Global GPS Networks and the Determination of Earth Rotation Parameters

Abstract

Recent developments of the in-house GPS processing software at the Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy (IESSG), University of Nottingham, has led to the capability of processing very large or even global GPS networks. This has allowed the investigation of several methods of constraining a network of stations and comparative results of these tests are presented in this paper.

A precise knowledge of the Earth’s position and orientation in space is required for a number of astronomical and geophysical purposes, ranging from the tracking of interplanetary spacecraft, to the study of the Earth’s interior structure. The new software package enables the determination of Earth Rotation Parameters (ERPs) at regular intervals from the global network of GPS data, thus defining an Earth Rotation Parameter series and improving the final coordinate solution accuracies. Tests performed at the IESSG are discussed and preliminary results are shown.