POSPac MMS GNSS-Inertial Tools

USER GUIDE
POSPac™ MMS™ GNSS‐Inertial Tools Software
Version 8.2
Revision 15
Dec 2017
PUBS‐MAN‐001768
Legal Notices
Corporate Office
Applanix Corporation
85 Leek Crescent
Richmond Hill, ON, Canada
L4B 3B3
Tel: +1 905 709 4600
Fax: +1 905 709 6027
www.applanix.com
Copyright and Trademarks

© 2007–2017, Applanix Corporation. All rights reserved. No part
of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior
written consent of Applanix Corporation. The information
contained herein is proprietary to Applanix. Release to third‐
parties of this publication or of information contained herein is
prohibited without the prior written consent of Applanix
Corporation.
Applanix, the Applanix logo, ASB, IN‐Fusion, MMS, POSPac,
POSView, and SmartBase are trademarks of Applanix Corporation.
Trimble is a Trademark of Trimble Navigation Limited, registered in
the United Stated and in other countries.
Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
General Notice
Although every care has been taken to ensure this manual is
reliable and accurate, Applanix Corporation (hereafter referred to
as Applanix) provides it ‘as is’ and without express, implied or
limited warranty of any kind. In no event shall Applanix be liable
for any loss or damage caused by the use of this manual.
This manual describes the POSPac™ MMS™ GNSS‐Inertial Tools
software and contains operating instructions. The manual is an
important part of the system. It should remain with the system for
use by those who operate and maintain it.
It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure there are adequate
mounting facilities and carefully plan the component layout.
Applanix will not be responsible for damage caused by improper
installation or inadequate environmental conditions.
Access to the end‐user agreement is available from the software,
see Help / About POSPac MMS.
Applanix reserves the right to change the specifications and
information in this document without notice.
Release Notice
This is the Dec 2017 release (Revision 15) of the POSPac MMS
GNSS‐Inertial Tools User Guide. It applies to version 8.1 of the
POSPac MMS GNSS‐Inertial Tools Software, part number PUBS‐
MAN‐001768.
© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 2

List of Abbreviations,
Synonyms, and Symbols
3D Three‐Dimensional
Arcmin Arc minutes
ARP Antenna Reference Point
ASB Applanix SmartBase
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange
AT Aerial Triangulation
ATG Automatic Tie point Generation
Av Aperture Priority Mode
bps Bits Per Second
BSTCal Boresight Calibration
C/A Course Acquisition
CalQC Calibration and Quality Control
CCD Charge Coupled Device
CCS Camera Computer System
CD Compact Disk
CDM Camera Data Module
CFA Color Filter Array
CIR Color Infrared
COGO Coordinate Geometry
CORS Continuously Operating Reference Station
CSH Camera Sensor Head
CTRS Conventional Terrestrial Reference System
Deg Degree
DEM Digital Elevation Model
DGPS Differential Global Positioning System
DIO Data Input/Output
DMI Distance Measuring Indicator
DOP Dilution of Precision
DSP Digital Signal Processing
DSS Digital Sensor System
DTM Digital Terrain Model
EC Exposure Compensation
ECEF Earth Centered Earth Fixed
EGM96 Earth Gravitational Model 1996 (a global Geoid Model)
EGNOS European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service

EO Exterior Orientation
EODIF Exterior Orientation Differences
EOZ Unboresighted Exterior Orientation File
ESRI Environmental Systems Research Institute
FMS Flight Management System
FOV Field of View
GAMS GPS Azimuth Measurement Subsystem
GCP Ground Control Point
GIE GNSS Inertial Engine
GLONASS Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System
GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System
GPS Global Positioning System
GUI Graphical User Interface
IGS International GNSS Service
INS Inertial Navigation System
IMU Inertial Measurement Unit
IAKAR Inertially-Aided Kinematic Ambiguity Resolution
IARTK Inertially‐Aided Real‐Time Kinematic
KAR Kinematic Ambiguity Resolution
km Kilometer
lat Latitude
LiDAR Light Detection and Ranging
long Longitude
LSB Least Significant Bit
LSR Local Space Rectangular
m Meter
Mb Megabit
MB Megabyte
MC Master Clock
MEP Mid‐Exposure Pulse
min Minute (time interval)
MMS Mobile Mapping Suite
MPET Mid‐Pulse Exposure Time
MSAS Multi‐functional Satellite Augmentation System
MSB Most Significant Bit
NAVDIF Navigation Differencing
NDVI Normalized Differenced Vegetation Index
NED North, East, and Down
NIR Near Infrared
NM Nominal Mean

NMEA National Marine Electronics Association
Orthophoto An ortho rectified image that compensates for image tilts and relief
displacement (incorporating a DEM)
OTF On‐the‐Fly
PatB PAT‐B file (Image Coordinate File in PatB format)
PC Personal Computer
PCMCIA Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
POS Position and Orientation System
POS AV Position and Orientation System for Airborne Vehicles
POS LS Position and Orientation System for Land Survey
POS LV Position and Orientation System for Land Vehicles
POS MV Position and Orientation System for Marine Vessels
POSCal Position and Orientation System Calibration
POSEO Position and Orientation System Exterior Orientation
POSGNSS Position and Orientation System Global Navigation Satellite System
POSGPS Position and Orientation System Global Positioning System
POSPac Position and Orientation System Post-processing Package
POSPC Position and Orientation System Point Cloud
POSProc Position and Orientation System Post-processing
PP Principal Point
PPP Precise Point Positioning
Pre Preview
QA Quality Assurance
QC Quality Control
rad Radian
RAM Random Access Memory
RGB Red, Green, Blue
RHD Removable Hard Drive
RINEX Receiver Independent Exchange Format
RMS Root Mean Square
RNAV Real‐Time GPS Inertial Navigation Solution
RPS Remote Power Switch
RTK Real‐Time Kinematic
SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar
SBET Smoothed Best Estimate of Trajectory
SD Standard Deviation
sec Second (time interval)
SF Scale Factor
SFIN Smoothed/Free Inertial Navigation
SMTH Smoother

SOCET Softcopy Exploitation Tools
SSM Shutter Speed Multiplier
STG Semi‐Automatic Tie Point Generation
SV Space Vehicle
TECI Tracker External Camera Interface
USB Universal Serial Bus
USGS U.S. Geological Survey
USNO United States Naval Observatory
UTC Coordinated Universal Time (or Universal Time, Coordinated)
VIS Visual/Visible (True Color)
VME Versa Mode Europa
VNAV POSProc Real‐Time Navigation
WAAS Wide Area Augmentation System
WGS‐84 World Geodetic System 1984
wrt With Respect To

Contents
Legal Notices ......................................................................................................................2
List of Abbreviations, Synonyms, and Symbols......................................................................3
Contents ............................................................................................................................7
Introduction .................................................................................................................... 13
Data organization and management ............................................................................................................. 13
Data collection and import ...................................................................................................................... 13
Project configuration files ........................................................................................................................ 14
File Naming Conventions ............................................................................................................................... 14
File prefixes, kernels, and extensions ...................................................................................................... 14
Referencing data ...................................................................................................................................... 14
About this manual ......................................................................................................................................... 15
Technical Support .......................................................................................................................................... 15
Technologies and Features ................................................................................................. 16

Applanix IN‐Fusion technology ...................................................................................................................... 16
Single base station processing using IN‐Fusion technology .......................................................................... 17
Applanix SmartBase Processing ..................................................................................................................... 17
Use of existing reference station networks for Applanix SmartBase software........................................ 18
Automatic download of reference stations ............................................................................................. 18
Applanix PP-RTX Processing .......................................................................................................................... 18
Network quality analysis ............................................................................................................................... 19
New graphical user interface ......................................................................................................................... 19
Custom toolbar ........................................................................................................................................ 19
Reference stations in the Plan View ........................................................................................................ 20
Project Explorer dialog ............................................................................................................................. 21
Points Spreadsheet tab ............................................................................................................................ 22
3D view of flight data ............................................................................................................................... 23
Processing Modes ............................................................................................................ 24

IN‐Fusion SmartBase ..................................................................................................................................... 25
IN‐Fusion Single Base..................................................................................................................................... 25
IN‐Fusion PP-RTX ........................................................................................................................................... 25
IN‐Fusion PPP (IAPPP) .................................................................................................................................... 25
IN‐Fusion Autonomous .................................................................................................................................. 26
IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav Single Base .................................................................................................................... 26
IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav SmartBase ..................................................................................................................... 26
IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav PP-RTX .......................................................................................................................... 26
POSGNSS KAR ................................................................................................................................................ 26
POSGNSS PPP ................................................................................................................................................. 27
Primary GNSS Nav ......................................................................................................................................... 27
Primary Trimble RTX Nav ............................................................................................................................... 27
Primary OmniSTAR Nav ................................................................................................................................. 27
Primary Marinestar Nav ................................................................................................................................ 27
Auxiliary GNSS Nav ........................................................................................................................................ 27
Workflow Guide .............................................................................................................. 29

Starting the POSPac MMS software .............................................................................................................. 30
Creating a new default project ...................................................................................................................... 30
Saving a project ............................................................................................................................................. 30
Changing project settings .............................................................................................................................. 31
Project Views ................................................................................................................................................. 32
Importing data ............................................................................................................................................... 32
Importing Raw POS Data .......................................................................................................................... 33
Automatically downloaded base station data ......................................................................................... 35
Generate Applanix SmartBase ....................................................................................................................... 37
Applanix SmartBase Quality Check .......................................................................................................... 39
Applanix SmartBase Generation .............................................................................................................. 40
GNSS‐Inertial processor ................................................................................................................................. 40
Display and reporting tools ............................................................................................................................. 42
Plotting utility ........................................................................................................................................... 42
Reports ..................................................................................................................................................... 42
Validation procedure ...................................................................................................................................... 42
POSPac MMS Graphical User Interface ............................................................................. 43

Main viewer (Plan View) ................................................................................................................................ 44
Toolbars ......................................................................................................................................................... 45
Project tab ................................................................................................................................................ 46
Edit tab ..................................................................................................................................................... 47
View tab ................................................................................................................................................... 48
Reports tab ............................................................................................................................................... 49
Tools tab ................................................................................................................................................... 50
Window tab .............................................................................................................................................. 52
Help tab .................................................................................................................................................... 52
Command and Properties Panes ..................................................................................................................... 53
Command pane......................................................................................................................................... 53
Properties pane......................................................................................................................................... 53
Status bar ....................................................................................................................................................... 54
File menu.................................................................................................................................................. 55
Edit menu ................................................................................................................................................. 56
View Filter Manager ................................................................................................................................. 57
Project Setup ................................................................................................................... 58

Creating a new project .................................................................................................................................. 58
Selecting a template for the project ........................................................................................................ 58
Saving the project configuration file ........................................................................................................ 59
Saving a modified or renamed project .......................................................................................................... 60
Saving a modified project......................................................................................................................... 60
Saving a renamed project ........................................................................................................................ 60
Saving a project as a template ................................................................................................................. 60
Opening a saved project or reopening the most recent project ................................................................... 61
Opening a saved project .......................................................................................................................... 61
Reopening the most recent project ......................................................................................................... 62
Correlate project information ....................................................................................................................... 63
Project Settings ........................................................................................................................................ 63
Project Options ........................................................................................................................................ 65
Create a Pre-Mission Project ............................................................................................ 68

Using Track'Air flight plan ................................................................................................................................ 68
Operating steps ......................................................................................................................................... 69
Creating a new project based on approximate coordinates ............................................................................ 70

Import Raw Data into a Project ........................................................................................ 71
Import command ........................................................................................................................................... 71
Extracting POS data ....................................................................................................................................... 72
Rover Antenna Usage .................................................................................................................................... 72
Processing Techniques ..................................................................................................... 74

Aided inertial navigation ............................................................................................................................... 77
Applanix IN‐Fusion technology in POSPac MMS ........................................................................................... 77
Applanix IN‐Fusion processing modes ........................................................................................................... 79
Applanix SmartBase software .................................................................................................................. 79
Recommendations ................................................................................................................................... 80
Applanix IN‐Fusion Single Base Station Processing .................................................................................. 97
Applanix IN‐Fusion Multi‐Single‐Base (MSB) processing .......................................................................103
Applanix IN‐Fusion PP-RTX Processing ...................................................................................................107
Applanix IN‐Fusion PPP Processing ........................................................................................................110
Other processing modes ..............................................................................................................................111
POSGNSS KAR and POSGNSS PPP ...........................................................................................................111
IN‐Fusion Autonomous Processing ........................................................................................................112
Primary GNSS Nav Data Processing........................................................................................................112
Primary Trimble RTX Nav Data Processing .............................................................................................112
Primary OmniSTAR Nav Data Processing ...............................................................................................112
Primary Marinestar Nav Data Processing ..............................................................................................112
Processing Real‐Time GNSS Data ...........................................................................................................112
Processing Auxiliary GNSS Nav Data ......................................................................................................112
GNSS-Aided Inertial Navigation ...................................................................................... 114

GNSS‐Inertial Processor settings .................................................................................................................115
Timing, Multipath, and Baseline options .....................................................................................................115
Initialization options ....................................................................................................................................118
Lever Arms and Mounting Angle options ....................................................................................................120
Auxiliary GNSS options ................................................................................................................................123
GAMS improvement ....................................................................................................................................124
Secondary GNSS Lever Arms options ..........................................................................................................127
Differential Corrections options ..................................................................................................................128
DMI options .................................................................................................................................................128
PFIX options .................................................................................................................................................130
Assumptions about error sources ..........................................................................................................130
Clashes with GNSS ..................................................................................................................................130
Custom Events file ..................................................................................................................................130
Setting up PFIXes ....................................................................................................................................131
Rover Import options ..................................................................................................................................132
Running the GNSS‐Inertial Processor ..........................................................................................................133
Status ...........................................................................................................................................................136
Message Log ................................................................................................................................................136
Initiating the GNSS‐Inertial Processing ........................................................................................................137
Navigation File Formats ................................................................................................. 138

Output data files ..........................................................................................................................................138
Post-processed solution file ...................................................................................................................138
Post-processed solution accuracy file ....................................................................................................139
Using post-processed data ..........................................................................................................................140
Export SBET Data ........................................................................................................... 141

Export command .........................................................................................................................................141

Profile Manager .....................................................................................................................................144
Change Coordinate System (Mapping Frame Parameters dialog) ..............................................................147
Tools ............................................................................................................................. 158

Distance Calculator pane .............................................................................................................................158
Trimble Mission Planner software ...............................................................................................................159
Data Display and Reports ............................................................................................... 160

Display function ...........................................................................................................................................160
Components of the Display dialog ...........................................................................................................161
Display data in graphic format ...............................................................................................................161
Display data in table format ...................................................................................................................162
Reload data configuration ......................................................................................................................163
Pan and Zoom functions ........................................................................................................................164
NAVDIF Function ....................................................................................................................................165
Run NAVDIF ............................................................................................................................................167
Message Logs...............................................................................................................................................167
QC Report ....................................................................................................................................................167
Publishing Module .......................................................................................................................................169
Tips and Tricks ................................................................................................................. 171

Changing the background color of the Plan View .......................................................................................171
Changing the color settings of the Plan View ..............................................................................................172
Specification and automatic conversion of units ........................................................................................173
Fast access to project settings in the task bar .............................................................................................173
Fast selection of items in the main Plan View .............................................................................................173
Solution Quality Assessment .......................................................................................... 174

Imported and extracted data ......................................................................................................................174
Real‐time solution .......................................................................................................................................175
Base station coordinate survey ...................................................................................................................175
GNSS QC processing ....................................................................................................................................177
Applanix SmartBase solution .......................................................................................................................181
Interpretation of Applanix SmartBase Quality Check Results summary ........................................................183
POSGNSS KAR and PPP solutions .................................................................................................................186
Smoothed Best Estimate of Trajectory (SBET) solution ...............................................................................188
GNSS‐Inertial Forward and/or Backward Processing Message Log .......................................................188
Reviewing the plots ................................................................................................................................188
Calibrating the reference to GNSS Lever Arm values ..................................................................................190
Batch Processing ............................................................................................................ 192

Batch Processing from within POSPac .........................................................................................................192
Rover Data Location ...............................................................................................................................193
GNSS Mode settings ...............................................................................................................................194
Export settings .......................................................................................................................................197
Other processing settings ............................................................................................................................198
Creating your own Batch XML project file ...................................................................................................199
GNSS Services ................................................................................................................ 207

CORS ............................................................................................................................................................207
FTP site ...................................................................................................................................................207
EPN ..............................................................................................................................................................208
Website ..................................................................................................................................................208
FTP site ...................................................................................................................................................208
Coordinates ............................................................................................................................................208
GSI................................................................................................................................................................209
FTP site ...................................................................................................................................................209
IGS................................................................................................................................................................209
Website ..................................................................................................................................................210
FTP site ...................................................................................................................................................210
Coordinates ............................................................................................................................................210
SOPAC ..........................................................................................................................................................210
Website ..................................................................................................................................................210
FTP site ...................................................................................................................................................210
Coordinates ............................................................................................................................................210
UNAVCO ......................................................................................................................................................211
Website ..................................................................................................................................................211
FTP site ...................................................................................................................................................211
Coordinates ............................................................................................................................................211
Global Positioning System Time ..................................................................................... 212

Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) ..............................................................................................................213
GPS Time......................................................................................................................................................214
Reference Frames and Lever Arms ................................................................................. 215

Reference frames ........................................................................................................................................216
Types of frames ...........................................................................................................................................216
Lever arms ...................................................................................................................................................218
Aiding Sensor frames ...................................................................................................................................218
World Geodetic System of 1984 ....................................................................................... 219

Ellipsoids ......................................................................................................................................................220
Geoids ..........................................................................................................................................................220
Geodetic datum in general.....................................................................................................................220
GPS and global geodetic datum .............................................................................................................221
POSPac MMS System Requirements............................................................................... 222

Minimum system configuration ....................................................................................................................222
Setup a Proxy Server to Work with POSPac MMS ........................................................... 223

Setup Software Licensing with POSPac MMS .................................................................. 227
Software License Utility ...............................................................................................................................228
Serial Number ........................................................................................................................................228
Local Locking Code .................................................................................................................................228
Refresh License ......................................................................................................................................229
Activating Software License.........................................................................................................................229
Network (server‐locked) software license .............................................................................................229
License Checks in POSPac ............................................................................................................................229
Upgrading Software License ........................................................................................................................231
Deactivating Software License.....................................................................................................................231
Commuting Software License ......................................................................................................................231
Remote Commuting Software License ........................................................................................................233
Remote Activation .......................................................................................................................................236
Remote Upgrade .........................................................................................................................................236
License Server Setup....................................................................................................................................238
14 Parameter Datums & Tectonic Plate Corrections........................................................ 239

Overview......................................................................................................................................................239
Time Dependence of Station Coordinates ...................................................................................................241

Regional Datums vs. Global Datums ............................................................................................................241
Tectonic Plate Motion Models used in POSPac ...........................................................................................242
Glossary......................................................................................................................... 244

C H A P T E R
1
Introduction
The Position and Orientation System Post-processing Package (POSPac™) Mobile Mapping Suite
(MMS™) is the latest post-processing software package from Applanix™ Corporation for airborne,
land, and marine vehicular applications. The POSPac MMS software is a simple‐to‐use, integrated
suite of software utilities designed to import and process data recorded by Applanix POS products.
It is designed with a powerful user‐friendly interface to maximize data quality and efficiency and is
a complete post processing solution toolbox, that includes POS recorded real‐time data and base
station data, the Applanix SmartBase™ module for constructing networks of reference stations,
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) integrated navigation post-processing with IN‐Fusion™
technology that provides a deep level of sensor integration and error modeling, direct exterior
orientation generation with calibration and quality control of digital imagery and other
photogrammetry tools such as those used to handle LiDAR and SAR data.
The Applanix SmartBase module enables you to construct a network of permanent GNSS reference
stations accessible through the Internet, and provide reference receiver coverage over large
project areas without requiring dedicated base receivers. SmartBase includes an in‐built database
search tool that generates a recommended network, and then acquires the reference receiver data
via the Internet.
POSPac MMS with IN‐Fusion technology provides multiple processing modes to handle different
combinations of rover and reference GNSS data that can occur in survey missions. In addition to
the SmartBase processing mode, POSPac MMS provides Single Base Station differential and Precise
Point Positioning (PPP) processing modes. POSPac MMS implements Inertially-Aided PPP (IAPPP)
that overcomes some of the convergence problems in GNSS‐only PPP due to GNSS data outages.
POSPac MMS software tools identify and compensate for sensor and environmental errors,
compute an optimally accurate blended navigation solution and provide the means to view the
results in a variety of formats. The sophisticated design of the POSPac MMS main Graphical User
Interface (GUI) displays different types of data including real‐time and post-processed data. All
data can be viewed and selected in many different ways including the 2D Plan View, 3D View, and
Points Spreadsheet.
Data organization and management

Data collection and import
Mobile mapping surveys are typically conducted with an array of navigation sensors such as a GNSS
receiver and an inertial measurement unit (IMU), each sensor measuring distinct yet
complementary information. A data acquisition system records the sensor data and provides time
synchronization information required for post-processing. The Applanix POS products include
GNSS, IMU and other aiding sensors, and provide data acquisition and time synchronization
functionality.
1 – Introduction
POSPac MMS automatically detects and imports these navigation sensor data into a post-
processing project. It automatically extracts the IMU, GNSS, and additional sensor data from the
POS data log files and scans them for time continuity and consistency.
Project configuration files

A POSPac MMS project configuration comprises the processing parameters, user selectable
processing options and filename components required to do you‐specified post-processing
functions. POSPac MMS saves a project configuration in a configuration file identified with the
extension .pospac.
The project configuration file contains the configuration parameters for a specific combination of
sensor data and processing mode; these include selected sensors, reference GNSS network
parameters, installation parameters (lever arms, mounting angles, scale factors) and user‐selected
processing mode.
File Naming Conventions

File prefixes, kernels, and extensions
A personal computer file typically consists of a unique user‐assigned name and a program, process,
or system mapped extension, for example myfile.txt. The Applanix POS products generate data log
files with chronological sequence might start at profile.000, profile.001, and so on.
POSPac MMS automatically extracts POS‐generated composite raw data files into data‐specific
files, each type identified with a particular prefix as well as an extension. For example, it uses
mgps, gim, imu, and iinr prefixes to identify distinct data types; dat, out, nav and log extensions
identify specific file types. POSPac MMS uses a similar file‐naming convention to name post-
processing output files.
Referencing data
The IMU, GNSS antennas, and other aiding sensors are typically mounted at different locations on
a particular vehicle and hence measure their respective data at these locations. You must specify a
position and orientation on the vehicle at which the POSPac‐generated blended navigation solution
is referenced. Specify this as the position and orientation of a right‐handed coordinate frame with
respect to the vehicle principal directions (forward, right, down) that define the vehicle coordinate
frame. For example, if the POS is used to instrument a camera for the purpose of computing image
georeferencing data, then the camera frame centered at the camera perspective center and
aligned with the camera principal/lens axis is the reference frame. If the camera is mounted in an
aircraft pointing down, then the reference frame has a ‐90 degree pitch angle with respect to the
aircraft frame.
As part of a POS installation, you must measure the approximate positions and, if applicable,
orientations of the navigation sensors with respect to the reference coordinate frame. The IMU
coordinate frame defined by the inertial sensor input axes is the preferred reference frame in most
applications, but because of physical constraints the IMU may need to be mounted elsewhere.

1 – Introduction
In the previous camera example, the IMU cannot be mounted exactly at the camera frame because
the camera perspective center that is the designated reference frame origin is located beyond the
lens in free space. Consequently, you must specify the approximate IMU frame position and
orientation to the POS or POSPac MMS (POSPac obtains all installation parameters specified to the
POS during data extraction). The positions of GNSS antennas and other aiding sensors such as a
DMI on a land vehicle are more easily measured in the vehicle frame. POSPac MMS enables you to
specify the vehicle frame XYZ coordinates with respect to the reference frame origin and then the
reference frame orientation with respect to the vehicle frame. POSPac MMS has an installation
calibration capability that estimates and corrects errors in your‐specified installation parameters.
You can provide quite inaccurate installation parameters and direct POSPac MMS to improve their
accuracies.
About this manual

This manual presents detailed information on all functions available in the POSPac MMS software.
It guides you through the sequence of processing in order to obtain the best solution possible.
First‐time users can use this manual to independently process a given POS data set, if you have the
following background knowledge:
• A basic knowledge of the Microsoft® Windows® 7 or Windows 10 operating system
• A minimal background in POS operation
• The ability to locate and identify raw source data files
Users with some knowledge and background in POS computing can use this manual to
independently produce and compare a variety of results, using the same input data.
Advanced users, with extensive knowledge and experience in POS operation, can use this manual
for processing types that will help them achieve the best solution with minimal supplementary
reference.
Technical Support
Contact Applanix technical support at the numbers listed on our website.
On the home page, select Support and then select Contact Support from the top menu bar. If voice
communication is required, select the Contact link.
For general inquiries, visit our website or call +1 905 709 4600

C H A P T E R
2
Technologies and Features
In this chapter:
 Applanix IN‐Fusion technology Processing modes based on the Applanix
IN‐Fusion technology permit extending reliable
 Single base station processing using
decimeter level (or better) accuracy over large
IN‐Fusion technology
project areas. For airborne applications, the
 Applanix SmartBase Processing aircraft can fly sharp turns with steep bank
angles between survey lines without concern of
 Applanix PP-RTX Processing
the momentary loss of GNSS signal tracking
 Network quality analysis that usually occurs in such a turn, thereby
 New graphical user interface reducing the airborne time and associated
aircraft cost from those incurred with
traditional flat turns.
This section provides an overview of Applanix
IN‐Fusion technology that includes the tightly‐
integrated Single Base Station, Applanix
SmartBase, and Precise Point Positioning
processing. For more information on each of
these topics, see the corresponding heading in
Processing Modes.
Applanix IN‐Fusion technology

The Applanix IN‐Fusion technology is a feature in the POSPac MMS system that addresses the
current limitations of traditional high‐accuracy differential GNSS processing. For airborne
applications, it eliminates the need to be close to a reference station to initialize ambiguities and
eliminates the need to fly flat turns to maintain GNSS signal tracking. It also increases the accuracy
and reliability of positioning in the airborne environment.
Traditional GNSS and inertial integration techniques use the GNSS receiver's position and velocity
solution as measurements for integration with the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) data to
achieve a final post-processed trajectory solution (POSPac MMS retains this functionality to handle
cases where GNSS observables cannot be used).
IN‐Fusion uses a centralized filter approach to combine the GNSS receiver's pseudorange and
phase observables with the IMU data. As a result, Applanix IN‐Fusion technology has continual
access to all GNSS aiding information even if the GNSS receiver is tracking fewer than four
satellites.
IN‐Fusion includes Inertially‐Aided Kinematic Ambiguity Resolution (IAKAR). The inertial data is
used to help resolve the initial ambiguities and to minimize the time to initialize integer
ambiguities correctly. During periods of GNSS signal disruption, inertial coast maintains the

2 – Technologies and Features
antenna position with decimeter accuracy. IAKAR then uses the inertially coasted position accuracy
to perform near‐instantaneous ambiguity resolution when the outage has ended. This results in a
fast recovery time after a signal loss or blockage to satellites due to a sharp turn. As a
consequence, survey aircraft can fly short turns with steep bank angles. Since IN‐Fusion technology
uses the GNSS geometric information more efficiently, the net result is a more accurate and robust
solution that provides a high level of productivity in mobile mapping and positioning.
Single base station processing using

IN‐Fusion technology
The efficient use of carrier phase differential GNSS positioning is restricted primarily by the effects
of the atmosphere, satellite clock, and orbital inaccuracies that cause systematic range errors in
the observables. The further away the rover is from the reference station, the more these errors
are de‐correlated. In traditional processing approaches, the baseline separation between the
roving receiver and the reference station is limited to 20 km to reduce the errors to an acceptable
level.
In the POSPac MMS Software, dedicated single base station processing is tightly integrated using
the Applanix IN‐Fusion technology. It employs a much deeper level of sensor integration and error
modeling, significantly reducing the limitations associated with the standard single base
processing.
The POSPac MMS Software resolves integer carrier phase ambiguities when the vehicle or aircraft
is close to the base station. Thereafter the vehicle can make excursions up to 100 km from the base
station. The POSPac MMS Software calibrates the signal delay errors that increase with distance
from the base station, and uses this calibration to recover from signal outages or carrier phase
cycle errors. During such outages, the tightly integrated single base processing preserves the
decimeter‐ level position accuracy through the outage so that it can restart carrier phase ambiguity
estimation and resolution when the outage ends.
Applanix SmartBase Processing

The Applanix SmartBase concept has its origin in real‐time GNSS land survey applications where
the traditional approach of a single reference station was replaced with a virtual reference station.
Based on the Trimble® VRS™ technology, the virtual reference station solution uses a network of
continuously operating reference stations (CORS) to compute a set of corrections for the roving
receiver anywhere within the network. With Applanix SmartBase, this virtual reference technology
has been adapted to work in post-processing and to use longer distances between reference
stations to calibrate the atmospheric errors within a network of GNSS receivers.
Furthermore, combining the virtual reference station concept with the Applanix IN‐Fusion
technology provides a number of benefits to mobile mapping:
• There is no need to start close to a reference station to initialize ambiguities.
• The distance to the nearest reference station can be extended to 70 km.
• The time‐to‐fix integer ambiguity is reduced and the reliability of the fixed integer ambiguities
is increased.
• The overall position and orientation solution is accurate and robust on large project areas.
• The cost of installing and maintaining dedicated base stations is removed from the project cost.
• In airborne applications, the aircraft can fly sharp turns without the loss of centimeter‐level
position accuracies for survey lines.

Use of existing reference station networks for Applanix

SmartBase software
Permanent GNSS receiver networks are continuously expanding around the world, enabling users
to perform high‐accuracy differential GNSS mapping with little or no reference station
infrastructure costs. Depending on the region of the world, the reference stations are sufficiently
dense and reliable so that you can achieve high accuracy results (decimeter‐level or better)
without having to install and maintain dedicated reference receivers.
There are typically three sources of reference station data that can be used with Applanix
SmartBase software:
• Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS)
• Pay‐per‐use networks that provide the observables for post-processing (for example, a Trimble
VRS network or SAPOS)
• Non‐permanent dedicated reference stations set up by you
Automatic download of reference stations

Find Base Station integrates Smart Select, which searches and automatically downloads the
reference stations publicly available in the area of the mission for SmartBase or Single Base:
The Smart Select process uses advanced algorithms to select the best available network of stations,
for respective projects, so there is no need for user input to the process. The automatic download
function can also be used to pre‐plan and pre‐assess a mission by determining if base stations exist
within a given radius of a specific location or planned mission trajectory.
Applanix PP-RTX Processing

POSPac MMS 8.0 introduces a new aided-inertial processing mode, which provides centimeter level
post-processed positioning accuracies without the use of local reference station using Trimble®
CenterPoint™ RTX technology. Trimble® CenterPoint™ RTX (Real-Time Extended) is an innovative
multi-frequency GNSS positioning technology that combines the high accuracy of reference station

based Differential GNSS with the highly productive wide-area coverage of global satellite corrections.
This wide-area coverage of network stations can generate the precise orbit, clock and observation
biases for any location on Earth.
The precise data generated can then be transmitted to POSPac and used for post-processed RTX-
aided inertial processing. The post-processed RTX (PP-RTX) implementation allows for cm level
positioning for mobile mapping without reference stations.
Network quality analysis

When using permanent or non‐dedicated reference stations, you may be concerned about data
integrity, particularly with respect to the accuracy of supplied antenna coordinates, the possibility
of missing data and the possibility of physical damage to reference station antennas (that may
have occurred just before or during the mission). To mitigate the risk of poor results and to provide
confidence in the accuracy of the overall positioning, POSPac MMS includes the Applanix
SmartBase Quality Check tool.
SmartBase Quality Check performs an accurate network adjustment on all the selected reference
stations in the network. Quality checks are also performed on the individual reference station
observation files before the Applanix SmartBase is computed. The result of this process is that the
integrity of the reference station’s data and coordinates is known before the data is processed.
New graphical user interface

Custom toolbar
Customizing commands and toolbars is a new option in POSPac MMS. Toolbar icons (commands)
can be grouped and positioned for convenience as is the case with most contemporary software:

Reference stations in the Plan View

The resulting network stations from the Smart Select process appear in the Plan View. The stations
are color coded to differentiate between stations with GPS‐only observations (white) and both GPS
and GLONASS observations (green).
Figure 2.1 Stations with GPS‐only and GPS/GLONASS observations

Project Explorer dialog

All imported data is presented in a tree structure:
Double‐click any item (POS real‐time, for example) to reveal the corresponding properties in the
Properties dialog and highlight the graphical data in the main screen pane.

Points Spreadsheet tab

The new built‐in Points Spreadsheet provides a quick overview to all imported points and their
coordinates:
To activate the display, select from the menu bar View / New Points Spreadsheet. You can now set
up view conditions for each point.

3D view of flight data

This feature displays the imported flight data in 3D:
To watch the mission in 3D, select from the menu bar View / New 3D View.

C H A P T E R
3
Processing Modes
 POSGNSS KAR
 IN‐Fusion SmartBase
 POSGNSS PPP
 IN‐Fusion Single Base
 IN‐Fusion PP-RTX  Primary GNSS Nav
 Primary Trimble RTX Nav
 IN‐Fusion PPP (IAPPP)
 IN‐Fusion Autonomous  Primary OmniSTAR Nav
 Primary Marinestar Nav
 IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav Single Base
 Auxiliary GNSS Nav
 IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav SmartBase
 IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav PP-RTX
The Position and Orientation System Post-processing Package (POSPac) MMS provides the
following processing modes:
Processing mode Description

IN‐Fusion SmartBase Tightly Coupled SmartBase KAR
IN‐Fusion Single Base Tightly Coupled Single Base KAR
IN‐Fusion PP-RTX Tightly Coupled PP-RTX
IN‐Fusion PPP (IAPPP) Tightly Coupled PPP
IN‐Fusion Autonomous Tightly Coupled CA
Tightly Coupled Code DGPS
IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav Single Loosely Coupled Differential GNSS
Base
IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav Loosely Coupled Differential GNSS
SmartBase
IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav PP-RTX Loosely Coupled PP-RTX
POSGNSS KAR Loosely Coupled Differential GNSS
POSGNSS PPP Loosely Coupled PPP
Primary Trimble RTX Nav Loosely Coupled Primary Trimble RTX
Primary OmniSTAR Nav Loosely Coupled Primary OmniSTAR
Primary Marinestar Nav Loosely Coupled Primary Marinestar
Primary GNSS Nav Loosely Coupled Primary GNSS (AV data only)
Auxiliary GNSS Nav Loosely Coupled Auxiliary GNSS

3 – Processing Modes
IN‐Fusion SmartBase
IN‐Fusion SmartBase is a feature in the POSPac MMS software that addresses the limitations of
traditional integration approaches using high‐accuracy carrier phase differential GNSS for mobile
mapping. SmartBase processing is optimized for large changes in altitude by the rover and is
extended to work with reference stations separated by very large distances. It uses the tightly‐
integrated Applanix IN‐Fusion technology to provide a robust and highly accurate aided inertial
position and orientation solution using a network of reference stations. The Applanix SmartBase
engine processes the observables (phase and pseudorange to each tracked satellite) from a
minimum of four to a maximum of 50 continuously‐operating GNSS reference stations surrounding
the trajectory. The computed ionospheric, tropospheric, satellite clock, and orbital errors at the
reference stations are used to correct for the errors at the location of the remote receiver.
IN‐Fusion includes Inertially‐Aided Kinematic Ambiguity Resolution (IAKAR) that provides fast
fixed‐integer ambiguity recovery following GNSS signal outages. For more information on
SmartBase processing, see Technologies and Features and Processing Techniques.
IN‐Fusion Single Base

IN‐Fusion Single Base processing also uses tightly integrated Applanix IN‐Fusion technology. It
differs from Applanix SmartBase in that only one dedicated base station is used as a reference
station. Combining inertial and GNSS data with IN‐Fusion technology allows vehicle excursions
beyond the 20 km distance to the base station during the trajectory while maintaining fixed
integer ambiguity recovery after GNSS outages and a highly accurate positioning solution. In
airborne applications, IN‐Fusion removes the flat‐turn restriction normally required to maintain
GNSS signal tracking through turns. For more information on Single Base Station processing with
IN‐Fusion technology, see Technologies and Features and Processing Techniques.
IN‐Fusion PP-RTX
POSPac MMS 8.0 introduces a new aided-inertial processing mode, which provides centimeter
level post-processed positioning accuracies without the use of local reference station using
Trimble® CenterPoint™ RTX technology. Trimble® CenterPoint™ RTX (Real-Time Extended) is an
innovative multi-frequency GNSS positioning technology that combines the high accuracy of
reference station based Differential GNSS with the highly productive wide-area coverage of global
satellite corrections. This wide-area coverage of network stations can generate the precise orbit,
clock and observation biases for any location on Earth. The precise data generated can then be
transmitted to POSPac and used for tightly-coupled RTX-aided inertial processing. For more
information on PP-RTX processing with IN‐Fusion technology, see Technologies and Features and
Processing Techniques.
IN‐Fusion PPP (IAPPP)

The POSPac MMS software implements IN‐Fusion Precise Point Positioning (PPP). PPP provides
positioning accuracies on the order of a few decimeters without a base receiver, and hence is
useful for those applications where a base receiver cannot be found or installed. Such applications
include airborne surveying in remote areas or open‐ocean hydrographic surveys far from land. The
typical PPP algorithm implements a floated ionosphere‐free (IF) solution that requires up to 30
minutes to converge from an initial meter‐level position accuracy to a desired decimeter‐level

accuracy. Significant loss of coherent carrier phase tracking such as due to aircraft sharp turns will
require the GNSS‐only PPP algorithm to restart this convergence. IN‐Fusion PPP implements
Applanix's Inertially-Aided PPP (IAPPP) algorithm that overcomes this shortcoming by preserving
positioning accuracy through GNSS outages using inertial coast. IN‐Fusion PPP uses optimal
smoothing to carry the converged decimeter‐level position accuracy backwards in time and
thereby achieve PPP‐level position accuracies throughout the survey trajectory.
IN‐Fusion Autonomous
This processing mode is used to process the observables and broadcast ephemeris data from a
completely autonomous GNSS receiver in addition to the inertial data and optional non‐GNSS
aiding data. POSPac MMS implements a tightly‐coupled integration of the inertial and autonomous
GNSS data, and achieves multiple meter‐level position accuracies that are typical of autonomous
GNSS positioning. Tightly‐coupled integration allows the POSPac MMS software to extract position
information when the GNSS receiver tracks fewer than 4 satellites and thereby provide partial
position error control. POSPac MMS in IN‐Fusion Autonomous mode processes RTCM Type 1/9
differential corrections if available to achieve meter‐level position accuracy.
IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav Single Base

In this processing mode, POSPac uses the loosely‐coupled differential GNSS data to generate the
SBET solution. Unlike the legacy POSGNSS KAR processing mode that requires a separated GNSS
data processing (POSGNSS) workflow, this new mode integrates the Applanix’s new differential
GNSS technologies into the GNSS‐Inertial Processor to provide more efficient, accurate and
reliable loosely‐coupled navigation solutions than the legacy POSGNSS KAR processing mode.
IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav SmartBase

In this processing mode, POSPac uses the loosely‐coupled Applanix SmartBase data to generate
SBET. The workflow of using IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav SmartBase processing is very similar to the
tightly‐ coupled IN‐Fusion SmartBase processing.
IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav PP-RTX

In this processing mode, POSPac uses the loosely‐coupled Applanix PP-RTX data to generate SBET.
The workflow of using IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav PP-RTX processing is very similar to the tightly‐ coupled
IN‐Fusion PP-RTX processing.
POSGNSS KAR
The POSPac MMS software implements a loosely‐coupled processing mode that uses the POSGNSS
module to compute a differential GNSS navigation solution and then combines differential GNSS
navigation solution data with IMU measurements. Contrary to IN‐Fusion SmartBase and Single
Base Station processing, only the POSGNSS position and velocity solutions are used as
measurements for further integration with the IMU data. The POSPac MMS software uses the
GNSS processing algorithms implemented in POSGNSS to compute GNSS navigation solutions with

a single base station or multiple base stations.
POSGNSS PPP
In this processing mode, the POSPac MMS software uses POSGNSS to compute a PPP navigation
solution. POSGNSS downloads the precise orbits and ionospheric corrections from the IGS website
and computes a GNSS‐only PPP solution. POSPac MMS then computes a loosely coupled
integration of the POSGNSS PPP solution with the inertial data.
Primary GNSS Nav

In this processing mode, the POSPac MMS software computes a loosely coupled integration of the
inertial data and the real‐time navigation solution computed by the primary GNSS receiver during
the survey mission. It is typically used to reproduce the real‐time POS solution and add smoothing
to generate the SBET.
Primary Trimble RTX Nav

inertial data and the real‐time Trimble RTX Nav solution. This mode enables you to use the Trimble
RTX navigation solution if a more accurate post-processed solution cannot be had for lack of base
receiver data.
Primary OmniSTAR Nav

inertial data and the real‐time primary GNSS OmniSTAR VBS/HP/XP/G2 solution from a Trimble
BD960 GNSS receiver with integrated OmniSTAR corrections enabled in loosely coupled mode.
Some Applanix POS products contain this receiver. This mode enables you to use the OmniSTAR
navigation solution if a more accurate post-processed solution cannot be had for lack of base
receiver data.
Primary Marinestar Nav

inertial data and the real‐time primary Marinestar Nav solution. This mode enables you to use the
Marinestar navigation solution if a more accurate post-processed solution cannot be had for lack
of base receiver data.
Auxiliary GNSS Nav

inertial data and an auxiliary GNSS receiver. This mode enables you to combine any logged GNSS
data, typically in NMEA format, and IMU data into a post-processed trajectory solution using the
loosely coupled processing approach. It is typically used in applications in which a GNSS receiver

that generates a NMEA data stream is run in parallel with an Applanix POS. The auxiliary receiver
can record its data internally or stream it to the POS for recording.

C H A P T E R
4
Workflow Guide
In this chapter:
 Starting the POSPac MMS software This section provides an overview of the basic
operating steps of the Position and Orientation
 Creating a new default project
System Post-processing Package (POSPac) MMS
 Saving a project for the Processing Modes described in Processing
 Changing project settings Modes.
 Project Views
 Importing data
 Generate Applanix SmartBase
 GNSS‐Inertial processor
 Display and reporting tools
 Validation procedure
The processing flows outlined in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

1. Create a new project (click the New Default Project icon).
2. Save a project (File / Save Project).
3. Select Project Settings (Project / Project Settings).
4. Import raw POS data (Project / Import).
5. View extract log (Reports / Message Logs).
6. View real‐time plots (Reports / Display Plots).
7. Import base station data (Project / Find Base Stations) and download or import existing client
base station (Project / Import).
8. Run Applanix SmartBase Quality Check (Project / SmartBase Quality Check).
9. Run Applanix SmartBase (Project / Applanix SmartBase).
10. Run GNSS‐inertial processor (Project / GNSS‐Inertial Processor).
11. View processing log (Reports / Message Logs).
12. View processing plots (Reports / Displays).
13. If the lever arms are incorrect, insert the new lever arm values and run the GNSS‐inertial
processor again.
14. Validate the solution.

4 – Workflow Guide
Starting the POSPac MMS software

Click the POSPac MMS icon on your desktop or select Start / All Programs / Applanix / POSPac
MMS. Once the program is open there are two options:
• Open a new default project.
• Open an existing project.
The same selections are available from the File menu.
Creating a new default project

Before creating a new default project, ensure that all the required raw data is available. This
includes the POS data files and the base station data files (if available).
Click the New Default Project icon on the toolbar or select from the menu bar File / New Project
and then click OK. An empty Plan View tab is created.
Saving a project
Click the Save Project icon on the toolbar or select File / Save Project, browse to the required
location and then save the project.
Note – Applanix recommends saving a project immediately after it is created.

Changing project settings

You can change all project related settings in one screen. Select Project / Project Settings:
Project settings that can be modified:
Select this setting and then set …

area …
General General project information including company information, mission information
Information and user information.
Units Select the units of measurement used for display and data output.
View Modify the settings in the Plan View and Points Spreadsheet.
Rover Import Modify the extract settings. Also, select a user generated event file for POSEO
and Export Output Rate and Plan View Event rendering.
Satellite Selection Set elevation mask, disable satellites, or force GPS-only solution.
Force GPS-Only By default, GNSS-Inertial processing IN-Fusion SmartBase and IN-Fusion Single Base
solution uses GPS and GLONASS observations. This setting forces GNSS-Inertial to use
only GPS satellites.
GNSS –Inertial Process settings, such as lever arms, timing, and initialization parameters.
Processor
Export Set the output parameters for exporting your post-processed solution. The function
includes lever arms, mounting angles, angles, output format, output rate, and mapping
frame parameters.
See also Export SBET Data.
Camera Set POS exterior orientation mapping frame parameters output format, output rate,
camera photo‐ID file settings, lever arms, and boresight angles.
Refer also to PUBS‐MAN‐001728, POSPac MMS Photogrammetry Tools User Guide.
LiDAR Set LiDAR type and processing parameters.
Refer also to PUBS‐MAN‐001830, POSPac MMS LiDAR Tools User Guide.
SAR Set SAR type and processing parameters.
Refer also to PUBS‐MAN‐002901, POSPac MMS SAR Tools User Guide.

Project Views
POSPac MMS has a number of different views that can be used during data processing. Some of
the key displays are shown and described below:
View Description
Project Explorer Select View / Project Explorer from the menu bar.
pane Use this pane to navigate through the various stages of a given mission (that is,
real‐ time trajectory, post-processed trajectory, base station data, imported data).
Plan View pane Select View / New Plan View from the menu bar.
This displays a horizontal view of a given trajectory in a project.
Note – Multiple Plan View panes may be open to view the data in various ways.
Flags Pane pane Select View / Flags Pane from the menu bar.
This pane displays important information regarding any base stations that were
flagged during processing.
Importing data
The data that is imported into the post-processing software is divided into two types:
• Raw POS data (includes raw Inertial Measurement Unit [IMU] data and raw GNSS data)
• Raw Base Station data:
– Automatically downloaded base station data from the Applanix Database (publicly
available base stations) in Receiver Independent Exchange format (RINEX) for Applanix
Single Base and SmartBase processing.
– Manually imported base station data (privately available or user‐installed base stations) in

RINEX format for Applanix SmartBase processing; RINEX, Trimble .dat, or T02 formats for
Single Base Processing).
Note – To use Trimble .t01 or .t02 Base Station data format, run the Tools, Convert to RINEX utility
from the main POSPac MMS interface to convert the .t01 or .t02 format into a RINEX format before
importing the data into your project.
Note – Decoding of the Trimble .dat format supports only GPS observations.
CAUTION – When manually importing a base station, the average coordinates for that
station are computed. These coordinates are not accurate if the averaging time is less than
24 hours. You should edit the averaged coordinates and replace them with known accurate
coordinates. This is accomplished by right‐clicking on any base station point in the Project
Explorer or Plan View and running the Coordinate Manager.
Importing Raw POS Data

1. Select Project / Import:
2. Locate the folder containing the raw data for the current project using the Browse folder icon
.
3. Select the raw sub‐folder to display a list of POS logged files.
4. Select the first in the series of POS logged files to extract and then click Import. The software
sequentially imports the entire series of valid POS logged data files starting from the first file
selected.

5. At the completion of the extraction process and ephemeris download process, a dialog may
appear if the POS data does not contain the antenna information.
If the antenna manufacturer and type is known, the user should enter the information.
Otherwise, a default type will be assigned automatically. The solution will have a better
performance when using a known antenna compared with an unknown antenna.
6. Select Reports / Message Logs to view the reports generated during the extraction process:
Select Primary/Secondary GNSS Import, IMU Data Continuity Checking, Ephemeris Data
Import, Ephemeris Data Checking, or POS Data Import to view the message logs associated
with each portion of the extraction process. The Message Logs display any GNSS or IMU data
gaps in the POS raw data files.
Tip – Always check the message log immediately after extraction to ensure the data
collected is reliable.

Automatically downloaded base station data

Before running Applanix SmartBase you must create a network of reference stations surrounding
the flight trajectory. A minimum of four stations are required for Applanix SmartBase processing.
You can search for publicly available base stations in the vicinity of the mission area and
automatically connect to the corresponding Internet site to download the required base station
file.
Use the Find Base Station option to search for all available stations within a coordinate
database that is administrated by Applanix to automatically download stations. All stations within
the search radius that are found in the POSPac database are listed in the Find Base Station
window. Click Smart Select to search and download the best network of base stations with
information for a 24 hour epoch around the flight time. The Smart Select option determines the
optimal network to be used so that a sufficient number of reference stations is downloaded and so
that the network covers the mission trajectory.
Smart Select and GPS/GLONASS reference stations

The Smart Select process gives higher priority to GNSS stations (GPS + GLONASS observations),
which are proximate to the surveyed area. However, if there are too few GNSS stations to form
the optimal network, GPS‐only stations will be used to fill the gaps. In many cases, since only GPS
stations are available, the network will be formed of GPS‐only stations.
Notes –
1. POSPac supports Final, Rapid, and Ultra‐rapid orbit data.
IGS Precise Orbits
Ultra‐rapid—6‐hour latency
Rapid—13‐hour latency
Final—12‐ to 14‐day latency
For more information on latency and the availability of the orbit data, please visit the
International GNSS Service website at: http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/components/prods_cb.html
2. For SmartBase Quality Check, Applanix recommends obtaining ephemeris data as follows:
(4‐hour prior) + (24 hours) + (4 hours after).
If the SmartBase Quality check is not used, Applanix recommends the following when
generating the Applanix SmartBase solution (6 hours prior to mission) + (Mission Flight Time) +
(4 hours after).

1. Click the Find Base Stations icon on the toolbar, or select Project / Find Base Stations. The
following dialog appears:
2. Click the Smart Select drop down menu to choose Single Base. POSPac can automatically
select a single best reference station to be used for Single Base processing. This allows for a
faster processing time compared with SmartBase processing, which leads to a quicker
post‐processed solution. It should be noted that the Single Base solution will degrade with the
baseline length, and therefore, Smart Select Single Base algorithm will only search the base
station within 200 km from the starting position of the rover trajectory. For the applications
where the rover has long distance trajectory or the available base stations in the database are
too distant from the rover trajectory, Applanix recommends using SmartBase processing.
3. Alternatively to Single Base, users can click the Smart Select drop down menu to choose
SmartBase. The software automatically selects and downloads the best available SmartBase
network and automatically imports this into the project.
The Smart Select SmartBase process incorporates four processes: reference station search and
availability check, network analysis, download, raw data analysis (RDA), and optimal network
formation.
a. The software does a radial search for stations that are available, with observations within
the mission's duration, and are closest to the mission's center.
b. From the available stations network analyses are performed to form the best polygon that
adequately encompass the trajectory.
c. Stations that formed the best polygon are downloaded.
d. RDA is used to check the observations for best quality and assign a quality factor to them;
cycle slips, multi‐path, and data gaps are some factors that affects data quality.
e. Best quality stations are selected for use in the SmartBase network. If there are fewer than
six stations in this selection, and/or the selected stations did not encompass the mission's
trajectory, the software will attempt to fill the gaps by increasing the search radius and
repeating Step a through Step d.

.
The Smart Select process gives higher priority to GNSS stations (GPS + GLONASS observations) that
falls within the search polygon or search radius. However, if there are fewer than six stations that
have GNSS observations—or not enough GNSS stations to form the optimal polygonal network—
then GPS‐only stations will be used to fill the gaps. In most cases, only GPS reference stations are
available so the network will be formed from these stations.
Optional: To create a SmartBase network manually, complete Step 4 through Step 7. Alternatively,
go to Generate Applanix SmartBase.
4. The Search Radius origin is the center of the mission trajectory and the search radius value is
200 km, all set to default (or previously used values). You may increase or decrease the search
radius to a value that best fits the mission. Once the correct search radius is confirmed, the
software searches its database for reference stations within the given radius. It then displays
these along with the corresponding broadcast ephemeris and three precise ephemerides (one
for the previous day, the day‐of, and the following day).
5. Click the Preview Network button to open the default browser with the trajectory displayed as
well as the surrounding base stations. Note that the number of base stations that will appear
in the map view is based on the Search Radius defined in the Find Base Station window. This
allows users to visualize the stations around the trajectory to download. It can also be used as
a path planning tool for future missions.
6. If required, adjust the search radius and/or deselect the stations that are too far away (by
default, all stations are selected).
7. If manual selection of base stations is required, select the individual stations and ephemeris
data and click Download and Import to download the required base stations. Select a
minimum of four base stations to run Applanix SmartBase. The base stations must have data
spanning over an 18 to 24 hour period in order to facilitate the base station quality check
process.
Generate Applanix SmartBase

Once the base stations are imported into the project, they are listed under the given mission in the
Project Explorer pane. The imported base stations are used to generate the Applanix SmartBase as
follows:

• Applanix SmartBase Quality Check: Assesses the data integrity and accuracy of the coordinates
of each base station. This step is optional, but strongly recommended, especially when
downloading publicly available base stations. (Requires 18 to 24 hours of base station data.)
• Applanix SmartBase Generation: Generates a set of atmospheric corrections to be applied to
the rover. The output of the step is the input to the GNSS‐Inertial processor. A minimum
amount of base station data is required to produce optimal results, as follows:
– A SmartBase Optimal Network is a network of six to eight reference stations, evenly
distributed around the surveyed area and separated by 50 to 70 km.
Time prior to mission: Applanix recommends two hours of GNSS observation data for best
ambiguity resolution; however a minimum of 15 minutes can be used.
Time post mission: 15 minutes recommended; the minimum requirement is five minutes.
– A SmartBase Limited Network is a network where at least one of the optimal conditions is
not fulfilled.
Time prior to mission: minimum requirement of GNSS observation data is two hours
Time post mission: minimum requirement is five minutes (15 minutes recommended)

Applanix SmartBase Quality Check

The SmartBase Quality Check performs a network adjustment on the selected base stations based
on the available data and indicates if any station coordinates are considered to be outside the
tolerances (5 cm). To perform a base station quality check, do the following:
1. Select a control station (this is selected automatically, but can be selected manually). The
quality check process requires a control station to perform the network adjustment. This is a
station to which you assign a high confidence level during the network adjustment and is used
as an absolute measurement. In a typical mission, where you do not have information
regarding the base stations, any base station in the network may be used as a control station.
To assign a base station as a control station, right‐click the base station name in the Plan View
or Project Explorer pane and select Set Control Station. The station is flagged as a control
station and is indicated in the Flags Pane.
2. Click the Applanix SmartBase Quality Check icon in the toolbar to launch the quality check.
The Quality Check Results Summary shows the results of the quality check:
If any station has failed the quality check, it is flagged and a description of the problem is
provided in the Status column of the table. The recommended action is described on the
bottom of the screen. Click Continue to accept the recommended action and proceed to the
next step.
3. The Output Coords column in the table indicates which coordinates are used in the next step
(Applanix SmartBase Generation):
– Original (original coordinates from the Applanix Database or entered by you).
– Adjusted (quality check adjusted coordinates based on the network adjustment
performed).
– Disabled (disable the station and do not use it when generating the Applanix SmartBase).
– Control (indicates which station was used as the control station. If you change the control
station, then the quality check process must be run again).

Applanix SmartBase Generation

1. Select a primary station (selected automatically, but can be selected manually). The primary
station should be close to the flight trajectory, with the best location being at the center, and
must have good data integrity (few data gaps and unrepaired cycle slips). The quality of the
Primary station will have a strong influence on the quality of the generated Applanix
SmartBase solution. To set a station to primary station, select a point in the Plan View or
Project Explorer, right‐click and then select Set Primary Station. This station is flagged
afterwards.
2. Click the Applanix SmartBase icon in the toolbar to launch the Applanix SmartBase process.
GNSS‐Inertial processor
The GNSS‐Inertial processor is used to compute a smoothed best estimate of trajectory (SBET)
using the raw inertial, GNSS, and base station data.
GNSS-Inertial Description
processing mode
IN-Fusion SmartBase Uses the generated Applanix SmartBase atmospheric corrections data to compute the
post-processed solution using Applanix IN‐Fusion technology.
IN-Fusion Single Base Uses a single base station to compute the post-processed solution using Applanix IN‐
Fusion technology. The primary‐reference baseline separation must be less than 20
km at the start and end of the mission and can occasionally grow to 100 km during
the mission.
To select the desired base station for this process, right‐click a base station point in
the Project Explorer or Plan View and select the Set Base option.
IN-Fusion PP-RTX Uses the Trimble® CenterPoint™ RTX generated precise data to compute the post-
processed solution using Applanix IN-Fusion technology.
IN-Fusion PPP Implements IAPPP to achieve a few decimeters position accuracy without base
receiver data. Precise satellite orbit and clock data are downloaded from one of
several sources via the Internet.
IN-Fusion Implements an autonomous GNSS‐inertial integration having a few meters position
Autonomous accuracy that is typical of autonomous GNSS positioning but with robust handling of
GNSS outages via inertial coast.
IN-Fusion GNSS Nav Uses the loosely‐coupled differential GNSS data to generate the SBET solution from a
Single Base single base station.
IN-Fusion GNSS Nav Uses the loosely‐coupled Applanix SmartBase data to generate SBET.
SmartBase
IN-Fusion GNSS Nav Uses the loosely‐coupled PP-RTX data to generate SBET.
PP-RTX
POSGNSS KAR Select the POSGNSS icon to launch POSGNSS and compute a post-processed
precise GNSS solution from primary and base receiver observables that POSPac MMS
uses in the loosely coupled processing mode.
POSGNSS PPP Select the POSGNSS icon to launch POSGNSS and compute a post-processed
PPP solution from only primary receiver observables that POSPac MMS uses in the
loosely coupled processing mode.
Primary GNSS Nav Select to reprocess the real‐time GNSS solution. Real‐time GNSS data is available from
all POS products and are processed in the loosely coupled processing mode.

GNSS-Inertial Description
processing mode
Primary OmniSTAR Select to reprocess the real‐time primary OmniSTAR VBS/HP/XP/G2 solution in loosely
coupled mode. Only available when using the Trimble BD960 GNSS receiver with
integrated OmniSTAR corrections enabled.
Auxiliary GNSS Nav If an auxiliary GNSS receiver is used during the mission, the collected GNSS data is
processed and combined with the inertial data in a loosely coupled way to compute a
smoothed trajectory solution.
To run the GNSS‐Inertial engine to compute an SBET, do the following:

1. Click the GNSS‐Inertial Processor icon on the toolbar. This launches the command pane for
the GNSS‐Inertial processor.
2. Select the required processing mode from the list.
3. To access the processing parameters, click the Properties icon (also accessible through the
Project Settings dialog).
4. Once all the settings are verified, click the multi‐pass process icon to run the GNSS‐Inertial
processor.
Note – The Message Log in the command pane indicates any errors that occur during the processing:
5. Open the Display Plots icon . For the respective X, Y, and Z components, select
Reference‐Primary GNSS Lever Arm (m) from the Calibrated Installation Parameters.
6. If the lever arms plotted values are not correctly converging, then extract the last values from
each of the lever arm plots.
7. Insert these values (Project Settings / GNSS‐Inertial Processor, Lever Arms and Mounting Angles)
as new start values and run the GNSS‐Inertial Processor again. The lever arms should now
converge; if they do not, return to Step 5.
8. Use the Validation procedure to validate the results.

Display and reporting tools

Plotting utility
To view the plots associated with real‐time, forward processing, or smoothed processing, select
Reports / Display or click the Display icon on the toolbar. The following screen appears:
Use this utility to view a number of plots displaying the performance metrics of the navigation
solution.
Tip – To see several plots in one graph press the control key, mark the plots, right‐click and
then select the display.
Reports
Select Reports / Message Logs to open the Message Log screen. You can access all reports from the
list.
Validation procedure
Always review the Smoothed Best Estimate of Trajectory (SBET) solution after running the GNSS‐
Inertial Processor to ensure a high‐quality solution. See Solution Quality Assessment.

C H A P T E R
5
POSPac MMS Graphical User
Interface
In this chapter:
 Main viewer (Plan View) This section provides a description of the
features and functions available in the Position
 Toolbars
and Orientation System Post-processing
 Command and Properties Panes Package Mobile Mapping Suite (POSPac MMS)
 Status bar Main User Interface, with brief instructions on
their access and use.
Number Area
1 Status bar and Flags pane
2 Command/Properties Pane
3 Project Explorer
4 Toolbar and Menu bar
5 Main Viewer

Main viewer (Plan View)
After you have created or opened a project, the first dialog that appears is the Plan View. This is
a graphical representation of information that shows the location of the base stations, real‐time
trajectory, post-processed trajectory, events, photo ID numbers, and so on:
Tip – From within the Plan View, you can view epoch time information and set processing
start/end times graphically. To do this, right‐click the Mission 1, POS / Real‐time item from
within the Project Explorer, choosing the View Epoch option and then click the required
point from within the Plan View.

Toolbars
POSPac MMS 8.0 uses re-designed POSPac menus and toolbars for a more streamlined work
flow. The idea is that the standard workflow can be found under the Project tab and additional
tools and utilities can be found under the Tools tab.
The ribbon toolbar has eight tabs:

• File
• Project
• Edit
• View
• Reports
• Tools
• Window
• Help
To customize the ribbon toolbar, right‐click it and then select Customize Ribbon. In addition,
users can right-click the ribbon toolbar and select Customize the Quick Access Toolbar to
customize the quick access toolbar found in the top left of the window.

Project tab
Group Click … To …
Project Start a new project with a default template.
Any open project closes, and a new unnamed project opens. Project
configuration files preserve data processing parameters along with user
New Default
defined preferences and provide instant access to related data from a
Project
single source.
Start a new project based either on the default template or a template
you select.
New Project
Open an existing project.
Open Project
Import Open the Import pane on the right side of the project dialog. If the raw
data file is selected in the import pane the extract utility automatically
opens, separates and identifies real time navigation. During import, a
Import post‐extraction data continuity check is performed on the raw sensor
data logged by the POS system.
SmartBase Open the find base station search and download dialog that contains the
search coordinate database, download data and import utilities.
Find Base Stations
Start the quality check. See also Processing Modes.
SmartBase Quality
Check
Launch ASB processing. See also Processing Modes.
Applanix
SmartBase (ASB)
PP-RTX Launch PP-RTX processing. See also Processing Modes.
Trimble PP-RTX
MultiSingleBase Launch PP-RTX processing. See also Processing Modes.
Create
MultiSingleBase
Station
GNSS-Inertial Open the GNSS‐Inertial Processor pane to enable post-processing of IMU
and aiding sensor data. See also GNSS-Aided Inertial Navigation.

GNSS-Inertial
Processor
Project Settings
Opens the Project Settings dialog to set the parameters of the project.
See Creating a new project.
Project Settings
Batch
Open the batch manager window to setup and configure the batch
processing settings. See also Batch Processing.
Batch Manager
Project
Opens the Project Publisher pane to generate a zipped file that
Publisher
contains all the necessary files generated from processing as well as
Project Publisher the log files for QC. See also Publishing Module.
Edit tab
Undo/Redo Undo an action.
Undo
Redo an action.
Redo
Points Merge one or more points (for example, points with the same point ID)
into a single point.
Merge Points
Layer Options Create and delete layers, purge empty layers, select the objects that
reside on layers, and edit layer properties.
Layer Options
Properties View and edit properties for the currently selected objects.
Properties

View tab
Graphic Views Create a new Plan View of the current project; multiple plan views may
be open.
Plan View
Create a new 3D View of the current project.
3D View
Create a new Point Spreadsheet for base stations in the current project.
Points
Opens the default browser displaying GNSS reference stations on a map.
GNSS Reference
Stations
Panes Opens the Project Explorer pane and displays the data in tree structure.
Project Explorer
Display the Flags Pane. Items that are flagged have associated messages
or errors. If the flag does not appear, no errors have been noted.
Flags Pane
Open the View Filter Manager to create, copy, rename, or delete a view
filter. For a description on how to use the View Filter Manager, see 57.
Manager
The Command pane displays most (but not all) commands.
Command Pane
Zoom Display the whole project layout on the main view.
Zoom Extents
Enlarge the Plan View to show more detail.
Zoom In

Shrink the Plan View to provide less detail.
Zoom Out
Enlarge a selected area in Plan View.
Zoom
Reposition the center of focus in Plan View.
Pan
Reposition a 2D view by entering exact “to” and “from” coordinates.
Pan Precise
Position a selected point in the center of the Plan View.
Center
Events Toggle the Event 1-6 labels on/off.
Event 1-6
Toggle the Photo ID label on/off.
Note – To view the Photo ID, you must specify the location of the photo
Photo ID ID file in the Project Settings, Camera. Refer to PUBS‐MAN‐001728
POSPac MMS Photogrammetry Tools User Guide, Section 1.0.
Toggle Hide or display the gridlines in 2D views.
Toggle Gridlines
View values (such as northing, easting, latitude, longitude, elevation, and
offset) based on the position of the cursor in a graphic view. The values
shown depends on the type of view for the cursor is in.
Coordinate Scroll
Reports tab
Reports Displays the message logs for various stages of a processed dataset.
Message Logs

Plot and tabulate the imported real‐time data and post-processed data.
Display Plots
Generate a summary report of user’s processed data in PDF format.
QC Report
Shows a drop down list of various reporting options.
Reports
Tools tab
Export Open the Export command pane on the right side of the project dialog
and export data in various formats.
Export
Photogrammetry Launch the Exterior Orientation (EO) processor that generates EO
parameters at the camera photo centers.
Refer to PUBS‐MAN‐001728, POSPac MMS Photogrammetry Tools
Exterior
User Guide.
Orientation
Processor
Launch the Camera Calibration and Quality Control (CalQC) utility
for calibration of the IMU to camera boresight and calibration.
Refer to PUBS‐MAN‐001728, POSPac MMS Photogrammetry Tools
Camera
User Guide.
Calibration and
QC
LiDAR Generate a point cloud solution.
Refer to PUBS‐MAN‐001830, POSPac MMS LiDAR Tools User Guide.
Point Cloud
Generator
SAR Launch Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) processing. This icon
launches the Smoothed/Free Inertial Navigation module that
computes the navigation solution for SAR motion compensation.
Smoothed Free
SFIN produces the smoothest or quietest navigation solution
Inertial Processor
possible during the SAR aperture windows that are free from
residual reset and GNSS errors.
Refer to PUBS‐MAN‐002901, POSPac MMS SAR Tools User Guide.

POSTrack Launch the Track'Air snapBASE module.
The snapBASE module is a management tool that is used to check and
keep track of the status and snapBASE progress of an aerial
Snap Base
photography project.
Launch the Track'Air snapPLOT module.
The snapPLOT module is a click‐and‐point utility for the rapid
preparation of standard aerial survey documents.
Snap Plot
Launch the Track'Air snapLIM module.
The snapLIM module is a digitizing utility specially designed for aerial
survey planning with the TRACKER system.
Snap Lim
Launch the Track'Air snapVIEW module.
Snap View
Launch the Track'Air snapPLAN module.
The snapPLAN module carries out all planning in the same way a
navigator would manually create his snapPLAN flight plan on a map.
Snap Plan
Launch the Track'Air snapXYZ module.
The snapXYZ module is a digitizing utility that is used when a list of the
coordinates of the areas or photo lines already exist or is easy to
Snap XYZ
prepare.
Conversion Opens the tool required to create Geoids in the POSPac MMS Applanix
.dat format. See also PUBS‐MAN‐ 002483 POSPac MMS Software Geoid
Converter User Guide.
Geoid Converter
Opens the tool required to convert Grid Correction ASCII files to binary
.dat format.
Grid Correction
Converter
Initiates build‐a‐tool to convert binary files from Trimble format (.dat,
.t01, or .to2) to RINEX format.
Convert to RINEX
GNSS Planning Enables you to plan and schedule a GPS project based on good and bad
satellite coverage information.
Planning
SmartBase Cloud Opens a link in a browser to Applanix SmartBase Cloud processing.
Applanix
SmartBase Cloud
Options Modifies the display preferences and the default folder locations of the
software.
Options

Window tab
Windows Display all existing views in two or more windows, divided horizontally.
New Horizontal
Tab Group
Display all existing views in two or more windows, divided vertically.
New Vertical Tab

Group
Undock views and various panes from their default locations, allowing
them to be repositioned.
Float View
Move a tab from one group of tabs to the previous group of tabs.
Move to Previous
Tab Group
Move a tab from one group of tabs to the next group of tabs.
Move to Next Tab

Group
Help tab
Customize Specify a keyboard shortcut to any command.
Define Command
Shortcuts

License Launches the POSPac Software License Utility containing software key
information.
Software License
Utility
Launches the POSPac Security Key Upgrade Utility containing key
information.
Security Key
Upgrade Utility
View the End-User License Agreement (EULA)
End-User License
Agreement
Help View the Start Page, which allows you to launch common commands
and view instructional information
Start Page
Displays the version number, copyright notice, and provides access to an
end‐user license agreement.
About POSPac
MMS
Command and Properties Panes

These panes, displayed on the right‐side of the dialog, interact and have many uses.
• The Command pane displays most (but not all) commands.
• The Properties pane shows the properties associated with the currently selected command
and permits editing of the associated values.
Command pane
Certain commands, for example GNSS‐Inertial, launch command panes to allow you to configure
settings prior to running the processor.
Properties pane
Displays the object‐related data of the item that is currently selected in the Plan view (mark and
right‐click) or in the Project Explorer (double‐click).
To display the Properties pane, do one of the following:
• Select Edit / Properties.
• Open the Project Explorer and double‐click an object.
A list of properties for the command appears. To view the properties of other commands in the
Properties pane, double‐click the object in any view or pane (Plan View, Points Spreadsheet,
Project Explorer, or Flag Pane).

Status bar
Displays the status information for the current project:
Click … To …
Toggle background color.
Open the Snap Mode dialog.
Display the distance unit used by the project. Double‐click this button to change the
distance unit—by default, the unit is in meters.
Display the format of the GPS time used in the project (for display purposes only). Choices
are: GPS, UTC, and GPS Week and Seconds.
Open the Flags Pane. The flagged points are listed with associated messages or errors.
Display the number of objects that are currently selected.
Coordinate position of cursor. When the cursor is in the Plan View mode, the number
displayed is the true Northing and Easting:
When the check box is selected, a floating pane appears that displays the current location
of the cursor.

File menu
The File menu includes the following commands:

• Save—save a project.
• Save Project As—opens the Save As dialog to rename and/or save the project in a different
folder.
• Save Project As Template—opens the Save Project As Template dialog to save a project as a
template. All project settings and data is saved in the new template file and the new template
name is added to the list. Before saving a project as template, remove all unnecessary project
data.
• Open Project—open an existing project.
• Close—closes the current project. If the project is modified without saving, the Save Changes
dialog appears, so you can save the project before closing it.
• Archive Project—saves a project (.pospac) file and compresses all its associated files (not
including the logged POS data) in a ZIP file format of the same name. You must close the
project before you can archive it.
• Info—displays the information on the current project.
• Recent—displays the recent projects and recent project locations.
• New— opens a New Project dialog to select an existing template.
• Print—displays the Print dialog to print the active view. You can also select the printer, page
range, and number of copies to print.
• Reports—shows a drop list of various reporting options.
• Help—shows various help items including Release Notes, End-user license agreement, POSPac
version, etc.
• Options—launches the Options window.
• Tools—displays the various tools and utilities.
• Exit—closes and saves the project, and then closes the POSPac MMS software.
Edit menu
The Edit menu includes the following commands:
• Undo Project Settings—undo the most‐recently performed action that affects the project
database. Commands that do not affect the database, such as opening a file or zoom actions,
cannot be undone. Actions can be undone one at a time.
• Redo—redo the most‐recently performed action that affects the project database. Commands
that do not affect the database, such as opening a file or zoom actions, cannot be redone.
Actions can be redone one at a time.
• Merge Points—the built‐in base station download feature downloads base station files in
RINEX format from public base station servers according to the coordinates and the name in
the Applanix base station database. Sometimes, however, the name or the coordinates in the
downloaded RINEX file differ from the name in the base station database. Consequently, two
different points are imported into the project. With the Merge Points option, these points can
be merged into one point. In the figure below, the point 18522640 will be merged into GARF
(that is, GARF is dominant):
To add an item to the selection, click Options and then select

one of the following:
– Select All—selects all visible data in the Plan View,
Points Spreadsheet, View Filter, and the Spreadsheet
filters. Only the points are listed.
– Invert Selection—inverts the current selection. If
nothing is selected, the last items created are selected
by default.
– Select by Layer —selects all the objects in a layer. (There
are five layers: 0, imagery, points, post-processed, and
real‐time.)
– Select Duplicate Points—selects all the duplicate points
in a project.
– Select Points—provides a dialog to select specific types of points.
– Advanced Select—provides a dialog for a specific selection on all the data on the current
selection, on all, or on specific data types.
• Layer Options—this command allows the color and line style properties for a layer to be
edited. To turn the visibility of a layer in the Plan View on or off, use the View Filter Manager
command .
• Properties—displays the properties for the current selected object. To view the properties of
another object in the Properties pane, double‐click the object within any view or pane (Plan
View, Point Spreadsheet, Project Explorer, Flag pane). If the Properties pane is already
displayed, selecting any object displays its properties.
View Filter Manager
Enables you to create, rename, copy, edit, and delete view filters:
To create a new filter:

1. By default, a new filter profile will be created called
My Filter.
2. Check or uncheck the various types of data under
Raw Data, Flag, and Layers. The Plan View will change
accordingly.
To create a copy of a filter that you can modify to

create a new filter with similar settings:
1. Select the filter you want to copy or use as the
basis for a new filter.
2. Click Copy View Filter . You may enter a new
name for this filter.
3. Change the filter settings as required.
To rename a filter:
1. Select the filter you want to rename.
2. Click Rename View Filter and then enter the
new name in the selected field.
3. Click OK to save the change.
To delete a filter:
1. Select the filter you want to delete.
2. Click Delete the current filter .
POSPac contains several predefined filters for the post-processed and real‐time trajectories.
This includes color coding by trajectory, position RMS, roll magnitude, processing mode, and
L/C processing mode. To enable this option, select the Trajectory tab.

C H A P T E R
6
Project Setup
In this chapter:
 Creating a new project Data importing and processing involves a
number of steps that source and create
 Saving a modified or renamed project
numerous files. The software provides
 Opening a saved project or reopening the features to help organize files, streamline
most recent project processing operations, and avoid confusion.
 Correlate project information Use the application management features to
create project configuration files for
reference. Project configuration files
preserve data processing parameters along
with user‐defined preferences and provide
instant access to related data from a single
source.
Creating a new project

To create a new project, click the New Default Project icon on the toolbar or select File / New
Project.
Selecting a template for the project

If you previously selected the New Default Project icon, the default template (usually a blank
template) is loaded in the new project.
If you previously select File / New Project, you can choose a template for the project in the New
Project dialog and then click OK to select it.
In the New Project dialog, you can also set a different template, other than the blank template,
as default. A Plan View screen opens after a template is selected.
Note – Creating a new project closes all open projects.

6 – Project Setup
Saving the project configuration file

All POSPac MMS project files are saved with a .pospac extension. The Save Project option
creates a sub‐folder with your project name and automatically creates a sub‐folder called
Mission 1 under the project folder. All extracted, imported base station files, and processed data
is saved under the Mission 1 sub‐folder. POSPac MMS supports the creation of one Mission
folder under each project only. The ability to create multiple missions under one project will be
available in future releases.
To create a project configuration file, click the Save icon on the tool bar or select File / Save
Project As:
Figure 6.1 Save As dialog
Select the directory where the project configuration file (.pospac) is located by selecting the
Project folder in the Save As screen. In this example, the project file is “california.pospac”.
Before continuing processing, you must save the project to the required location. The POSPac
MMS engine does not always close all files which may cause sharing violations when you try to
save the project or rerun any other software functions.
Note – If you did not save the project, all project files are stored by default as unnamed in the
\POSPac MMS\ folder under My Documents. To change the default location where these files are
saved, select Tools / Options / General / File Locations.

6 – Project Setup
Saving a modified or renamed project

Saving a modified project
Click the Save Project icon on the tool bar or select File / Save Project.
Saving a renamed project

1. Select File / Save Project As. The Save As dialog opens.
2. Select the folder, enter a File name and then click Save.
The project is saved with a new name. A new mission folder is automatically created with the
new name under the same folder directory and contains all the files and folders copied from the
previous project.
Saving a project as a template

1. Select File / Save Project as a Template. The Save Project As Template dialog appears:
2. Enter a name for the template and then click OK. All project settings and data are saved in
the new template file and the new template name is added to the list.
Note – Before saving a project as a template, remove all the imported POS data files from
Project Explorer / Imported Files.

6 – Project Setup
Opening a saved project or reopening the

most recent project
Opening a saved project
1. Select File / Open Project. The Open File screen opens.
2. Select the required project configuration file and then click Open.
3. If there is any change in the current open project, the Save Changes dialog appears and
prompts you to save the project before closing.

6 – Project Setup
Reopening the most recent project

To open the project, from the File menu, select the required project configuration file:

6 – Project Setup
Correlate project information

Project Settings
Project Settings enables you to set the parameters for the project. Applanix recommends that
you create one (or several) template(s) with the settings you commonly use for processing:
1. To open the Project Settings screen, select Project / Project Settings.

2. Select any one of the fields in the General Information pane to view and/or edit the options.
If you select any other folder (on the left side of the screen) it displays changeable
information in the General Information pane.
3. Click OK to save and close the screen.
The following provides brief descriptions of the Project Setting folders (left side of the screen).
You can modify (add/edit) the following settings in any field that is not greyed‐out.

6 – Project Setup
Area Description
General Displays details about:
Information • Project file properties, including file creation and modification dates,
reference number and description of the project.
• Company information (name, address, and so on).
• User information (office and field operator names).
Units Displays the unit formats used for coordinate, distance, velocity, angle, GPS
time, and station. The user can enter units in any of the valid display formats in
the format settings. These are converted to the display format for the unit.
If the project units are set to one type, such as international foot, the user can
still enter other types of units by including a character for the type. For example,
enter 3m to specify 3 meters. The unit entered is converted to the project units.
Note – If you change the units of the project, the project is recomputed when you click
OK. It is also recommended that you exit the Project Settings command at once after
changing units, before you change other project settings.
View Displays options that affect the display of Plan View, Points spreadsheet and
Vector spreadsheet. In this section, you can:
• Select the horizontal and vertical alignment entry modes.
• Control graphic view display characteristics such as plot scales,
gridlines and annotations.
• Add and remove columns for different data types in the point and
vector spreadsheets.
Satellite Selection Enables you to select which satellites to disable, to set the satellite elevation
mask angle, or use only GPS satellites for processing.
Note – The default values of the elevation mask for POS AV data is 10 degrees
and for POS MV data it is 7.5 degrees.
GNSS-Inertial Display options that affect the inertial navigation solution including initialization,
Processor lever arms, and mounting angles.
Export Displays output format options and selection of height format, mapping frame,
output rate and units, as well as lever arm offsets and mounting angles.
Camera Displays all the information of the camera including type, exterior orientation
parameters, lever arms, and boresight angles.
Refer also to PUBS‐MAN‐001728, POSPac MMS Photogrammetry Tools User Guide.
LiDAR Displays and enables you to edit LiDAR type parameters.
Refer also to PUBS‐MAN‐001830, POSPac MMS LiDAR Tools User Guide.
SAR Displays and enables you to edit SAR type parameters.
Refer also to PUBS‐MAN‐002901, POSPac MMS SAR Tools User Guide.

6 – Project Setup
Project Options
This section describes the various project settings in the Options dialog for Startup and Display,
File Locations, Internet Download, Reference Stations, Import Options, External Application, and Update
Options.
Options are part of Tools menu (select Tools | Options), and include the following commands:
Area Description
Startup and Display Displays and enables you to select which information and layout POSPac displays on
startup.
Project Displays and enables you to set project paths and management options.
Management
File Locations Displays and enables you to set the location of the following folders: Project
Management, Export, Download and Import, and Templates.
Context Menu Enables you to set the number of recent commands displayed.
Reference Stations Displays and enables you to specify the location of the User Base Station Database
enabling many users to access the same common Database. Please see below a
detailed description of this feature.
Update Options Displays and enables you to download POSPac updates and update PP-RTX
connection data.
Import and Process Displays and enables you to load recorded events and how many of them will be
displayed; enables you to use real-time Reference to Primary GNSS lever arm
standard deviation for APX products.
External Application Displays and enables you to set installation folder for Track Air software.
GNSS Data Services Displays and enables GNSS data services access with username and password
entries.
Internet Download Displays and enables you to select several options, when Internet files
download is required:
• Parameters ‐ show or hide Download Parameters dialog.
• Self‐Extractors ‐ allow .EXE files to extract automatically, if possible (only
use for trusted web sites).
• Proxy ‐ select between Windows Proxy and IE Proxy.
Reference Stations
User Base Station for Multiple Users

POSPac has the option to specify the location of the User Base Station Database enabling many
users to access the same common Database. The option is located under: Tools / Options /
Reference Stations.

6 – Project Setup
Local Search for Reference Station Data

POSPac implements a New Reference Station option which optimizes the access to Internet
downloads by archiving the reference station observation files locally.

6 – Project Setup
User needs to specify a location either locally or on a server where all Reference station data will
be saved when running Find Base Station. With this option enabled, POSPac will search through
this location before attempting to download reference station files from Internet. The option
applies to GNSS observation, Ephemeris and parameter files needed for IN‐Fusion SmartBase
and IN‐Fusion PPP processing.
The option provides as well statistics on the Archive folder and disk space to help the user with
the maintenance of the Archive.
The option is located under: Tools / Options / Reference Stations.

C H A P T E R
7
Create a Pre-Mission Project
In this chapter:
 Using Track'Air flight plan A pre‐mission project consists of a POSPac MMS
 Creating a new project based on project with no POS data files imported. You
approximate coordinates can search for reference stations, and
download, import, and run a SmartBase Quality
Check to get an idea of the network of
reference stations available in the area of the
survey.
Using Track'Air flight plan

Run snap modules (See POSTrack) to create or edit an existing flight plan. Saving or exporting to DXF
format in Track'Air software automatically loads the flight plan when exiting the snap module:
Notes –
• Requires POSTrac XTrack version 2.30 or later to run.
• Register Track'Air software in POSPac MMS before use.
• Launch Track'Air modules from the POSPac MMS toolbar.
7 – Creating a Pre-Mission Project
• Only DXF files created by Track'Air software can be imported.

• To open an existing flight plan, select File / Export to DXF and close snapPlan before it is
automatically imported into POSPac.
• When creating or modifying an existing flight plan, save the file and close SnapPlan to
automatically import it into snapPlan.
• POSPac automatically attempts to download Reference Station data from three days prior to the
current date.
• When processing the actual mission data after the mission is conducted, Applanix strongly
recommends that you create a new project.
Operating steps
1. Create a new project (File / New Project).
2. Run Track'Air to generate or edit an existing flight plan.
3. Once the flight plan is imported to the project; import base station data (Project / Find Base
Stations) and then download or import an existing client base station (Project / Import).
4. Run Applanix SmartBase Quality Check.

7 – Creating a Pre-Mission Project
Creating a new project based on

approximate coordinates
You can create a new project based on an approximate location of the area to be surveyed.
1. Create a new project (File / New Project).
2. Run the Find Base Station command (Project / Find Base Stations).
3. Edit Search Options and enter approximate coordinates:
4. Download and import base station data or import existing client base station (Project / Import).
5. Run Applanix SmartBase quality check.
The Applanix SmartBase Quality Check results indicate which reference stations are the best to use.

C H A P T E R
8
Import Raw Data into a
Project
In this chapter:
 Import command Use the import command (Import Data) to
import Raw Data into your project (Base Station,
 Extracting POS data
Ephemeris and Position, and Orientation System
 Rover Antenna Usage [POS] data).
Import command
The following raw data formats and files are supported:
• POS (.001)
• Trimble (.dat, .t01, .t02, .t04)
• RINEX observations
• Compressed RINEX observations
• Ephemeris data
Once a project has been loaded or a new project is created, the
Import command is enabled. To start the import, select Project /
Import.
The Import command opens the command pane, which displays
the Import dialog. After browsing for a folder in the Import
Command pane, the files are analyzed and assigned file types. If a
file type is wrongly detected, you can try to select another file
type by right‐clicking on the file. If a file is not supported by the
software, it is identified as “unknown” and cannot be imported
into your project.
Additional import settings include:

• Differential Corrections Datum—enables you to specify if your
differential corrections datum is something other than the
default WGS‐84 (for example, NAD83 for external OmniSTAR
VBS logged with the Ag132/332 receiver in North America).
8 – Import Raw Data into a Project
You must specify this setting prior to importing the POS data.
• Extraction Time Span—enables you to specify the extraction of a specific time period, instead of
the entire data set. Time is specified in Seconds of the Start Week. The default is to use the
entire time interval.
Extracting POS data

When importing POS data into your project, IMU, GNSS, and additional aiding sensor data from the
POS Logged data to be used for GNSS‐Inertial processing is extracted automatically.
Note – When importing POS data, you only need to select the first file (for example, *.001). The
software automatically imports and extracts the entire data set.
The Extract dialog shows the files that are being extracted (first and last), the extracted path and
kernel name, and shows the real‐time position mode and accuracy.
Note – To change the Kernel name, use the POSPac Project Explorer dialog, right‐click Mission 1,
select the properties and then change the name.
After extraction the IMU, GNSS, and other sensor data is automatically checked for errors (primarily
data gaps). For a complete series of POS import message logs select Reports / Message Logs.
Note – Applanix recommends that you check these message logs for any errors immediately after
importing POS data and before proceeding with the next processing steps.
Immediately following the data error check, you may be prompted to download ephemeris data.
This occurs when rover ephemeris file does not contain all the information required for optimal
processing, such as ephemeris data gaps or ionospheric model parameters.
Prior to downloading the broadcast ephemeris files, the software verifies from which GNSS service
the files are available for download:
Note – Applanix recommends that you accept downloading the broadcast ephemeris files.
Rover Antenna Usage

POSPac MMS 7.2 and later has improved the navigation solutions of DGNSS processing by using the
rover and base antenna calibration parameters. Users are encouraged to select the appropriate
antenna model during real time logging so that POSPac can automatically detect the antenna type
8 – Import Raw Data into a Project
during rover data extraction. The base antenna type is usually logged in the base data or RINEX file
and is automatically detected during base data import. By following this process, POSPac will make
use of the error correction models to improve the accuracy of the DGNSS solution.
Rover antenna type logged in real time

For rover data that already has the antenna type logged, POSPac will automatically detect this and
users can proceed with their processing as before. Similarly, in batch processing, no additional work
is needed as POSPac will automatically use the logged rover antenna type upon extraction.
Rover antenna type logged not in real time

For rover data that does not contain the antenna information, POSPac will automatically detect this
and provide the user with the option of changing the antenna type to a known one. This is
particularly useful if the user can find out which antenna was used during data logging. If the user
does not know which antenna type was used, a default type will be assigned automatically.
However, the solution will be slightly degraded compared to the known antenna case.
In the case that the rover antenna type is known, the user can select the Manufacturer from either
Applanix or Other and then select the Type through the drop down menus. This Rover Antenna
Specification dialog can be access at any time by right clicking POS in the Project Explorer.

C H A P T E R
9
Processing Techniques
In this chapter:
 Aided inertial navigation Applanix IN-Fusion PP-RTX is a new processing
method that uses Trimble® CenterPoint™ RTX
 Applanix IN‐Fusion technology in
technology. The precise data generated from
POSPac MMS
this technology can then be transmitted to
 Applanix IN‐Fusion processing modes POSPac and used for post-processed RTX-
 Other processing modes aided inertial processing. This implementation
allows for cm level positioning for mobile
The GNSS‐Aided Inertial Processing Tools mapping without reference stations.
supplied with the POSPac MMS software offer
many different post-processing modes to The IN‐Fusion technology also includes
combine GNSS and inertial data to generate a Inertially Aided Precise Point Positioning
final flight trajectory solution. This chapter (IAPPP), providing reliable decimeter‐level
describes each mode and the settings in more position accuracy without a base receiver.
detail. For a quick overview of the processing IN‐Fusion PPP enables you to obtain
modes, see Processing Modes. high‐accuracy solutions in survey mission in
The Applanix SmartBase module and the tightly areas where it is difficult or impossible to
integrated Applanix IN‐Fusion technology are install a base receiver, such as remote areas or
new in POSPac MMS. The Applanix SmartBase open ocean.
module is a post-processed implementation of
the Virtual Reference Station concept, Traditional differential GPS/GLONASS
optimized for mobile mapping applications. The processing and Precise Point Positioning (PPP)
Applanix IN‐Fusion technology employs are currently supported through POSGNSS and
differential GNSS data processing that uses an the standard loosely‐coupled integration with
Inertially Aided Kinematic Ambiguity Resolution inertial data. Real‐time embedded and auxiliary
(IAKAR) technique that allows a more reliable GNSS solutions are also supported using
approach for solving integer ambiguities than loosely‐coupled GNSS‐inertial integration.
the classical integration approaches. Together,
these new technologies allow you to both
extend the distance from the nearest reference
station to more than double that of the
traditional approach and fly turns with greater
than 20 degree bank angles, all while retaining
a high accuracy solution (3–10 cm RMS).

9 – Processing Techniques
The following table provides a quick overview of the six processing solutions. Each processing mode
is described in detail in the following sections.
Tightly Couple Processing

IN‐Fusion SmartBase IN‐Fusion Multi‐Single IN‐Fusion Single Base IN‐Fusion PPP IN-Fusion
Base PP-RTX
Optimal Accuracy
Optimal Accuracy
(Short Baseline)
(Long Baseline)
Short Baseline
Short Baseline
Long Baseline
Long Baseline
Satellites GPS, GPS, GPS, GPS, GPS, GPS, GPS GPS,
GLONASS GLONASS GLONASS, GLONASS, GLONASS, GLONASS, GLONASS,
BEIDOU, BEIDOU, BEIDOU, BEIDOU, BEIDOU,
QZSS, QZSS QZSS QZSS QZSS
Positional 2‐10 cm 10‐15 cm 2‐10 cm <10 cm 2‐5 cm <10 cm 10‐50 cm 3‐15 cm
Accuracy
(RMS)
Maximum 70 km 100 km2 30 km 100 km 30 km 100 km N/A N/A

Baseline1
Maximum None, if None, if <30 km 30 km <30 km 30 km N/A N/A
Start and within within
End Baseline network3 network
GNSS Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No

outages OK
(bank angle
> 20 deg)
Minimum 4 (6 4 (6 2 2 1 1 0 0
Number of recommended recommended
Base ) )
Stations
Maximum 50 (10 50 (10 N/A N/A 1 1 0 0

Number of recommended recommended
Base ) )
Stations
Additional Y Y N N N N Y N
Ephemeris Precise and Precise and Precise
Required?
Broadcast Broadcast
1"Baseline" refers to the 3D distance to the nearest base station in the SmartBase processing modes and to the 2D planar
distance to the nearest (or single) base station in all other modes.
2At some point in the mission, the baseline must be less than 70 km for a few minutes.
3Entire mission should be within the SmartBase network.

Loosely Couple Processing

IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav
POSGNSS KAR
POSGNSS PPP
Single Base
SmartBase
PP-RTX
Satellites GPS, GPS, GPS, GPS, GPS
GLONASS GLONASS, GLONASS, GLONASS
BEIDOU, BEIDOU,
QZSS QZSS
Positional 2‐10 cm 2‐15 cm 3-15cm <10 cm 10 ‐ 50 cm
Accuracy
(RMS)
Maximum 50 km 30 km None 30 km None
Baseline
Maximum None, if
Start and within
End network
Baseline
GNSS No No No No No
outages OK
(bank angle
> 20 deg)
Minimum 4 (6 1 0 1 0
Number of recommend
Base ed)
Stations
Maximum 50 (10 1 0 8 0
Number of recommend
Base ed)
Stations
Additional Y Y N N Y
Ephemeris Precise and Precise and Precise
Required? Broadcast Broadcast

Aided inertial navigation

In POSPac, the GNSS receiver computes its own independent position and velocity solution using a
navigation filter that processes the “observables” (pseudorange and carrier phase measurements)
from each tracked satellite. The position and velocity from the GNSS solution are then used as
measurements in the aided‐INS Kalman filter. Such a method is often referred to as a “loosely
coupled” architecture.
However, retrieving a blended position and orientation solution based on the GNSS receiver's own
position solution also has some limitations.
If the GNSS solution is degraded or disrupted, the GNSS‐Aided INS solution will still be generated,
but the position accuracy will degrade over time until the GNSS solution re‐converges. For example,
if only three satellites are visible to the GNSS receiver, then the receiver cannot compute a
navigation solution and the aided‐INS Kalman filter receives no aiding data from the GNSS receiver.
This is despite the fact that the receiver continues to track and output pseudoranges and carrier
phases for these satellites.
The roving receiver has to resolve carrier phase ambiguities to achieve position errors on the order
of 1‐10 centimeters. The ambiguity resolution process typically lasts 30 to 120 seconds, depending
on the number of visible satellites and the geometric distribution of these satellites. This is
acceptable provided the subsequent carrier phase measurements are continuous. GNSS signal
blockages and corruptions cause phase discontinuities that require the receiver to repeat the
ambiguity resolution process.
The robustness of the position solution of a standard loosely coupled GNSS Aided INS is hence
limited to the robustness of the GNSS solution. This means that special restrictions are imposed
upon the operational environment to obtain the highest level of positional accuracy. These include
minimizing the time of signal blockage and (airborne applications only) flying shallow turns (that is,
less than a 20 degree bank angle) so that the GNSS receiver experiences fewer carrier phase
outages.
Applanix IN‐Fusion technology in POSPac

MMS
The Applanix IN‐Fusion technology reflects a new approach to aided inertial navigation. It employs a
deeper level of sensor integration and error modelling, significantly reducing or eliminating the
limitations associated with the standard aided INS approach. The net result is a more accurate and
robust solution for the highest level of productivity in mobile mapping and positioning.
In this new “tightly coupled” integration approach, a single Kalman filter is used to estimate both
the inertial errors and the GNSS floated ambiguities (see 78), and then an Inertially‐Aided Kinematic
Ambiguity Resolution (IAKAR) algorithm is used to fix the ambiguities as integers to obtain
centimeter level positioning.
When loss of GNSS signals occurs due to full or partial obstruction of the sky, IAKAR (implemented
in Applanix IN‐Fusion technology) has continual access to all GNSS aiding information even if the
GNSS receiver is tracking only one satellite and outputs only one set of observables. IAKAR relies on
the centimeter‐level position accuracy that is preserved following a GNSS outage to restart carrier
phase ambiguity estimation and resolution at a much higher level of accuracy than a GNSS receiver
is capable of with standard KAR. During the outage, the inertial position accuracy is maintained with
a drift rate on the order of a centimeter per second.

Consequently, the ambiguity search space converges immediately to a small volume at the end of
the outage and rapid ambiguity resolution can occur. Depending on the quality of the inertial
sensors and the duration of the outage, IAKAR is capable of re-establishing full KAR accuracy at the
1‐2 centimeter‐level, within a few seconds of the end of a GNSS outage. The result is a position
solution that is continuously accurate in spite of frequent interruptions of phase continuity that
would defeat a stand‐alone GNSS receiver.
In POSPac MMS, IAKAR data is run both forward and backward in time, allowing for even greater
robustness in re‐establishing the correct ambiguities quickly after phase disruptions.
In summary, applying IAKAR enables you to extend the duration over which optimal positional
accuracy can be obtained during signal blockage and to immediately resolve the correct ambiguities
after signal recovery. Neither of these is possible with traditional GNSS‐INS integration approaches.
The right side of 78 is a schematic overview of the Applanix IN‐Fusion architecture. A key
differentiator between IN‐Fusion and the traditional aided‐INS architecture shown on the left is the
single centralized integration Kalman filter that processes the raw pseudorange and carrier phase
observables directly from the GNSS receiver, by‐passing the receiver's navigation filter. Here,
inertial data is used to help resolve the initial ambiguities and maintain “memory” of the
ambiguities during periods of GNSS signal disruption.
Figure 9.1 Loosely‐coupled aided inertial architecture (Left) and Applanix IN‐Fusion GNSS‐aided inertial architecture
(Right)

Applanix IN‐Fusion processing modes

The Applanix IN‐Fusion GNSS processing modes in the POSPac MMS software are Applanix
SmartBase, Single Baseline, PPP, Autonomous, GNSS Nav Single Base, and GNSS Nav SmartBase.
Applanix SmartBase software

The Applanix SmartBase module allows high accuracy (3 ‐ 10 cm RMS), robust integer differential
Kinematic Ambiguity Resolution (KAR) GNSS processing at distances from the nearest reference of
more than double those of the traditional approach. The distance to the nearest reference station
can be as high as 70 km versus less than 30 km for equivalent accuracy.
For less accurate requirements, (10 ‐ 15 cm RMS), the distance to the nearest reference station can
be extended longer than 70 km, as long as at some point in the mission the mobile mapping vehicle
is less than 70 km from the nearest base station for a few minutes and, in airborne applications, the
aircraft flies flat turns.
The concept is illustrated in 79. The green area represents the zone in which the atmospheric and
other errors have been estimated to a level such that the ppm effects always remain equivalent to
that of a short base‐line (that is, less than 20 km) using the traditional approach. This is despite the
fact that the reference stations themselves could be separated by 100 km.
Figure 9.2 Applanix SmartBase concept with areas of different accuracy
The homogeneity of the “green” zone within the network of stations is a function of the density of
the network, the accuracy of the reference station coordinates, the quality of the reference station
observables, and the atmospheric activity during the survey.
The post-processed virtual reference station

The efficient use of carrier phase differential GNSS positioning is restricted by different atmospheric
disturbances (ionosphere and troposphere), and satellite clock and orbital inaccuracies that cause
systematic errors in the observations. The further away the rover is from the reference station, the
more these errors are uncorrelated. As a result they cannot be cancelled by computing differences.
In traditional approaches, the distance between the roving receiver and the reference station (the
base line) has to be limited to no more than 20 km to reduce these errors to an acceptable level and
to retrieve the highest accuracy results at the centimeter level.

The Applanix SmartBase addresses this problem and aims to extend the usable range of operation
to baseline separations greater than 30 km by using a network of reference stations and providing a
set of atmospheric corrections. A virtual baseline network model generates the GNSS observation
file in the vicinity of the rover location to perform an ambiguity fix solution. Observables from the
dedicated network of GNSS reference stations are processed to compute the ionospheric,
tropospheric, satellite clock, and orbital errors within the network. They are interpolated to
generate a complete set of GNSS observables for each epoch of the mission as if a reference station
exists at the rover location, throughout the mission.
Recommendations
There are a number of factors that should be considered for Applanix SmartBase processing. They
are shown in an overview in the following table and described in more detail afterwards.
Factor Description
Number of reference stations Minimum 4, optimum 6 to 10, maximum 50.
Inter-station distances Less than 100 km.
Selection of the Primary station Select the station closest to the center of the trajectory. Data from the
Primary Station should have few data gaps and simultaneous unrepaired
cycle slips.
Length of baselines and accuracy Best accuracy can be obtained while flying high bank‐angle turns if the
shortest baseline (the distance from the rover to the closest base
station) is 70 km or less.
Shape of the Applanix Ideally the trajectory should be entirely enclosed by a polygon formed
SmartBase network by the reference stations.
Reference station services CORS stations from governmental agencies, pay‐per‐use services, or
user‐installed base stations.
Download of reference station Data can be downloaded with the POSPac MMS download tool. The
data and supported formats supported format is RINEX.
Availability of public reference The recorded data is usually available for public download within 24
station data hours.
Integration of own reference Possible with the POSPac MMS Import feature.
station data
Datum of reference stations ITRF2000 [epoch of mission].
Required length of data For highly accurate base stations (RMS <5 cm, for example from
pay‐per‐use services or user base stations), gap and cycle slip free data
overlapping the flight time are sufficient (2 hours before + flight time + 5
minutes afterwards).
For base stations with unknown quality, 18 to 24 hours of gap and cycle
slip free data is required in order to run a Quality Check.
Antenna information The antenna height and antenna model are retrieved from the RINEX
file. The antenna phase center to antenna reference point calculation is
automatically determined from the POSPac antenna library.

Number of reference stations (for network creation)

In principle, only three reference stations are needed to generate an Applanix SmartBase solution.
However, to obtain the highest level of accuracy and robustness, a minimum of four stations must
be used. While Applanix SmartBase can currently process up to 50 stations, adding redundant
stations at very long distances from the mission could degrade the results rather than improve
them. No more than 6 to 10 stations are recommended. Moreover, the network of GNSS reference
stations should ideally be evenly distributed around the flight trajectory.
A typical reference station network used in Applanix SmartBase processing is shown below:
Figure 9.3 Example of a network used in Applanix SmartBase
Inter‐station distances
An inter‐station distance of up to 100 km between reference stations is recommended. This keeps
the distance to the nearest reference station to within 70 km throughout the network, which is
required to fly sharp turns. A network with inter‐station distances larger than 100 km can be used,
but the turns must have less than 20‐degree bank angles. The distance between any two stations in
the GNSS station network should not exceed 400 km.
Selection of the primary station

When generating the Applanix SmartBase file for a given rover trajectory, the selected Primary
station should be the station closest to the rover trajectory and with the least number of data gaps
and simultaneous unrepaired cycle slips within the rover period. The Primary station is used to
generate the corrections at the location of the rover. If the Primary station is far away from the
rover trajectory, it is possible that the satellites visible to the Primary station are different from the
satellites visible to the rover. This can mean that there are too few common satellites for
processing. The software may prompt you to change the Primary station if the selected station does

not satisfy this criterion. You can decide whether to continue with the current selection, or opt for
the preferred one. If you do not select a station, the software will automatically choose the best
station, as soon as the Applanix SmartBase processor is activated. If SmartBase is used during batch
processing, POSPac will automatically choose the next best Primary Station and rerun SmartBase
generation when possible if the original chosen Primary Station return VRS low percentage warning
messages.
The Primary station is flagged blue to differentiate it from the other receivers in the Plan View.
Length of baselines and accuracy

There is no limit to the distance that the reference stations can be from the project area. However,
beyond a radial distance of about 200 km, the number of common satellites observed by the
reference stations and the remote receiver becomes too low to be useful in the solution. Hence, as
the reference stations get further away from the mission area, the accuracy of the solution will
degrade.
Tests conducted by Applanix have shown that it is possible to achieve the same accuracy from the
Applanix SmartBase (3 ‐ 10 cm RMS) as when a dedicated reference is used with a base‐line
separation less than 20 km, as long as the maximum distance from the rover to the nearest
reference station in the network is not greater than 70 km and as long as the atmospheric
conditions are the same. Furthermore, when integrated with the IN‐Fusion technology in POSPac
MMS, it is possible to achieve this accuracy while flying turns at greater than 20 degree bank angles.
The 70 km guideline implies a network with a maximum inter‐station distance of 100 km.
Shape of the Applanix SmartBase network

While the Applanix SmartBase supports trajectories flown outside of the network, the rover
trajectory should always be enclosed by the reference station network to achieve the highest
accuracy. This is because the atmospheric residuals and the clock and orbital corrections are
interpolated to the rover position while in the network, and extrapolated while outside the
network.
Reference station services

Three sources of reference station data can be used with Applanix SmartBase processing mode:
permanent Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) made freely available on the Internet
by organizations such as the IGS, USGS and other governmental organizations; permanent pay‐per‐
use real‐time Virtual Reference Station networks that also make the observables available or post-
processing (usually for a fee), and temporary dedicated reference stations set‐up by you.
Download of reference station data and supported formats

The Find Base Station icon searches POSPac's internal database for all base stations that are
within the search radius. All these stations are listed in the download GUI and can be activated or
deactivated for download and import. Once you select the download button, POSPac tries to
download all base station information and the corresponding broadcast and precise ephemeris data
(rapid ephemeris data if precise is not available; ultra rapid if rapid is not available).

Publicly available reference station data (with precise and broadcast ephemeris data) can also be
downloaded from the web using the automatic import feature built‐in the software (select Project /
Internet Download). Other reference data can be imported directly from the file. The supported
data format for Applanix SmartBase is RINEX. For Trimble Base Stations (.dat, .t01, and .t02),
formats can be converted to RINEX using the Convert to RINEX utility (select Tools / Convert to
RINEX). For other GNSS data formats, please contact the GNSS receiver manufacturer (or see their
website) for tools to convert their formats to RINEX. Once the data has been converted to RINEX, it
may be imported into the project and used with Applanix SmartBase.
Availability of reference station data

Unfortunately there is no guarantee that the reference station data from the CORS and IGS
networks will be available during your mission. You must check the availability and integrity of
stations in your survey area as part of correct mission planning. On the other hand, data obtained
from dedicated networks should offer minimal risk, since these are maintained by professional
service providers.
Usually, most reference station data is available within one day.
Integration of user reference station data

You can increase the density of the reference station network or add redundancy, by downloading
your own reference station data from file using the built‐in Import tool (select and browse to the
folder).
You can also download base station and ephemeris data from the Internet using the built‐in Internet
Download tool (select Project / Internet Download).
If there are no reference station networks available in the area you are mapping, you can set up
your own dedicated network of four or more stations, 100 km apart, and then import RINEX files.
This allows using Applanix SmartBase and Applanix IN‐Fusion technology to fly sharp turns and
cover larger areas, before having to re‐deploy your base stations.
Note – Precise coordinates are required for a network of dedicated base stations.
Note – As long as you remain within 20 km from the station you can also set up a single dedicated
base station in the project area and use IN‐Fusion processing to fly sharp turns.
Datum of reference stations
Users can enter the coordinates of the manually imported reference stations in any frame and
POSPac will automatically transform the coordinates to ITRF2000 at the survey epoch. The
coordinates of the reference stations downloaded by POSPac MMS are automatically transformed
to the correct datum and epoch.

Required length of data

To run Applanix SmartBase successfully, it is sufficient to have gap and cycle slip free base station
data for a period of two hours before the mission, during the mission, and five minutes after the
mission, if the base station coordinates have an accuracy of better than 5 cm.
If the quality of the coordinates is unknown, Applanix recommends that you run the Applanix
SmartBase Quality Check to ensure that the base station data is accurate enough for an Applanix
SmartBase solution. The Quality Check requires 18 to 24 hours of continuous data with minimal
cycle slips or data gaps for each GNSS station. 18 hours allows the multipath errors at each antenna
to be averaged out using the satellite motion over 1.5 orbital cycles, so that the coordinates can be
adjusted accurately.
Antenna information
The antenna information is retrieved automatically from the RINEX file header while the base
station file is being imported (the antenna type can be found under the reference "ANT # / TYPE").
Note – For Applanix SmartBase processing, all base station data within the network must
be in RINEX format. Trimble Base Station Files that are not in RINEX format can be
converted with the Convert to RINEX program that comes with POSPac MMS (select Tools
/ Convert to RINEX).
If no antenna information is provided to the processor, the processing is refused. If the antenna
type is unknown, the coordinates of the base station are assumed to refer to the antenna phase
center (APC).
Note – The average position is computed for non‐RINEX formats. Since this is usually not sufficiently
accurate, these coordinates should be replaced with more accurate ones.
User Database
The User Database can be created in POSPac GUI as well as in a text editor. This flexibility allows for
a simple and easy method to generate a User Database. The user base station accuracy information
is taken into consideration when selecting the Control Station in SmartBase QC. This allows the user
to prioritize the user base station over the SmartBase station when selecting the Control Station.
Four levels of accuracy are available to specify by the user.

Creating User Database and User Service File with GUI

To change the base station coordinates, right‐click any base station point in the Project Explorer and
then select Coordinate Manager. Station ID and Coordinates can be entered in Coordinate Manager.
Select Frame tab to enter the Epoch, Ellipsoid, and Coordinate Accuracy.
The description below the Latitude, Longitude and Height (Global) fields indicates where the
coordinates should be referenced. The description changes depending on the Antenna Height,
Method, Type, and Manufacturer. If you are not sure if a coordinate refers to the APC or ARP, set
the Method as Antenna Phase Center and insert the combined height value into the Height (Global)
field (ellipsoidal height + antenna height + offset from ARP to APC).
Note – Often the 3D information is not available for the APC's location. In most cases, the vertical
offset between the ARP and the APC is the most dominant part of the offset. Moreover, whereas a
2D horizontal antenna calibration can be done by you, a 3D antenna calibration is sophisticated and
expensive, requiring special equipment. However, for many antenna types there is an average for
the vertical offset made available by the manufacturer.
Click Edit (beside Primary Service ID or Secondary Service ID) to open the Service Manager window
(See figure below). Enter the appropriate Service ID, Service Site, Username and Password for each
of the services, and click Add or Update to add or update the service database.

Once the base station information has been entered or updated completely, Click Add or Update in
the Coordinate Manager ‐> Station Database to add or update the user base station database.
Creating User Database and User Service File with a text editor
Alternatively, the user can use a text editor to create a user base station database XML file
(user_basestation_db.xml) at the default file location (C:\ProgramData\Applanix\User Base Stations).
See an example below. POSPac supports ASCII format files created in previous versions.
user_basestation_db.xml Example
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<DocumentElement>
<Coordinate_x0020_Manager>
<Station_x0020_ID>COLL</Station_x0020_ID>
<Frame>ITRF00</Frame>
<Epoch>1997</Epoch>
<Ellipsoid>WGS84</Ellipsoid>
<Latitude>44.493782619444</Latitude>
<Longitude>‐80.238369522222</Longitude>
<Altitude>158.195</Altitude>
<V_x0020_North>0</V_x0020_North>
<V_x0020_East>0</V_x0020_East>
<V_x0020_Up>0</V_x0020_Up>
<Coord_x0020_Accuracy>SURVEY_ACC</Coord_x0020_Accuracy>
<Pri_x0020_Service_x0020_ID>CanNet</Pri_x0020_Service_x0020_ID>
<Sec_x0020_Service_x0020_ID />
</Coordinate_x0020_Manager>
<Coordinate_x0020_Manager>
…
…
</Coordinate_x0020_Manager>
</DocumentElement>

In addition to a user base station database XML file, a user service database XML file
(user_service_db.xml) can be created as well at the default file location
(C:\ProgramData\Applanix\User Base Stations). See an example below.
user_service_db.xml Example
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<DocumentElement>
<Service_x0020_Manager>
<Service_x0020_ID>CanNet</Service_x0020_ID>
<Service_x0020_Site>ftp://gpsweb.can‐
net.ca/RINEX15/RefData.%YY%/Month.%MMM%/Day.%DDDD%/%UCCCC%%DDDDD%%UH%.%YY%o.Z</Service
_x0020_Site>
<Username>xxxxxx</Username>
<Password>yyyyyyy</Password>
</Service_x0020_Manager>
<Service_x0020_Manager>
…
…
</Service_x0020_Manager>
</DocumentElement>
The valid user database values, ellipsoid parameters, and web address mask codes are defined
below. POSPac will perform a sanity and validity check when loading the user database. If any value
in the user database is not valid, a warning message will be prompted to the user in the manual
mode or logged to the batch log file in the batch mode, and the entire user database will NOT be
used in the Find Base Station dialog
User Database parameters:
Station Frame Epoch Ellipsoid Lat Long Alt V_North Coord Acc
Name (deg) (deg) (m) V_East
V_Up
(mm/yr)
Non-empty NAD83 1997 GRS_1980 -90 -180 -1000 -1000 to SURVEY_ACC
string to to to 1000
NAD83_C5R5 2002 GRS_1980 NETWORK_ADI
90 180 10000
NAD83_COR596 2002 GRS_1980 DAILY_ADI
NAD83_2011 2010 GRS_1980 UNKNOWN_ACC
NAD83_PA11 2010 GRS_1980
NAD83_MA11 2010 GRS_1980
GDA94 1994 GRS_1980
CH1903+ 1993 Bessel_1841_Swiss
ITRF00 >1900 See Ellipsoid table
ETRS89 1989 See Ellipsoid table
ETRF00_R05 2000 See Ellipsoid table
JTSK03 1989 Bessel_1841_Swiss
NZGD2000 2000 GRS_1980

Ellipsoid parameters:
Ellipsoid
WGS84
WGS1972
GRS_1980
Bessel_1841
Bessel_1841_Swiss
Airy_1830
Airy_1841
Australian_1994
Clarke_1866
Clarke_1841
Everest _1830
Everest_Brunei
Everest_1948
Helmert_1906
Hough_1960
International_1924
Hayford_1924
Krassovsky
Web address mask codes for the service site:

Symbol Description
%YYYY% Year (2014)
%YY% Year (14)
%MMM% Month (JAN, FEB, ..., DEC)
%GGGG% GPS Week (0000, 0001, ..., 1147)
%WW% Week of Year (01, 02, ..., 52)
%DDDDD% Day of Year (001, 002, ..., 365)
%DDDD% Day (01, 02, ..., 31)
%T% Day of Week (0, 1, ..., 6)
%H% Hour (a, b, ..., x)
%UH% Hour (A, B, ..., X)
%HHH% Hour (00, 01, ..., 23)
%MM% Minutes of hour (00, 15, 30, 45)
%CCCC% Station Name
%UCCCC% Station Name (capital)
%FCCCC% Long Station Name
%NMM% Numerical Month

The following three types of user base station files are supported by the Find Base Station
Download:
• RINEX .o file.
• Compact RINEX .d file.
• Zipped file of RINEX .o or .d file.
Enable/Disable User Base Station Database for SmartBase

The location of user base station database and user service database can be changed by changing
the settings in Tools/Options/Reference Stations. Set Include user reference data checkbox checked
to include user base station database. This is a global setting that applies in both manual and batch
modes and in all the projects. If this checkbox is checked, POSPac will perform smart matching for
the stations where the service sites are empty in the user reference database.
Create a Network of Reference Stations ‐ Search Coordinate Database

Before searching for base stations, ensure that a POSPac Project with imported POS data files is
loaded. Click the Find Base Station icon on the main screen toolbar to open the Find Base Station
dialog. When the Find Base Stations dialog is launched with Include user reference data checkbox
checked, the base station list table should display the User Base in the Database column and the
corresponding user service ID in the Service column for those base stations provided by the user
database and within the search radius from the search center. If a user base station with service site
specified has the same station name as the Applanix SmartBase station, the Applanix SmartBase
station will be removed from the Find Base Station dialog to prioritize the user base station.


By default, all fields are automatically populated by the module. The average position (easting,
northing, and elevation) of the mission is derived based on the imported real‐time data. The default
search radius is 200 km, or the last setting. The radial search is measured from the average rover
position. The search parameters can be adjusted by clicking Search Options:
Figure 9.4 Change the search options for Find Base Station dialog
Find Base Station also searches for the available ephemeris data. 18 hours of broadcast ephemeris
data and 72 hours of precise ephemeris data is required for SmartBase Quality Check processing.
Broadcast and precise ephemeris from the day of the mission are required for SmartBase
processing.
Downloading data
Once the reference stations are listed in the Base Station Search and Download command pane, you
can start downloading the base station data by clicking Download Data. Reference station services
are Internet and ftp sites, which continually store data from a number of GNSS sites. The services
currently supported are Trimble, CORS, IGS, GSI, and IGN.
Data can also be manually downloaded from several Internet GNSS services. See GNSS Services for
details. The downloaded data can be unzipped and imported into the project.
The required ephemeris data is also required. These can be downloaded using the built‐in Internet
Downloader, which is preconfigured to download the correct day(s) of data based on the data
import.

Notes –
• The software can be run without the Precise, Rapid, or UltraRapid ephemeris data (that is, with
only the broadcast ephemeris data), but this may compromise the quality of the results.
• The software downloads Precise ephemeris data by default and automatically tries to download
Rapid or UltraRapid ephemeris data if Precise ephemeris data is not yet available.
• If a particular station fails the download, it is most likely due to the file no longer existing on the
FTP site where the publicly available stations are located. However, there are instances where
the FTP site has too many simultaneous connections at one given time and thus the Find Base
Station command fails to connect. Waiting a few minutes and re‐selecting the failed Base
Station, and re‐download may solve the problem. If the same base station is found on more than
one GNSS service provider, POSPac MMS will automatically cycle through several different
services until it is successful.
Tip – Click Smart Select to have the software automatically select and download the best
available SmartBase network, and automatically import this into your project. This will not
only attempt to choose the tightest network fully encompassing the trajectory, it will also
do a validation of the observation data quality, to determine if the stations are suitable for
the network. The automatic network selected will consist of 6 to 10 stations that contains
observation data with good quality.
Importing data
To import data into the project, click Import after downloading is complete. When the data import is
completed, a SmartBase network is created from the imported data.
The POSPac MMS Plan View is updated with the baselines between network stations whose time
frames overlap. This is a visual verification that the data is consistent (that is, that the files were
downloaded correctly). It is generally expected that not all of the network stations will have data for
the specified day.

To access the properties of any baselines, select a baseline in

the Plan View or Project Explorer and selecting Properties
from the context menu (right‐click to display).
Each reference station for which data was successfully
downloaded and imported is listed under the Base Station
tree in the Project Explorer. For each base station on the list,
there is a Coordinate menu. This is the approximate position
of the reference station extracted from the RINEX header. The
coordinates extracted from the downloaded observation data
file are assigned as an “Unknown” quality (which ranks lower
than “Office entered” or “Survey” ‐ referring to the Applanix
coordinate database).
Once the reference stations are imported, they are displayed
and can be selected in the POSPac MMS Plan View and in the
Project Explorer as children of the “Base Stations” node. To
access the properties of any base station, select a station in
the Plan View or Project Explorer, right‐click and then select
Properties.
Obs validator information
Statistics related to the raw observation data of the base
station. These statistics are applicable for the entire duration
of the observation file.
Obs Validator Information ‐ Rover Period
Statistics related to the raw observation data of the base
station. These statistics are applicable for the entire duration
of the overlap the trajectory.
Note – Quality Check Quality Indicator (QCQI) and SmartBase
Quality Indicator (SBQI) are in the range of 0 to 9, where zero
means that the station has failed the validation and nine
means it has the best data quality.
Errors reported by Obs Validator
These can be:
• Data rate of observation file greater than 30 seconds.
• Observation file is empty; no epoch was read.
• Less than 18 hours of continuous observations (required for SmartBase Quality Check).
• Outlier Certain verifications on the reference station Clock estimates (major outlier/jump).
• Start and End time of observation file do not cover the Rover Time period.
• The reference station observation file has less than 50% time coverage of Rover Time period.
• Quality Indicator computed indicates major problem. For example, a large number of data gaps
or a major data gap that would make SmartBase fail.

Base station quality analysis

To achieve a high accuracy solution over long base-lines, Applanix SmartBase requires that the
reference station coordinates are surveyed very accurately, and that the observables from the
reference stations are of good quality and are free of data gaps and cycle slips.
When using freely available reference stations, there is always concern about data integrity,
particularly with respect to the accuracy of supplied coordinates, the possibility of missing data, and
the possibility of physical damage to the antenna.
In most cases, the coordinates and data from the references stations are checked continually.
However, to reduce the risk of poor results and to provide a means of built‐in quality assurance on
the accuracy of the overall positioning, Applanix SmartBase includes the SmartBase Quality Check
module that performs a precision network adjustment on all the base‐lines in the network. The
Quality Check module uses 18 to 24 hours of reference station data to accurately compute the
base‐ lines between one station selected as the fixed Control station and the rest of the network
stations. The long duration of data is used to ensure that all multipath variations due to changes in
satellite positions are averaged out.
Optional Quality Analysis
Applanix strongly recommends this check. You can generate Applanix SmartBase without running
Quality Check. Where reference station data is downloaded from a pay‐per‐use service, running the
Quality Check process is optional, under the assumption that a similar process has already been run
on the reference stations by the provider. Also, 18 to 24 hours of data does not need to be logged if
a dedicated network is set up by you and the coordinates are surveyed accurately. However,
Applanix strongly recommends running Quality Check to validate base station coordinates and
ensure data integrity.
Using reliable dedicated reference stations
If you are confident in the quality of the dedicated station data and coordinates, you do not need to
run this data with the downloaded stations through Quality Check. This means that it is sufficient to
log data from the dedicated stations for the flight time with two hours overlap in the beginning and
five minutes at the end and simply add these to the network after the quality check is done on the
downloaded stations.
Setting the control station
You must identify a single network station as the Control Station for the Quality Check network
adjustment. This is a station that you selected during the network adjustment, and that will be used
as an absolute measurement. In a typical mission, where you do not have much information
regarding the base stations, any base station in the network may be used as a Control Station. The
selection of control station can be made by right‐clicking on the required base station in the Project
Explorer and select Set Control Station. After the selection, a blue flag appears in the Plan View and
Flags Pane to mark the control station.
Run Quality Check
Applanix Quality Check module is run prior to running Applanix SmartBase. To run Quality Check,
click the Applanix Quality Check icon on the toolbar of the Applanix SmartBase command pane.

Updated coordinates
Quality Check performs a network adjustment and provides a set of updated coordinates for all the
reference stations:
The output of the Quality Check module is a table that indicates the estimated error for each
reference station coordinate.
During Quality Checking, all points that do not meet the horizontal and vertical threshold of 5 cm
are flagged and shows the status of the Bad Position. Any stations that have less than 18 hours of
continuous reliable base station data (minimal number of cycle slips and data gaps) are flagged and
show a status of Bad Estimate. Bad Estimate means that the Quality check engine did not have
sufficient continuous good data to compute a good estimate of the coordinates at that particular
station. The default recommendation is to disable this station. You may override this and choose to
go ahead with the Original Input coordinate if you trust the coordinates of that station.
The Output Coords column is used to set up the coordinates that are used in the Applanix
SmartBase processing. To view detailed results of Quality Check and the status of all the processed
base stations, select Reports / Message Logs / Base Station Quality Check.
Notes –
• You can run Quality Check multiple times. Each run refines the previous adjustment and updates
the existing “Adjusted” coordinates as stations are added or deleted.
• You can view the Applanix SmartBase Quality Check Message file, which stores the content of
the summary table above, in Report / Message Logs. This file indicates if the Applanix SmartBase
file has been successfully completed and which coordinates were used in the Quality Check
process.
Running Applanix SmartBase

Do one of the following to open the Applanix SmartBase command pane:
• Select Run / Applanix SmartBase.
• Click the Applanix SmartBase icon on the toolbar.

Before running the Applanix SmartBase, select a network station as the Primary Station. This station
is selected automatically, but you can override this selection if the selected station contains too
many data gaps and cycle slips and an Applanix SmartBase fails to compute (the SmartBase
messages logs in Reports / Message Logs). An information flag (blue) appears in the Plan View and
flags this pane to mark the Primary Station.
The Applanix SmartBase processor generates observables in Applanix format. This data is saved in
the Extract directory of the current Mission folder for subsequent integrated inertial navigation
post-processing.
To access the Applanix SmartBase Network processing message log select Reports / Message Logs.
It indicates if the Applanix SmartBase file has been successfully completed or if any error has
occurred.
Running the GNSS‐Inertial processor

To combine the inertial data with the GNSS observables, click and select Applanix SmartBase in
the GNSS Mode field. Then run the multi‐pass GNSS‐Inertial Processor by clicking the doubled arrow
icon . The GNSS‐Inertial Processor with IN‐Fusion technology blends the inertial data with the
GNSS raw observables forwards and backwards in time. In a third step, it combines the fixed integer
ambiguities from the previous forward and backward solutions and computes the optimally
smoothed best estimate of trajectory (SBET). For more information on the available settings for the
GNSS‐Inertial processor, see GNSS-Aided Inertial Navigation.
Figure 9.5 IN‐Fusion SmartBase selected as GNSS mode in the GNSS‐Inertial Processor dialog

Solution check
For details on how to assess the quality of your post-processed solution see Solution Quality
Assessment.
Applanix IN‐Fusion Single Base Station Processing

You can use Applanix IN‐Fusion Single Base Station Processing as an alternative to Applanix
SmartBase processing if (a) the mission trajectory is 20 km or less distant from a selected base
receiver, (b) there are not enough reference stations available to build a network of four or more
stations around the mission trajectory, or (c) the set‐up of a dedicated network is too expensive. An
airborne mission can include sharp turns if the base receiver is within 20 km of the aircraft
trajectory.
Provided that you have good satellite coverage, data gap and cycle slip free base station
observables data overlapping the flight time, and a maximum primary‐reference baseline
separation of 20 km, the overall position and orientation solution with Applanix IN‐Fusion Single
Base Station Processing is comparable to an Applanix SmartBase solution.
If the highest accuracy results are not necessary and flat turns are still acceptable, the maximum
distance to the base station can be extended to beyond 20 km and still maintain integer
ambiguities. Part of the trajectory must be within 20 km of the base station for several minutes, in
order to initialize the correct fixed integer ambiguities. These can then be carried through the
solution for distances up to 100 km.
POSPac MMS 7.1 SP2 and newer has added the ability to use BeiDou and QZSS observables in GNSS‐
Inertial and GNSS QC processor in Single Base and Multi-Single Base mode when both rover and
base GNSS data contain BeiDou and QZSS data. It should be noted that only Trimble T02 base file is
supported by POSPac MMS 7.1 SP2 and newer for BeiDou and QZSS data processing, and RINEX 3.02
base file is supported by POSPac MMS 8.0 for BeiDou and QZSS data processing.
POSPac MMS 8.0 has added a new feature to produce high-accuracy global coordinates for any base
station directly from its interface. This is made possible by using Trimble® RTX technology. See Solution
Quality Assessment for more details.

Generating a solution
To generate a Single Base solution with IN‐Fusion technology:
1. Click the Save icon to save the project at the required location.
2. To import the raw data, click the Import icon and select the data source location.
3. Click Import to import the data. The trajectory appears in the Plan View:
Figure 9.6 Imported raw data
4. Click the Import icon again and then select the location of the base station file. If no base
station data is available on file, select Project / Internet Download command or the Project /
Find Base Stations to download the base station. Users are encouraged to use Smart Select
Single Base to find the most suitable base station.

5. If the user chooses to download a base station manually, select the required base station file
and then click Download and Import. When the import is complete, the Raw Data Check In
dialog appears. Click OK to confirm.
6. If the base station coordinates need to be changed, either select the imported station in Plan
View, then right‐click and select Coordinate Manager, or go into the Project Explorer, select the
Base Station point, right‐click and then select Coordinate Manager.

7. If the Station Database file does not have the new coordinates, enter the ITRF coordinates in the
textbox. If necessary, enter the updated antenna and frame information. Click Apply Changes.
8. If needed, Add or Update the station information to the Station Database and then close
Coordinate Manager.
9. If a base station needs to be surveyed because its accurate coordinates are unknown and
therefore cannot be manually entered to the Coordinate Manager, right-click the imported station
and select Compute RTX Coordinates to get high accuracy, cm-level global coordinates in ITRF00
current epoch. Once the computation is complete, the computed coordinates will automatically
be registered in Coordinate Manager and a dialog will pop up to show the computed accuracy
(standard deviations) and you can choose to accept or reject the newly computed coordinates. A
log file can be found under the proc folder: rtxCoords_{STATION NAME}_Mission 1.log
10. Once changes are applied, a Local Coordinate with the specified frame parameters is created for
the station and can be viewed in the Properties. The Global Coordinate is the equivalent
position transformed to ITRF00 and is the coordinate used by the internal processors (that is,
Applanix SmartBase, GNSS‐Inertial, and so on).
11. Either select the imported station in Plan View, then right‐click and select Set Base Station or go
into the Project Explorer, select the Base Station point, right‐click and then select Set Base
Station:
12. To combine the inertial data with the GPS observables, click the GNSS Inertial Processor icon
and then select Single Base Station in the GNSS Mode field. The name of the selected base
station for Single Base processing automatically appears in the Base Station field. For loosely‐
coupled Single Base processing, select IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav and choose Single Base from the
GNSS Nav Selection menu.
13. Click to run the GNSS‐Inertial Processor with IN‐Fusion technology. The GNSS‐Inertial
Processor performs multi‐pass processing to compute an optimal smoothed best estimate of
trajectory (SBET).
Figure 9.7 Single base station solution, with Activated Flags Pane
Applanix IN‐Fusion Multi‐Single‐Base (MSB) processing

In‐Fusion Multi‐Single‐Base (MSB) Processing is designed for customers who need the highest level
of Differential GNSS position accuracy and who perform long, linear projects such as power line
corridors, long highways, or stretches of coastline where a network of GNSS base stations is either
unavailable or the geometry of the network is weak and an Applanix SmartBase™ solution is not
viable. It allows for the establishment of base stations along the full length of the survey path and
makes optimal use of the nearest base station at all times along that path.
MSB process is initiated by selecting multiple reference stations and running the “Create
MultiSingleBase” command. The MSB process runs through the rover data and at every epoch
identifies the best base station among the ones selected for the GNSS‐Inertial processor to use at
that epoch. Much of the processing (Decoding and Repairing GNSS Data, Checking GNSS
Observables Quality) are ran in parallel, which greatly reduces the processing time. The
GNSS‐Inertial solution generated with Multi‐Single‐Base is the combination of segments of single
baseline processing solutions. Although MSB can process with any inter‐station distance, the
maximum baseline length of each single baseline processing segment should be within 20 km in
order to obtain the best performance.
For the consistency of the MSB solution, it is important that good quality reference station data and
accurate coordinates be used. If the stations are downloaded from GNSS online services, SmartBase
Quality Check can be used to estimate consistent coordinates for MSB processing.
This workflow assumes that the user has already set up a POSPac project, i.e. they have imported
their raw data and downloaded and/or imported base stations along their corridor.
To generate a solution with IN‐Fusion Multi‐Single‐Base technology:
1. If the stations are downloaded from respective GNSS services and more than 4 stations are
downloaded, it is recommended to run SmartBase Quality Check and to use the adjusted base
coordinates for each station.
2. If it is not possible to use SmartBase Quality Check, use Coordinate Manager to input the
accurate coordinates for the selected base stations.
3. Under Project Explorer; select the stations to use in the Multi‐Single‐Base process, then right‐
click and select Create MultiSingleBase Station or select Create Multi Single Base option from
the Run menu.
4. A progress window will be displayed to show the processing progress for individual bases.
5. When the MSB creation process is finished, a new station MTSB1 will be created under the Base
Stations Node.
Similar to how POSPac handles Single Base and SmartBase, a GNSS observables checking will be
performed for each of the base segments. The GNSS QC results include the baseline length, number
of satellites, PDOP, forward/reverse separation, QC solution status, satellite elevation, and
residuals. These can be further analyzed in Display Plot. It is worthwhile to note that the plots under
Baseline MTSB1 GNSS QC show the entire mission period (stitched from all the base segments).
For clearer inspection of the MSB segments in the Plan View, it is best to turn off some layers that
obstruct the view of the stations. This can be done by opening the View Filter Manager and turning
off the baselines layer.
Applanix IN‐Fusion PP-RTX Processing

Trimble® CenterPoint™ RTX (Real-Time Extended) is an innovative multi-frequency GNSS positioning
technology that combines the high accuracy of reference station based Differential GNSS with the
highly productive wide-area coverage of global satellite corrections. This wide-area coverage of
network stations can generate the precise orbit, clock and observation biases for any location on
Earth.
The precise data generated can then be transmitted to POSPac and used for post-processed RTX-aided
inertial processing. The post-processed RTX (PP-RTX) implementation allows for cm level positioning
for mobile mapping without reference stations. Below are some key points related to processing data
using PP-RTX:
• Does not require reference stations or real-time subscription. Requires a POSPac PP-RTX
subscription which is available in 6 or 12 month increments
• PP-RTX solution can meet accuracies of better than 3 cm RMSE Horizontal and 6 cm RMSE
Vertical in open sky environments
• Available immediately after mission, unlike traditional post-processed PPP solutions, which can
take several days
• Can obtain carrier phase ambiguity fixing (forward or backward) in as little as 5 minutes and on
average 20 minutes when clean GNSS observables are collected
• Provides a convergence free, fully fixed solution by combining the forward and backward
solutions, and requires at least 40 minutes of data (recommended) with no loss of satellite
• PP-RTX is available for use with datasets from 2013 and later
• Best suited for data logged in areas where continuity of observations can be guaranteed (i.e.
open sky)
The workflow of processing using PP-RTX is very straightforward and is described below:
1. Import raw rover data

2. Click the Trimble PP-RTX button to download RTX data. GNSS QC processor will
automatically run to check the quality of RTX observables
3. Launch the GNSS-Inertial Processing command pane and select either In-Fusion PP-RTX or IN-
Fusion GNSS Nav PP-RTX
4. Click Run to run the GNSS-Inertial processor
Downloading RTX Data

After the rover data is imported and the downloading of RTX data is requested, POSPac will
automatically upload a compressed rover trajectory to the RTX server which will generate RTX
observables for download. Unlike a traditional post-processed PPP solution where precise ephemeris
data can take several days to compute, RTX data is available within 1 hour after the mission. The PP-
RTX generation progress window is shown below, and the details can be found in the Message Logs.
Note that if there is a connection issue for more than 5 minutes, PP-RTX generation will time out
automatically.
GNSS QC
Similar to other processing modes (e.g. In-Fusion SmartBase, or In-Fusion Single Base), a quality check
step is automatically performed on the downloaded PP-RTX observables before running the GNSS-
inertial processor.
The GNSS QC results are available in Display Plot for further analysis.
Post-processing RTX-aided Inertial Solution

After PP-RTX observables are generated and downloaded, users can run the IN-Fusion PP-RTX mode to
generate the SBET solution. Users can also select the IN-Fusion GNSS Nav PP-RTX mode to generate the
SBET solution in loosely coupled mode. Users are encouraged to use the IN-Fusion PP-RTX mode to get
the best possible SBET solution.
Applanix IN‐Fusion PPP Processing

You can use IN‐Fusion PPP Processing in applications where a base receiver cannot be found or
installed, such as airborne surveys in remote areas or open ocean hydrographic surveys.
The traditional PPP algorithm implements a floated ionosphere‐free solution, requiring up to 30
minutes to converge from a meter‐level position accuracy to a decimeter‐level accuracy. When you
fly sharp turns, significant loss of coherent carrier phase tracking can occur, which will require the
PPP algorithm to restart this convergence.
IN‐Fusion PPP implements Applanix's Inertially-Aided PPP (IAPPP) algorithm that overcomes this
limitation by preserving position accuracy during GNSS outages using inertial coast. The optimal
smoothing carries the converged decimeter‐level position accuracy backward in time and therefore,
PPP‐level position accuracy is achieved throughout the survey mission.
To generate a solution with PPP IN‐Fusion technology:
1. Click to create a new project.
2. Click to save the project at the required location.
3. To import the raw data, click the Import icon and select the data source location.
4. Click Import to import the data. The trajectory appears in the Plan View (see 98)
5. Select the GNSS Inertial Processor icon and then select IN‐Fusion PPP in the GNSS Mode field.
6. Click to blend the inertial data with the GNSS raw observables with IN‐Fusion technology.
You will immediately be prompted to download the required PPP data to enable PPP processing.
7. Click Yes to accept the download:

Prior to downloading the PPP data files, POSPac MMS will verify from which GNSS service the
files are available and then select the best available for download:
8. Download the selected files and then click Import.

9. Click to activate IN‐Fusion PPP processing.
Other processing modes

POSGNSS KAR and POSGNSS PPP
Computing a multiple base, single base or precise point positioning (PPP) solution using the
“traditional” method can be done with POSPac MMS. The following section describes the
processing steps for generating GNSS‐Inertial solutions using these GNSS modes.
Differential GNSS mode is currently required for processing of GLONASS observables in combination
with GPS observables.
Create a new project

1. Click to create a new project. The Plan View appears empty (black or white, depending on the
background color settings).
2. Click to save the project at the required location.
Import raw data

1. To import the raw POS data, click the Import icon . A new Import dialog appears.
2. Click to browse to the location of the raw files.
3. Click Import to import the data or double‐click the first POS File. The start point and trajectory is
loaded in the Plan View and appear in purple.
4. Click to save the project.
Activate the GNSS‐Inertial Processor pane

1. Click the GNSS‐Inertial Processor icon to activate the GNSS‐Inertial Processor dialog.
2. Change the GNSS mode in the list to IN-Fusion GNSS Nav.
3. Select either POSGNSS KAR or POSGNSS PPP.
Launch POSGNSS to generate a POSGNSS KAR or POS GNSS PPP solution

Click the POSGNSS icon on the toolbar of the GNSS‐Inertial Processor command pane. This icon
is only activated once the POSGNSS KAR or PPP GNSS‐Inertial mode is selected. For complete details
on how to use POSGNSS to complete a differential GNSS or PPP Solution and export it to POSPac,
refer to the PUBS‐MAN‐000016 POSGNSS User Guide.
Note – POSPac MMS supports the processing of BD960 GNSS receivers. Processing of the GLONASS
data is only available using Differential GNSS (POSGNSS KAR) loosely coupled mode. The GNSS data,
logged by the POS system, is extracted and automatically converted to RINEX just prior to running
POSGNSS. The RINEX file, which is located in the Extract folder of the particular mission, can be
imported into the POSGNSS project to generate the GNSS solution.
Run the GNSS‐Inertial processor:

In POSPac, click the doubled arrow icon to compute the smoothed best estimate of trajectory
(SBET).
IN‐Fusion Autonomous Processing

Import the POS data into your project, activate the GNSS‐Inertial Processor pane and select
IN‐Fusion Autonomous as GNSS Mode. Click the doubled arrow icon to compute the smoothed
best estimate of trajectory (SBET).
Primary GNSS Nav Data Processing

Import the POS data into your Project, activate the GNSS‐Inertial Processor pane and select Primary
GNSS Nav as the GNSS Mode. This processing mode is available only for POS AV data. Click the
doubled arrow icon to compute the smoothed best estimate of trajectory (SBET).
Primary Trimble RTX Nav Data Processing

Trimble RTX Nav as the GNSS Mode. This processing mode is available when using Trimble BD982
GNSS receiver with enabled integrated RTX corrections. Click the doubled arrow icon to compute
the smoothed best estimate of trajectory (SBET).
Primary OmniSTAR Nav Data Processing

OmniSTAR Nav as the GNSS Mode. This processing mode is available when using Trimble BD960, or
Trimble BD982 GNSS receiver with enabled integrated OmniSTAR corrections. Click the doubled
arrow icon to compute the smoothed best estimate of trajectory (SBET).
Primary Marinestar Nav Data Processing

Marinestar Nav as the GNSS Mode. Click the doubled arrow icon to compute the smoothed best
estimate of trajectory (SBET).
Processing Real‐Time GNSS Data

Import the POS data into your Project, activate the GNSS‐Inertial Processor pane and select
Real‐time GNSS as GNSS Mode. Click the doubled arrow icon to compute the smoothed best
estimate of trajectory (SBET).
Processing Auxiliary GNSS Nav Data

1. To process data of an auxiliary GNSS receiver, first import the POS data into your project and
then initiate the GNSS‐Inertial Processor pane.
2. Select Auxiliary GNSS Nav as GNSS mode and select the Auxiliary GNSS that was used during the
flight:
3. To retrieve a solution, click the doubled arrow icon to compute the smoothed best estimate
of trajectory (SBET).
C H A P T E R
10
GNSS-Aided Inertial
Navigation
In this chapter:
 GNSS‐Inertial Processor settings  Initiating the GNSS‐Inertial Processing
 Timing, Multipath, and Baseline options
 Initialization options
 Lever Arms and Mounting Angle options
 Auxiliary GNSS options
 GAMS improvement
 Secondary GNSS Lever Arms options
 Differential Corrections options
 DMI options
 PFIX options
 Custom Settings options
 Running the GNSS‐Inertial Processor
 Status
 Message Log
The POSPac MMS GNSS‐Inertial Engine supports both traditional aided inertial navigation methods
(the same ones found in POSPac version 4), but also implements Inertially‐Aided KAR. This is a
carrier phase ambiguity estimation and resolution technique that is tied to the centralized Kalman
filter. The inertial data are used to help resolve the initial ambiguities and maintain position
accuracy during periods of GNSS signal disruption which allows the GNSS‐Inertial processor to re-fix
the carrier phase ambiguities within a few seconds after the disruption ends.
10 – GNSS-Aided Inertial Navigation
GNSS‐Inertial Processor settings

Note – The GNSS‐Inertial Processor settings are data centric. Depending on which type of data and
which sensor are logged, different GNSS‐Inertial settings appear.
There are two ways to open the GNSS‐Inertial Processor Settings dialog:
• Select Project / Project Settings. Click the GNSS‐Inertial Processor folder icon to view and to edit
the options for processing the inertial navigation solution.
• Click to launch the GNSS‐Inertial command pane and then click to open the GNSS‐Inertial
Processor section of Project Settings:
Figure 10.1 GNSS‐Inertial Processor dialog
Timing, Multipath, and Baseline options

This section describes the various settings in the Project Settings dialogs for GNSS‐Inertial
Processor/Timing, GNSS‐Inertial Processor/Multipath and Baseline:
For the customers using APX products in UAV applications, inertial sensor saturation might occur
during launch and landing periods and could affect the processing performance. POSPac MMS 7.2
and newer now supports the inertial sensor saturation detection and will automatically adjust the
processing time accordingly to improve the processing performance. When the inertial sensor
saturation is detected in the rover data, an additional Processable Time Windows table will be
displayed on the Timing page under Project Settings. This table contains a list of processable
durations and can be individually selected for processing.
Area Field Description

Timing Start/End Sets the start and end time of for the GNSS‐Inertial processor. The default time
format is hh:mm:ss AM/PM.
• To convert the time to GPS seconds of the start week, select the Seconds of
the start week check box
• To force the GNSS‐Inertial processor to use the entire mission time interval,
select the Entire time interval check box and then enter the appropriate
Start/End time.
Note – When running the
GNSS‐Inertial processor, the engine
may recommend start/end times
depending on the mode of processing
and the location of the Base station
in your project area. It is strongly
advised to use the recommended
start/end settings or else results may
be unreliable.
You can set the Start and End time
graphically on Plan View. To do this,
right‐ click the Mission 1, POS,
Real‐time item from within the Project Explorer, select View Epoch, select the
appropriate Set Selected Time As option and then click the required point from
within Plan View:
UTC Offset Used for post-processing when POS data is logged in UTC time. This value is
determined from the Primary GNSS data collected by the POS during the mission.
IMU Time Specifies the delay time of IMU data that is subtracted from the times of validity
Offset of the selected processing data records. A negative delay implements a time
advance.
Start after Creates an additional processable time window that has saturated inertial data
launch during the launch (if it exists).
Wait Time Specifies the wait time before processing the chosen time window.

Algorithms Multipath There are three options that you can select from this drop‐down menu that
refer to an informed estimate of the likely level of signal obstruction and
echo.
The options are:
• Low—good GNSS coverage.
• Medium / High—degraded GNSS coverage, such as in urban canyon,
narrow streets, dense foliage environments.
Note – For airborne applications, Applanix recommends using the default
muItipath setting of LOW. If you are experiencing too many measurement
rejections during your processing, you may try changing the setting to
MEDIUM or HIGH. This will loosen up the processing model, but the
results may not be as accurate.
Algorithm Note – This option only applies to the Single Base Processing mode.
There are three options that you can select from the drop‐down menu:
• Automatic (default)—the software determines the best algorithm (Short
Baseline or Long Baseline) depending on the location of your base station
relative to your trajectory and the start/end points of your mission.
• Short Baseline—forces the software to process using the Short Baseline
Algorithm. Use this setting if your entire mission is within 20 km (for AV
and MV) or within 70 km (for LV and TG) of your base station.
• Short‐Long‐Short Baseline (formerly called Long Baseline)—forces the
software to process using the Short‐Long‐short Baseline Algorithm. Use
this setting only when you start within 20 km of your base station, fly to
your mission area (max 100 km), and end the mission within 20 km of
your base station.
Note – Applanix recommends using the Automatic setting. The algorithm used
in the processing appears in the GNSS‐Inertial Forward Processing log file.
GNSS The slider bar scales the standard deviation GNSS position measurements. The
Position standard deviation of these measurements depends on the reported GNSS post-
Quality Scale processed RMS. If the actual GNSS accuracy is not consistent with the reported
Factor GNSS RMS scaling helps GNSS‐inertial processing.
The slider bar only has an effect in the following GNSS modes: Differential GNSS,
PPP, Real‐time GNSS, Primary Trimble RTX, Primary OmniSTAR, Primary
Marinestar, and Auxiliary GNSS.

High Altitude POSPac will automatically detect the altitude and enable the High Altitude Mode
Mode option. When this option is enabled, POSPac will use a different tropospheric
model to compensate for the altitude effects.
Use Real- POSPac added an option to ignore real time RTK solution for In-Fusion
Time RTK Autonomous and In-Fusion PPP processing modes. This option is only available
Solution for datasets that contain RTK corrections in the real time solution and should be
used if the user suspects the real time RTK solution to be faulty or overly
optimistic. Unchecking this option means that the GNSS-Inertial post processor
solution will not use the data from the real time RTK solution.
Initialization options
This section describes the various settings in the Project Settings dialog for GNSS‐Inertial Processor /
Initialization. By default, all fields automatically update and include the initial attitude, position, and
velocity from the GPS data. To manually specify the settings, select the appropriate check box:
If you selected this Then …

check box …
Override initial position The Latitude, Longitude, and Altitude fields become accessible.
from GNSS Enter the initial latitude and longitude in degrees.
Enter the initial altitude—this is assumed to be with respect to the reference
ellipsoid (WGS‐84).
Override initial velocity The North, East, and Down fields become accessible.
from GNSS Enter the initial north, east, and down velocity components as real numbers.
If you selected this Then …

check box …
Override initial attitude The Roll, Pitch, and Heading fields become
from source accessible. Enter the initial roll, pitch, and heading.
The following initialization sources options are available:
• Initialize from GNSS track heading
GNSS track angle can be used to initialize INS heading when the vehicle speed
is at least 2 meters per second and does not move with a large drift angle
(the difference between the track angle and heading).
Note – It will not work on a helicopter because the vehicle's ground track can
be significantly different from its heading. It will also not work on a boat
because the speed can be too low to generate a sufficiently accurate track
angle.
• Initialize from GAMS Compass
The GPS compass can provide initial IMU heading when secondary GNSS
observables are available and the GAMS option is ON.
• Initialize from gyro‐compassing
This is the default setting and is used if the IMU is sufficiently accurate to
create a gyrocompassed heading or if none of the other initialization
methods are available, the nominal gyro bias property is used to predict
gyrocompassed heading at the current latitude.
• Initialize from VNAV attitude solution
The real‐time VNAV attitude solution can be used to provide an initial
heading so that mode transition from Coarse Leveling to Fine Alignment can
occur. The VNAV heading solution is used once to effect the mode transition.
• Initialize from magnetic heading
POSPac MMS 7.2 and newer supports heading initialization from magnetic
heading for APX products. POSPac will use this feature by default for
datasets that contain magnetic heading information to improve heading
convergence. To see if a dataset contains magnetic heading information or
not, users can check T04 Data Import in Message Logs.
Lever Arms and Mounting Angle options

This section describes the various settings in the Project Settings dialog for the GNSS‐Inertial
Processor / Lever Arms and Mounting Angles.
By default, all lever arm and mounting angle values appear from the POS data collected in real‐time
(enter the lever arms in real‐time before you start logging data, and then you start the mission).
Note – When a Stabilized Mount is detected, the Reference becomes the center of rotation with the
Gimbal in the Rest position.

Lever The displacement from one body coordinate frame to another as measured
Arms between their respective body frame origins is a three‐dimensional vector called
a “lever arm”:
Figure 10.2 Lever arms

Reference This lever arm is a three‐dimensional vector defining the displacement from the
to IMU reference point (origin of the reference body frame) to the origin of the IMU
Lever Arm body frame (see Figure 10.2).
Note – This displacement is resolved in the reference body frame.
• X component—the distance in the horizontal plane (forward or reverse
direction) from the reference point to the IMU origin (target). A positive
value implies the IMU is forward of the reference point.
• Y component—the distance in the horizontal plane (left or right direction)
from reference point to the IMU origin (target). A positive value implies the
IMU is to the right of the reference point.
• Z component—the distance in the vertical plane (up or down) from the
reference point to the IMU origin (target). A positive value implies the IMU is
below the reference point.
Example: The reference body frame is defined as: x‐axis forward, y‐axis right
(starboard) and z‐axis down with the reference point (origin) in the three
dimensional center of the mobile mapping vehicle. The IMU is installed on a
scanner 0.5 meters behind the reference point, 0.0 meters to the right of the
scanner body frame origin and 0.5 meters above the reference point. The
reference point to the IMU lever arm components are ‐0.5, 0.0, ‐0.5 meters.
Reference The reference to the primary GNSS antenna lever arm is a three‐dimensional
to Primary vector defining the displacement from the reference point (origin of the
GNSS reference body frame) to the phase center of the primary GNSS antenna (see
Lever Arm Figure 10.2).
Note – This displacement is resolved in the mobile mapping vehicle body frame.
Standard Deviation: The slide control specifies the assumed accuracy of the
entered lever arm. The default value is 10 cm. You can increase the setting if the
lever arm is not known with 10 cm accuracy. It may not be known at all, in which
case the control should be set to 1 meter on a small vehicle such as a car or
airplane or 10 meters on a large vehicle such as a boat. When the slider bar is in
the left position (at 3 cm), the lever arm is excluded from calibration.

Mounting Mounting angles are defined as physical angular offsets of a body frame with
angles respect to a second body frame:
Figure 10.3 IMU/Reference body frame mounting angles

These angles define the Tate‐Bryant sequence of rotations that bring the first
body frame into alignment with the second. For example, when defining body
frame A with respect to B, the mounting angles would be the sequence of
rotations of body frame B to bring it into alignment with body frame A. The
orientation angles follow the sequence of rotation given as follows: right‐hand
rotation of θ Z about the z-axis of body frame B, followed by a rotation of θ Y about
the once rotated y-axis, followed by a rotation of θ X about the twice rotated x-axis.
Reference Figure 10.3 shows the IMU and the reference body frames in different
to IMU orientations. The sequence of rotations to bring the reference body frame into
Mounting alignment with the IMU body frame define the Reference‐to‐IMU mounting
Angles angles. These are typically known to the nearest 2 to 5 degrees because they
are difficult to measure to a higher accuracy without elaborate instrumentation.
For example, a Reference‐to‐IMU mounting angle about one axis of 89 degrees
will be assumed to be 90 degrees. This causes the true reference frame to be
misaligned from the assumed reference frame by one degree. The consequence
is that the assumed lever arms cast in the assumed reference frame will contain
errors due to the assumed reference frame misalignment. These misalignment
errors are lumped with the assumed lever arm measurement errors and can be
calibrated by the GNSS‐Inertial processor. Set the lever arm standard deviation
slide control to 10 cm or higher to enable the calibration.
Mobile If the reference and the mobile mapping vehicle body frames do not coincide,
Mapping then the mounting angles between the reference body frame and the mobile
Vehicle to mapping vehicle body frame must be specified. The lever arms from the
Reference reference frame origin, the primary GNSS antenna, and (if a land vehicle) DMI
Mounting are specified in the vehicle frame. Consequently an assumed vehicle frame
Angles misalignment due errors in the specified mounting angles will result in lever
arm errors that the GNSS‐Inertial processor can calibrate. Set the lever arm
standard deviation slide to 10 cm or higher to enable the calibration.
Auxiliary GNSS options

This section describes the various settings in the Project Settings dialog for GNSS‐Inertial
Processor/Auxiliary GNSS
Field Description
Reference to Auxiliary The reference to the Auxiliary 1/2 GNSS antenna lever arm is a three‐dimensional
1/2 GNSS Lever Arm vector defining the displacement from the reference point (origin of the
reference body frame) to the phase center of the auxiliary 1 or 2 GNSS antenna.
Standard Deviation: The slide control specifies the assumed accuracy of the
entered lever arm. The default value is 10 cm. You can increase the setting if
the lever arm is not known with 10 cm accuracy. It may not be known at all, in
which case the control should be set to 1 meter on a small vehicle such as a
car or airplane or 10 meters on a large vehicle such as a boat. When the slider
bar is in the left position (at 3 cm), the lever arm is excluded from calibration.
GAMS improvement
GAMS in POSPac 7.1 and newer will support GLONASS when BD982 receivers are used. This will help
to produce better heading solutions since more satellites are in view. When users do not have
accurate GAMS information, POSPac has the option to automatically estimate baseline vector. This
option is turned OFF by default for MV datasets and it can be turned ON by setting the baseline
vector standard deviation larger than 1 cm. To obtain the best possible navigation performance,
Applanix recommends the user to use the most accurate baseline vector information when possible.
Below describes the various settings that can be edited in the Project Settings dialog:

GAMS Baseline Vector X, Y, Z Offset from Primary GNSS antenna to the Secondary GNSS
antenna in the reference frame.
Restore POS Click to reload the GAMS baseline vector parameters that the POS
Installation MV used during real‐time operation.
Parameters
Standard Inertial heading standard deviation threshold for GAMS
Deviation calibration to be activated when enabled.
GAMS Heading Correction User‐entered correction to the GAMS computed heading.
GAMS lever arm calibration can be found under the “Calibrated Installation Parameters” plot. This
plot shows the GAMS lever arms convergence over time, which is similar to, for example, the
Primary GNSS lever arm calibration. The Figure of Merit plot provides a confidence level of the
calibration process for the user as well.
Once the GNSS‐Inertial processor is used with GAMS, the status of the computed GNSS heading
solutions used in the GNSS‐Inertial processing is available in Display Plot as shown below:
Secondary GNSS Lever Arms options

This section describes the various settings that can be edited in the Project Settings dialog for
GNSS‐Inertial Processor / Secondary GNSS Lever Arms.
The reference to Secondary GNSS antenna lever arm is a three‐dimensional vector defining the
displacement from the reference point (the origin of the reference body frame) to the phase center
of the secondary GNSS antenna:
Field Description
Standard Deviation The slide control specifies the assumed accuracy of the entered lever arm. The default
value is 10 cm. You can increase the setting if the lever arm is not known with 10 cm
accuracy. It may not be known at all, in which case the control should be set to 1
meter on a small vehicle such as a car or airplane or 10 meters on a large vehicle such
as a boat. When the slider bar is in the left position (at 3 cm), the lever arm is
excluded from calibration.
Differential Corrections options

The Differential Correction dialog enables you to set the datum of the differential corrections if the
right datum was not set correctly in the field. The differential corrections datums can be set to
WGS‐84 or NAD83:
DMI options
GNSS‐Inertial Processor / DMI:
Field Description
Reference to DMI The lever arm is the offset from the reference point to the point where the
Lever Arm DMI‐instrumented wheel touches the ground. For “direct connect” installations
where DMI signals are derived from ABS signals from all four wheels, the lever arm is
the average of the lever arms to the four wheels. The X‐axis is considered to be
positive in the forward direction of the vehicle, the Y‐axis is positive on the right side
of the vehicle, and the Z‐axis is positive in the down direction.
Standard Deviation: The slide control specifies the assumed accuracy of the entered
lever arm. The default value is 10 cm. You can increase the setting if the lever arm is
not known with 10 cm accuracy. It may not be known at all, in which case the control
should be set to 1 meter on a small vehicle such as a car or airplane or 10 meters on a
large vehicle such as a boat. When the slider bar is in the left position (at 3 cm), the
lever arm is excluded from calibration.
DMI Scale Factor The DMI scale factor has units of Pulses per Metre (PPM) and is in fact the inverse of
the scale factor that multiplies the DMI pulse count to yield the distance traveled. It is
presented as such for your convenience. It is determined either by observing the DMI
pulse count over a precisely known distance or dividing the DMI pulse count per
revolution by the wheel circumference.
Scale Factor Standard Deviation: The slide control specifies the assumed accuracy of
the entered scale factor as a percentage. The default value is 5%. You can increase the
setting if the scale factor is not known with 5% accuracy. It may not be known at all, in
which case the control should be set to 100%. When the slider bar is in the left
position, at 0.1%, the scale factor is excluded from calibration.
Processing Options— The DMI position filter runs an additional smoothing function on the blended position
Run Position Filter solution that holds the computed position constant when DMI measurements
check box indicate that the vehicle is not moving. When the position filter is disabled, the
computed position solution may exhibit small changes due to assumed noise in the
DMI measurements when the vehicle is obviously stationary. Such changes may be
legitimate if for example the vehicle is being buffeted by wind or persons are moving
about the vehicle interior.
PFIX options
Position Fix (PFIX) functionality provides a means to aid the inertial solution with position
information determined externally to the POS LV/AV. The intention is to allow the user to close the
loop with quality control methods applied to direct georeferencing data. Typically, a user will run
POSPac once to create an SBET file. Then they will apply the SBET to remote sensing data such as
LiDAR to create georeferenced spatial data. By comparing the created spatial data to surveyed
ground control points, the user can observe errors in the POS position at a specific instance of time.
By adding the error to the SBET solution at that instance of time, the user can create a precise
observation of the true position of the POS system. These observations are PFIXes and can be added
back into the POSPac project for reprocessing of the SBET file to create a more accurate trajectory.
Another possible use case is tracking the vehicle using a total station. PFIX functionality would allow
a user to import known vehicle positions determined by tracking a reflector on the vehicle with a
robotic total station. However, users should be aware that precise time synchronization is required
between the total station and the POS LV. Errors in timing will appear as along‐track position errors
when combined with the inertial solution and may result in rejection of the PFIX.
While it is also possible to generate a PFIX by parking the vehicle on a known control point and
recording the occupation time, it is often found to be difficult to achieve the desired accuracy in a
practical way.
Assumptions about error sources

The PFIX method can only apply instantaneous position observations and is not meant to be used to
correct datum errors or other systematic errors. It is intended only to correct inertial drift errors
that are not properly constrained by GNSS or other aiding data. In terrestrial surveys, GNSS may be
affected by multipath or absent completely leading to position errors accumulated through inertial
drift. In these instances, PFIXes will have the most value.
Clashes with GNSS

A PFIX will be given the same consideration as a single GNSS solution. As such, if the PFIX does not
agree with the inertial solution within a reasonable expectation of error it may be rejected as an
outlier. The reasonable expectation of error is a function of both the user‐provided PFIX estimated
accuracy and the inertial trajectory accuracy. If a GNSS solution and a PFIX solution exist at or near
to the same point in time and do not agree within the reasonable expectation of error, the GNSS
solution may be selected over the PFIX due to its agreement with the current inertial trajectory
even though the trajectory may be in error. It may be necessary to introduce a GNSS data gap
beginning before the PFIX and ending sometime after it so as to ensure that the PFIX has the
maximum benefit. The lengths of the GNSS data gap may depend on the magnitude of the error, the
confidence in the PFIX accuracy, and the POS model type.
Custom Events file

While it is possible to create a PFIX in the POSPac Position Fixes and Satellite Events dialog box,
most users will prefer to import the events in a text file. A sample of the text file is provided here.
This file contains 2 position fixes. This file is saved as “custom_events_Mission 1.txt” in the /Mission
1/Extract folder of the POSPac project. Note that this folder location is not available until after
POSPac extraction. Once this file is created, the elements can be edited in the Position Fixes and
Satellite Events dialog box. Likewise, any events created through the dialog box will be added to this
text file.
Setting up PFIXes
For POS LV/AV and POS LS users, processing may be aided by the introduction of static or dynamic
position fixes. These position fixes may be viewed and edited via the Position Fixes and Satellite
Events toolbar button in the GNSS‐Inertial Processor panel.
In POSPac MMS 7.0 and earlier, all position fixes must be entered in ITRF2000 at mission epoch. In
POSPac MMS 7.1 and newer, position fixes may now be entered in any frame permitted for Custom
SBET export. Click Mapping Frame to launch the Mapping Frame Parameters window.
Rover Import options

GNSS‐Inertial Processor / Rover Import. This option is only available before you import data into the
project.
Field Description
Do not extract When this option is selected, all of the settings currently set in the GNSS‐Inertial
hardware Processor and its sub‐items are used in the processing. Any of the settings found
configuration in the logged POS data is ignored and will not be imported into the project (such
parameters during as lever arms, mounting angles, and so on).
import This function is useful when creating a template for a particular vehicle that is
used many times without changes to the equipment installation. To learn more
about templates, see Batch Processing.
Extraction Time Span Enables you to specify the extraction of a specific time period, instead of the
in Seconds of Start entire data set. The default is to use the entire time interval.
Week
Running the GNSS‐Inertial Processor

To start the GNSS‐Inertial Processor:
• Select Run / GNSS‐Inertial.
• Click on the toolbar.
Figure 10.4 GNSS‐Inertial Processor pane
Setting Option Description

Mission Name Kernel Name of the Mission. This is a read only field. To change the
kernel name, you must rename the mission by right‐clicking on the
Mission 1 node in the Project Explorer of POSPac, and selecting
properties and editing the mission name.
GNSS Mode Note – See also Processing Techniques
IN‐Fusion Select to compute an SBET (Smoothed Best Estimate of Trajectory)

SmartBase solution using inertially‐aided KAR techniques with the Applanix
SmartBase data as the GNSS Base Station. You must compute an
Applanix SmartBase solution to generate the reference GNSS.
IN‐Fusion Single Select to compute an SBET solution using inertially‐aided KAR
Base techniques with a single base station. The Base Station field shows
which base station is selected. If no base station has been selected,
you are prompted to select a base station. To do this, right‐click any
base station on the Project Explorer or Plan View and then select Set
Base Station. When CMR, CMR2, RTCM type 18/19, 20/21, or RTCM3
differential corrections are available, select this mode to compute the
SBET.
IN-Fusion PP-RTX Select to compute an SBET solution using tightly-coupled RTX-aided
inertial processing.
IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav Select to use the loosely‐coupled differential GNSS data to generate
Single Base the SBET solution from a single base station.
IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav Select to use the loosely‐coupled Applanix SmartBase data to generate
SmartBase SBET.
IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav Select to compute an SBET solution using loosely-coupled RTX-aided
PP-RTX inertial processing.
IN‐Fusion PPP Select to compute an SBET solution using inertially‐aided PPP
technique in tightly‐coupled processing mode. First download the
required PPP correction data. To activate the PPP Data download, click
the icon in the GNSS‐Inertial Processor pane.
POSGNSS KAR Select to use the loosely coupled differential GNSS data computed by
POSGNSS to generate an SBET.
POSGNSS PPP Select to use the loosely coupled PPP data computed by POSGNSS to
generate an SBET.
In‐Fusion Select to generate an SBET without base stations or when RTCM Type
Autonomous 1/9 differential corrections are available (POS LV and MV data only).
Auxiliary GNSS Nav Select to use the auxiliary GNSS data to generate an SBET using loosely
coupled integration.
Primary GNSS Nav Select to use the real‐time GNSS data (only available for POS AV) to
generate an SBET using loosely coupled integration.
Primary Trimble Select to reprocess the real‐time primary Trimble RTX solution using
RTX Nav loosely coupled integration. This processing mode is available when
using Trimble BD982 GNSS receiver with enabled integrated RTX
corrections.
Setting Option Description

Primary Marinestar Select to reprocess the real‐time primary Marinestar solution using
Nav loosely coupled integration.
GNSS Mode Primary OmniSTAR Select to reprocess the real‐time primary OmniSTAR VBS/HP/XP/G2
cont. Nav solution using loosely coupled integration. Only available when using
the Trimble BD960 GNSS receiver with integrated OmniSTAR
corrections enabled.
Stabilized Note – POS AV data only.
Mount • None—the IMU was not mounted on a stabilized mount.
• Gimbal Data—the IMU was mounted on a stabilized mount, and
the POS recorded the time‐sampled gimbal angles.
• Model—the IMU was mounted on a stabilized mount, but the POS
did not record the gimbal angles. The GNSS‐Inertial processor
includes a relative motion model to account for the movement of
the IMU on the stabilized mount relative to the GNSS antenna
fixed to the vehicle. The relative motion model requires the GNSS
antenna to be mounted approximately over the center of the
stabilized mount.
GAMS Enabled/Disabled Note – POS MV and LV data only.
Enable/disable GAMS when running the GNSS Inertial processor.
Base Station Indicates the base station to be used in the GNSS‐Inertial processor.
This only applies to SmartBase and Single Base Station GNSS mode.
Status
• Alignment Status—indicates the inertial navigator alignment status.

• Positioning Mode—indicates the processing mode for the current epoch of data.
• Position Accuracy—a sliding scale, including a color indicator, shows the computed position
accuracy in meters at the current processing epoch.
Message Log
The message log window displays processing progress, data information, and any processing
problems as they occur. To view the message log after processing is completed, select Report /
Message Logs.
Initiating the GNSS‐Inertial Processing

The GNSS‐Inertial processor performs multiple processing operations to compute intermediate
solutions and finally a smoothed best estimate of trajectory (SBET). The number of processing
operations depends on the selected processing mode. In all modes, the first operation is a forward‐
in‐time GNSS‐inertial integration and the last operation is optimal smoothing to generate the SBET.
Intermediate processing operations can include backwards‐in‐time GNSS‐inertial integration,
forward‐backward fixed ambiguity consolidation and precise GNSS‐inertial integration using the
consolidated ambiguities. The SmartBase and Single‐Base modes require all of these operations to
obtain the best achievable navigation accuracy from the input data. The PPP and Autonomous
modes require only the first and last operations.
Click to direct the GNSS‐Inertial processor to perform all of the processing operations required
by the selected mode. This is the recommended action to obtain the SBET directly.
You can compute the forward‐in‐time solution by clicking . This can be useful for evaluating a
particular processing setup or mode before committing to the remaining operations. Click to
perform the remaining operations that generate the SBET.
During processing, a report screen and a status indicator appear. When the status bar indicates
100%, the processing is complete. The post-processed solution then appears in the Plan View.
C H A P T E R
11
Navigation File Formats
In this chapter:
 Output data files
 Using post-processed data
Output data files

Post-processed solution file
The following table shows the post-processed output file (sbet_xxx.out). The output file is a
sequential binary file consistent with C‐language sequential files or Fortran binary files. C‐language
data types used to specify the individual data items have the following sizes.
Size of individual date items:
C‐Type Fortran Type Length
double double precision real 8 bytes
long integer 4 bytes
logical logical 1 byte
11 – Navigation File Formats
Data items, units, and types for post-processed solution file:

Data Units Type
Time seconds double
Latitude radians double
Longitude radians double
Altitude meters double
x velocity meters/second double
y velocity meters/second double
z velocity meters/second double
Roll radians double
Pitch radians double
platform heading radians double
wander angle radians double
x body acceleration meters/second2 double
y body acceleration meters/second2 double
z body acceleration meters/second2 double
x body angular rate radians/second double
y body angular rate radians/second double
z body angular rate radians/second double
Post-processed solution accuracy file

The POSPac MMS software produces a file that describes the accuracy of the post-processed
solution and contains the position, orientation and velocity RMS after smoothing. The name of the
file is smrmsg_xxx.out (where xxx is the processing Kernel). The sequential binary file is consistent
with C‐language sequential files.
Data items, units, and type for the post-processed solution accuracy file:
Data Units Type
Time seconds double
North position RMS error meters double
East position RMS error meters double
Down position RMS error meters double
North velocity RMS error meters/second double
East velocity RMS error meters/second double
Down velocity RMS error meters/second double
Roll RMS error arc‐minutes double
Pitch RMS error arc‐minutes double
Heading RMS error arc‐minutes double
Note – The record length is 80 bytes.

Data in the file can be viewed and plotted using the Display function in POSPac MMS.
11 – Navigation File Formats
Using post-processed data

Processed navigation output data may need to be transformed from SBET format to be compatible
with other applications. Before engaging in any such undertaking, note the following:
• The standard navigation record casts the computed velocity in a wander angle frame that is
locally level but not necessarily aligned with true North. If the X‐axis of the wander angle frame
points North, then the Y‐axis points West and the Z‐axis points Up. The standard navigation
record includes the wander angle that allows transformation of the computed velocity
components to North, East and Down, shown below:
VN = VX cos α − VY sin α
VE = −VX sin α − VY cos α
VD = −VZ
where α is the computed wander angle, and vx vy vz are the X, Y, and Z components of the
computed velocity resolved in the wander angle frame.
The wander angle coordinate frame provides for a navigation solution anywhere on Earth,
including the North and South poles. The mathematical singularity that occurs when computing
North and East velocities when passing over a pole is relegated to the above output
transformation.
• The indicated heading is the heading of the wander angle frame. Again, this avoids a
computational singularity at the poles. The true heading with respect to the North direction is
computed as shown below:
𝛹𝛹𝑇𝑇 = 𝛹𝛹𝑊𝑊 − 𝛼𝛼
where Ψw is the computed wander angle frame heading.
C H A P T E R
12
Export SBET Data
In this chapter:
 Export command As a result of blending inertial and aiding data in
 Change Coordinate System (Mapping POSPac, the Smoothed Best Estimate of
Frame Parameters dialog) Trajectory (SBET) data is computed. The
trajectory data is described by the latitude,
longitude, and altitude in a WGS‐84 system and
are stored in a binary file together with velocity
and orientation data for each epoch.
The EXPORT command converts the trajectory
data to a local grid and datum specified by you
and exports the results in various formats. You
can choose to apply a predefined database of
grids and datum provided by Applanix or specify
your own grids and datum in a user‐modifiable
database (that is saved and reused).
Export command
To open the Export pane, click the Export icon under the Tools tab:
12 – Export SBET Data
The Export pane is only available when a project is open or when a new project is created:
Field Description
Export File name Click the icon, and enter an export file name. The default directory for the export
file is the Project folder location.
Export File Select the format of the exported data. The options are ASCII, DXF, Custom Smoothed
Format BET, Shape‐file, SBET, Google KML or any user‐defined file format. For more
information on setting up a new file format in the Profile Manager, see Profile
Manager.
Note –
• The SBET data is referenced in the WGS‐84 datum transformation. This output
datum is fixed and cannot be changed within POSPac MMS.
• The Google KML format has a limit on the number of records, so resampling to a
10‐20 meter interval is highly recommended. If the interval is too high, the Google
Earth application will not load the KML file.
• All output formats are available for all POS data (AV, LV, and MV).
• 14‐parameter datum transformations within any output format of EO or Export
mapping frame definition.
• Supports datum transformations from another reference frame than ITRF00 (Multi‐
step transformations are used).
Settings Make the required selection in the following fields:
• Output Rate—Event Time, All Records, Specified Time Interval, Specified Distance
Interval.
• Output Height—Ellipsoid or Orthometric.
• Use Real‐time Navigation—select No to use the real‐time solution instead of the
SBET.
• Output Unit / Coordinate—Meter, US Survey Foot, International Foot.
• Output Unit / Lat & Long—Deg Decimal or Deg Arcmin, Arcsec format.
You can do the following:

• Specify the grid and the datum in which the data should be exported; click the Change
Coordinate System icon .
• Set a new profile or to change an existing one; click the Profile Manager icon . To set up your
own new file format, see Profile Manager.
• Go to the Project Settings for the Export command; click . This provides additional settings
such as Lever Arms and Boresights, Time Shifts, and Distance and Time Intervals:
Figure 12.1 Project Settings—Export
– Reference to Output Lever Arm—enables you to enter or edit the offsets from the SBET
point of reference (POSGNSS‐Inertial Processor reference) to the export frame if they are
not the same.
– Output w.r.t Reference Mounting Angles—enables you to specify the fixed mounting angles
from the SBET reference frame to the export frame if they are not the same.
– Output to Sensor 1 or Sensor 2 Frame—automatically enters the lever arms and mounting
angles values between Reference and Sensor 1 or 2. This only applies to POS MV data.
• To accept the settings and to start the export processing, click Export.
Profile Manager
To create a new Export profile or to edit an existing one that was set up by another user, click the
Profile Manager icon in the Export pane:
Select the Available Profiles you require. The following output file formats are available: ASCII, DXF,
Custom Smoothed BET, Shapefile, SBET, and Google KML.
• You can load the DXF format into most CAD programs.
• The Shapefile can be loaded into most graphics programs for display.
• The Google KML format can be displayed with Google Earth.
You can do the following:

• To set up a new profile, click New.
• To modify an existing user profile, click Modify. This opens the Edit Profile Manager.
• To copy user‐defined profiles, click Copy.
• To define the format of the output file header, select the Header tab (see Figure 12.2).
• To add entries in the Export Data pane, select the entry items from the Available Data pane and
then click Add Data >.
• To define the format of the exported text, open the Text Format dialog, click Format in the Edit
Profile dialog. Alternatively, double‐click an entry in the Export Data pane of the Edit Profile
dialog. For example, to define the output format of the X component of the lever arm (in the
header of the export file), double‐click the X Lever Arm column to activate the Text Format
dialog:
Figure 12.2 Edit Profile—Header tab and Text Format dialog
• To add comments to the Export file, click Add Text > to open the Text Format dialog.
• To define the layout for the body of the export file, select the Data Record tab:
• To define the footer of the output file, select the Footer tab:
• POSPac MMS 8.1 has enhanced Time formatting for time fields in custom POSEO and Export
profile headers, data records and footers with additional built in time formats and the capability
to output GPS or UTC time.
User defined Custom Date Time Format is available as well. The format codes can be accessed in a
pop up dialog.
Change Coordinate System (Mapping Frame

Parameters dialog)
Any output format can be configured to a different target frame using the Mapping Frame
Parameters dialog to configure the mapping frame/datum. In addition, the user may also specify a
target epoch for any datum. Note that if Custom Smoothed BET format is selected, only the Datum
tab is then visible on the Mapping Frame Parameters dialog.
Base Station Coordinates
Calculations within POSPac are performed in the ITRF2000 coordinate frame at the epoch of survey
(i.e., at the date corresponding to the rover data). Base station coordinates are automatically
transformed to this frame before they are used for processing.
To specify the coordinate frame and epoch of the base station coordinates (including differential
base stations), right‐click on the base station name and select Coordinate Manager. This brings up
the Coordinate Manager dialog:
In the upper‐right corner, navigate to the Frame tab.
Specify the frame, epoch and ellipsoid corresponding to the coordinates listed at the upper left. If
tectonic plate motion corrections are appropriate for this frame, check the Use Plate Model
Velocity check box and select Apply Changes.
To verify that the tectonic plate correction is being applied, close the Coordinate Manager dialog
and display the properties for this base station.
The Local Coordinate section will display the entered station coordinates and computed site velocity
predicted by the tectonic plate motion model. The Global Coordinate section will display the station
coordinates in ITRF2000 at the epoch of survey.
Mapping frame for SBET and Camera Exterior Orientation Export

The Mapping Frame Parameters dialog is accessible from the Export, Camera/ Exterior Orientation
and LiDAR pages of the Project ‐> Project Setting dialog as well as from CalQC and from the Batch
Editor.
To open the Mapping Frame Parameters dialog:
• Click the Change Coordinate System icon in the Export dialog (see page 141)
• Select Project / Project Settings / Export / Mapping Frame.
The SBET position and velocity values will be transformed from ITRF2000 (survey epoch) to the
selected datum at the Frame Epoch. The Target Epoch box permits the user to select either the
Mission Date or a Custom Date. The tectonic plate correction is now performed whenever the
Custom Date differs from the Mission Date. As a result, the checkbox has been removed because it
is no longer needed. To disable tectonic plate corrections, simply select Mission Date as the target
epoch.
Transformation Sequence
If the target datum is a 14‐parameter datum, the sequence of transformations proceeds as follows:
1. ITRF2000 (survey epoch) to ITRF2000 (target epoch) using a tectonic plate correction;
2. ITRF2000 (target epoch) to target datum (target epoch) using the 14 parameter transformation
evaluated at target epoch.
If the target datum is a 7‐parameter datum, the sequence of transformations proceeds as follows:
1. ITRF2000 (survey epoch) to ITRF2000 (target epoch) using a tectonic plate correction;
2. ITRF2000 (target epoch) to the 14‐parameter base datum (target epoch) using the 14 parameter
transformation evaluated at target epoch;
3. 14‐parameter base datum (target epoch) to the 7‐parameter target datum (target epoch) using
the 7 parameter transformation.
The 14‐parameter base datum is the value listed as the From Datum for 7‐parameter
transformations. For example, ED50 uses ETRS89 as its base datum, as illustrated below.
Export Mapping Frame Parameter

Export is automatically set up with UTM parameters as the default mapping grid. To indicate a
specific set up, you can make selections from the Grid, Zone, and Datum drop‐down menus on the
left of the screen.
Export uses a preset database of parameters for selection, represented by the blue icons. This
preset database, included in the software, cannot be modified. However, Export also enables you to
construct a custom database that makes it possible to modify and add to the set of mapping
parameters.
Elements of this database are represented by green icons and are described in the following
sections.
Grid/Zone tab
Adding a new mapping grid to your mapping database (Add button under Grid)
4. Click Add.
5. Complete the fields, when prompted, with the name of the New Grid and New Zone
respectively:
6. Complete the rest of the fields with the appropriate values of the first zone and select the
correct datum type and projection and then click OK. Some of the fields required depend on the
map projection you selected.
The following table lists types of projections, and their required data fields supported by the Export
functionality.
Projection Data Fields
Finnish National Grid Zone Central Meridian
Zone False Easting
a, b, ∆x, and ∆y
Hotine Oblique Mercator Latitude/Longitude of center of the projection
Scale Factor
Axis Azimuth
Bearing of the Center Line
False easting/northing at natural origin
Lambert Conic Conformal Latitude/Longitude of the grid origin
with one standard parallel Scale Factor
False easting/northing
Lambert Conic Conformal Central Meridian
with two standard parallel Latitude of the grid origin
Southern/Northern standard parallel
Local Space Rectangular Latitude/Longitude of the grid origin
Altitude of the grid origin
Oblique Mercator (one point Latitude/Longitude of center of the projection
and azimuth) Scale Factor
Axis Azimuth
Bearing of the Center Line
False easting/northing at center of projection
Stereographic Latitude/Longitude of grid origin
Scale Factor
Transverse Mercator Central Meridian
Latitude of the grid origin
Scale Factor
Adding additional zones to a grid (Add Zone button)

1. Click Add Zone (see Grid/Zone tab). You are prompted to select a new zone.
2. Complete the rest of the fields with the appropriate values of the zone and select the correct
datum type and projection.
3. Click OK.
Changing a zone within an existing grid

1. Click Edit (see Grid/Zone tab).
2. Complete the applicable fields with the new values of the zone and select the correct datum type
and projection.
3. Click OK.
Removing a zone in a grid
1. Use the drop‐down lists on the left of the Mapping Parameters dialog to browse to and then
select the zone to remove (see Grid/Zone tab).
2. Click Delete.
3. A pop‐up dialog prompts you to confirm the deletion; click Yes to proceed with the deletion or
click No to cancel:
Note – You can only modify a user‐constructed database (green icons), not the Applanix ones.
Removing a zone in a grid (Delete Grid button)
1. Use the drop‐down lists on the left of the Mapping Parameters dialog to browse to and then
select the grid to remove (see Grid/Zone tab).
2. Click Delete.
click No to cancel (see Grid/Zone tab).
Datum tab
Adding a new datum to the database (Add Datum button)

1. Click Add Datum.
2. Complete the field, when prompted, with the name of the New Datum and then click OK. The
New Datum dialog appears:
From the Ellipsoid drop‐down list, select the ellipsoid applicable to the new datum and then
enter the following information:

Name—enter a detailed description of the new datum (optional).
dX, dY, dZ—shift components between WGS‐84 and new datum.
f — scale factor of rotation (should be close to 1).
Rx, Ry, Rz —angles of rotation from WGS‐84 frame to new datum frame.
Sequence of Rotations R1*R2*R3 pane:

– First, Second, Third—from WGS‐84 to new datum.
– Direction of Rotation option—select clockwise or counter‐clockwise.
Example
The following is an example of the Equation for Earth Fixed Coordinate Transformation from
WGS‐84 to Datum:
The equation for Earth fixed coordinate transformation from WGS‐84 to the specified datum
implemented in EXPORT is as follows:
Xd dX X
�Yd� = �dY� + 𝑓𝑓R 1 R 2 R 3 �Y�
Zd dZ Z WGS-84
where the following parameters must be specified: dX, dY, dZ—shift between the datum (m)
f—scale factor of rotation
Rx, Ry, Rz—Angles of rotation from WGS‐84 frame to mapping datum about X, Y, Z axis accordingly
(rad)
The sequence of the rotations (that is, if R1, R2, R3 = Rx, Ry, Rz, then 1 = z, 2 = y, 3 = x) Direction of
rotations (clockwise or counter‐clockwise).
Modifying a datum
1. Click Edit (see Datum tab).
2. Modify the values as required and then click OK.
Removing a datum from the database (Delete Datum button)
1. Use the drop‐down lists on the left of the Mapping Parameters dialog to browse to, and then
select the zone to remove (see Grid/Zone tab).
2. Click Delete.
click No to cancel:
Ellipsoid functions (Datum tab)

The Add and Edit Ellipsoid button are available in the Add or Edit dialogs that are initiated from the
Datum tab of the Mapping Frame Parameters dialog (see Datum tab).
Figure 12.3 shows the various dialogs that are involved in this process; this example shows the new
datum procedure; this is similar to all the ellipsoid functions presented on the Edit Ellipsoid dialog.
Figure 12.3 Ellipsoid dialog
Adding a new ellipsoid to the database

1. Click the Add button in a Datum Parameter dialog.
2. When the Add New Ellipsoid dialog appears, enter the appropriate description in the Name
field. Specify only two ellipsoid parameters marked with an asterisks; the rest of the parameters
are calculated by the program.
Modifying an ellipsoid
1. Click the Edit button in a Datum Parameter dialog.
2. Modify the required values.
3. Click OK.
Removing an ellipsoid from the database (Delete Ellipsoid button)

1. Browse for and then select the ellipsoid that you want to remove in the Edit Datum dialog.
2. Select the ellipsoid type in the list and then click Delete.
click No to cancel:
Figure 12.4 Ellipsoid delete prompt
C H A P T E R
13
Tools
In this chapter:
 Distance Calculator pane The POSPac MMS GNSS‐Inertial Tools software
includes a number of additional tools.
 Trimble Mission Planner software
Distance Calculator pane

The Distance Calculator is used to determine the azimuth, distance, and change in elevation
between any two points. Use the screen to view information on the Inverse and to generate an
Inverse report:
13 – Tools
To calculate the distance between two points:

1. Click the Distance icon on the toolbar (Add the icon by right-clicking anywhere on the ribbon
and select Customize the Ribbon).
2. Select one of the following
– Sequential—to calculate values from point to point in series. Data is collected in a line to
verify the distances around the traverse. For example, you must click A to B, B to C, C to D,
D to E, and E to A.
– Radial—to calculate values from one point to multiple points. Data is collected in an array
and to verify the distance from the base station. For example, you must click A to B, A to C,
A to D, and A to E.
3. Enter or select the first point in the Plan View for the Inverse calculation. The point ID appears
in the From field of the Reported Points group.
4. Enter to select the second point for the inverse calculation. The point ID appears in the To field
and the inverse values appear in the Details group.
Note – If Free appears in the Reported Points list, no point with a point ID was within the pick
aperture. To prevent picking where there are no points, click the icon on the Inverse command
pane's toolbar. In the Snap Mode dialog, clear Free and then click OK.
5. Optional. To calculate a different inverse, repeat this procedure from Step 3.
6. Optional. To change the inverse report options, click the Show Report Options icon to
display the Report Options command pane. When you are done, click OK to return to the
Inverse command.
7. Optional. To view the final report in the HTML viewer, click the Show Report icon .
Note – If no coordinate system is defined, the Select Coordinate System dialog displays. Define
a coordinate system and run the report again.
8. Click Close.
Trimble Mission Planner software

The Trimble Mission Planner software is a powerful stand‐alone tool supporting any form of
analysis of visibility for GPS, GLONASS, IGSO and geostationary satellites. This software can be
accessed by selecting the Tools tab and clicking on the icon Planning . To access a detailed
manual of the Trimble Mission Planner software, select Start / All Programs / Applanix / POSPac
MMS / Manuals / Trimble Mission Planner Manual:
C H A P T E R
14
Data Display and Reports
In this chapter:
 Display function POSPac currently has two forms of reporting:
Graphic plots and text‐based message logs.
 Message Logs
This chapter briefly describes each of these
 QC Report functions. For full details on how to determine
 Publishing Module if your solution quality is of the highest level,
see Solution Quality Assessment.
Display function
To examine imported real‐time and post-processed data in graphic or tabular formats, click on the
Reports tab and click the Display Plots icon on the toolbar.
14 – Data Display and Reports
Components of the Display dialog

Click… To…
Export Graphics as Image files, or Tables as Text files.
Show the Project Tree.
Display data in graphic formats.
View data in table formats.
Scaling of a plot by setting min/max of X and Y values.
Copy or print the current graph.
See the version of the display (About).
Launch NAVDIF.
Enable Events for display by selecting View / Events and then selecting Event 1 and/or Event 2.
These options are only available if the data contains logged events.
A Favourites option is available that enables you to add your favourite plots to a list to view later.
To enable this option, select View / Favourites.
To add plots to the Favourites list, select Edit / Favourites and then select or clear the plots that
are wanted and/or not wanted.
Display data in graphic format

Do any of the following to display data in graphic format:
• Select View / Graphs.
• Click the Graphs icon on the toolbar.
• Double‐click the data object (that is, Real‐time Vehicle Navigation Data).
• Click the plus sign on the left side of the Display dialog to open.
• Select any one of the data objects to open the graphs on the right side of the Display dialog.
Display data in table format

Do any of the following to display numerical data in table format:
• Select View / Tables.
• Click the Tables icon on the toolbar.
• Select the data object on the left side of the Display dialog to display the numerical data on the
right side of the Display dialog.
Reload data configuration

Point the cursor to the name of the displayed graph or table and then right‐click the mouse to
show the configuration options.
The options are described in the following sections.
Configure Current Menu
Figure 14.1 Configure current data on display

Timing Current Start/End Displays the start and end time interval of the current view in
Time seconds.
Enter the values in these fields to set the display interval or click
the adjacent Restore buttons to set the entire interval.
Resolution Current Point Specifies the number of data records to be plotted. If the data
includes a large number of records, the displayed data load can take
a long time. Specifying a number of displayed records that is
significantly less than the number of records in the data file will
decrease the load time because most records will not be loaded.
The default value is 1000 displayed records.
Click All Data to recalculate and display the number of records
available for the current view:
Pan and Zoom functions

Panning
To pan, point the cursor, hold down the right mouse button, reposition the cursor and release the
button:
Zooming
To zoom, point the cursor, hold down the left mouse button, surround an area and then release
the button. The new level of magnification is globally applied to all corresponding display screens.
To zoom out, repeat the procedure, moving in the opposite direction:
NAVDIF Function
The Navigation Differencing (NAVDIF) function is launched from the toolbar in Display Plots. It is
used to compute the difference time history between selected navigation files. The difference file
appears in the Display file selection window after NAVDIF has created it.
The NAVDIF function has a variety of uses. Its typical use is the computation of the difference time
history between a forward‐in‐time or SBET solution and a significantly more accurate reference
navigation solution. The difference between these navigation solutions approximates the
navigation error.
The following identifies the NAVDIF dialog elements. Source files and directories are auto‐detected
(only if an active project is pre‐selected).
Tab Area Field Description

Data Navigation Type Displays the type of processing data from the drop‐down
Data menu. Vehicle Nav, Reference Nav, Forward IIN, Smooth
BET, Primary GPS, Differential GNSS and PPP data is
available for processing.
Path Automatically populated with the pre‐selected directory of
the Extract folder. Click the Browse icon to change the
path.
Kernel Displays the Mission name, defaults to "Mission 1".
Time Delay with Defaults to 0 seconds.
Respect to
Reference
Reference File Click the Browse icon to locate a reference file.
Data Stationary Click to open the Generate Stationary Navigation Data
Reference dialog, in which you can manually enter the stationary
navigation data.
Difference Data Defaults to 1.
Output Modulus
Note – To speed up NAVDIF processing, increase the output
modulus (for example, to 10). This will cause every tenth
record to be processed, so that the processing time will be
faster.
Parameters Timing Displays the total available data to process.
Nav-Ref Displays the orientation fields (roll, pitch, heading) to align
Orientation the reference and SBET/IIN frames.
Nav-Ref Lever Displays the lever arm coordinates to align the reference
Arm and SBET/IIN frames.
Direction Enables you to select the data reference frame.
Nav ‐> Ref radio References the lever arm and orientation in the
button Navigation data frame. Orientation angles describe the
orientation of the Reference frame with respect to the
Navigation frame (that is, r=b and n=g).
Ref ‐> Nav radio References the lever arm and orientation in the Reference
button data frame. Orientation angles describe the orientation of
the Navigation frame with respect to the Reference frame
(that is, r=g and n=b).
Common Messages Displays related data information and processing problems
areas if they exist.
Progress Shows the progress of computation.
Status bar
Difference Initiates processing.
Stop Cancels processing.
Close Closes the NAVDIF dialog.
Run NAVDIF
1. Open Display Plot.
2. Click the Launch NAVDIF icon .
3. Click Difference to start processing.
The Messages field and a status indicator are displayed during processing.
4. When the Display dialog opens with a message Differencing completed, click OK.
5. Close the NAVDIF dialog to return to the Display dialog.
Message Logs
Each command and process produces a message log after it has been completed. With the
exception of the importing and extracting or POS data, all of these engines will prompt you to view
the message log if they have been terminated with errors or warnings. To access the message logs,
select Reports / Message Logs.
For guidelines on what to look for in the message logs, see Solution Quality Assessment.
QC Report
POSPac 8.2 has introduced a new QC Report generation feature. After a dataset has been
imported or processed, users can generate a summary report of their processed data in PDF
format. The QC report includes the following information:
● Mission and hardware information
● Input and output files

● Rover data summary
● Raw data QC
● Trajectory information
● QNSS QC
● GNSS-Inertial processor configuration
● Calibrated installation parameters
● Smoothed and Forward Processing
At any of point after rover import, a QC report can be generated by clicking on the QC Report
button:
The QC Report pane is brought into view, and users can use the default template or users can
create their own template to place under:
C:\ProgramData\Applanix\User QC Report Templates
The default template XML file can be found under if users need it as a starting point:
C:\Program Files\Applanix\POSPac MMS 8.2\QCReport\Templates\Diagnostic.xml
The default location for the generated QC Report PDF and the log file can be found under \Mission
1\Report. Users can also customize this file path.
Under the Options -> Publish & QC Report tab, users can change the default number of plot points,
resolution, option to auto generate the QC report after SBET, and the option to plot after fine
alignment. Note that by increasing the Max Plot Points and Plot Resolution, the time to generate
the report will also increase.
Publishing Module
POSPac 8.2 has introduced a new Publishing module. After a dataset has been imported or
processed, users can generate a zipped file that contains the all the necessary files generated from
processing as well as the log files for QC.
At any of point after rover import, the project can be published by clicking on the Project Publisher
button:
The Project Publisher pane is brought into view, and users can use the default template or users
can create their own template to place under:
C:\ProgramData\Applanix\User Publish Templates
The default template XML file can be found under if users need it as a starting point:
C:\Program Files\Applanix\POSPac MMS 8.2\Publish\Templates\Standard.xml
The default location for the published zipped file and the log file can be found under \Mission
1\Publish. Users can also customize this file path.
C H A P T E R
15
Tips and Tricks
In this chapter:
 Changing the background color of the Plan View
 Changing the color settings of the Plan View
 Specification and automatic conversion of units
 Fast access to project settings in the task bar
 Fast selection of items in the main Plan View
Changing the background color of the Plan

View
Select Tools / Options / Start‐up and Display and then select either black or white as Background
color.
15 – Tips and Tricks
Changing the color settings of the Plan View

To change the color settings of the real‐time or post-processed trajectory that appears in the main
Plan View, open the View Filter Manager dialog. To do this, click the View / Manager icon:
Figure 15.1 Definition of the color index for the post-processed RMS Display in the View Filter Manager dialog
To change the color code settings:

1. Select Real‐time or Post‐processed in the Filter drop down list.
2. Select Trajectory tab.
3. Select the required setting from the Colour code by list. The available settings are:
– Trajectory Type
– Position RMS
– Roll Magnitude
– Processing Mode
15 – Tips and Tricks
– L/C Processing Mode

4. Select the colors you require. To restore the original Applanix settings, click Restore Defaults.
Specification and automatic conversion of

units
Metric values can be entered with a unit (ft, m, km) extension. If a value is entered in feet ("ft"),
for example, and the current metric unit is meter ("m"), POSPac MMS automatically converts the
entered value from feet to meter:
For a description on how to specify the current metric unit, see below.
Fast access to project settings in the task

bar
Double‐click any entries in the task bar below the graphics area to get immediate access to the
Project Settings. For example, to change the current distance unit, click Meter and to change the
current GPS time format to GPS Week and Seconds, click GPS:
Fast selection of items in the main Plan

View
To select the contents of the box, left click and drag the highlighted box from left to right.
To select the contents of the box and anything touching the box, left click and drag the highlighted
box from left to right.
C H A P T E R
16
Solution Quality Assessment
In this chapter:
 Imported and extracted data This chapter presents a set of guidelines for
assessing the quality of the various solutions
 Real‐time solution
produced by the available post-processing
 Base station coordinate survey modes in the POSPac MMS software.
 GNSS QC processing
 Applanix SmartBase solution
 Interpretation of Applanix SmartBase Quality
Check Results summary
 POSGNSS KAR and PPP solutions
 Smoothed Best Estimate of Trajectory (SBET)
solution
 Calibrating the reference to GNSS Lever Arm
values
Imported and extracted data

Examine the following message logs after the POS data are imported into the project. To access
the message logs, select Reports / Message Log.
• POS Data Import — review the messages from the real time mission data and check for any
suspicious error messages. Ensure that the POS status reached Full Navigation or at least Fine
Align.
• IMU Data Continuity Checking — check for reported IMU data gaps. No IMU data gaps should
be present in the data. An IMU data gap is typically caused by a data communication failure
between the IMU and the POS computer system (PCS) that should be repaired before any
further use.
• Primary/Secondary GNSS Import — check for reported decoding errors. The GNSS data should
be decoded without errors. A decoding error is usually caused by one or more corrupted bytes
in the GNSS receiver data stream, again likely due to a data communication failure.
16 – Solution Quality Assessment
Real‐time solution
Examine the following display plots after the POS data are imported into the project. To access the
display plots, select Reports / Display Plots. See also Data Display and Reports.
• Real‐Time Trajectory / Top View—become familiar with the mission trajectory.
• Real‐Time Trajectory / Altitude—determine when and how the POS was initialized. If a POS AV
was used, determine whether it was initialized on the ground or in the air. If a POS LV was
used, determine whether it was initialized while the vehicle was stationary or moving.
Determine how many GNSS satellites were visible during the initialization.
• Real‐Time Trajectory / Roll and Pitch—ensure that the POS was operated with the correct
mounting angles.
Base station coordinate survey

One of the common use cases in surveying and mapping applications is for users to set up a local
base station which then needs to have its coordinates surveyed before it can be used for processing.
However, this can often be complex, expensive, and time consuming. POSPac 8.0 solves this problem
by producing high-accuracy global coordinates for any base station directly from its interface. This is
made possible by using Trimble® RTX technology.
High accuracy, cm-level global coordinates can automatically be computed by POSPac for any base
station and used for GNSS-Inertial processing. Below are some key points related to using this
feature:
• Does not require a subscription
• Support data intervals from 1 second to 30 seconds
• For highest absolute accuracy, it is recommended to provide at least 60 minutes of
observations
• Data files cannot be less than 30 minutes and cannot exceed 24 hours in length.
• Data files must be static only
• Data files must contain dual frequency pseudorange and carrier phase observations (L1 and L2)
• Data must have been collected after 14 May 2011
• BeiDou data is supported since 04 June 2014
• Internet connection is required
• Coordinates are available 1 hour after data collection
• Data formats accepted include T02 and the standard RINEX 2 and RINEX 3 data formats
• Supported in batch
• Coordinates are surveyed in to the ITRF00 Datum, current epoch
The workflow of surveying a base station is very straightforward and is described below:
1. Import raw rover data

2. Import base data
3. Right-click the base station in Plan View or Project Explorer and select Compute RTX
Coordinates. POSPac will upload the base data to the RTX server and return the surveyed
coordinates within minutes (Note that if there is a connection issue for more than 5 minutes,
PP-RTX generation will time out automatically). Once the computation is complete, a dialog
will pop up to show the computed accuracy (standard deviations) and you can choose to
accept or reject the newly computed coordinates. A log file can be found under the proc
folder: rtxCoords_{STATION NAME}_Mission 1.log
4. Right-click the base station and select Set Base Station

5. Launch the GNSS-Inertial Processing command pane and proceed with GNSS-Inertial
processing as before
Base station coordinate survey is available in batch processing under a checkbox as Compute RTX Pos.
Users can enable/disable this option in Coordinate Manager while setting the base file in batch. The
survey coordinates will always be computed and used when this option is selected. A warning
message will be reported in the batch logs if the horizontal or vertical precision exceeds the threshold
(3 cm in horizontal, 5 cm in vertical (1 sigma)).
GNSS QC processing
GNSS QC processor can be used to check the quality of GNSS observables before running GNSS‐
Inertial processor in Single Base, SmartBase, or PP-RTX modes. After the user imports a base
station and clicks the Set Base option, POSPac will decode the base data and launch the GNSS QC
processor. When the user runs Applanix SmartBase, POSPac will generate the SmartBase data and
launch the GNSS QC processor. Similarly, when the user runs Applanix PP-RTX, POSPac will
generate the PP-RTX data and launch the GNSS QC processor.
The GNSS QC results include the baseline length, number of satellite, PDOP, QC solution status and
satellite elevation and residuals. These results are summarized in GNSS QC Statistics window as
well as in the GNSS QC processing message logs as shown below:
The GNSS QC results are also available in Display Plot for further analysis. Some example plots are
shown below:
GNSS QC information is useful for analysis before GNSS‐Inertial processing. For example, the user
can determine which single base station is the most suitable for processing by inspecting the GNSS
QC information (baseline length, the number of GPS/GLONASS satellites for each of the imported
base stations, PDOP, etc.).
For each base station, the GNSS QC results are separated into two major categories. In the
example shown above, these two categories are Baseline ATR5 GNSS Navigation Data and Baseline
ATR5 GNSS QC. Baseline ATR5 GNSS Navigation Data contains the baseline navigation information.
Baseline ATR5 GNSS QC contains the quality control information, which can help determine the
most suitable base station for processing when compared with other stations.
Baseline ATR5 GNSS QC is further divided into parent nodes: Number of SVs in solution, DOP,
Forward/Reverse Separation, Quality Factor, Estimated Position Accuracy, GPS Residuals, and
GLONASS Residuals. Each of the parent nodes has child nodes in green. If the parent node is
selected, all of child nodes will be displayed on the same plot. Of course, each of the child nodes
can be individually selected and displayed as well.
In the example below, we have imported raw POS data as well as three base stations (MLVL, ISLA,
and CREI). After all the desired base stations are imported and Set Base is used for each base, open
Display Plot to check the GNSS QC information for all the stations as shown below. Note that a
maximum of 10 baseline GNSS QC plots will be displayed.
Inspecting the GNSS QC information for each base station can help determine the most suitable
base station for processing. Given the GNSS QC information for each station below, the base
station MLVL is the recommended station to be used in the single base processing as it has
shortest baseline lengths and the most numbers of satellites throughout the whole mission.
Therefore, the user can go back to POSPac to right‐click the desired base station MLVL point in the
Project Explorer or Plan View and select the Set Base option and then run GNSS‐Inertial Processor
with Single Base processing.
Applanix SmartBase solution

Review the quality of the coordinates used for each station in an Applanix SmartBase network
before generating the Applanix SmartBase solution. Do this by running the Applanix SmartBase
Quality Check and then reviewing the reported results:
Quality Check computes adjusted coordinates for reference stations for which at least 18 hours of
continuous observables data are available to process.
• It reports an OK status for those reference stations whose adjusted horizontal and vertical
coordinates differ from the published coordinates by less than 5 cm, and recommends the
output coordinates in the Output Coord field, that SmartBase will use to be Original, which are
the published coordinates in the RINEX observables file.
• It reports a Good Estimate status if the adjusted coordinates differ from the published
coordinates by more than 5 cm, and recommends the output coordinates that SmartBase will
use to be Adjusted, which are the adjusted coordinates.
• It reports a Bad Estimate status for a reference station if the adjusted coordinates differ from
the published coordinates by more than 5 cm and less than 18 hours of observables are
available, and recommends the reference station to be Disabled in the corresponding Output
Coord field.
• It similarly reports a Not Processed status for a reference station and recommends Disabled if
not enough observables data are available to compute a reliable adjusted position.
You can override the recommended output coordinates for any reference station by editing the
Output Coords field. If one or more reference stations are recommended as Disabled, then you
should delete them and rerun Quality Check. To view the SmartBase Quality Check summary,
select Reports / Message Logs.
Interpretation of Applanix SmartBase

Quality Check Results summary
Table 16.1 Reference Station Raw Data Analysis
Field Unit Description Remarks
Station ID Station name, usually 4-letter

string.
Time Span Seconds Time span of station raw data
(last epoch - first epoch).
Data rate Seconds Data rate of raw observations.
Start Time Week

Seconds GPS time to the
first epoch
End Time Week
Seconds GPS time of the
last epoch
Total Gap Seconds Total data gap in station raw data These values reflect the statistics
file. of all stations during the time
Max Gap Seconds The biggest data gap in the span of control station. (Some
station raw data file. station may have longer data
Min Gap Seconds The smallest data gap in station than the control station. Process
raw data file. ends once control station
Unrepaired CS Occurrence The total number of unrepaired reaches end of file.)
cycle slip accumulated among
satellites.
Simul Occurrence The total number of
Unrepaired CS simultaneous unrepaired cycle
slip. One occurrence indicates
all satellites experiences
simultaneous unrepaired cycle‐
slip in the same epoch. This
usually happens after a data
gap. Also in the beginning of the
processing, ObsQuality class
need 4 epochs to initialize its
filter and detect gross error, all
the 4 epochs are flagged as
Unrepaired CS.
Data Rate Seconds Observation file data rate.
MinNum Sats The minimum number of
satellites per epoch.
MaxNum Sats The maximum number of
satellites per epoch.
Min PDOP The minimum PDOP.
Max PDOP The maximum PDOP.
Table 16.2 Reference Station Applanix SmartBase Quality Check Processing Results
Field Unit Description
Station ID Station name.
Status Indicates the quality of the coordinates of each reference station.
3DError Meters 3D difference of adjusted coordinates from the input coordinates.
Process Time Hours The longest segment of processing time‐span without a station reset.
Span Value can be different for each station and cannot be bigger than the
control station process time‐span as the accuracy of other stations
depends on the control station.
Process Timespan = Process Interval * Solution Epochs Process
Timespan End Time ‐ Start Time
Process Interval Seconds Process interval.
Start Time Week Seconds The first epoch of the process time span.
End Time Week Seconds The last epoch of the process time span.
Solution Epochs Epochs Number of epochs with solutions during the segment.
No Solution Epochs Number of epochs without solutions during the segment.
Epochs
Mean Sats per The mean number of satellites during the segment.
Epoch
Station Reset Times The number of station reset during the processing.
Max Rx‐Clk Seconds The maximum receiver clock offset during the processing.
Prior to running the GNSS‐Inertial processor, verify the quality of the Applanix SmartBase solution
by reviewing the Applanix SmartBase Processing message log. Select Report / Message Log.
If the Applanix SmartBase data generation is successful, there is no need to review the message
log. If the Applanix SmartBase solution has encountered an error or warning, a pop‐up dialog
appears prompting you to view the message log:
The Applanix SmartBase message log contains a raw data analysis for each reference station in the
network and statistics on the Applanix SmartBase solution.
The Reference Station Raw Data Analysis reflects the data quality of each reference station for a
period of 15 minutes + rover time span. Fifteen minutes of data prior to the rover time span is
essential for Applanix SmartBase processing and ambiguity resolution:
• Values for Total_Gap, Max_Gap, and Min_Gap are in seconds.
• Unrepaired_CS shows the number of occurrences of unrepaired cycle‐slip.
• Simul_Unrepaired_CS stores the number of occurrences of simultaneous unrepaired cycle‐slip
for all satellites in the same epoch.
• REF2Traj_Centre (km) refers to the distance between the reference station and the average
center of the trajectory.
• Data rate of each station is in seconds.
The SmartBase Statistics reflects the status of the computed Applanix SmartBase solution:
• SmartBase Status—the status of the Applanix SmartBase solution may be one of the following:
– PROC_STATUS_VRS_OK
– PROC_STATUS_VRS_LOWPERCENTAGE
– PROC_STATUS_VRS_DATAGAP
• Total full data gap indicates the total missing epochs in the Applanix SmartBase solution. If
data gaps occur, the status will report PROC_STATUS_VRS_DATAGAP.
• Total individual satellite data gap shows the total number of satellites with missing
observation data, either due to poor quality or low elevation (in the Applanix SmartBase
solution) for the whole mission time span.
• Percentage of Primary Station Measurement Usage is another indicator of the Applanix
SmartBase quality; indicates the percentage of the primary station measurements projected
into the Applanix SmartBase solution. The current threshold value is 90%. Below 90% reports
PROC_STATUS_VRS_LOWPERCENTAGE.
The following table outlines the various Applanix SmartBase Status messages, the possible source
of the problem, and recommended actions.
PROC_STATUS_VRS_DATAGAP PROC_STATUS_VRS_LOWPERCENTAGE
Possible sources 1. Physical data gaps in the 1. Data gap in the Applanix SmartBase
Primary station raw data file. solution file caused by physical data
This is usually the main source. gap in Primary Station.
2. Poor quality primary station 2. Data gap in the Applanix SmartBase
data, where there are solution file caused by simultaneous
simultaneous unrepaired unrepaired cycle‐slip in Primary
cycle‐slips present and Station.
ambiguities cannot be fixed. 3. Bad data quality causing many
3. Poor quality primary station unresolved ambiguities if there are no
data where ambiguities for all data gaps.
satellites cannot be fixed. 4. Data gap in the Applanix SmartBase
4. Possibly network ambiguity is solution file caused by Bad network
unresolved. configuration and data quality,
network ambiguity resolution fails.
Action For the first three cases, the recommendation is to change Primary station based
on the raw data analysis information. For the fourth case, the only course of
action to follow is to change the network configuration, for example, reduce the
inter‐station distance by adding more reference stations.
Criteria for choosing The list is in the order of priority.
a good Primary 1. No continuous data gaps larger than 30 seconds (Max‐Gap, Min‐Gap).
Station 2. No occurrences of Simul_unrepaired_CS (simultaneous unrepaired
cycle‐slips).
3. Nearest distance to trajectory center.
4. Lowest number of unrepaired cycle‐slip.
POSGNSS KAR and PPP solutions

When a user chooses to run POSGNSS to generate a differential GNSS or a PPP solution, it is critical
to review the processed solution and refine the processing settings in order to yield an optimal
navigation solution.
Click the Plot GPS Data icon in the POSGNSS dialog to display the Plot Results dialog:
The following table outlines the plots to review, the quality indicators, as well as a suggested
course of action if the quality indicator is not met.
Table 16.3 Quality Indicators and Suggested Course of Action

Plot Quality Indicators Suggested Course of Action
Combined ±15 cm between forward and For Differential Processing, ensure KAR is
Separation reverse solution. engaged at an appropriate time and that the
integer ambiguity is fixed throughout the
trajectory. If baselines are short (less than 10
to 20 km), ensure that ionospheric corrections
are deactivated.
For PPP processing, ensure that precise
ephemeris files are used by the processor.
DOP PDOP < 2.5 = ideal Use POSGNSS Mission Planning tools to plan
PDOP < 4 is acceptable around PDOP spikes before flying missions.
Number of Satellites 5+ satellites throughout the entire Reduce the elevation mask to a minimum
mission value of 8° (for differential processing) and 5°
(for PPP).
Quality Factor 1 = best For differential processing, change KAR
2 = good settings to remain in a fixed solution for the
entire trajectory. A maximum quality factor of
two is expected for a PPP solution.
Satellite Lock ‐ Cycle Minimum cycle slips, only at low Keep bank angles less than 25° when flying the
Slips elevation angles mission.
RMS ‐ C/A Code and Random RMS values without a saw Check base station coordinates when using
Carrier Phase tooth or sinusoidal pattern multi‐base processing to ensure the accuracy
of the network.
Smoothed Best Estimate of Trajectory

(SBET) solution
GNSS‐Inertial Forward and/or Backward Processing
Message Log
A few measurement rejections are normal. 120 consecutive measurement rejections cause the
processor to fail. If this happens:
• Check that the installation parameters (lever arms and mounting angles) are correct.
• Try processing the data using another start time that meets the required initialization
conditions.
• Ensure that the IMU mounting angles are correct.
• Large numbers of cycle slips on different satellites will adversely influence the processor and
the quality of the final solution. To remove specific satellites or adjust the elevation mask angle
for the processing, select Project Settings / Satellite Selection dialog.
• Try decreasing the accuracy of the GNSS solution. Select Project Settings / GNSS‐Inertial
Processor/ Timing Multipath and Baseline dialog (POSGNSS KAR or PPP only).
• Review the post-processed GNSS solution to ensure it is of a high quality (POSGNSS KAR or PPP
only).
• Check the Extract log to determine whether the real time data was logged in UTC or GPS time;
ensure that the post-processed GPS data was exported in the correct time (POSGNSS KAR or
PPP only).
Reviewing the plots

POSPac plots show estimated parameters with red traces, and the estimation standard deviations
in dotted line envelopes around the estimate traces.
Review the smoothed best estimate of trajectory plot:
• Check the plots to ensure the SBET solution is complete by reviewing start/end times to ensure
that the SBET encompasses the entire mission time.
• Verify that the Altitude plot appears reasonable for the mission, especially during takeoff and
landing.
• Review Roll, Pitch, and True Heading plots to verify the IMU orientation used in post-
processing.
Review the IIN Solution status plots (Single Baseline and Applanix SmartBase only):
• Best processing mode in forward or reverse is 0 (Fixed).
• Number of Space Vehicles (SVs) greater than 7 should normally give a reliably accurate
solution. This needs to be taken together with PDOP.
• A‐priori Positional Dilution of Precision (PDOP) less than 3.0 should normally give a reliably
accurate solution.
• The quality of the Single Base mode solution will be degraded when the baseline length is over
20 km during start and end of the mission.
• When flying missions with roll angles exceeding 20 degrees, verify that the SmartBase Baseline
Data / 3D Distance to Closest Station is always within 70 km (Applanix SmartBase only).
Open Forward GNSS Measurement Residuals and/or Backward GNSS Measurement Residuals:
• Plots should appear noisy and centered about zero.
• Residuals should not show spikes associated with vehicle motion.
• Residuals should be within the dotted envelope most of the time.
• Significant spikes in residuals may be due to cycle slips in GPS data.
Open IIN KF Estimated Errors node:

• Plots show the Kalman Filter's estimate for the inertial sensor errors.
• Estimated uncertainties are shown in dotted lines.
• All plots should show stable sensor error estimations.
• Check accelerometer and gyro bias and scale factor errors:
– Accelerometer bias should not vary more than 500 µg.
– Accelerometer scale error should not vary more than 500 ppm.
– Gyro drift (bias) should not vary more than 5 deg/hr.
– Gyro scale error should not vary more than 500 ppm.
– Sudden changes could mean problems.
Note – The values suggested here are for AV410 and AV510 systems.
If you are uncertain about the interpretation of any sensor error plots, please contact Technical
Support and Service. See Technical Support.
Open Smoothed Performance Metrics node:
• The plots represent the accuracy of the estimated navigation errors that were modeled and
removed.
• The plots represent the final solution accuracy.
• Position (N, E, D) RMS plots show the relative positional accuracy (sample to sample) of the
navigation solution.
• View the roll, pitch and heading error RMS plots:
– The plots should show a bouncing ball pattern.
– Low points correspond to turns where heading error is calibrated.
Tip – To see several plots within one graph, press the control key, mark the plots and then
right-click and select Display Selected.
Calibrating the reference to GNSS Lever Arm

values
After the first few missions are conducted with a new IMU installation, the Reference to GNSS
Antenna lever arm should be calibrated using POSPac MMS and the values saved in the POS
Computer System should be updated to the calibrated values.
Calibrated Installation Parameters Plots: X, Y, and Z Reference‐Primary GNSS Lever Arm (m).
The lever arms should converge correctly to an approximate single value with a few centimeters
variation. You can run the GNSS‐Inertial Processor the first time with initial values (extracted
values from the raw data or manually inserted values, as for example 0,0,0), then calibrate the
GNSS lever arm and extract the values afterwards. Always extract the last value from the plot and
not the average. Insert the values determined from the first run as new start values for the lever
arm and run the GNSS‐Inertial Processor again. Now, the lever arm values should converge to a
single value.
Select Project / Project Settings / Lever Arm and Mounting Angles.
Table 16.4 Lever arm values

Initial Lever Arm, first run New Lever Arm, second run
Initial Lever Arm, first run New Lever Arm, second run
In this example, the initial values are already quite close to the final calibration values. Nevertheless,
small improvements can be achieved by refining the lever arm, especially in the X and Y component.
Always extract the final value from the plot and not the average as the Kalman filter takes time to
converge on the correct lever arm value estimation.
If the lever arms converge and you still get unexpected solution results, verify your antenna settings
for each base station using the Coordinate Manager, which can be accessed by right‐clicking on a
base station point in the POSPac Project Explorer.
C H A P T E R
17
Batch Processing
In this chapter:
 Batch Processing from within POSPac POSPac has two ways to run a batch in the
processing of multiple projects and to allow
 Other processing settings
them to run without user intervention. You
 Creating your own Batch XML project file can:
• Create a new batch project from within
POSPac.
• Create your own batch XML project file
and launch POSPac MMS from the
command line.
Batch Processing from within POSPac

Launch POSPac, and under the Project tab, click on the Batch Manager icon . The Batch Editor
dialog appears prompting you to enter a name and location for the batch project.
You must enter the following settings:

• Rover Data Location
• GNSS Mode Settings
Rover Data Location
Enter the location of the first and last POS data or T04 files for processing. You can also select the
start and end time of the data to import:
For batch processing through the POSPac GUI, users can also override the default antenna type by
selecting the checkbox Override default and access the same Rover Antenna Specification dialog by
clicking the Custom Setup button.
GNSS Mode settings
Select the processing mode of the batch files. For a complete list of available GNSS‐Inertial
Processing modes, see GNSS‐Inertial processor. Depending on the mode you select, there may be
additional options:
• If you select IN‐Fusion SmartBase or IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav SmartBase as the GNSS Mode, POSPac
attempts to find the optimal network and only download and import the required stations:
• If you select IN‐Fusion Single Baseline or IN‐Fusion GNSS Nav Single Base as the GNSS Mode,
you must specify the location of the base station file(s) using Coordinates and Height
information to the Antenna Reference Point or use Smart Select Single Base. You can configure:
– A single base station file
– Multiple (for example, hourly) files for a single base station
– Multiple files for IN‐Fusion Multi‐Single Base processing
– Smart Select Single Base feature allows POSPac to automatically select a single best
reference station to be used for IN‐Fusion Single Base processing in batch. POSPac will
select this station from the SmartBase Database and the User Database (if it exists)
• If the coordinates are unknown, you can batch compute the position or compute using RTX. The
survey coordinates will always be computed and used when Compute RTX Pos. is selected (See
Base station coordinate survey for more details). A warning message will be reported in the
batch logs if the horizontal or vertical precision exceeds the threshold (3 cm in horizontal, 5 cm
in vertical (1 sigma)). Batch computing the position using Compute AVG Pos. should be a last
resort as the coordinate estimated will not be accurate. The option to add or retrieve a
particular base station to your User Database can be used here as well.
• Custom Settings. When data is logged with a dual-receiver (POS AV only), in the Custom
Settings tab, you can select which data (Primary or Secondary) to be used in the post-
processing.
Export settings
Target epoch is supported in Exterior Orientation and Export options of the POSPac batch manager.
For Exterior Orientation, the target epoch is defined in the template project used to initialize the
batch. For Export, the target epoch is selectable from the GUI along with other mapping frame
parameters.
At the time when the batch is created, the mission date is not known because POS data has not
been imported. A special value of 0.0 is therefore used to indicate that the target epoch should be
set to mission date, as illustrated below. If mission date is not desired, it can be changed by
specifying a custom date in the Mapping Frame Parameters dialog.
Other processing settings
To create your own template:
1. Exit the Batch Manager
2. Create a new project (do not import any data)
3. Enter all the desired settings in the Project / Project Setting / GNSS Inertial Processor.
In the Custom Extraction Settings pane, ensure that you select the Do not extract POS installation
parameters during import checkbox. In this way, when a new project or batch is created, it uses
the pre‐defined settings that were used in the construction of this template.
To use an existing template, select a Project Template from the list in the Project Template tab:
Creating your own Batch XML project file
In some situations it may make sense to create your own batch XML project file and launch POSPac
using the command line. This automatically opens the batch queue, processes the entire batch,
and then closes the POSPac MMS software.
The command line setup looks like this:
pospac.exe -b myBatch.posbat
In POSPac 6.2 and earlier, template files are required if the user wanted to specify certain
parameters (e.g., Primary GNSS Lever Arms) for batch processing. For POSPac 7.0 and newer, these
parameters can be specified under the tag <CustomSettings> for each individual mission in the
project batch file. This eliminates the necessity of using template files. These additional custom
batch parameters are not supported in the POSPac Batch Manager GUI, but are supported by the
*.posbat XML schema. They must be manually defined in the *.posbat file outside of the POSPac
Batch Manager GUI. The POSPac GUI Batch Manager does not support the loading of these custom
*.posbat files and they must be run from a command prompt using the –b switch.
A few general points about the improved batch file:

• Older *.posbat files are still supported.
• Any specified values in the batch file will override any equivalent values defined in the
template file (if template files are in use).
• The <SearchRadius> value should be set as 0 for any SmartBase processing.
• A user who creates a new *.posbat file from the GUI will get absolute paths; a user who creates
a new *.posbat file by script or other utility has the choice of using relative or absolute paths. If
a relative path is chosen, then the *.posbat file will keep its relative paths even after
processing. If an absolute path is chosen, then the *.posbat file will keep absolute paths.
Example
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Batch xmlns:xsi="…" xmlns:xsd="…">
<Version>2.0</Version>
<Project>
<Process>
<GnssMode>INFusion_PPRTX</GnssMode>
<GnssNavType>None</GnssNavType>
<AutoSelectDownload>false</AutoSelectDownload>
</Process>
</Project>
</Batch>
Example
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Batch xmlns:xsi="…" xmlns:xsd="…">
<Version>2.0</Version>
<Project>
<Extract>
<FirstPosFile>C:\Datasets\AV\Demo\Demo.001<//FirstPosFile>
<LastPosFile>C:\Datasets\AV\Demo\Demo.005</LastPosFile>
<StartTimeTotalSec>0</StartTimeTotalSec>
<StopTimeTotalSec>999999</StopTimeTotalSec>
<OverrideDefaultAntenna>true</OverrideDefaultAntenna>
<AntennaManufacturer>Applanix</AntennaManufacturer>
<AntennaType>AV39</AntennaType>
</Extract>
<Process>
<GnssMode>INFusion_SmartBase</GnssMode>
<MultipathType>HIGH</MultipathType>
<SmartBase>
<SearchRadius>0</SearchRadius>
</SmartBase>
<CustomSettings>
<PriGNSSLeverX>0.0</PriGNSSLeverX>
<PriGNSSLeverY>0.0</PriGNSSLeverY>
<PriGNSSLeverZ>0.0</PriGNSSLeverZ>
<PriGNSSLeverSD>SDLessthan3cm</PriGNSSLeverSD>
<SecGNSSLeverX>0.0</SecGNSSLeverX>
<SecGNSSLeverY>0.0</SecGNSSLeverY>
<SecGNSSLeverZ>0.0</SecGNSSLeverZ>
<SecGNSSLeverSD>SDLessthan3cm</SecGNSSLeverSD>
<RefToIMULeverX>5</RefToIMULeverX>
<RefToIMULeverY>10</RefToIMULeverY>
<RefToIMULeverZ>15</RefToIMULeverZ>
<RefToDMILeverX>0.877</RefToDMILeverX>
<RefToDMILeverY>‐0.497</RefToDMILeverY>
<RefToDMILeverZ>0.643</RefToDMILeverZ>
<DMILeverArmSD>SD3cm</DMILeverArmSD>
<RefToIMUMountingAnglX>20</RefToIMUMountingAnglX>
<RefToIMUMountingAnglY>25</RefToIMUMountingAnglY>
<RefToIMUMountingAnglZ>30</RefToIMUMountingAnglZ>
<VehRefMntAngX>0.0</VehRefMntAngX>
<VehRefMntAngY>0.0</VehRefMntAngY>
<VehRefMntAngZ>0.0</VehRefMntAngZ>
<GAMSBaselineVectorX>0.01</GAMSBaselineVectorX>
<GAMSBaselineVectorY>‐2.23</GAMSBaselineVectorY>
<GAMSBaselineVectorZ>0.01</GAMSBaselineVectorZ>
<GAMSLeverArmSD>SD1cm</GAMSLeverArmSD>
<InitialAttitudeSource>VNAV</InitialAttitudeSource>
<GnssReceiver>Primary</GnssReceiver>
<IncludeHighRate>true</IncludeHighRate>
</CustomSettings>
</Process>
</Project>
</Batch>
IMU Data Gap Handling
For POSPac MMS 8.1, we have implemented a new IMU data scanner, configurable in batch mode
only, which scans all IMU data for data gaps. The user activates the scanner by setting an optional
flag in the <Extract> block(s) of the posbat file.
Sample <Extract> block:
<Extract>
<FirstPosFile>C:\Data\Default.001</FirstPosFile>
<LastPosFile>C:\Data\Default.020</LastPosFile>
<StartTimeTotalSec>0</StartTimeTotalSec>
<StopTimeTotalSec>999999</StopTimeTotalSec>
<OverrideDefaultAntenna>false</OverrideDefaultAntenna>
<ScanImuForDataGaps>true</ScanImuForDataGaps>
<Extract>
The default value of the flag if absent is false (disabled).
If the user enables the IMU data scan, the IMU scanning log file will report the process-able segment
start and end times.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Imu Data Scan Utility [Mar 23 2017]
Copyright (c) 1997-2017 Applanix Corporation. All rights reserved.
Date : 03/27/17 Time : 15:27:49
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Start Time End Time Duration Reason For End Selected For Process
389739.195 390744.999 1005.804 DATA_GAP
390752.010 391836.997 1084.987 DATA_GAP
391841.007 393899.678 2058.671 END_OF_FILE x
If a batch project contains a <Process> block, the GNSS-Inertial processor will run on the longest
segment.
By not configuring <Process> blocks, the user will be able to determine the process-able time
windows for all projects before setting up the final batch process. In this way, they have access to a
simple IMU data gap scanner.
In either case, the IMU scanning log will contain the timing information, which can then be used to
format the “final” batch file supplemented with additional projects corresponding to all (or a
selection) of the process-able segments. The user can use the start (<StartTimeTotalSec>) and end
(<StopTimeTotalSec>) times, which are currently configurable in the <Extract> block, to set up the
final batch process.
Here is a possible workflow.
1. Set up a new batch or edit an existing one. Add this element to the <Extract> sections of
each project:
<ScanImuForDataGaps>true</ScanImuForDataGaps>
1. Optionally, remove any <Process>, <Export> and <ExternalOrientation> sections if they

exist. (This is the approach to scan the IMU data for gaps without processing.)
2. Run the batch.
3. For each project, check for more than one process-able window in the IMU scanning log file.
4. If the number of process-able windows is n > 1, manually split that project in the batch file
into n projects and populate the <StartTimeTotalSec> and <StopTimeTotalSec> fields in the <Extract>
section of the project with each window start and end time for all n projects. Also configure the
<Process>, <Export> and <ExternalOrientation> sections as/if required.
5. Re-run the batch, selecting just the segmented projects if <Process>, <Export> and
<ExternalOrientation> sections were not removed in Step 1.
The onus is on the user should they decide to automate this process somehow and have some
meaningful way of combining the SBETs for the segmented projects.
DMI/GAMS enable/disable and Single Base fallback
POSPac MMS 8.1 introduces a new flag in the <SmartBase> block of the .posbat format, which tells
POSPac to fall back to Smart Select Single Base in the event of a SmartBase failure (i.e. no observables
generated). In addition, users have the option to enable/disable DMI and/or GAMS during
processing.
Sample <Process> block:
<Process>
<GnssMode>INFusion_SmartBase</GnssMode>
<GnssNavType>None</GnssNavType>
<SmartBase>
<SearchRadius>0</SearchRadius>
<EnableSingleBaseFallback>true</EnableSingleBaseFallback>
</SmartBase>
<AutoSelectDownload>false</AutoSelectDownload>
<EnableDmiIfAvailable>false</EnableDmiIfAvailable>
<EnableGamsIfAvailable>false</EnableGamsIfAvailable>
</Process>
The default value of either of the sensor flags if absent is true (run with the specified sensor if
available).
The default value of the fallback flag is absent is false (fallback disabled).
Primary and Secondary Lever Arms

The primary <PriGNSSLeverX> and secondary <SecGNSSLeverX> lever arms are expressed in meters
with a maximum of 1000 meters. The standard deviations <PriGNSSLeverSD> and <SecGNSSLeverSD>
are expressed as a case sensitive text enumeration representing the available scale in the POSPac
Batch Manager GUI:
• SDLessthan3cm
• SD10cm
• SD50cm
• SD1m
• SD10m
Reference to IMU Lever Arms

The reference to IMU lever arms <RefToIMULeverX> are expressed in meters.
Reference to DMI Lever Arms

The reference to DMI lever arms <RefToDMILeverX> are expressed in meters. The standard
deviations <DMILeverArmSD> are expressed as a case sensitive text enumeration representing the
available scale in the POSPac Batch Manager GUI:
• SDLessthan1cm
• SD3cm
• SD10cm
• SD50cm
• SD1m
Reference to IMU Mounting Angles
The reference to IMU mounting angles <RefToIMUMountingAnglX> are represented in degrees. X and
Y have a range of ±180° and the Z has a range of ±360°. A range error will be thrown and the batch
project will be aborted if the invalid values are defined.
Vehicle Reference Mounting Angles

The vehicle reference mounting angles are represented in degrees. X and Y have a range of ±180°
and the Z has a range of ±360°. A range error will be thrown and the batch project will be aborted
if the invalid values are defined.
GAMS Baseline Vector

The <GAMSBaselineVectorX> baseline vector information is expressed in meters. The standard
deviations <GAMSLeverArmSD> are expressed as a case sensitive text enumeration representing the
available scale in the POSPac GUI:
• SD1cm
• SD5cm
• SD10cm
• SD25cm
• SD10m
Initial Attitude Source

The initial attitude source is represented by a case sensitive text enumeration representing the
available sources in the POSPac Project settings GUI from GNSS-Inertial Processor -> Initialization
tab (Project / Project Settings / GNSS-Inertial Processor / Initialization). If an invalid
<InitialAttitudeSource> is defined, the batch will abort with a parameter error. If no value is set,
then POSPac will choose the best source.
• GNSS
• GAMS
• GYRO
• VNAV
Multipath
Multipath settings can be found in the POSPac Project Settings GUI under GNSS-Inertial Processor -
> Multipath and baseline tab (Project / Project Settings / GNSS-Inertial Processor /Multipath and
Baseline). If the <MultipathType> tag is omitted, the default multipath setting will be used.
• LOW
• MEDIUM
• HIGH
Antenna Type
Users can define tags <OverrideDefaultAntenna>, <AntennaManufacturer>, <AntennaType> in the
*.posbat file under the tag <Extract>. It should be noted that the antenna manufacturer and
antenna type strings must match the strings shown in the Rover Antenna Specification dialog
exactly, otherwise the settings will become invalid and a default type will be used.
Export
In POSPac MMS 8.1, all Export and EO settings (available in the POSPac GUI) in the .posbat file and
in addition to support multiple Export and EO blocks containing these settings. Example is shown
below.
<Export>
<CustomSettings>
<OutputFile>C:\Export\export_out.txt</OutputFile>
<OutputFormat>ASCII</OutputFormat>
<LeverX>0</LeverX>
<LeverY>0</LeverY>
<LeverZ>0</LeverZ>
<Tx>0</Tx>
<Ty>0</Ty>
<Tz>0</Tz>
<EventNum>AllRecords</EventNum>
<HeightOptions>Ellipsoid</HeightOptions>
<HeightOutputWGS84>false</HeightOutputWGS84>
<CoordinateUnits>Meter</CoordinateUnits>
<LatLonUnits>DegDecimal</LatLonUnits>
<Grid />
<Zone />
<Ellipsoid />
<Datum />
<LocalTransf />
<TargetEpoch>-1</TargetEpoch>
</CustomSettings>
</Export>
Exterior Orientation
In POSPac MMS 8.1, all Export and EO settings (available in the POSPac GUI) in the .posbat file and
in addition to support multiple Export and EO blocks containing these settings.
<ExternalOrientation>
<CustomSettings>
<PhotoIDFile>C:\Input\PhotoID.dat</PhotoIDFile>
<OutputFile>C:\Output\eo_out.txt</OutputFile>
<OutputFormat>Applanix Standard</OutputFormat>
<LeverX>0</LeverX>
<LeverY>0</LeverY>
<LeverZ>0</LeverZ>
<Tx>0</Tx>
<Ty>0</Ty>
<Tz>0</Tz>
<EventNum>PhotoIDTime</EventNum>
<EventTimeShift>0</EventTimeShift>
<ShiftX>0</ShiftX>
<ShiftY>0</ShiftY>
<ShiftZ>0</ShiftZ>
<HeightOptions>Ellipsoid</HeightOptions>
<HeightOutputWGS84>false</HeightOutputWGS84>
<ScaleHeightOutput>false</ScaleHeightOutput>
<AveGrdHeight>0</AveGrdHeight>
<KappaCardinal>0</KappaCardinal>
<CoordinateUnits>Meter</CoordinateUnits>
<AngleUnits>Degree</AngleUnits>
<LatLonUnits>DegDecimal</LatLonUnits>
<Grid />
<Zone />
<Ellipsoid />
<Datum />
<LocalTransf />
<TargetEpoch>-1</TargetEpoch>
</CustomSettings>
</ExternalOrientation>
A P P E N D I X
A
GNSS Services
In this appendix:
 CORS
 EPN
 GSI
 IGS
 SOPAC
 UNAVCO
CORS
Continuous Operating Reference Stations from the National Geodetic Survey (U.S.) provides Global
Positioning System data.
Website
http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/CORS/
FTP site
The files can be downloaded directly from NGS FTP site at:
http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cors/rinex/
ftp://alt.ngs.noaa.gov/cors/rinex/
Download pattern:
ftp://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cors/rinex/YYYY/DDDDD/CCCC/CCCCDDDDD0.YYd.Z
A – GNSS Services
EPN
The EPN is a permanent GPS network created by the IAG Subcommission for Europe (EUREF). Its
primary objective is the creation and maintenance of the European Terrestrial Reference System.
The EPN consists of a well‐determined structure including GPS tracking stations, operational
centers, local and regional data centers, local analysis centers, a combination center and a central
bureau.
The EPN is the European densification of the network operated by the International GPS Service
(IGS). As such, the EPN uses the same standards and exchange formats as the IGS.
EUREF Permanent Network gathers reference stations part of 9 different European organizations
(that is, ASI, BKGE, BKGI, CDDIS, DUT, GOP, IGNE, IGNI, OLG, ROB).
Website
http://www.epncb.oma.be/_dataproducts/data_access/dailyandhourly/index.php
FTP site
The files can be downloaded directly from each organization's FTP site:
Country Organization Website
Italy Agenzia Spatiale Italiana (ASI) http://geodaf.mt.asi.it/GEOD/GPSD/
Belgium Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB) ftp://epncb.oma.be/pub/obs/
France Institut Géographique National (IGNE) http://rgp.ign.fr
Czech Republic The Geodetic Observatory Pecny (GOP) ftp://pecny.asu.cas.cz/LDC/
Germany Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie (BKGE) ftp://igs.bkg.bund.de
Austria Austrian Academy of Sciences ‐ Space Research ftp://olggps.oeaw.ac.at
Institute (OLG)
Coordinates
The reference stations coordinates can be found at:
http://www.epncb.oma.be/_trackingnetwork/coordinates/
A – GNSS Services
GSI
Geographical Survey Institute, Government of Japan. As of April 2014, GSI requires all users to
apply for a username and password. Please contact GSI for the application process. The username
and password can be entered in Tools/Options/GNSS Data Services.
Website
http://www.gsi.go.jp/ENGLISH/
FTP site
The files can be downloaded directly from the FTP site at:
ftp://terras.gsi.go.jp
IGS
The International GNSS Service (IGS), formerly the International GPS Service, is a voluntary
federation of more than 200 worldwide agencies that pool resources and permanent GPS &
GLONASS station data to generate precise GPS & GLONASS products. The IGS is committed to
providing the highest quality data and products as the standard for Global Navigation Satellite
Systems (GNSS) in support of Earth science research, multidisciplinary applications, and education.
Currently the IGS includes two GNSS, GPS and the Russian GLONASS, and intends to incorporate
future GNSS. You can think of the IGS as the highest‐precision international civilian GPS
community.
A – GNSS Services
Website
http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/components/data.html
FTP site
ftp://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/igscb/
Download pattern:
ftp://cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gps/data/daily/YYYY/DDDDD/YYd/CCCCDDDDD0.YYd.Z
Coordinates
The information on the coordinates can be found at:
http://itrf.ensg.ign.fr/ITRF_solutions/index.php
SOPAC
SOPAC provides GPS‐related data from its GARNER archive via ftp and http. It is an International
GPS Service (IGS) Global Data Center.
It serves as the primary data archive for the Southern California Integrated GPS Network (SCIGN)
and archives several hundred continuous GPS site RINEX files each day for SCIGN and other
regional GPS networks. Hourly RINEX files are also available for dozens of sites. Collects and
archives high‐rate (1 Hz), low latency (1‐2 seconds) GPS data from GPS stations in California
Website
http://sopac.ucsd.edu/dataArchive/
FTP site
ftp://garner.ucsd.edu
Download pattern:
ftp://garner.ucsd.edu/pub/rinex/YYYY/DDDDD/CCCCDDDDD0.YYd.Z
Coordinates
http://sopac.ucsd.edu/processing/coordinates/
A – GNSS Services
UNAVCO
UNAVCO, a non‐profit, membership‐governed consortium, supports and promotes Earth science
by advancing high‐precision techniques for the measurement and understanding of deformation.
UNAVCO also supports education to meet the needs of the community and the public.
Website
http://facility.unavco.org/data/data.html, or
http://facility.unavco.org/data/dai2/app/dai2.html
FTP site
ftp://data‐out.unavco.org/pub/rinex/obs
Download pattern:
ftp://data-out.unavco.org/pub/rinex/obs/YYYY/DDDDD/CCCCDDDDD0.YYd.Z
Coordinates
ftp://data‐out.unavco.org/pub/products/position/
A P P E N D I X
B
Global Positioning System
Time
In this appendix:
 Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) Global Positioning System (GPS) time is a
continuous measurement of time from an
 GPS Time
epoch started on January 6, 1980 at midnight
(0 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds) Universal Time
Coordinated (UTC). GPS time is often stated
in a number of weeks and seconds from this
GPS time epoch. GPS time does not introduce
leap seconds and therefore is ahead of UTC
by a number of seconds.
The GPS Master Control Station, located at
Schriever AFB in Colorado, steers GPS time to
within one microsecond (less leap seconds) of
UTC. Navigation messages transmitted by the
Space Vehicles (SVs) contains parameters that
permit users to compute an estimate of the
current GPS/UTC sub‐microsecond difference
as well as the number of leap seconds
introduced into UTC since the GPS epoch. GPS
time is derived from the GPS Composite Clock
(CC), consisting of the atomic clocks at each
Monitor Station and all of the GPS SV
frequency standards.
The following identify a few of the many time standards:
• Local time is the date/time reported by your PC (as seen by your web browser). Local time
differs from UTC by the number of hours for your time zone (plus local PC clock errors).
• UTC, Universal Time Coordinated, popularly known as GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), or Zulu
time.
• GPS, Global Positioning System time, is the atomic time scale implemented by the atomic
clocks in the GPS ground control stations and the GPS satellites.
• TAI, Temps Atomique International, is the international atomic time scale based on a
continuous counting of the International System of Units (SI) second.
B – Global Positioning System time
Because GPS and TAI time do not have leap seconds, they will change by one second with respect
to UTC whenever a leap second is inserted. GPS and UTC time scales were aligned when GPS time
began on 6 January 1980. TAI and UTC time scales were aligned when TAI time began on 1 January
1958.
Table B.1 GPS, TAI, and UTC times
Date GPS to UTC Date TAI to UTC

Offset (sec) Offset (sec)
Jan 6, 1980 0 Jan 1, 1980 19
Jul 1, 1981 1 Jul 1, 1981 20
Jul 1, 1982 2 Jul 1, 1982 21
Jul 1, 1983 3 Jul 1, 1983 22
Jul 1, 1985 4 Jul 1, 1985 23
Jan 1, 1988 5 Jan 1, 1988 24
Jan 1, 1990 6 Jan 1, 1990 25
Jan 1, 1991 7 Jan 1, 1991 26
Jul 1, 1992 8 Jul 1, 1992 27
Jul 1, 1993 9 Jul 1, 1993 28
Jul 1, 1994 10 Jul 1, 1994 29
Jan 1, 1996 11 Jan 1, 1996 30
Jul 1, 1997 12 Jul 1, 1997 31
Jan 1, 1999 13 Jan 1, 1999 32
Jan 1, 2006 14 Jan 1, 2006 33
Jan 1, 2009 15 Jan 1, 2009 34
Jun 30, 2012 16 Jun 30, 2012 35
Note – GPS and TAI are ahead of UTC time as shown below:
Consult the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS) web pages for more quantitative
information.
Universal Time Coordinated (UTC)

UTC is an international, highly accurate and stable uniform atomic time system kept very close, by
offsets, to the universal time corrected for seasonal variations in the Earth's rotation rate,
maintained by the United States Naval Observatory (USNO).
B – Global Positioning System time
GPS Time
GPS time is referenced to the Master Clock (MC) at the USNO and is steered to UTC system time.
GPS time is directly related to UTC time: UTC ‐ GPS = seconds. The difference between times for
the year 2012 is 16 seconds. GPS time does not include leap seconds. The difference between GPS
time and UTC time is included in the data transmitted in the navigation message.
GPS time is defined in weeks and seconds (of the week). The current GPS calendar commenced
00:00, Sunday (Saturday, midnight), August 22, 1999. GPS week calendars are widely available on
the Internet.
Table B.2 GPS equivalent time in seconds
Minute Hour Day Week

60 3,600 86,400 604,800
A P P E N D I X
C
Reference Frames and Lever
Arms
In this appendix:
 Reference frames POSPac MMS combines data from different
sensors mounted at different places in a
 Types of frames
mobile mapping vehicle. The relative
 Lever arms geometric relation between these sensors can
 Aiding Sensor frames be described with 3D rotation, also known as a
mounting angle, and 3D translation, also
known as a lever arm. POSPac MMS allows
uploading of coordinates from a variety of
sources and to integrate them into the
computation of the final GNSS‐aided
navigation solution. As coordinates and
measurements of different sources can refer
to different reference systems, there is the
need to refer and transfer to one common
reference system. Hence, the definition of
reference frames used in POSPac MMS are
elaborated within this section.
C – Reference Frames and Lever Arms
Reference frames
Reference frames are a convention used to define physical relationships between the Earth, a
mobile mapping vehicle and various measuring equipment. Frames are used to coordinate the
differences in position and orientation between the various components, and for error
compensation.
While certain reference frame data is equipment or signal embedded, other parameters are
operator‐entered. It is important to know the differences between frame types, what the
specifications for a particular frame are and that the frame‐specific data is accurate.
Orthogonal frames consist of three axes in space, at right angles (90°) to one another, having a
common origin (reference):
Figure C.1 Isometric projection of an orthogonal frame
Types of frames
Figure C.2 The earth frame
• An Inertial Frame is a Newtonian reference frame that experiences zero specific force and
angular rate.
• An Earth Centred, Earth Fixed (ECEF) Frame Z‐axis coincides with Earth's rotational axis; the
X‐axis intersects the Prime Meridian at the equatorial plane; and the Y‐axis intersects 90° East
of Prime at the equatorial plane. The frame rotates with Earth's axial inclination and nominal
15°/hr rotation.
• A Locally Level Geographic Frame is a right‐handed reference frame with axis representing
North (N), East (E) and Down (D) directions at any given, current position. Locally level means
the Down axis coincides with the vertical reference defined by the local gravity vector.
• A Vehicle Body Frame refers to a forward X‐axis, a right Y‐axis and a down Z‐axis, centrally
aligned with the vehicle body axis.
• A Reference Body Frame refers to a forward X‐, a right Y‐ and a down Z‐axis, with an arbitrary
(discretionary) orientation with respect to the Vehicle Body Frame.
The mounting angles are the Euler sequence of rotations that bring the Vehicle Body Frame
into alignment with the reference body frame. The reference body frame in a mapping aircraft
carrying a camera or scanner is typically defined to be the camera frame with its origin at the
camera perspective center. If the camera or scanner were mounted with the x‐axis rotated by
90 degrees from the x axis of the mobile mapping vehicle, then the reference body frame
mounting angles would be (0,0,90) degrees. When using a gimballed platform, the reference
body frame is typically defined to be aligned with the gimbal axes when the gimbal shaft
encoders read 0 angles. The reference body frame mounting angles would be the roll, pitch
and yaw of the platform with respect to the mobile mapping vehicle frame when the gimbal
encoders read (0,0,0).
• An IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) Body Frame defines the directions of the input axes of
gyro and accelerometer triads, at the intersection of the accelerometer input axes.
Typically, the IMU body frame is a right‐handed orthogonal frame with its origin at the sensing
center of the IMU, having a forward X‐axis, a right Y‐axis and a down Z‐axis. These axes are
fixed to the IMU and are labelled on the IMU drawings. Strictly for convenience, an IMU Body
Frame may have a left‐handed orientation, in which case the data must be transformed to a
right‐ handed frame prior to use in processing.
How the IMU is mounted determines whether or not the IMU frame coincides with the
reference frame. Usually, the roll, pitch and yaw mounting angles between the IMU and
reference body frames are fixed. The angles define the Euler sequence of rotations that bring
the reference frame into alignment with the IMU body frame. The angles follow the
Tate‐Bryant sequence of rotation given as follows: right‐hand screw rotation of ∆z about the z
axis followed by a rotation of ∆y about the once rotated y axis followed by a rotation of ∆x
about the twice rotated x axis. The angles ∆x, ∆y, and ∆z maybe thought of as the roll, pitch,
and yaw of the IMU body frame with respect to the reference body frame. For example, if the
IMU were mounted with its x‐axis forward and y‐axis down as on the side of a camera, these
angles would be (0,90,0).
Where fixed IMU sensors are used, the Navigation Frame refers to a mathematical platform
(reference transformation formula). If the IMU is mounted on a gimballed platform, the Gimbal
Frame origin is at the center of the platform rotation. A Gimbal Home Frame coincides with a
right‐hand, zero angled Gimbal Frame origin. Reference to IMU lever arm coordinates are
determined relative to the Gimbal Home Frame.
Lever arms
A Lever Arm is a vector (line) between two Frame origins. Lever Arm coordinates are used to
correlate an IMU or Aiding Sensor Frame origin with a Reference Frame origin. The XYZ coordinates
refer to the measured vertical, horizontal and lateral difference between two points of origin. All
coordinate values above, to the left and behind the Reference Frame origin are negative.
Figure C.3 Lever Arm coordinates
• X Lever Arm ‐ positive values are forward of the Reference Frame origin.
• Y Lever Arm ‐ positive values are right of the Reference Frame origin.
• Z Lever Arm ‐ positive values are below the Reference Frame origin.
The IMU Lever Arm is the XYZ displacement from user‐defined reference body frame origin to the
IMU inertial sensor assembly origin resolved in the reference body frame. When the IMU is
mounted on a camera and the camera frame is the reference body frame, the IMU lever arm is
measured from the camera perspective center to the IMU in the camera frame. If the IMU is
mounted on a gimbaled platform, the lever arm is measured from the center of the rotation of the
platform to the IMU.
The Primary GNSS Lever Arm is the XYZ displacement from user‐defined reference body frame
origin to the phase center of the primary GNSS antenna resolved in the vehicle body frame. When
the IMU is mounted on a gimbaled platform, these would be the distances from the center of
rotation to the GNSS antenna, measured in the reference frame, when the gimbal encoders are
reading (0,0,0).
Aiding Sensor frames

See 218
A GNSS receiver uses the Geographic Frame, centered at the GNSS antenna phase center (the
approximate physical center of the antenna) and is correlated with a Lever Arm from the Reference
Frame origin to the GNSS antenna center.
A P P E N D I X
D
World Geodetic System of
1984
In this appendix:
 Ellipsoids The World Geodetic System of 1984
 Geoids (WGS‐84) provides the mathematical
ellipsoid used by GPS since January 1987. The
geodetic datum used for GPS is the World
Geodetic System of 1984.
WGS‐84 is a consistent set of parameters
describing the size and shape of the Earth,
the positions of a network of points with
respect to the center of mass of the Earth,
transformations from major geodetic datum
and the potential of the Earth (usually in
terms of harmonic coefficients).
Three particularly relevant realizations of the
Conventional Terrestrial Reference System
(CTRS) are WGS‐84 as used for GPS, PZ90 as
used for Global Navigation Satellite System
(GLONASS) and the International Terrestrial
Reference Frame (ITRF ‐ see Boucher and
Altamimi, 1996). WGS‐84 and PZ90 are
established and maintained by military
organizations. The ITRF is produced by a
scientific institution, the International Earth
Rotation Service (IERS).
The significance of WGS‐84 comes about
because GPS receivers rely on WGS‐84. The
satellites send their positions in WGS‐84 as
part of the broadcast signal recorded by the
receivers (the so‐called Broadcast Ephemeris)
and all calculations internal to receivers are
performed in WGS‐84.
Sources: Section 16, WGS84

FIG Fact Sheet 5.501 ‐ The World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS84) Author: Matt Higgins
Department of Natural Resources, Queensland, Australia
Vice Chair FIG Commission 5 International Federation of Surveyors
D – World Geodetic System of 1984
Ellipsoids
Geodesy is a science related to the determination of the size and shape of the Earth (geoid) by
direct measurements. In Geodesy, an ellipsoid is a mathematical figure formed by revolving an
ellipse about its minor axis. It is often used interchangeably with spheroid. Two quantities define
an ellipsoid, the length of the semi‐major axis, a, and the flattening, f = (a ‐ b)/a, where b is the
length of the semi‐minor axis:
Figure D.1 Ellipsoid model
Geoids
A geoid is a particular equipotential surface that coincides with mean sea level and that may be
imagined to extend through the continents. This surface is everywhere perpendicular to the force
of gravity. WGS‐84 is an Earth fixed global reference frame, including an Earth model. It is defined
by a set of primary and secondary parameters: the primary parameters define the shape of an
Earth ellipsoid, its angular velocity, and the Earth mass, which is included in the ellipsoid reference.
The secondary parameters define a detailed gravity model of the Earth.
Geodetic datum in general

The depiction of a Three‐Dimensional (3D) position requires a 3D surface. A convenient surface to
represent the Earth is the geoid. It is the equipotential surface of the Earth's gravity field that on
average coincides with mean sea level in the open oceans.
Figure D.2 Geoid surfaces
Due to variations in gravity, the geoid undulates significantly. However, a regular mathematical
model is required for the calculations associated with a datum. An appropriate mathematical
model is an ellipsoid (or spheroid). Geodetic datum tends to use ellipsoids that best represent the
geoid in the area of interest.
Geodetic datum is a mathematical model designed to best fit part or all of the geoid. It is defined
by an ellipsoid and the relationship between the ellipsoid and a point on the topographic surface
established as the origin of datum.
D – World Geodetic System of 1984
GPS and global geodetic datum

Prior to the development of space‐based measurement systems, a locally defined geodetic datum
was sufficient. However, satellite positioning systems require a single global geodetic datum and
GPS, GLONASS and other space based measurement techniques have had some fundamental
influences on datum definition and use.
• Satellites move around the centre of mass of the Earth and require a datum, which is
geocentric.
• Their global nature has meant that what has previously been considered geodetic science is
having increasing importance in day‐to‐day surveying.
• Height from these systems is measured above the ellipsoid which has required better geoid
models.
• There has been a trend to revise local working datum to be more compatible with
measurements from systems such as GPS and GLONASS.
• Their 3D nature has led to a need to closely relate horizontal and vertical datum.
A global datum is based on the Conventional Terrestrial Reference System (CTRS). An important
underlying concept is that reference systems' definitions are purely definitions and must be
realized through some defined process.
A P P E N D I X
E
POSPac MMS System
Requirements
In this appendix:
 Minimum system configuration
Minimum system configuration

Element Requirement
CPU 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 64‐bit (x64) processor
Memory (RAM) 2 GB RAM (64‐bit)
Operating system Windows 7 SP1 (64 bit)
Windows 8.1 (64 bit)
Windows 10 (64 bit)
Free disk space 1.44 GB for the installer
1.2 GB for POSPac
Screen resolution 1024 x 768 pixels
Regional Options English (US)
USB ports 1 x USB 1.1 ports for security keys
Optional. USB 2.0 port or External SATA ports for DSS External Drive Enclosure
PC card reader For reading POS data.
Internet access Internet access to download Microsoft Framework during installation, and for
the Internet Download commands when running the program.
A P P E N D I X
F
Setup a Proxy Server to Work
with POSPac MMS
POSPac MMS requires FTP access to download
the base stations data from the different GNSS
services. When setting‐up your own proxy
server, ensure the FTP protocol is enabled.
Entering the proxy server information on your
computer is accomplished by using Internet
Explorer. POSPac reads those settings and uses
them to access the FTP sites.
1. Start Internet Explorer and then select Tools / Internet Options.
Figure F.1 Internet Options
F – Setup a Proxy Server to Work with POSPac MMS
2. Select the Connections tab and then click LAN Settings.
Figure F.2 Proxy settings procedure
3. Clear the Automatically detect settings check box and select the User Proxy server check box.
Enter your proxy server address and port.
4. Make sure that no gateway is set. To do this:
a. From the Windows Control panel, select Network Connections.
b. Right‐click LAN and then select Properties.
c. Select Internet Protocol TCP/IP and then select Properties.
d. Click Advanced and make sure the Gateway is empty.
Figure F.3 Advanced TCP/IP Settings
5. For final confirmation, run a Network Diagnostic to ensure the FTP protocol is working. To do
this:
a. Run Internet Explorer and then select Tools / Diagnose Connection Problems.
Figure F.4 Applanix Windows Internet Explorer
b. The Network Diagnostics window appears. Click Next.
Figure F.5 Network Diagnostics screen
c. When complete, click the View diagnostic log link to see the result.
Figure F.6 Network Diagnostics results screen
This ensures that the FTP connection is working (in this case, the FTP has failed as you can see from
the last line error message could not make an FTP connection). If the FTP passes, then POSPac will
work and be able to download base stations.
A P P E N D I X
G
Setup Software Licensing
with POSPac MMS
In this appendix:
 Software License Utility In addition to the existing hardware dongle
licensing model, POSPac MMS 7.0 and newer
 Activating Software License
provides a user with the capability to use a
 License Checks in POSPac software license on a single machine or within a
 Upgrading Software License shared network environment running a license
management service included with the POSPac
 Deactivating Software License installation.
 Commuting Software License
 Remote Activation
 Remote Upgrade
 License Server Setup
Since the early days of POSPac, users have been required to attach a physical hardware dongle
(typically a USB key) to their computer in order to access licensed features in accordance with their
specific purchase and maintenance agreement. These are standalone node‐locked licenses for the
specific computer to which the USB hardware dongle is attached.
In POSPac MMS 7.0 and newer, we introduced concurrent network software licenses (with option
to commute a license). The advantages of software licenses are many, including the convenience
of not having a physical key and the fact that the hardware key carries with it the possibility of
mechanical failure. In addition, concurrent network licensing allows sharing licenses among the
company network for more efficient data processing. In a concurrent network environment, there
is also an option to commute a license when processing data outside of the company network.
G – Setup Software Licensing with POSPac MMS
Software License Utility

POSPac MMS 7.0 and newer provides a new utility for managing software licenses. The Software
License Utility can be run from the POSPac Help menu or the Windows Start Menu under the All
Programs‐Applanix‐SoftwareLicenseUtility menu. This is a separate utility from the Security Key
Upgrade Utility which manages the local hardware dongle.
There is a separate installation package including the Software License Utility as well as the
Software License Manager. It is recommended to install this package on one computer as the
license server for concurrent network software licenses.
Serial Number
The serial number identifies the client’s purchase/maintenance agreement with Applanix. The
serial number will be blank for a network license. An exception is when the license manager for the
network license is itself running on the computer on which the license utility is being run. These
are the only scenarios when the serial number is actually used, which is when a client is upgrading
a license.
Local Locking Code

The local locking code identifies the computer on which the Software License Utility is running.
When the utility is run from Start‐All Programs‐Applanix‐POSPac MMS‐Tools, the locking code is
editable and can be replaced with the locking code of another computer for the purpose of remote
activation.
Refresh License
Clicking the Refresh License button will retrieve the updated information and populate the fields.
Right clicking the License Used field will show additional information (i.e. Total in use, Commuter in
use, Queued clients, User, Host, Start time (for commuter licenses), End time, and License Status).
This is particular useful because everyone within the network can easily identify which user is using
which feature, so it will be very easy to track down a user who perhaps accidently forgot to check
in a feature.
Activating Software License

POSPac MMS 7.0 and newer supports online activation of software licenses. Activation can be
accomplished entirely by the user, provided they have internet access and an Applanix‐provided
Entitlement ID.
Network (server‐locked) software license

For network software licenses, you will need to choose a computer that will act as the license
server for the company network. Most (if not all) POSPac users within the company network will
request licenses from this license server during processing.
Before you can begin using POSPac in concurrent network mode, you need to activate the license
on the license server machine. This is done by following these steps on the license server:
1. Open the Software License Utility from the POSPac‐>Help Menu
2. Click the Activate License button (internet access is required)
3. Enter your Entitlement ID (EID) provided by Applanix
4. Click Activate
Your license should now be activated. You can confirm that the correct features exist in the
Software License Utility feature table. The license count for features will be based on your
purchase/maintenance agreement. Again, you may see higher counts for features which are
contained in more than one purchase toolset.
License Checks in POSPac

POSPac MMS 7.0 and newer continues to support hardware dongle‐based licensing in addition to
the software license option. The logic for each licensable feature in POSPac is to check for a
hardware key first. If no dongle is attached, POSPac will look for a local software license for the
feature. If no local license is found then the software will automatically try to find the first
available network license server to request a license from. This can take a few seconds. If no
license is available anywhere on the local subnet, the user will be notified that no licenses or
license servers can be found.
In the case of a USB key (or commuter license, see next section), the user is limited to a single
application instance of POSPac. For standalone licenses, the user is limited to a single instance of
each feature for which they are licensed (they may possibly have multiple licenses for overlapping
features). For network licenses, users are limited to the number of feature instances supplied in
accordance with their license counts. License availability will also depend on the number of
features which are currently in use. This is true for both standalone and network licenses.
The license requests occur “on demand” when a licensed feature is run, in order to maximize
license availability particularly for networked users. When a software license is requested, if no
licenses are available, the request may be queued until the feature becomes available.
All of the licensed features which are accessible in batch mode support queuing. This way any
number of batch processes can be launched concurrently with a finite license count and they will
eventually all run to completion. Features which do not support queuing will return a generic key
error message if no license for the requested feature is available.
Upgrading Software License

POSPac MMS 7.0 and newer supports online upgrade of software licenses. Upgrade can be
accomplished entirely by the user, provided they have internet access.
2. Click Upgrade License
The upgrade function is enabled when running a locally license‐ managed network license, i.e.
from the license server computer.
Deactivating Software License

POSPac MMS 7.0 and newer supports online deactivation of software licenses. This is typically for
the purpose of moving your license to another computer. This action requires internet access.
2. Click Deactivate License
License deactivation can also be performed without an internet connection but this process
requires some additional manual steps.
1. Click Deactivate License and import permission ticket file.
2. Finish deactivation process without internet and generate revoke ticket file.
3. Send this revoke ticket file to Applanix customer support to finish deactivation cycle.
Commuting Software License

While running in a concurrent network license environment, a user has the option to check out
(commute) a license so they can process data outside of the company network. This is done by
following these steps on the computer that will be commuting outside of the company network:
2. Select the features you would like to Commute
3. Click Check Out Selected
The commuted license is valid for user‐specified number of days before it is automatically stops
working on the computer to which it was commuted and is returned back to the license server.
You may check in (return) a license back to the license server at any point while you are on the
company network. When you check your license back in, the software will force you to check in all
features. When checked out, the commuter license consumes one instance of each feature from
the network license pool.
Remote Commuting Software License

POSPac MMS 8.1 has added the option to check out licenses on a computer that does not have
direct access to the License Manager. In this case, any computer that can access the License
Manager can check out a license for a remote computer by using remote checkout. However, the
remote computer needs to produce its computer authorization string as a verification code. If the
remote computer authorization string matches the local license request criteria, then the network
user can check out a license file for the remote user by using this authorization string. The network
user can then send the checked out license file to the remote user to be installed. (Note: once the
remote user installs this license file, the checked out license can’t be checked back in. Rather, it will
simply expire on the expiry date.)
The entire process of obtaining and installing the remote commuter license is discussed in the
following steps:
Step 1 - 2: Obtaining Remote Authorization String Using Software License Utility
The remote user can generate a commuter authorization string by clicking the “Remote
Authorization” check box. Then the Remote Authorization window will pop up and shows the
authorization string inside the textbox. Copy this string to the computer clipboard by using the
“Copy” button, and send the string to a network user who can access the license manager.
Step 3 - 5: Checking Out an Remote License File for Remote User
The network user can check out a license for the remote user in the Software License Utility by
selecting “Remote Authorization” first, then individually selecting the features to check out and
clicking the “Check Out Selected” button.
Then the Remote Authorization popup window will show up. Paste the remote authorization string
into the textbox and click “Continue” button.
On success, a message box will pop up, indicating the location where the Remote license file has
been saved.
The network user then sends this remote license file to the remote user.
Step 6: Installing License File on a Remote Computer
The remote user needs to install the license file sent from the network user. The remote user clicks
the “Remote Authorization” check box, and inside the Remote Authorization popup window, clicks
“Get File” button to select the remote license file.
The Software License Utility will return back to the Remote Authorization popup window,
whereupon the remote user clicks the “Install” button. This action will install the remote license file
on the local (remote) client computer.
Remote Activation
It may be the case that one or more computers on which POSPac is installed are permanently
without internet access, or are part of a company network which itself is isolated from the
internet. In this case, a “remote” computer’s license can still be activated, but this requires some
manual steps. Another computer which does have internet access is required to activate the
license on the remote computer.
The steps to activate a license on a remote computer are as follows:

1. Open the Software License Utility from Start‐All Programs‐Applanix‐SoftwareLicenseUtility on
the computer which has internet access
2. Enter the locking code for the remote computer
3. Click Activate License
4. Enter your Entitlement ID (EID) provided by Applanix
5. Click Activate
6. Save the license file on the local computer
7. Move the license file to the remote computer (e.g. using a zip drive)
8. Run the Import License utility from Start‐All Programs‐Applanix‐SoftwareLicenseUtility on the
remote computer and import the license file
Remote Upgrade
Once the license has been active on one or more computers without internet access, it has to be
deactivated first and then following the remote activation process to upgrade on new license and
it requires some manual steps. Another computer which does have internet access is required to
activate the license on the remote computer.
The steps to deactivate and upgrade a new license on a remote computer are as follows:
1. Call Applanix Customer Support to get Permission Ticket for revoking license on computer
without internet access. Copy the permission ticket to this computer.
2. Open the Software License Utility from
3. Start‐All Programs‐Applanix‐SoftwareLicenseUtility on the computer with the license.
4. Click Deactivate License and select manually revoke by permission ticket without internet
access.
5. Open file dialog and select this permission ticket file.
6. The utility will finish deactivation process on local computer without internet access and
generate revoke ticket file as evidence.
7. Send this revoke ticket file back to Applanix Customer Support to finish deactivation cycle.
8. Applanix Customer Support will send back a new upgraded license file to customer for
activation.
Follow the Remote Activation process to finish license activation on remote computer.
License Server Setup

It is required to setup a license server when running POSPac for the first time. Usually the license
server computer is set up on company private network, the license can be accessed by a client
computer connected to the network from inside or outside via VPN. The user needs to configure
the license server computer directly by its name or IP address. This can be accomplished by clicking
License Server on the Software License Utility GUI, which brings up the following window:
The list of servers can be edited directly by typing in the list box, or the available servers can be
found by using the “Search” button. The “Add” button can then be used to add the selected server
name from the list. Make sure to click the “Save” button, as this saves the configured servers into
system environment with the variable name “LSHOST”. If this server list is not populated, then the
licensing module will perform a search for available licenses each time a licensed module is
invoked. This additional license search will introduce a delay in processing.
Software License Utility can now provide statistics on the history of the license. These stats can be
viewed by clicking on the “Summary” button. An example of this summary is shown above. Note
that this summary is only accessible from the license server computer.
A P P E N D I X
H
14 Parameter Datums &
Tectonic Plate Corrections
In this appendix:
 Overview POSPac uses 14 parameter transformations and
the process is detailed in this section.
 Time Dependence of Station Coordinates
 Regional Datums vs. Global Datums
 Tectonic Plate Motion Models used in
POSPac
Overview
Starting with POSPac MMS 6.2 SP1, all datum transformations used within POSPac are based on 14
parameter Helmert transformations. A 14 parameter transformation is simply a time‐dependent
version of the well‐known 7 parameter Helmert transformation (also known as a similarity
transformation) that was used in earlier versions of POSPac.
With a standard 7‐parameter Helmert transformation, the datum transformation is accomplished
using the following equation:
X X TX D -R Z RY X
�Y � = �Y � + � Ty � + � R z D -R X � �Y�
Z target Z source Tz -R Y RX D Z
H – 14 Parameter Datums & Tectonic Plate Corrections
Where
X
�Y � = XYZ Cartesian coordinates (m) of point in source datum
Z source
X
�Y � = XYZ Cartesian coordinates (m) of point in target datum
Z target
TX
�TY � =Translation parameters (m)
Tz
RX
�RY � = Small rotation angles (radians), and
RZ
D = Scale factor (unitless) between source and target datums
The values Tx Ty Tz Rx Ry Rz and D are provided as part of the datum definition and do not change
in time.
For a 14‐parameter transformation, the main equation for transforming between datums is the
same, but it is necessary to calculate the values for Tx, Ty, Tz, Rx, Ry, Rz, and D depending on the
epoch t of interest:
TX (t) = TX (epoch) + TX × (t-epoch)

TY (t) = TY (epoch) + TY × (t-epoch)
TZ (t) = TZ (epoch) + TZ × (t-epoch)
R x (t) = R X (epoch) + R X × (t-epoch)
R Y (t) = R Y (epoch) + R Y × (t-epoch)
R Z (t) = R Z (epoch) + R Z × (t-epoch)
D(t) = D(epoch) + D × (t-epoch)
Where the initial translation, rotation and scale factor are provided for a base epoch and rates of
change of all seven parameters are provided to convert from the base epoch to the epoch t of
interest. This is a common feature of nearly all modern datums, such as NAD83, ETRS89, GDA94
and the different realizations of ITRF, and the reasons for this are discussed below.
Time Dependence of Station Coordinates

Suppose that a user wishes to establish a new set of ITRF2000 coordinates for a continuously
operating GNSS base station. The user selects a series of 24‐hour sessions from the past two years
and processes each session using a Precise Point Positioning (PPP) service.
No matter how good the GNSS observation data, the user will likely find that the solutions from
different dates are not consistent. There are two main reasons for this:
a. The transformation parameters between the coordinate frame used for GNSS satellite
ephemeris (e.g., ITRF2008) and ITRF2000 change over time; and
b. The base station itself is moving because it is fixed to the ground!
By applying the correct 14‐parameter transformation to convert each session’s results from
ITRF2008 to ITRF2000, the first effect is easily removed.
The second effect is caused by tectonic plate motion. Each of the tectonic plates is moving in a
different direction and at a different rate, and therefore all ground features are also moving in
time. The rate of motion can be quite high. For example, at the Applanix main office in Canada,
movement of the North American plate causes ITRF2000 ground coordinates to move by nearly 2
centimeters per year. This much movement would be easily noticeable when combining PPP
results from different years.
Calculations within POSPac are performed in the ITRF2000 coordinate frame at the epoch of
survey (i.e., at the date corresponding to the rover data), so it is important to compensate for both
of these effects when importing base station coordinates into POSPac. Otherwise, positional errors
of a decimeter or more could easily be introduced in the SBET solution. Depending on the datum
associated with the base station coordinates, different techniques may be required for correction
of tectonic plate motion.
Regional Datums vs. Global Datums

For many applications, it is inconvenient to work with a datum where the coordinates of ground
features are always changing. For this reason, many regional datums, such as NAD83 (2011) or
ETRF00 (R05), are ‘locked’ to a particular tectonic plate; the datum moves along with the plate, so
no matter when the data is collected, the numerical value of the ground coordinates is
approximately constant.
In order to lock a datum to a particular tectonic plate, the datum is given a set of rotation rates
matching the motion of the plate. Of course, the plate motion cannot be exactly modeled by a
simple set of rotation rates, so it is necessary to periodically readjust the base station network and
provide updated station coordinates. For example, the North American Datum of 1983 was most
recently readjusted in 2012 using observations up till the year 2011, resulting in a new set of base
station coordinates referenced to epoch 2010.0 and a new datum realization known as
NAD83(2011).
For global datums such as ITRF2000 and ITRF2008, it is not feasible to compensate for tectonic
plate motion by locking the datum to a particular plate. These datums are used in projects all over
the world, so they cannot be tied to any particular plate. Therefore, the tectonic plate motion
correction for these datums must be performed by POSPac based on the project area.
Tectonic Plate Motion Models used in

POSPac
In order to apply the tectonic plate motion correction, POSPac uses a database of plate boundaries
and rates compiled from various sources. Rates for most of the smaller plates are derived from
Bird [2003], while rates for the major plates come from Altamimi et al. [2012]. The available plates
and the data source used for derivation of their rates are presented in the table below.
Plate ID Plate Name Data Source

AF Africa Bird [2003]
AM Amurian Altamimi et al. [2012]
AN Antarctica Altamimi et al. [2012]
AP Altiplano Bird [2003]
AR Arabia Altamimi et al. [2012]
AS Aegean_Sea Bird [2003]
AT Anatolia Bird [2003]
AU Australia Altamimi et al. [2012]
BH Birds_Head Bird [2003]
BR Balmoral_Reef Bird [2003]
BS Banda_Sea Bird [2003]
BU Burma Bird [2003]
CA Caribbean Altamimi et al. [2012]
CL Caroline Bird [2003]
CO Cocos Bird [2003]
CR Conway_Reef Bird [2003]
EA Easter Bird [2003]
EU Eurasia Altamimi et al. [2012]
FT Futuna Bird [2003]
GP Galapagos Bird [2003]
IN India Altamimi et al. [2012]
JF Juan_de_Fuca Bird [2003]
JZ Juan_Fernandez Bird [2003]
KE Kermadec Bird [2003]
MA Mariana Bird [2003]
MN Manus Bird [2003]
MO Maoke Bird [2003]
MS Molucca_Sea Bird [2003]
NA North_America Altamimi et al. [2012]
NB North_Bismarck Bird [2003]
ND North_Andes Bird [2003]
NH New_Hebrides Bird [2003]
NI Niuafo_ou Bird [2003]
NU Nubia Altamimi et al. [2012]
NZ Nazca Altamimi et al. [2012]
OK Okhotsk Bird [2003]
Plate ID Plate Name Data Source

ON Okinawa Bird [2003]
PA Pacific Altamimi et al. [2012]
PM Panama Bird [2003]
PS Philippine Bird [2003]
RI Rivera Bird [2003]
SA South_America Altamimi et al. [2012]
SB South_Bismarck Bird [2003]
SC Scotia Bird [2003]
SL Shetland Bird [2003]
SO Somalia Altamimi et al. [2012]
SS Solomon_Sea Bird [2003]
SU Sundaland Altamimi et al. [2012]
SW Sandwich Bird [2003]
TI Timor Bird [2003]
TO Tonga Bird [2003]
WL Woodlark Bird [2003]
YA Yangtze Bird [2003]
Please consult the following publications for more details on the methodology used to determine
the plate motion.
Altamimi, Z., L. Métivier, and X. Collilieux [2012]. “ITRF2008 plate motion model”. Journal
Geophysical Research, Vol. 117, doi:10.1029/2011JB008930.
Bird, P. [2003]. “An updated digital model of plate boundaries.” Geochemistry Geophysics
Geosystems, 4(3), 1027, doi:10.1029/2001GC000252.
Glossary
This section explains some of the terms used in this manual.
Aiding Sensor Sensors separate from the primary IMU, such as GPS antennae, DMI or DVS.
Angular Rate Defines how quickly an angle is changing. The faster the angle changes, the
higher the angular rate. Can be expressed as:
change in angle
duration of angle change
Antenna Phase Centre The electronic centre of the antenna. The electronic centre often does not
correspond to the physical centre of the antenna. The radio signal is measured
at the APC. The APC can be calibrated in 2D or 3D. Whereas a two dimensional
calibration can be done without any larger efforts, three dimensional calibration
is a very sophisticated procedure and currently can only be done by certain
industrial providers.
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A code in which each
alphanumeric character is represented as a number from 0 to 127, translated
into a 7‐bit binary code for the computer.
Attitude Attitude determination is the process of estimating the orientation of a vehicle
(space, air, marine or land) by using known reference points and vehicle
attitude sensors. Vehicle attitude sensors supply roll, pitch, and yaw data to a
computer for processing with navigational data (reference points).
Base Station An antenna and receiver set‐up on a known location specifically to collect data
for differentially correcting from another receiver. The base station collects data
that can be used to improve the accuracy of GNSS positions collected at
unknown locations by a roving GNSS receiver.
Carrier Phase GNSS measurements made on the L1 or L2 carrier signal. May refer to the
fractional part of the L1 or L2 carrier wavelength, expressed in units of meters,
cycles, fraction of a wavelength or angle. (One cycle of L1 is equivalent to one
wavelength, and similarly for L2).
In carrier phase‐based positioning, such as employed in GNSS surveying
techniques, carrier phase may also refer to the accumulated or integrated
measurement consisting of the fractional part plus the whole number of
wavelengths (or cycles) since signal lock‐on.
Central Meridian Central line of origin though the area of interest.
Clock Bias The difference between the clocks indicated time and true universal time.
Clock Offset A constant difference in the time reading between two clocks.
Cycle Slip An unknown jump in the number of carrier cycles resulting from failure to
maintain continuous lock on a satellite. A cycle slip requires the re‐estimation of
integer ambiguity terms during baseline processing.
Datum A mathematically defined reference surface used to represent the size and
shape of the Earth. A horizontal datum is defined by its ellipsoid, latitude and
longitude orientation, and a physical origin.
DGPS Differential GPS. A technique used to improve positioning or navigation
accuracy by determining the positioning error at a known location and
subsequently incorporating a corrective factor (by real‐time transmission of
corrections or by post-processing) into the position calculations of another
receiver operating in the same area and simultaneously tracking the same
satellites.
Dilution of Precision Dilution of Precision (DOP) is a dimensionless number that accounts for the
purely geometric contribution of the position of the satellites to the uncertainty
in a position fix. Standard terms for the GPS application are: GDOP‐Geometric
Dilution of Precision (three position coordinates plus clock offset in the
solution); PDOP‐ Position Dilution of Precision (three coordinates);
HDOP‐Horizontal Dilution of Precision (two horizontal coordinates);
VDOP‐Vertical Dilution of Precision (height only); TDOP‐Time Dilution of
Precision (clock offset only); RDOP‐Relative Dilution of Precision (normalized to
60 seconds).
Drop‐Out Loss of signal.
Earth‐Centred Earth‐ Earth‐Centred Earth‐Fixed coordinate system that is used to convert latitude,
Fixed Cartesian longitude and height values on a global datum to X, Y, Z Cartesian coordinates.
Coordinates The ECEF coordinate system is the basis for all GNSS coordinate computations.
ECEF See Earth‐Centred Earth‐Fixed Cartesian Coordinates.
Ellipsoid A mathematical surface (an ellipse rotated around the Earth's polar axis) which
provides a convenient model of the size and shape of the Earth.
Ellipsoidal Height The distance, measured along the normal, from the surface of the ellipsoid to a
point. Not the same as elevation above a physical, vertical datum.
Ephemeris The predictions of current satellite positions transmitted to the user in the data
message. A list of accurate positions or locations of a celestial object as a
function of time. Available as “broadcast ephemeris” or as post‐processed
“precise ephemeris”.
Epoch Measurement interval or data frequency, as in making observations every 15
seconds. “Loading data using 30‐second epochs” means loading every other
measurement.
False Easting, False A numerical constant used to eliminate negative coordinates in a system, or to
Northing change the coordinates to more convenient values.
Geoid An undulating surface represented by extending the Earth’s mean sea level
through the land areas.
Geoidal Separation The perpendicular distance between the geoid and the reference ellipsoid at a
point.
Global Navigation A network of satellites that transmit ranging signals used for positioning and
Satellite System (GNSS) navigation anywhere around the globe; on land, in the air or at sea. The US
Global Positioning System (GPS), the Russian GLObal Navigation Satellite System
(GLONASS) and the upcoming European GALILEO system are examples of GNSS.
GLONASS Russian GLObal Navigation Satellite System.
GPS Global Positioning System. A constellation of 33 satellites that allows precise
determination of position by analysis of satellite signals.
GPS ICD‐200 The GPS Interface Control Document is a government document that contains
the full technical description of the interface between the satellites and the
user.
GPS Time Highly accurate time system with units of weeks and seconds. GPS time is offset
from UTC time by an integer number of seconds.
Grid A coordinate system that describes the local territory.
IARTK Inertially‐Aided Real‐Time Kinematic GPS processing.
Kalman Filter A Kalman Filter is an algorithm that refines imprecise data to provide a more
accurate estimate of a system's current state.
Kinematics A branch of dynamic theory that deals with aspects of motion apart from mass
and force. Technically speaking, real‐time kinematics is a GPS differential mode
of operation using carrier phase measurements, as such it is a technique, which
makes use of the most accurate information delivered by the GPS system. The
actual phase observations taken require a preliminary ambiguity resolution
before they can be made use of. This ambiguity resolution is a crucial aspect of
any kinematics system, especially in real‐time where the mobile's velocity
should not degrade either the achievable positional performance or the systems
overall reliability.
Orthometric Height The distance between a point and the surface of the geoid. It is usually called
the elevation.
Post-processing Non real‐time navigation solution computation from previously collected and
recorded raw sensor data.
Projection The method used to transform and portray the curved surface of the Earth as a
flat (map) surface.
PZ90 The reference coordinate system used by GLONASS, since 1993 is the
Parameters of the Earth 1990 System (PZ90, which is the acronym of the
Russian Parametry Zemli 1990). PZ90 is an Earth‐Centred Earth‐Fixed (ECEF)
terrestrial frame that adopts slightly different defining parameters than the
World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84).
Scale Factor A ratio, at a given point, of projection distance to ellipsoidal distance.
Standard Parallel A defined line in a map projection along which the scale of the ellipsoid and the
map projection plane are equal.
Time of Validity Time of Validity defines the exact time at which a particular set of data is
current.
UDP UDP is a collection of protocols similar to TCP/IP. Most notable among the
differences is that any computer on the network can read data broadcast in
UDP. In contrast, TCP/IP messages are directed at a particular computer.
UTC Universal Time Coordinated time is a precise atomic time system, offset from
GPS time by an integer number of seconds. Also known as Greenwich Mean
Time (GMT).
Zone An element of the grid system that uses a single projection, with a particular
setting, to describe the local area.

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USER GUIDE

POSPac™ MMS™ GNSS‐Inertial Tools Software

Copyright and Trademarks

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 2

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 3

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 4

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 5

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 6

Technologies and Features ................................................................................................. 16

Processing Modes ............................................................................................................ 24

Workflow Guide .............................................................................................................. 29

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 7

POSPac MMS Graphical User Interface ............................................................................. 43

Project Setup ................................................................................................................... 58

Create a Pre-Mission Project ............................................................................................ 68

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 8

Processing Techniques ..................................................................................................... 74

GNSS-Aided Inertial Navigation ...................................................................................... 114

Navigation File Formats ................................................................................................. 138

Export SBET Data ........................................................................................................... 141

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 9

Tools ............................................................................................................................. 158

Data Display and Reports ............................................................................................... 160

Tips and Tricks ................................................................................................................. 171

Solution Quality Assessment .......................................................................................... 174

Batch Processing ............................................................................................................ 192

GNSS Services ................................................................................................................ 207

Global Positioning System Time ..................................................................................... 212

Reference Frames and Lever Arms ................................................................................. 215

World Geodetic System of 1984 ....................................................................................... 219

POSPac MMS System Requirements............................................................................... 222

Setup a Proxy Server to Work with POSPac MMS ........................................................... 223

14 Parameter Datums & Tectonic Plate Corrections........................................................ 239

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 11

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 12

Data organization and management

Project configuration files

File Naming Conventions

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 14

About this manual

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 15

Applanix IN‐Fusion technology

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 16

Single base station processing using

Applanix SmartBase Processing

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 17

Use of existing reference station networks for Applanix

Automatic download of reference stations

Applanix PP-RTX Processing

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 18

Network quality analysis

New graphical user interface

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 19

Reference stations in the Plan View

Figure 2.1 Stations with GPS‐only and GPS/GLONASS observations

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 20

Project Explorer dialog

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 21

Points Spreadsheet tab

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 22

3D view of flight data

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 23

Processing mode Description

© 2017, APPLANIX CORPORATION POSPAC MMS GNSS‐INERTIAL TOOLS USER GUIDE 24