Electromechanical Engineering Dept.

Navigation SystemII
Third Class /Navigation /lecture 6 2022

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Factors Affecting on GPS Accuracy:

The performance of GPS system can be affected in many ways.
The accuracy of the measurements obtained depends on factors relating
to the receiver, the satellites and the prevailing atmospheric conditions.
The main causes of error are:
 Atmospheric, troposphere and ionosphere delays.
 Multipath error and shadowing.
 Timing of satellite clocks.
 Selective availability.
 Geometric dilution of precision (GDOP).
The various ranging errors resulting from GPS system anomalies
and other conditions can be summarized in table (1). This table is known
as an error budged and it indicates the extent of the errors that occur as a
result of some of the above mentioned causes.

segment Type of Error Error (m)

Space Clock stability 3
Selective Availability 32
Other 0.5
User Ionospheric Delay 5
Troposphere 1.5
Receiver Noise 1.5
Multipath 2.5
Other 0.5
Control Ephermeris Errors 4.2
Other 0.9
Receiver -related errors
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Electromechanical Engineering Dept. Navigation SystemII
Third Class /Navigation /lecture 6 2022

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1. Multipath: Reflected signals from surfaces near GPS

antennas can interfere with the direct signals from the
satellites. Because there are always reflecting surfaces in
practice, multipath is hard to avoid. Using a multipath
limiting antenna and placing it away from severe reflective
environments can mitigate multipath . Multipath affects
both code and carrier phase measurements. It causes about
1 – 5 m error in pseudorange measurements. On the other
hand, only about 1 – 5 cm carrier phase measurement
error is due to multipath.
2. Receiver noise: Thermal noise, multi-access interference,
and signal quantization noise can cause receiver error .
With modern microprocessor and chip technology, a GPS
receiver introduces less than 0.5 m code measurement
error and about 1 – 2 mm carrier phase measurement error
due to receiver noise.

• Satellite-related errors:

Figure(1) GPS Measurement Error Sources.

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Electromechanical Engineering Dept. Navigation SystemII
Third Class /Navigation /lecture 6 2022

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1. Satellite ephemeris: The true position and velocity of a

satellite are different from the estimates computed by the
Control Segment. The ranging error due to the satellite
ephemeris data error is about 1 – 2 m in the root mean
square (rms) sense.
2. Satellite clock: The satellite clock bias that cannot be
corrected by the GPS Control Segment causes about 1 – 2 m
ranging error in the rms sense.
• Propagation medium-related errors:
1. .Tropospheric delay: The troposphere includes the segment of
Earth’s atmosphere that is up to 8 – 13 km above sea level. Dry
gases and water vapor in the troposphere can refract GPS signals.
The tropospheric delay can be estimated using atmospheric
models. If not corrected, the resulting error is about 2 m at sea
level for satellites directly overhead (it is larger for low elevation
satellites).
2. Ionospheric delay: The ionosphere is a layer of ionized gases in
Earth’s atmosphere that lies approximately 50 km to 1000 km
above the surface. The ionosphere affects GPS signal propagation
by delaying code phase measurements while advancing carrier
phase measurements. Opposite signs thus appear in front of the
ionosphere error component, I . In addition to this code-carrier
divergence property, the ionosphere is also dispersive, i.e., the
magnitude of the ionospheric delay is inversely proportional to the
signal frequency. The ranging error, depending on the satellite
elevation, is about 2 – 10 m due to the ionospheric delay. The GPS
navigation data contains an ionospheric model that can remove
approximately half of this delay.

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Electromechanical Engineering Dept. Navigation SystemII
Third Class /Navigation /lecture 6 2022

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User/satellite geometry Dilution Of Precision (DOP).

The error estimation aids our understanding of standalone GPS

accuracy and serves as guidelines for position error analysis. Main
position error is a function of both the User Equivalent Range Error
(UERE) and user/satellite geometry Dilution Of Precision (DOP).

It is observed that the total system UERE is composed of components

from each system segment (total UERE with SA 33.3 m without SA 8
m). The geometry of the visible satellite is an important factor in
achieving high quality results. The geometry changes with time.
Due to the relative motion of the satellites an accuracy measure for
the geometry is the Dilution Of Precision (DOP) factor.
DOP is a description of the effect of satellite geometry on position
and time computations. Values that are considered good are small,
approximately three values, greater than seven are considered poor as
shown in figure below .

Figure :Example of DOP

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Electromechanical Engineering Dept. Navigation SystemII
Third Class /Navigation /lecture 6 2022

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Thus, a small DOP is associated with widely separated satellites.

Standard DOP terms for GPS include: -
 Geometric Dilution Of Precision (GDOP) reflects the
effects of satellite geometry on position and time
computations.
 Position Dilution Of Precision (PDOP) reflects the effects
of satellite geometry on position computation.
 Horizontal Dilution Of Precision (HDOP) reflects the
effects of satellite geometry on the horizontal component of
the position computation.
 Vertical Dilution Of Precision (VDOP) reflects the effects
of satellite geometry on the vertical component of the
position computation.
 Time Dilution Of Precision (TDOP) reflects the effects of
satellite geometry on the time computation.

The dilutions of precision parameters can be calculated for that

location if the coordinate system components for that location and
satellites coordinates all in ECEF are known. These knowns are used to
construct the H matrix (line-of-sight unit vector measurements) then the
DOP can be calculated as follows:

DOP  [HT .H]1

where:

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Electromechanical Engineering Dept. Navigation SystemII
Third Class /Navigation /lecture 6 2022

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 p1 p1 p1 

 x 1
y z
 
 p 2 p 2 p 2
1
 x y z 
H 
p p 3 p 3
 3 1
 x y z 
 p 4 p 4 p 4 
 1
 x y z 

period of the day with different numbers of satellites used in the

solution of position coordinate .

The Geometric GDOP  h 1,1 h(2,2)  h(3,3)  h(4,4)

The Position PDOP  h 1,1 h(2,2)  h(3,3)
The Horizontal HDOP  h 1,1 h(2,2)
The Vertical VDOP  h 3,3
The Time TDOP  h 4,4

GDOP terms are usually computed using parameters from the

navigation solution process

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Electromechanical Engineering Dept. Navigation SystemII
Third Class /Navigation /lecture 6 2022

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