Comparison of baseline results for the TI-4100 and Trimble 4000SDT geodetic GPS receivers

Summary

Many GPS networks which were initially surveyed with Texas Instruments TI-4100 receivers have now been resurveyed with mixtures of TI-4100 and Trimble 4000 receivers or exclusively with Trimble receivers. In order to make confident tectonic interpretation of displacements observed between such surveys, it is necessary to understand any biases which may be introduced by using different receiver types or by mixing receivers within a network. Therefore, one of the primary objectives of the Ecuador 1990 GPS campaign (February 1990) was to provide a direct long baseline comparison between the TI-4100 and Trimble 4000SDT GPS receivers. p ]During this campaign, TI and Trimble receivers were co-located at each end of a 1323 kilometer baseline (Jerusalen to Baltra). Solutions for this baseline show no variation with receiver type. Zero-length baseline solutions showed no evidence for any intrinsic bias caused by mixing the two receiver types. Short baseline solutions indicate a bias of -34±10 mm in the baseline vertical component; the sign of the bias indicates that either the assumed phase center location for the TI is too low or the assumed location for the Trimble is too high. The bias is explainable if the phase centers of the Trimble SDT and SST antennas are similarly located. p ]Solutions for baselines measured with codeless receivers (such as the Trimble) should be as precise as those for baselines measured with P-code receivers (such as the TI) as long as it is possible to resolve ambiguities. Resolution of the widelane ambiguity is the limiting factor in ambiguity resolution with any codeless receiver, and in the February 1990 campaigns it was not successful fore baselines longer than 100 km. Without explicit modeling of the ionospheric effect on the widelane, ambiguity resolution with codeless receivers will not be successful for baselines longer than about 100 km, depending on the local ionospheric conditions.