Abstract
Since 18 June 2007 navigation data messages transmitted by the GPS constellation are recorded by five receivers within GeoForschungsZentrum’s global groundstation network. We describe the recording, processing, validation, analysis and archiving of the navigation data. During the 197 days between 18 June 2007 and 31 December 2007 a total of 125,723,666 subframes were collected. By taking into consideration that the same data set frequently is observed by two or more receivers concurrently, 65,153,955 unique subframes could be extracted from the observations. With an estimated 88,099,200 subframes transmitted by the constellation during this time period a data yield of about 74% was achieved. Simulation studies suggest that with two additional GPS receivers, which are scheduled for addition to the network in 2008, about 95% of the transmitted subframes will be retrieved. The message data archive is open to the scientific community for non-commercial purposes and may be accessed through GFZ’s Information System and Data Center (http://isdc.gfz-potsdam.de).
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Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge the support by our colleagues at GFZ as well as at our national and international partner institutions. Their continued efforts contribute to the successful operation of GFZ’s ground-station network. The OpenGPS hardware and software is derived from Clifford Kelley’s OpenSourceGPS project. Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10291-009-0139-y
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Beyerle, G., Ramatschi, M., Galas, R. et al. A data archive of GPS navigation messages. GPS Solut 13, 35–41 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-008-0095-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-008-0095-y