LSGI337/3571 - Engineering Surveying I

GPS Applications in Engineering Surveying

By Xiaoli Ding
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What Can GPS Do in Engineering Surveying

Control survey Setting out Topographic survey Deformation monitoring

GPS Control Surveys

Site reconnaissance GPS control network design Field survey Data processing and quality control

Example of Engineering Control Networks Road Construction

Example of Engineering Control Networks Bridge Construction

Example of Engineering Control Networks Tunnel Construction

Site Reconnaissance
Purpose
Determine if a site is suitable for GPS survey Carry out some preliminary measurements

 Preparation before reconnaissance

Find existing maps and plans of the area Find existing control points near-by and get their coordinates Tentative design of network Useful tools
Maps or plans of the area Pen & notebook Information on existing control points (site description, coordinates of points) Total station & prism pole, etc. Compass & tilter meter Shovel Pegs & stakes
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 What to do in reconnaissance
Site stability Visibility, get a visibility diagram if necessary Any structures that may cause multipath errors Get approximate position of new control points

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Visibility diagram

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Sokkia Compasses

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Sky plot

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Design of Network and Survey Schedule

Try to measure between adjacent sites How many baselines to measure to a point?
One is the minimum Two provide one redundant link Three or more provide more redundancy

The shape of a GPS network does not affect the accuracy Name and code each site unambiguously Select suitable time period if necessary
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DOP values as a measure of satellite geometry: DOP dilution of precision

VDOP ! W h
2 WN W EN QX ! W hN W dt N
r

W NE W W hE
2 E

W Nh W Eh 2 Wh W dt h
r

W dt E
r

W Ndt W Edt W hdt 2 W dt

r r r r

2 2 HDOP ! W N  W E
2 2 2 2 2 2 PDOP ! W N  W E  W h ! W X  W Y  W Z

TDOP ! W dt

2 2 2 2 GDOP ! W N  W E  W h  W dt

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Field Survey
How long to survey on a baseline?
Depending on length of line, number of satellites observed and satellite geometry, e.g., under reasonable visibility and geometry,
1-10 km baseline: 30-60 mins. 10-20 km baseline: 60-120 mins.

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 Planning the logistics of survey and preparation

Schedule observation time for each site Allow enough time to pack up the equipment, travel between sites, and set up the equipment Familiarize with sites that field parties have never been to Check completeness and conditions of all equipment Check memory of receivers and memory cards and downloaded existing files Check and charge batteries Coordinates of reference station Communication between survey parties Test surveys if it is first time survey Minimum two sets of receivers, more would increase the efficiency significantly
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GPS survey sessions

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 Things to take to site when doing GPS survey

A survey schedule A spare battery or cigarette-lighter adapter for vehicle use Spare cables A maps, aerial photos Compass Tape measure Field notebook Range pole and external antenna
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 What to do on a site
Preparing receiver
Check available memory and download data if necessary Enter name of station Observation mode Data sampling rate Time zones Satellites (enabled/disabled) Minimum number of satellites to be tracked Minimum elevation of satellites to be tracked Minimum DOP values

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 Antenna orientations should be the same Measure and enter antenna height measurement, before and after the survey
Vertical height method Slope height method

Avoid cycle slips and multipath errors

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Example: Leicas Instruction

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 Field notes
Project Point ID Session number Names of observers Receiver type Receiver S/N Antenna S/N Antenna height Antenna orientation Scheduled start time Actual start time Scheduled stop time Actual stop time Observation mode
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File name Comments Sky obstruction diagram, if necessary Plan view of site Survey mark diagram Chronology of events Satellites enabled/disabled Sampling rate Elevation mask angle L1 and/or L2 observations

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Data Processing
Download data to computer Reduce GPS raw data to baselines Least squares adjustment of baseline network Appropriate quality control

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Pros and Cons of GPS Control Survey

Main advantages
No need for line-of-sight between stations 24-hour, all weather condition survey Highly automatic and less manual observations Long baselines can be observed easily If accuracy requirement is not very high (a few cm), RTK method can be used to get real-time results High accuracy High efficiency
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Is the all-weather system really good?

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 Main disadvantages
Requires good sky visibility. This often is difficult to get in HK Affected by multipath errors GPS height is ellipsoidal height. Orthometric height (RL) is required in most engineering projects.

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GPS in Setting Out Surveys

In setting out surveys, real-time positioning is required. Only RTK method can be used for this purpose

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RTK System Configuration

One or more reference base stations
GPS receiver set up on a known station Computation facility to determine in near realtime the corrections (either to the coordinates of the point or to GPS observations) Broadcasting facility to broadcast the corrections

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 One or more rover stations

A GPS receiver A radio receiver to receive broadcast corrections Computation facility to compute the coordinates of roving station based on GPS observations and received corrections A controller that can allow data input and displaying of roving station and set out points
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Example: Reference base station of Leicas GPS500 system

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Example: Roving station of Leicas GPS500 system

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Procedure of using RTK GPS in setting out surveys

Set up reference base station Prepare the roving receiver Establish data link between the two receivers Initialise roving receiver (ambiguity resolution)
Start from a known point Start from any point with the On-the-Fly (OTF) ambiguity resolution technique

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 Setting out points with reference to the displayed information If loss of lock occurs, the roving receiver needs re-initialised

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Schematic View of Using GPS for Setting Out Surveys

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Height Reference System for GPS

GPS provide geodetic height Setting out usually requires orthometric height Conversion can be done with the knowledge of local gravity field

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