Global Positioning System Performance Assessment with Precise Point Positioning and Relative Positioning

Abstract

Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite navigation system used to determine the ground position of an object in providing high accuracy in the coordinates. However, relative baseline length and duration of observations can affect the positioning accuracy. Several organizations have developed online Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) processing services as an alternative solution to achieve centimetre to decimetre-level accuracy. This study evaluates the positioning performance of the Precise Point Positioning (PPP) – Canadian Spatial Reference System (CSRS), and relative positioning – Australian Online GPS Processing Service (AUSPOS) methods. A commercial software Trimble Business Center version 5.2 (TBC v5.2) as the benchmark processing. The consistency of positioning performance among the online services have been identified in three different areas. These study areas are located along the Pan Borneo Highway, East Malaysia, using the established control points. Different services are presented and compared. CSRS-PPP results show that the mean Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) are 0.039 m of Easting, 0.031 m of Northing, and 0.062 m of Up components, while AUSPOS results are 0.098 m of Easting, 0.037 m of Northing, and 0.073 m of Up components, which centimetre-level is achievable in CSRS-PPP online services. Thus, the overall results suggest that CSRS-PPP online services are more reliable for GPS users in obtaining the high accuracy coordinate in GPS post-processing, especially in engineering purposes.