
processing result, process all points, process selected points and clear processing result.

5.1.4. Report Toolbar


Click on report shortcuts to output the corresponding result report, such as baseline report,
baseline list report, closure loop report, net adjustment report and check report.

5.1.5. Project Explorer/Property/Output


The option of project explorer, property and output are used to control display the corresponding
window on main interface.
Project explorer
Property

Output

5.2. Sites list


This means the station list, after finishing data processing, click on this option, all the stations will
be listed in this window accompany with processing quality and coordinates.
Click on each tab to sort stations or values. If you want to change the coordinates display format,
please go to “Project—Project setup—Format—Coordinate display as”, select the format to
display as you want.
5.3. Sites edit
This is the station session that allows you to check quality of satellites’ signals. Before processing,
you can check the satellites’ signals first and edit to erase some bad signals to make sure the
quality of data processing.
Draw a frame on bad signal section and right click upon this frame, choose disable option in the
pop-up dialog to erase this part signal.

5.4. Site Occupation


Click on this command to check the common observation time of stations.
5.5. Residual analysis
The Residual analysis command allows you to check the residual error of each baseline, there you
will get the information of residual error of each satellite including the maximum and minimum
error, and the value of standard error and the average error.

5.6. Baselines list


This baselines list is used to display the information of all baselines after finishing baselines
processing.
Click on this command, you will then get into the baselines list window and obtain all
corresponding information including component for each baseline, fixed ratio, RMS and baseline
length.
5.7. Closure loops list
After baseline processing, click on closure loops list option to view all closure loops. In loops
page, all the closure loops are listed accompany with their corresponding information, such as
loop type, the quality of processing result, closure error of each variable (XYZ and side length),
length and relative error.
Tap on the “+” symbol before the closure loop, you will understand this closure loop is composed
by which 3 baselines including the result of processing.
Type: this field is to show you what type this closure loop belongs to, generally, the synchronous
loop is the most common loop.
Quality: this field will display the processing result for this closure loop and the baselines which
form this loop. If the baselines turn out to be fixed, the result of quality of closure loop is shown as
pass, that means the closure loop is qualified.
Closure error (DeltaX/ DeltaY/ DeltaZ/ DeltaS): this is the difference value between the
observations and due value.
Length: it is the perimeter of closure loop.
Relative error: this error is the ratio between absolute error caused by measurement and the true
value of measurement (agreed), in general, the relative error can reflect more the credibility of
measurement.
5.8. Check RTK(P)
This command is allowed to compare the result between your RTK points and the kinematic
points. At the meantime of your RTK job, you can save the kinematic raw data and process it in
office, then check the difference of RTK points and kinematic points.

5.9. Search Baseline


As the name implies, this option is used to search the baseline you would like to find out.
Click on “search baseline” command, a dialog will be pop-up and ask you to input the baseline
name. while input the first letter into the box, all the relative baselines are listed in next box,
choose the one you want and select OK button, then the baseline you selected is displayed in red
on plan view window.
ChapterⅥ Project
This chapter provides more information about using commands under Project menu, read this
chapter carefully, you will understand well how to setup the parameters for project, load
observation raw data, edit temple for control points, load control points and download IGS data.

6.1. Project setup


This “Project setup” command allows you to set up the parameters or re-configure parameters for
your current project.
At the beginning of starting your project, South Total Control asks you to set up parameters for
project first when you create a new project. After that you can check and modify the parameters
from project setup.

General: This tab enables you to describe basic information for current project, like name and
address of survey agency, and these descriptions can be presented in process report at last.

Datum: Commonly used coordinate systems will appear in the dropdown list and you can select
one matching your project.
You can also add some new coordinate systems not existing in this list by clicking Edit (or click
Tool→Coordinate system management), prompting a window where you can enter new
Coordinate system name, specify Geoid model, and choose the Project type from an extensive list,
then enter all information requested such as False Northing, False Easting, and the items within
“Projection”.
For project in Qatar, we can choose Qatar National Grid (QNG) directly

Format: Here you can define unit and precision for coordinates, distance, and angle displayed and
entered in the current project. The precision item allows you to define decimal digits you will
have.

Quality: This tab can help us to define several standards for baseline process to evaluate quality of
observed data, and you can choose one in dropdown list of Specification Name as standard for
current project.
Output: This is used to specify items which will be displayed in final processing report. When
confirmed as Yes, this item will be shown in report, and No to forbid its appearance in report.

View: Similar to Output tab, we can use Yes or No here to control the display of certain items
listed, which are valid for Kinematic processing.
6.2. Load raw data
This “Load raw data” applies to load observation raw data for your current project such as Static
or Kinematic. Static raw data loading and kinematic data loading are similar to each other, but
there is still a little bit difference between each other.

6.2.1 Static raw data loading


Click on “Load raw data” option, the Import dialog will be pop-up, then move your eyes to the
navigation window at the left side to look for the folder where static files are stored, tap on the
folder and the static data files will display in the window at the right side, if the files refuse to
display, please choose the correct file type hide in the dropdown list at the bottom of this dialog,
then your files will display correctly in the window.
Simultaneously choose all the files you would like to load for current project, then select OK
button and there appears a loading progress bar to show you the progress of data loading, and
please wait for a moment until the data loading is finished.

After South Total Control program gets all files imported, a “Files List” dialog pop-up and prompt
you to check the raw data information, including start time, end time, data type, manufacturer,
antenna type, antenna height, antenna measurement, serial number of receiver and the storage path
of raw data.

ID: this is the station ID where you placed receiver for observation.
Start Time: this is the time of data file started recording by receiver.
End Time: this is the time of data file finished recording by receiver.
Data Type: this item shows the type of data file, here will default display static if the files loaded
is detected as static files by program.
Manufacturer: this item shows the manufacturer of receiver which is used for observation. In
general, here shows “Default” as default. If the files are loaded as STH files, manufacturer will be
displayed as SOUTH.
Antenna Type: this will show the antenna type of receiver which is used for observation, if the
files are loaded as STH files, antenna type will be displayed as correct antenna model, otherwise,
it will display as “Default”.
Antenna Height: importantly, you can modify the correct antenna height in this item for the
observation data.
Antenna Measure Method: this item is allowed to choose the antenna measure method such as
antenna phase center. For more information, please take your steps to Antenna Management under
chapter Ⅸ.
Serial Number: in this field, If the files are loaded as STH files, the serial number of receiver
which is applied to the observation will be displayed.
File Path: this field shows you the storage path of where static data is stored.
After checking your data correctly, select ok button to finish loading raw data, then all the
baselines are displayed in” Plan view” window.
6.2.2. Kinematic data loading
Click on “Load raw data” option, the Import dialog will be pop-up, then move your eyes to the
navigation window at the left side to look for the folder where kinematic data files are stored, tap
on the folder and the kinematic data files will display in the window at the right side, if the files
refuse to display, please choose the correct file type hide in the dropdown list at the bottom of this
dialog, then your files will display correctly in the window.

Please take in mind that the kinematic data files should be only two files, the one is
from base station and the other one is from rover.

Simultaneously choose these two files, then select OK button and there appears a loading progress
bar to show you the progress of data loading, and please wait for a moment until the data loading
is finished.
After that the “File List” dialog appears as same as to static data loading. In this dialog, you can
see that the first item data is detected as kinematic for data type, that means this data item is from
Rover, thus, the other data item which displays as static is recorded by Base station.
6.3. Edit template for control points
This command is allowed to view and modify the sequence of control points coordinates in
template. Click on “Edit template for control points” option, the edit window will then appear with
all kind of coordinate format such as Cartesian coordinate, geodetic coordinate, plane coordinate
and height. The number at the right column indicates the sequence of coordinate component.
For example, if you have your control point coordinates like:
Control point name: 9426
Latitude: 23°07′33.22305″
Longitude: 113°22′06.23412″
Ellipsoid height: 35.242
Then create a new notepad and input point name and coordinates as the sequence in turn, and the
coordinates input format should be a special format, for example, the latitude 23°07′33.22305″
should be input as 23.073322305, this is same as to longitude. And please take in mind that what
kind of separator you have selected to separate each column. We take space as separator for
example.

NOTE: please take attention to the sequence of coordinate component, do not


disarrange the sequence while you edit the control points coordinates, otherwise,
they will be loaded in reversed.

6.4. Load control points


Move mouse pointer on “Load control points” command to select what kind of control points
coordinate type you want to load for your control points on the basis of the control points
coordinate template you have edited.
For example, click on “Geodetic” option and then look for the folder where the template is stored,
select the template file and click OK button, once back on the main interface, the station will be
marked as the control point and there is an option showing control point information, tap on this
option, the coordinates will be displayed at the property window.
ChapterⅦ Process
This chapter provides more information on using commands under Process menu, in this chapter
we emphasis on some important commands including baseline process setup, baseline processing,
kinematic processing, net adjustment and some hiding commands..

7.1. Baseline process setup


Before processing baseline, you need to configure this option, the option is consisted in
Process->Baseline process setup,
There are four pages in this dialog, including Static, Quality, Satellites, Kinematic.

7.1.1. Static
Minimum epoch. For static survey, if the observation epoch is less than 30, the observation data
can’t form baseline.
Detection way for circle slip. There are two options for detecting circle slip, TD and Kalman.
Cutoff angle: Cutoff angle is used to limit the satellite data with relatively lower elevation angle,
these data won’t be processed when you processed baseline.
Usually the signal quality of satellite with low elevation angle is very bad, so when we process the
baseline, we can adjust this parameter to forbid this kind of data.
Interval: it means epoch interval which is involved to baseline processing, that is to say, if you set
sample interval to 5s, the receiver will collect 12 epochs in 1min, but when you set interval to 10s
in baseline setup, it means only 6 epochs will be taken to baseline processing in 1min. but notice
that, the interval must be bigger than sampling interval, otherwise, the setting will be invalid.
Fixed ratio: this parameter refers to baseline qualified condition, usually, the default value is
3.0,after processing, if the result is bigger than 3.0, the baseline is qualified, otherwise ,it’s failed.
EnableGPS: True means using GPS data, False means not.
EnableGlonass: True means using Glonass data, False means not.
EnableBD: True means using Beidou data, False means not. This function is only available in
registration version.
Solution type: there are 4 options,L1/B1,L2/B2,Ionosphere-free combination,L5/B3. For short
distance, L1/B1 method is recommended.
Estimate tropo.:True means using troposphere error, False means not.

7.1.2. Quality
Single frequency fixed error: the default value is 0.03, if the result is less than 0.03, the baseline
is qualified, otherwise it’s failed. This is suitable for single frequency observation data.
Dual-frequency fixed error: the default value is 0.02, if the result is less than 0.02, the baseline is
qualified, otherwise it’s failed, this is suitable for dual-frequency observation data.
Single frequency ratio error(ppm): the parameter is used to estimate repeated baseline error and
closure loop error, the default value is recommended.
Dual-frequency ratio error(ppm): the parameter is used to estimate repeated baseline error and
closure loop error, the default value is recommended.

7.1.3. Satellites
This page is used to control the satellite which can involve to baseline processing or cant, user can
check or uncheck satellite number to control it. GPS, Glonass, Compass(Beidou) are available.

7.1.4. Kinematic
This is configured some settings for kinematic processing.
7.2. Baseline Processing
Before baseline processing, we can check observation point data quality. From the project explorer
workspace, double-click station name or click on the “+” symbol, then right click observation file.

Select quality check, it will pop-up a new dialog, quality check result.

There are two pages in the dialog, quality check result, view.

7.2.1. Quality check result


This is a detailed report about observation data quality. If the data quality is too bad, the result will
show Failed, if it’s qualified, the result is Pass. The report also includes observation satellite
number, observation epoch, data completeness and so on. According these information, we can
basically judge the data quality condition.
7.2.2. View
There are five options in this page, skyplot, Nsat, multipath, elevation,azimuth,SNR.
Skyplot

It shows every captured satellite running orbit during observation time.


Nsat

It shows captured satellite number during every time span.


Multipath
This page shows multipath effect, includes L1 and L2 multipath.
Elevation

This page shows all captured satellites’ elevation orbit.


Azimuth
This page shows all captured satellites’ azimuth of orbit.
SNR

SNR means signal to noise ratio, it’s a index to estimate satellite quality. This page shows all
captured satellites SNR condition change as time goes on.

After making above checking and setting, we can select Process->Process All to start to process

all baseline, or click button on the toolbar. Then you will see the following figure,
If you want to process specified baseline, you can click the sequence number, after selected, the
baseline will become blue, if you want select more baselines, you can press and hold Ctrl key, then
use left mouse button to select multi-baselines. Or you can directly press Process all button on the
left-bottom of the dialog.
After processing procedure finished, if the baseline is qualified, the solution type will be fixed,
ratio will be bigger than 3.0, and RMS will be smaller than 0.02.
Ratio
The RATIO is the rate of the less least RMS and the Least RMS after the integer ambiguity
analysis, that is:

It reflects the reliability of the integer ambiguity parameter, which is determined by a few factors.
It has the relation to the observation quality and the observation term. The RATIO is the key to
reflect the quality of the baseline, generally, the RATIO is required to bigger than 3.
RMS
RMS is the Root Mean Square, that is:

V is the residual of the observations.


P is the weight of the observations.
n-f is that the total numbers of observations subtracts to the number of known number. RMS
means the quality of the observations. The smaller the value of RMS is, the better the quality will
be. Otherwise the worse the quality will be. The RMS is not effected by the observation terms.
According to the theory of Symbolic Statistics Mathematical Statistics, the rate of the observation
error within the 1.96 times of RMS is 95%.
If all the baselines get fixed solution, you can press Save button to Save the processing result,
otherwise, the processing result will be not saved, you need to reprocess it next time.

7.2.3. Adjust failed baseline


But in reality, it’s impossible to make all baselines to get fixed solution at the first time, some
baselines may get float, dgps or none result. In that case, we should adjust parameters to reprocess
the baseline again, sometimes, the operation will repeat again and again. See the below example,
l

Firstly, we should save the result, then the baselines with fixed solution will be saved, we just need
to reprocess unqualified baseline.
The qualified baseline will become blue, unqualified baseline will become grey. Then we can
select unqualified baseline one by one by clicking the grey baselines in plan view workspace, the
selected baseline will become red. The right workspace will show baseline information.

The right bottom corner shows current process parameters, we can adjust the following parameters
to reprocess it.

1. After checking the observation data, we can see the sampling interval is 5s, but the default
processing interval is 30s, so we can adjust processing interval to 5s, so the involved epoch
will become more. After change to 5s, we can select Process-> Process selected to reprocess
the baseline,
Before reprocessing

After reprocessing

2. Also you can adjust cutoff angle, using glonass, and select different solution type to try to
reprocess the unqualified baselines.
3. If above methods still cant get satisfied result, we can check the baseline residual condition,
For example, after above processing, there is only left one baseline which is unqualified.
We can select it, and check the baseline report by right-clicking mouse button, select report
option. Then it will pop up a new dialog,

From the chart, we can see residual error is very big, usually the normal residual error is only
20-40mm grade.
From the common satellites chart, we can see G26 satellite quality is not good, so we can try
to forbid the G26 satellite in p4 data and p8 data,
Then reprocess it again.

We can see some satellite can give big influence sometimes, after forbidding the satellite to
involve to baseline processing, the result will changed.
If there are too many unqualified baselines, select these baseline one by one is too difficult, we can
click Process-> process failed menu to check all unqualified baselines,

When you tap one baseline in the list, the right workspace property is activated, it will show
current process parameters, you can change the related parameters in property workspace, then
Click Process selected to reprocess the baseline. If the result is fixed, you can save the baseline,
then choose another baseline to process.
Finally, if you still cannot get the qualified solution, you should prevent this baseline from the
network adjustment or delete this baseline. If the baseline is necessary in the control network, you
should resurvey this baseline.

7.2.4. Delete baseline and regenerate baseline


If you want to delete specified baseline, you can tap it in the plan view workspace, then right-click
mouse, and select the delete item.
If you delete by mistake, you can select the recover item to regenerate it again, but this function is
for regenerating all delete baseline, so if you want to recover specified one baseline or multiple
baselines, you can use the menu regenerate baselines, click Process-> Regenerate baselines.

Select the baselines, then press OK to confirm it.


There is also another difference between recover baseline and regenerate baselines function, if
the deleted baseline is processed before, after using recover function, that baseline will recover
and also processed, but regenerate baselines function only recover the baseline, you still need
reprocess it.

7.3. Kinematic processing


Kinematic processing is used for kinematic survey, stop& go survey. The progress is very simple,
we can view previous quick guide.
The baseline color means different result, blue means fixed, green means float, red means dgps,
grey means single.
After processed, you can click View->Site list to check kinematic points result.
7.4. Network adjustment

7.4.1. Network adjustment type


There are 4 kinds of network adjustment, 3D free network adjustment, 3D restricted network
adjustment, 2D network adjustment, and level fitting.

In STC software, if you don’t input known BLH coordinate as control point’s coordinate, the
software will automatically select the first point as control point, if you want to make whole
network adjustment, you should input one NEH coordinate at least.

7.4.2. Step of network adjustment


In STC software, network adjustment step is very simple,
1. Just select the control points in project explorer workspace, right-click the point name, select
As control point option.
2. Double click Control point information item. The right workspace will pop up coordinate
information field. If your known point coordinate format is space coordinate, you can input it
to XYZ field, if you known point coordinate format is BLH, you can input to BLH field. The
last filed is suitable for NEH coordinate.
3. Then select Process->Net adjustment to make network adjustment.
ChapterⅧ Report
This chapter provides more information on using commands under Report menu, in this chapter
you will well know how to make a report for your data processing result.

8.1. Baseline report


It show single baseline quality report, includes common satellites condition and residual error
information, before press the menu, you should select specified baseline in plan view workspace.

8.2. Baseline list report


It shows all baselines solution type, RMS conditions.
8.3. Quality check report
It is used to show all repeated baseline and closure loop condition.

8.4. Net adjust report


It’s used to show network adjustment result.
8.5. Kinematic point report
This report is used to show kinematic point result, includes point coordinate and solution type.

8.6. User define report


In this menu, user can define the report content, can select one or multiple reports to combine to a
new report, the items include baselinelist, repeatbaseline,loop,netadjust.

8.7. Data quality report


This report is used to show every point’s data quality, it’s very import information as data
processing reference.
ChapterⅨ Tool
This chapter provides more information on using commands under Tool menu, in this chapter you
will get more information about antenna management, coordinate system management, update and
register.

9.1. Antenna management(A)


Antenna management is designed for updating and editing the receiver parameter file. When you
used an unknown receiver type but you have the geometric parameter of the receiver and the phase
center height parameters, you can use this tool to add the receiver you as need.
Choose Tools-> Antenna management in the menu, there will be pop-up the antenna manager
window, you can set up some commonly used parameters here, such as the radius, the phase center
height
In the list window, choose the name of the antenna, you can change the corresponding parameters
directly.

Notice :This file would influence the data achievement, please don’t
change it easily!

9.1.1. Import atx file


Click on this button to import the atx file of the absent antenna.

9.1.2. Add Ant Info


If you have the detail parameters of antenna, you can add the antenna info by using this button if
the receiver you use is not contained in STC.

9.1.3. Del Ant Info


This allows you to delete the antenna parameters from antenna manager, choose the corresponding
antenna info and click on Del Ant Info to remove this item of antenna information.
9.1.4. Edit Ant Info
Choose the corresponding antenna item and click on Edit Ant Info to edit the parameters of
antenna if there is any change on antenna parameters.
9.1.5. Find Ant Info
Use this button to look for the antenna you are in need if it is contained in this management.

9.2. Coordinate system management


Coordinate system management contains the majority of countries’ and area’s common used
coordinate system, you can click on this command to check, edit, new the coordinate system.

9.2.1. Edit parameters of coordinate system


Choose Tools-> Coordinate system management in the menu, there will be a pop-up window, you
can click on the “+” symbol to open the contents contained in the coordinate system group.
Right click on the coordinate system name, there appears a dialog allows you to new, edit, delete
and copy the coordinate system.
To edit the coordinate system, right click on the coordinate system name listed in left window, or
choose the system name and click on Edit button in right window, then in the coordinate reference
system item, you can check and edit the Ellipsoid parameters.
Under the Geoid Model tab, you can select the geiod model as you need.

Under the projection item, you can select the pre-defined projection mold, the parameters also can
be changed.

As shown in following picture, you also can input the transform parameters as you need.
9.2.2. Add new coordinate system
Sometimes, some of the special area or countries’ coordinate system are not contained in this
management, thus, you need to create your local coordinate system by yourself.
In coordinate system manager window, right click on the blank area in coordinate system list, then
there a dialog pop-up, and you can choose “New Group” command, another dialog will be pop-up
and asks you to input a name for you local coordinate system group. Select OK button and the
coordinate group name is listed in coordinate system list.

Then right click on the group’s name and choose “New Coordinate System” in the pop-up dialog,
after that, input a name for your local coordinate system, then input the correct parameters into
corresponding field for your system, click OK button to save all parameters.
9.3. Update
Select Tools-> update in the menu, the software will search for the latest version through internet.
And it will automatically update when the new version STC is published.

9.4. Register
Select Tools-> register in the menu, it will appear a new window which shows the serial number
of the STC in the local PC. Users need to send back the serial number to the provider and ask for a
registration code. Some advanced functions just supports in registered version STC.

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