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Glossary
An evolving glossary of terms relevant to UNAVCO and the GPS/GNSS geodetic community
(continually under development ...)
If you don't find the term you need explained or see an error, email us at help unavco.org.
0-9 (#0-9) A (#a) B (#b) C (#c) D (#d) E (#e) F (#f) G (#g) H (#h) I (#i) J (#j) K (#k) L (#l) M (#m) N (#n) O (#o) P (#p) Q (#q) R (#r) S (#s) T (#t) U (#u) V (#v) W (#w) X
(#x) Y (#y) Z (#z)
0-9
4-character ID: four printable ASCII characters (usually case-insensitive alphanumeric plus underscore) which traditionally have been used to
designate a monument (#monument) or site (#site) , so with a-z, 0-9, and _ (underscore) there are 37^4 = 1874161 unique 4-character IDs
possible; see also
monument code
visit code
raw file code
in the best documented cases, the monument code, visit code, and raw file code are identical, though in some cases the documentation
(forms (#form) , etc.) and the raw data (#raw data) files may indicate different 4-character IDs even though all information is for the same survey
point (#survey point) of a monument (#monument)
A
ALS: "Airborne Laser Scanning"; a lidar (#lidar) system installed in an aircraft that scans ground targets in a swath beneath the airborne
aircraft; see National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping - NCALM (http://ncalm.cive.uh.edu/)
ANET: "Antarctic NETwork"; network of GNSS (#GNSS) stations (#station) in or near Antarctica; see also POLENET (#POLENET)
antenna: (for the GNSS (#GNSS) community:) a resonant device that detects the GHz GNSS (GPS (#GPS) , GLONASS (#GLONASS) , Beidou/Compass
, Galileo (#Galileo) , QZSS (#QZSS) , or SBAS (#SBAS) ) microwave signals
(#Beidou-2) (#signal) and converts them to electrical signals for processing by a
GNSS receiver (#receiver) ; see also text documentation:
IGS standard antennae dimensions (current)

IGS standard antennae dimensions (legacy)
and other:
GPS antenna calibrations by the staff of the Instrumentation and Methodologies Branch, Geodetic Services Division, National
Geodetic Survey, NOAA, Dept. of Commerce
for more information
antenna cable: a 50-ohm impedence, RF-shielded, co-axial cable used to connect the antenna (#antenna) to the receiver (#receiver)
antenna dome or antenna radome: a thin, almost microwave-transparent material placed over a GNSS (#GNSS) antenna (#antenna) , often in the
shape (or nearly so) of a simple geometrical surface (e.g. hemisphere, cone, paraboloid, etc.); use of an antenna dome slightly alters the
effective phase center(s) (#phase center) of the antenna for high-precision geodetic positioning due the dielectric contact of the dome and the
dome's geometry relative to the true phase centers of the antenna, thus requiring the exact type of dome used to be known (see dome
designations at end of IGS Central Bureau receiver & antenna table (ftp://igs.org/pub/station/general/rcvr_ant.tab) )
antenna height: vertical distance from the survey point (#survey point) of a monument (#monument) to the antenna reference point (#antenna reference
point) (ARP) of the antenna (#antenna) ; this may be calculated using the geometry of the antenna and the antenna slant height
antenna orientation: the antenna (#antenna) is usually rotated into a standard orientation, often so that the antenna cable (#antenna cable)
connector is toward geographic north, though often in the field only the local magnetic north direction is known, requiring the local
magnetic declination (#magnetic declination) to be known
antenna reference point: or ARP; an established point on the antenna (#antenna) choke ring (#choke ring) , ground plane, or base from which the
phase centers (#phase center) of the GNSS (#GNSS) carrier waves (#carrier wave) are measured (e.g. L1, L2, and L5 for Navstar (#Navstar) GPS (#GPS) ); for
specific antenna geometries, see also text documentation:
IGS standard antennae dimensions (current)

IGS standard antennae dimensions (legacy)
ANTEX: "Antenna Exchange"; ASCII exchange representation used to distribute antenna (#antenna) calibration values, including the IGS (#IGS) sign
convention for PCOs (#PCO) and PCVs (#PCV) ; see also
IGS antenna files

antex14.txt, version 1.4
Archive Database: a relational database management system (RBDMS) used by the UNAVCO Data Group to track and retrieve archived GNSS
https://www.unavco.org/help/glossary/glossary.html#RINEX 1/19
Archive Database: a relational database management system (RBDMS) used by the UNAVCO Data Group to track and retrieve archived GNSS
(#GNSS) data files (#data file) and metadata (#metadata) ; uses an Oracle engine
Archive process: the steps undertaken to archive GNSS (#GNSS) data (#data) , logs (#log) , and/or other forms (#form) at the UNAVCO (#UNAVCO)
Archive, which roughly are:
1. taking receipt of incoming data and or logs, whether by physical media or by electronic transfer and this receipt entered in the
Archive Database; the physical media (or tape copies for electronic transfers) are stored in the Physical Repository; this step is
referred to as data/log check-in;
2. extracting metadata about the received data files and entering this information into the Archive Database; the data files are
compressed and copied into the On-line Repository; the data files handled in this way can be raw data or RINEX or some
combination of the two (though a copy of the raw data is always desired at a minimum); this step is referred to as data injection;
3. the visit metadata is extracted from the logs and entered into the Archive Database;
4. and finally the visits are associated with the injected data, often requiring a reexamination of the metadata of the visits and of
the data in order to resolve discrepancies; this step is referred to as validation
although the exact steps vary on a case by case basis
ARGO: "Automated Reformatter of GPS Observations"; both the software and the resulting fixed-format ASCII exchange representation of
GPS data (#data) and metadata (#metadata) ; created and made available by the National Geodetic Survey, U.S. Department of Commerce, ARGO is
similar to and the immediate predecessor of the RINEX (#RINEX) format
ARP: antenna reference point (#antenna reference point)
B
BARD: "Bay Area Regional Deformation" Northern California Continuous GPS Network; see also BARD homepage (http://www.ncedc.org/bard/)
BARGEN: "Basin And Range Geodetic Network"; early set of GPS (#GPS) permanent stations (#permanent station) in the Basin and Range of the
western U.S. co-developed and installed by UNAVCO (#UNAVCO) ; see also BARGEN (/projects/past-projects/bargen/bargen.html)
BDS-SIS-ICD: "BeiDou System Signal In Space Interface Control Document"; see:

version 2.0 (Dec 2013)
version 1.0 (Dec 2012)
Test version (Dec 2011)
BDT: "BeiDou Time"; analogous to GPS time (#GPS time) , the time in seconds, skipping UTC (#UTC) leap seconds (#leap second) , since 1.0 Jan 2006
UTC — therefore an offset from GPST of 1356 weeks of exactly 604800 seconds each plus the 14 seconds inserted into UTC between the
start of GPST, 6.0 Jan 1980 UTC, and BDT start epoch on Sunday 00:00 1 Jan 2006 UTC (= 1.0 Jan 2006 UTC)
Beidou-1 Navigation System: a specific spaceborne radionavigation system financed and to be operated by the People's Republic of China,
Phase I, consisting of three validation GEO (#GEO) satellites; Phase I launches (all dates UTC):
BD-1A (GEO) on 30 Oct 2000

BD-1B (GEO) on 20 Dec 2000
BD-1C (GEO) on 24 May 2003
BD-1D on 2 Feb 2007 UTC
(see Encyclopedia Astronautica: Beidou (http://www.astronautix.com/b/beidou.html) )
Beidou-2 Navigation System — also known as Compass: a specific spaceborne radionavigation system financed and to be operated by the
People's Republic of China to be completed in two phases: Phase II (planned to be completed by 2012) to consist of 14 satellites: 5 of which
will be in GEO (#GEO) orbits, 5 in IGSO (#IGSO) orbits, and 4 in MEO (#MEO) — broadcasting 5 signals; Phase III (planned to be completed by
2020) to consist of 35 satellites: 5 of which will be GEO, 3 in inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO), and 27 in MEO (#MEO) — broadcasting 10
signals, the range code numbers being:
1-5 for GEO

6-37 for MEO/IGSO
In both phases the SVs are arranged in three orbital planes with inclinations of about 55-56° with the MEO approximately 21540 km above
the Earth (orbital period of 12h 53m, or 13 orbits every 7 sidereal days (#sidereal day) ) using code division multiple access (#CDMA) with right-
hand circularly polarized carrier frequencies (#carrier frequency) at:
Phase II:
B1-2/E1 = 1589.742 MHz

B1/E2 = 1561.098 MHz
B3/E6 = 1268.520 MHz
B2/E5b = 1207.140 MHz
Phase III:
B1/L1 = 1575.420 MHz

B3/E6 = 1268.520 MHz
B2/E5b = 1191.795 MHz
Beidou-2 currently uses BDT (#BDT) (Beidou/Compass Time) as the time standard and CGCS2000 (#CGCS2000) as the spatial reference frame.
Beidou-2 currently uses BDT (#BDT) (Beidou/Compass Time) as the time standard and CGCS2000 (#CGCS2000) as the spatial reference frame.
Originally planned as a purely military system, China announced on 2 Nov 2006 that in 2008 a free open service would allow civilian use
with position accuracy of 10 meters, clock synchronization to an accuracy of 50 ns, and speeds to within 0.2 m/s. For launches, see GNSS
Modernization: Beidou/Compass (/projects/project-support/gnss-support/gnss-modernization/gnss-modernization.html#Beidou) ; see also BDS-SIS Interface
Control Documents (#BDS-SIS-ICD) ; see also
Inside GNSS, News Update Sept/Oct 2008

Inside GNSS News, 10 Aug 2009
Inside GNSS News, 2 Mar 2011
Encyclopedia Astronautica: Beidou
BINEX: "Bininary Exchange"; binary exchange representation of GNSS (#GNSS) data (#data) and metadata (#metadata) which allows for encapsulation
all or most of the information currently exchanged with the ASCII RINEX (#RINEX) format and could easily be extended to encapsulate the ASCII
formats of SINEX (#SINEX) , IONEX (#IONEX) , SP3 (#SP3) , and so on; see also BINEX homepage (http://binex.unavco.org/)
BOC: "Binary Offset Carrier"; one of several digitial modulation schemes that allows binary data to be imprinted on a reference signal such
as a GNSS (#GNSS) carrier wave (#carrier wave) ; BOC modulation has low spectral energy at the carrier frequency (#carrier frequency) with spectral
energy lobes around it; compare with phase-shift keying (PSK) (#PSK) modulation; see more at Wikipedia: Binary Offset Carrier
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_offset_carrier)
BSM: "Borehole Strainmeter"; see Borehole Strainmeters (/instrumentation/geophysical/borehole/bsm/bsm.html)
C
calendar: calendars from 1980 - 2029 showing the day-of-year (#day-of-year) (ordinal date (#ordinal date) ) and GPS week (#GPS week) . On each
calendar for each week, the day-of-year is on the left in square brackets [ddd] for the first day of the given week and month, and the GPS
week in on the right in pointy brackets <wwww>
1980 (/help/glossary/cal/1980) 1981 (/help/glossary/cal/1981) 1982 (/help/glossary/cal/1982) 1983 (/help/glossary/cal/1983) 1984 (/help/glossary/cal/1984) 1985
(/help/glossary/cal/1985) 1986 (/help/glossary/cal/1986) 1987 (/help/glossary/cal/1987) 1988 (/help/glossary/cal/1988) 1989 (/help/glossary/cal/1989)
campaign: a well-defined number of visits (#visit) to a group of geographically- or scientifically-related monuments (#monument) over a well-
defined time interval, typically several months in length
campaign data: data (#data) from one or more sites (#site) from a campaign (#campaign)
carrier frequency: for GNSS (#GNSS) signals (#signal) , the center frequency of a GNSS electromagnetic carrier wave (#carrier wave) in GHz frequency
range with digital modulation (using e.g. phase-shift keying (PSK) (#PSK) , binary offset carrier (BOC) (#BOC) ); see GPS (#GPS) , GLONASS (#GLONASS)
, Beidou/Compass (#Beidou-2) , Galileo (#Galileo) , QZSS (#QZSS) and SBAS (#SBAS) for the specific carrier frequencies for the constellation
carrier phase: or carrier phase measurement; ideally, the number of cycles of the carrier frequency (#carrier frequency) of a specific GNSS (#GNSS)
signal (#signal) between the phase center (#phase center) of the GNSS SV (#SV) and the phase center of the user's antenna (#antenna) , although in
practice this measurement is unknown to a biased offset of cycles and this bias changes whenever the user's receiver (#receiver) loses phase
lock on the GNSS carrier frequency
carrier wave: the actual electromagnetic wave at a specific carrier frequency (#carrier frequency) ; for the typical GNSS (#GNSS) signal (#signal) , the
carrier wave is right-handed circularly polarized in the GHz microwave range
CBIS: "Central Bureau Information System" of the IGS (#IGS)

CDDIS: "Crustal Dynamics Data Information System" of NASA; see also CDDIS homepage (http://cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov)
CDMA: "Code Division Multiple Access"; a data transfer method by which several channels of information can be sent simultaneously over
the same carrier wave (#carrier wave) ; see more at Wikipedia: Code division multiple access (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_division_multiple_access)
CGCS2000: "China Geodetic Coordinate System 2000"; spatial reference system of Beidou-1 (#Beidou-1) and Beidou-2 (#Beidou-2) ; consistent
with ITRF (#ITRF)
choke ring: concentric rings of metal around and below the ground plane of the antenna (#antenna) , perhaps separated by microwave-
absorbing foam, for the purpose of reducing multipath (#multipath) effects produced by the local geometry of the antenna relative to the site
(#site)
COCONet: "Continuously Operating Caribbean GPS Observational Network"; network of GNSS (#GNSS) stations (#station) in multiple Caribbean
and Caribbean bordering nations; see COCONet (/projects/major-projects/coconet/coconet.html) at UNAVCO and COCONet homepage
(http://coconet.unavco.org/)
code: a digital modulation (using e.g. phase-shift keying (PSK) (#PSK) , binary offset carrier (BOC) (#BOC) ) on the monochromatic carrier wave
code: a digital modulation (using e.g. phase-shift keying (PSK) (#PSK) , binary offset carrier (BOC) (#BOC) ) on the monochromatic carrier wave
; for example, traditional GPS (#GPS) uses a Coarse Acquisition (C/A) code and a Precise (P) code and later generation GPS SVs
(#carrier wave) (#SV)
also include a separate Military (M) code and Civilian (C) code, though not necessarily all codes on each carrier wave
Compass: see Beidou-2 (#Beidou-2)

continuous data: data (#data) from a continuous site (#continuous site)
continuous monitoring: round-the-clock receiver collection of data (#data) at a setup (#setup) /station (#station) , probably at a regular sampling
interval
continuous site: a site (#site) at which continuous monitoring (#continuous monitoring) is occurring for one or more monuments (#monument)
continuous station: one permanent station (#permanent station) at a continuous site (#continuous site)
contract: the legal agreement to fund a project (#project)
Coordinated Universal Time: see UTC (#UTC)
CORS: "Continuously Operating Reference Station"; network of NOAA's National Geodetic Survey; see also CORS homepage
(http://geodesy.noaa.gov/CORS/) and CORS Station Guidelines (http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/PUBS_LIB/CORS_guidelines.pdf)
country: in our database, a geo-political region, e.g. Antarctica, Chile, Russia, USA, etc.
D
data: (one of several possible meanings depending on context)
a. information that can be used to reconstruct GNSS observables or a representation of the observables themselves produced by a
GNSS receiver, otherwise known as "observation data";
b. observation data plus any of a variety of related ancillary data collected by a GNSS receiver, e.g. navigation data (SV-broadcast
orbit information), meteorological or other geophysical data (collected at the site and input to the receiver, such as air
temperature, air pressure, air relative humidity, earth tilt, earth strain, etc.);
c. any output from a GNSS receiver, especially raw data;
d. any format in addition to raw data which endeavors to preserve the information content of raw data from a GNSS receiver
necessary for processing, e.g. FICA, ARGO, RINEX, BINEX
data file: (a bit of a misnomer since:) persistent storage on media (#media) of at least GNSS (#GNSS) data (#data) (observation data, navigation
data, associated meteorological data, and/or other possible data types), and usually also associated metadata (#metadata) , where the data is
generally grouped into a time window for a specific antenna (#antenna) /receiver (#receiver) combination for a specific survey point (#survey point) ;
e.g. a typical raw data (#raw data) file or RINEX (#RINEX) fileor BINEX (#BINEX) file; the metadata in a data file is always treated as suspect until
verified by information on a log (#log)
data format: data (#data) recorded in one of a number of manufacturers' raw data (#raw data) specifications, or in BINEX (#BINEX) , RINEX (#RINEX) ,
RTCM (#RTCM) 2.3 or 3.0, ARGO (#ARGO) , FICA (#FICA) , or one of a number of other possible specifications
data-logging: data (#data) from a GNSS (#GNSS) receiver (#receiver) is streamed in near real-time, usually via serial RS-232, to a device (the "data-
logger") which stores the data on media (#media) and/or in random access memory (RAM)
data set: the second-highest level of organization of data (#data) at the UNAVCO Archive, with one or more data set with each data group
; the data set allows division by when the data (#data) and forms (#form) were deposited and who deposited them, media
(#group) (#media)
information, whether the data in the data set is public or not, and a notes area
datum (or geodetic datum): a set of constants and a set of reference points (#reference point) used to define and specify a coordinate system to
be used for geodetic control; if a datum is modeled on a reference ellipsoid (#ellipsoid) of revolution (such as WGS-84 (#WGS-84) ), then 8
constants are needed to specify a complete datum, e.g. 3 to specify the origin, 3 to specify the orientation of the coordinate system, and 2
to specify the dimensions of the ellipsoid; see also Geodetic datum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodetic_datum)
datum transformation: a mathematical transformation between two datums (#datum) , some of which are the 7-parameter Helmert
transformation, the 5-parameter Molodensky or 3-parameter Abridged Molodensky transformations, the 10-parameter (7+3) Molodensky-
Badekas transformation; see datum transformations (http://earth-info.nga.mil/GandG/coordsys/datums/index.html) and coordinate conversions and
transformations including formulas (http://www.epsg.org/guides/docs/G7-2.pdf)
day-of-year: sometimes incorrectly called the Julian day (#Julian day) , the day-of-year is a sequential numbering of the days of the year such
that Jan 1 is day-of-year 1, Jan 2 is day-of-year 2, ending with Dec 31 being day-of-year 365 in non-leap years and day-of-year 366 in
leap years; also called the ordinal date (#ordinal date) ; see also calendar (#calendar)
DCB: see "differential code bias" (#differential code bias)

DEM: "Digital Elevation Map"
differencing: a processing technique of GNSS (#GNSS) data (#data) to help reduce or eliminate certain systematic errors, e.g. differencing the
same observable (#observable) for the same epoch (#epoch) between two different receivers (#receiver) for the same SV (#SV) helps eliminate satellite-
specific biases and differencing between satellites for the same receiver helps eliminate receiver-specific biases
differential code bias: SV (#SV) or receiver (#receiver) time-dependent correction to pseudocode observables (#observable) of GNSS (#GNSS) data,
agreed upon by the IGS (#IGS) to modify data from older receivers to be compatible with newer generation receivers, where typically older GPS
(#GPS) -capable receivers used cross correlation to determine the P-code when antispoofing was activated on the GPS SV; see also:
IGSMAIL-2744
IGSMAIL-2744
cc2noncc.f code
p1c1bias.hist: bias history file for cc2noncc
AIUB's CODE DCB archive
MIT GAMIT/GLOBE-K rcvant.dat
DOI: "Digital Object Identifier"; a persistent identifier for a digital publication, digital dataset, or potentially other digital assets belonging to
someone; UNAVCO maintains DOI generation and search capabilities for datasets in its GPS/GNSS data archive; see Digital Object Identifiers
at UNAVCO (/data/doi/doi.html)
dome: see antenna dome (#antenna dome)
DOMES number: world-wide unique designation for a particular monument assigned by IERS (#IERS) ; application for a DOMES number for a
permanent station (#permanent station) (for SLR, VLBI, DORIS, GPS, etc.) is made to the IERS TRF section using the DOMES request
(http://itrf.ensg.ign.fr/domes_request.php) form
DORIS: "Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satllite"; a dual-frequency Doppler system maintained by the French
Space Agency (CNES) consisting of DORIS-capable receivers on-board various LEO (#LEO) satellites and a globally distributed network of 50-60
world-wide ground beacons, whereby the DORIS receivers on-board the satellites track the dual-frequency radio signals transmitted by the
ground beacons and generate DORIS data which are measurements made of either the Doppler shift or absolute phase as each satellite
moves over the ground-based beacon; positioning accuracy is somewhat lower than with GPS (#GPS) ; some of the satellites equipped with
DORIS receivers: Envisat, SPOT, HY-2A, CryoSat-2, TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason1, and Jason 2; DORIS is one of the components used to constrain
the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (#ITRF)
DORIS: "Delft Object-oriented Radar Interferometric Software"; software developed and maintained by the Delft Institute of Earth Observation
and Space Systems (http://www.deos.tudelft.nl/) of Delft University of Technology (http://www.tudelft.nl/) for InSAR (#InSAR) processing; freely available for
non-commercial uses
double differencing: a processing technique of GNSS (#GNSS) data (#data) to help reduce or eliminate both satellite-specific and receiver-
specific biases by differencing (#differencing) single differences between two receivers
download: a defined protocol transaction between a receiver (#receiver) and computer to obtain one or more data files (#data file) stored in the
receiver for a completed set of GNSS (#GNSS) measurement epochs (#epoch) (compare with data-logging (#data-logging) )
draconitic period or draconic period: time for an orbiting body to make two passages through its ascending node; for example, the
draconitic period of the Moon about the Earth is 27d 5h 5m 35.8s thus defining a draconic lunar month; to a first approximation is (1 -
(omega_dot + delta_n)/n0) of the sidereal period (#sidereal period) where delta_n is the mean motion difference from the Keplerian mean
motion, n0
draconitic year or draconic year: time taken for the Sun as seen from the Earth to complete one revolution with respect to the same orbital
node of an orbiting body; also known as an eclipse year ; the average draconitic year for the Moon is 346d 14h 52m 54s (~346.62d); the
draconitic year for a Navstar (#Navstar) GPS (#GPS) SV (#SV) is ~351.2 - 351.5d (see, e.g. Analysis effects in IGS station motion time series
(http://www.igs.org/assets/pdf/Poland%202012%20-%20P06%20Rebischung%20PR2.pdf) , P. Rebischung, X. Collilieux, T. van Dam, J. Ray, Z. Altamimi, 2012 IGS
Workshop)
E
EarthScope: NSF (#NSF) -funded earth science initiative in the USA with initial funding from FY2003 - FY2012 to investigate the structure and
evolution of the North American continent and the physical processes controlling earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; see also:
EarthScope homepage
PBO (geodetic component)
SAFOD (deep drilling component)
USArray (seismic component)
ECEF: "Earth-centered, Earth-fixed" reference frame, i.e. centered on the Earth's center of mass and rotates with geographic surface of the
Earth; see Wikipedia — ECEF (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECEF) ; compare with Earth-centered inertial (#ECI) reference frame
ECI: "Earth-centered, inertial" reference frame, i.e. centered on the Earth's center of mass and remains fixed sidereally; see Wikipedia —
Earth-centered inertial (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth-centered_inertial) ; compare with Earth-centered Earth-fixed (#ECEF) reference frame
email: "electronic mail"; see smtp (#smtp)

epoch: a specific time instance, using the GPS time (#GPS time) basis or the time basis from another constellation such as GLONASS time
(#GLONASS time) , Galileo system time (#GST) , or Beidou time (#BDT) or perhaps even UTC (#UTC)
elevation: depending on context:

ellipsoid elevation
geoid elevation
mean sea level elevation
SV elevation
ellipsoid: a mathematical model describing the general shape of a planet or moon, in general a triaxial ellipsoid with three independent
parameters descibing the size and and shape (e.g. the three mutually perpendicular axes); a biaxial ellipsoid is equivalent to an ellipsoid of
revolution about one axis, where a special case of a biaxial ellipsoid is an oblate ellipsoid (e.g. due to the rotation of a viscoelastic body like
the Earth) and where semi-major axis = equitorial axis > polar axis = semi-minor axis; a position referenced to an ellipsoid serves as
the Earth) and where semi-major axis = equitorial axis > polar axis = semi-minor axis; a position referenced to an ellipsoid serves as
metric for computing the local topocentric ENU position based solely on geometry (keeping in mind that ellipsoid "up" is different than the
local gradient of geopotential, i.e. local gravity vector)
ellipsoid elevation: (equivalent to "ellipsoid height") the local topocentric vertical distance between an ellipsoid (#ellipsoid) and some point such
as a survey point (#survey point)
EOP: "Earth Orientation Parameters"; the parameters defining the connection between the International Celestial Reference Frame (#ICRF) and
the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (#ITRF) :
pole coordinates (x, y)

universal time offsets: UT1-UTC, UT1-TIA
celestial pole offsets (Dψ, Dε)
see Earth Orientation Product Centre (http://hpiers.obspm.fr/eop-pc/) of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (#IERS)
Euler pole: the pole or axis of rotation about which any movement of a rigid body on the surface of a sphere (e.g. to first approximation,
any tectonic plate of the Earth) can be described
Euler vector: the Euler pole (#Euler pole) plus the rate of rotation about the Euler pole; also known as a rotation vector; can also be represented
as in cartesian coordinates as the three components of the rotational velocity
F
FDMA: "Frequency-Division Multiple Access"; a data transfer method by which a different carrier frequency (#carrier frequency) is used for each
channel of information; see more at Wikipedia: Frequency-division multiple access (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency-division_multiple_access)
FICA: "Floating Integer Character ASCII"; ASCII exchange representation of GPS data (#data) and metadata (#metadata) developed by the Applied
Research Laboratory of the University of Texas, Austin which preserves all the information found in the raw data (#raw data) from various
receivers (#receiver)
firmware: the compiled software loaded on a GNSS (#GNSS) receiver (#receiver) that controls data tracking, file logging, and digital data
streaming on the receiver
form: one of the documents to record metadata (#metadata) about a campaign (#campaign) , a site (#site) , a monument (#monument) , a antenna
, a receiver (#receiver) , a visit (#visit) , or installation of a continuous site
(#antenna) (#continuous site) ; a standardized form for any of the above is
made available by the UNAVCO Data Group; see forms for:
Monument Record
Survey log — Monument Visit Logsheet
Continuous Site Installation Report
ftp: "file transfer protocol"; used for pulling (getting) or pushing (putting) ASCII or binary files between two nodes on a TCP/IP network; if
set up, can be either be anonymous or via a user account
G
GAGE: "Geodesy Advancing Geosciences and EarthScope" Facility; NSF (#NSF) National Earth Science Geodetic Facility currently operated by
UNAVCO (#UNAVCO) ; see more at GAGE Facility (/about/about.html#GAGE)
Galileo: a specific spaceborne radionavigation system financed and to be operated by ESA (European Space Agency) to consist of 27 satellites
with 3 active on-orbit spares arranged in three MEO (#MEO) orbital planes at 56° inclination, approximately 23616 km above the Earth (orbital
period of 14h 22m, or 5 orbits every 3 sidereal days (#sidereal day) ), using code division multiple access (#CDMA) with right-hand circularly
polarized carrier frequencies (#carrier frequency) at E2-L1-E1 = 1575.42 MHz, E5a = 1176.45 MHz, E5b = 1207.14 MHz, and E6 = 1278.75 MHz;
currently uses GST (#GST) for its time standard and GTRF (#GTRF) as the spatial reference frame; the Galileo constellation should be operational
some time in the early 21st century. The first phase is Galileo In-Orbit Valiation Element (GIOVE) satellites, with GIOVE-A and -B launched in
Dec 2005 and Apr 2008; the GIOVE user interface is defined in the GIOVE-A+B (#102) Navigation Signal-in-Space Interface Control
Document (http://www.giove.esa.int/images/userpage/ESA-DTEN-NG-ICD02837_GIOVE-A+B_PublicSISICD_1-1.pdf) (8 Aug 2008). The second phase is In-Orbit
Validation (IOV) satellites, with launches starting in 2011 and the third phase is Full Operations Capability (FOC) satellites, with launches
starting in 2014; see GNSS Modernization: Galileo/GIOVE (/projects/project-support/gnss-support/gnss-modernization/gnss-modernization.html#Galileo) . The IOV
and FOC Galileo user interface is defined in the OS SIS ICD (#OS SIS ICD) : Galileo Open Service Signal-In-Space Interface Control Document .
See also
GIOVE — first phase: definition (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element)

IOV — second phase: development (In-Orbit Validation)
FOC — final phase: Full Operations Capability
Galileo — European Satellite Navigation System (quick overview of Galileo)
Status of Galileo Frequency and Signal Design
Galileo Mission High Level Definition
GAMIT/GLOBK/TRACK: a comprehensive suite of software programs for analyzing GPS (#GPS) data (#data) primarily to study crustal deformation;
developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Harvard University with support from NSF (#NSF)
; see also GAMIT/GLOBK/TRACK (/software/data-processing/postprocessing/gamit/gamit.html)
GBAS: "Ground Based Agmentation System"; a set of ground transponders to augment GNSS (#GNSS) use for civilian applications, which
includes LAAS (#LAAS) (Local Area Augmentation System); see also:
GNSS Augmentation: Ground Based Augmentation System

GEO: "GEostationary Orbit"; a 0° inclination geosynchronous orbit around the Earth, i.e. with a period of exactly one sidereal day (#sidereal day) ;
GEO: "GEostationary Orbit"; a 0° inclination geosynchronous orbit around the Earth, i.e. with a period of exactly one sidereal day (#sidereal day) ;
the footprint of the satellite on the surface of the Earth is roughly a point and the satellite, if visible, remains essentially at a fixed azimuth
(#SV azimuth) and elevation (#SV elevation) as observed from a fixed point on the surface of the Earth; compare with IGSO (#IGSO)
geocode: a published GHAM definition where an even-byte, big-endian alphanumeric code specifies the latitude (#latitude) and longitude
(#longitude) to a certain precision; each two bytes specifies a certain level, where e.g. on the Earth:
Level 4 (8 characters) delineate a region approximately 480 meters on each side

Level 6 (12 characters) delineate a region approximately 1.9 meters on each side
Level 8 (16 characters) delineate a region approximately 1 mm on each side
geodetic datum: see datum (#datum)

geoid: an equipotential surface that would represent the mean sea or ocean surface of the Earth if the oceans and atmosphere were in
equilibrium and at rest relative to the rotating Earth and an extension of that surface into the continental land masses; compared to a mean
reference ellipsoid (#ellipsoid) representing the shape of the Earth, the surface of the geoid is higher than such a reference ellipsoid where
there is a positive gravity anomaly (due to a mass excess) and lower than the reference ellipsoid where there is a negative gravity anomaly
(due to a mass deficit); see YouTube: What is Sea Level? (http://www.youtube.com/embed/q65O3qA0-n4) by minutephysics and Wikipedia: Geoid
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoid)
geoid elevation: (equivalent to "geoid height") the local geopotential vertical distance between a geoid (#geoid) and some point such as a
survey point (#survey point)
GETSI: "GEodesy Tools for Societal Issues; NSF (#NSF) -funded project to develop teaching modules in GPS (#GPS) , lidar (#lidar) , and InSAR
(#InSAR) ; see GETSI (/projects/major-projects/getsi/getsi.html) overview and GETSI homepage (http://serc.carleton.edu/getsi/) at SERC
GGN: "Global GPS Network"; NASA (#NASA) -funded network of GPS (#GPS) or GNSS (#GNSS) stations (#station) which forms part of the IGS (#IGS)
network; see also NASA-GGN (/instrumentation/networks/nasa-ggn/nasa-ggn.html) monitoring
GIPSY-OASIS: "GNSS Inferred Positioning System-Orbit Analysis Simulation Software"; software programs for analyzing GPS (#GPS) data (#data)
developed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and maintained by the Near-Earth Tracking Applications and Systems groups; see also GIPSY-OASIS II
(/software/data-processing/postprocessing/gipsy/gipsy.html)
GLONASS: "Global Navigation Satellite System"; a specific spaceborne radionavigation system financed and operated by the Soviet
Commonwealth planned to consist of 21 satellites with 3 active on-orbit spares arranged in three MEO (#MEO) orbital planes at 64.8°
inclination, approximately 19130 km above the Earth (orbital period of 11h 16m, or 17 orbits every 8 sidereal days (#sidereal day) ), using
frequency-division multiple access (#FDMA) with right-hand circularly polarized carrier frequencies (#carrier frequency) at G1 = 1602.00 MHz + k
9/16 MHz and G2 = 1246.00 MHz + k 7/16 MHz (k = "frequency channel number" integer, have values 0,1,...,24 from 1982 to 1998,
0,1,...,13 from 1998 to 2005 and -7,-6,...,6 after 2005; G2 is 7/9 of G1) and, starting with GLONASS-K SVs (#SV) , code division multiple
access (#CDMA) with a right-hand circularly polarized carrier frequency (#carrier frequency) at G3 = 1202.025 MHz, using GLONASS time (#GLONASS
time) as the time standard and PZ-90 (#PZ-90) as the spatial reference frame. The public user interface is defined in the ICD-GLONASS (#ICD-
GLONASS) : Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS): Interface Control Document, Navigational radiosignal in bands L1, L2
GLONASS time: time system used by GLONASS (#GLONASS) , based on the UTC (#UTC) (SU) time frame generated by Russian organizations,
referred to the Moscow Standard Time which has an offset of three hours from Greenwich time; besides differences of full hours and full
leap seconds (#leap second) (which GLONASS time includes), the difference between the GPS and GLONASS time frames have been computed to
differ by 20-30 microseconds
GMT: "Generic Mapping Tools"; open-source command-line tools for manipulating geographic and other data sets and producing PostScript
illustrations; see also GMT (http://gmt.soest.hawaii.edu/) homepage
GMTSAR: open source (under GNU General Public License) InSAR processing software designed for users familiar with the Generic Mapping
Tools (#GMT) software package; written in C and compiles on any computer where GMT and NetCDF (#NetCDF) are installed; see
(http://topex.ucsd.edu/gmtsar/)
GNET: "Greenland NETwork"; network of GNSS (#GNSS) stations (#station) in Greenland; see also POLENET (#POLENET)
GNSS: "Global Navigation Satellite System"; any of, or some combination of, the operational spaceborne radionavigation systems, at this time
being Navstar (#Navstar) GPS (#GPS) , GLONASS (#GLONASS) , Beidou/Compass (#Beidou-2) , Galileo (#Galileo) , QZSS (#QZSS) , SBAS (#SBAS) , and/or IRNSS
(#IRNSS) ; GNSS (using principally GPS at the present time) is one of the components used to constrain the International Terrestrial Reference
Frame (#ITRF) ; see also graphic overview of GNNS signals (http://www.navipedia.net/images/1/1c/Galileo_Signals_in_Space.png)
GNSS modernization: the general components being (1) the US launching new Navstar (#Navstar) GPS (#GPS) SVs (#SV) which broadcast more
signals (#signal) than the orignal GPS L1C/A, L1P, and L2P. e.g. GPS L2C, L5, M-code signals, L1C; (2) Russia launching new GLONASS (#GLONASS)
SVs which broadcast more signals than the original GLONASS L1-SA, L1-HA, and L2-HA, e.g. L2-SA and G3; (3) various countries launching
new SBAS (#SBAS) SVs which broadcast more signals than the original SBAS L1C/A, e.g. SBAS L5; (4) other countries launching and operating
their own GNSS (#GNSS) constellation such as Beidou/Compass (#Beidou-2) , Galileo (#Galileo) , QZSS (#QZSS) , and IRNSS (#IRNSS) which broadcast
signals which (ideally) complement one another; see also graphic overview of GNNS signals
(http://www.navipedia.net/images/1/1c/Galileo_Signals_in_Space.png)
GPS: "Global Positioning System"; a specific spaceborne radionavigation system financed and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense
consisting of Navstar (#Navstar) satellites, a minumum of 21 operational and 3 active in-orbit spares, arranged in six MEO (#MEO) orbital planes
at 63° (Block I SVs, all now decommissioned from active service) and 55° (Block II SVs) inclinations, approximately 20197 km above the Earth
(orbital period of 11h 58m, or 2 orbits every 1 sidereal day (#sidereal day) ), using code division multiple access (#CDMA) with right-hand
circularly polarized L-band carrier frequencies (#carrier frequency) at L1 = 1575.42 MHz, L2 = 1227.60 MHz (= 120/154 of L1), and L5 =
1176.45 MHz (= 115/154 of L1; L5 in test mode one Block IIR-M SV, and operational in all Block IIF SVs and upcoming Block III SVs),
1176.45 MHz (= 115/154 of L1; L5 in test mode one Block IIR-M SV, and operational in all Block IIF SVs and upcoming Block III SVs),
currently uses GPS time (#GPS time) as the time standard and WGS-84 (#WGS-84) as the spatial reference frame; the unclassified user interface of
which is defined in the IS-GPS-200 (#IS-GPS-200) : Navstar GPS Space Segment/Navigation User Interfaces
GPS time: also GPST; time in seconds, skipping UTC (#UTC) leap seconds (#leap second) , since start epoch on Sunday 00:00 6 Jan 1980 UTC (=
6.0 Jan 1980 UTC) using UTC as defined by the master clock of the U.S. Naval Observatory, UTC(USNO,MC) (see also any recent "Time and
Frequency Bulletin" published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce) (see also GPS time of
week (#GPS time of week) , GPS week (#GPS week) , calendar (#calendar) )
GPS time of week: the seconds since the beginning of a GPS week (#GPS week) ; this will not exceed 604800 even for weeks containing positive
UTC (#UTC) leap seconds (#leap second) since GPS time (#GPS time) skips UTC leap seconds
GPS week: complete weeks, skipping UTC (#UTC) leap seconds (#leap second) , since GPST start epoch on Sunday 00:00 6 Jan 1980 UTC (= 6.0
Jan 1980 UTC); e.g. week starting Sunday 6 Jan 1980 was GPS week 0, week starting Sunday 13 Jan 1980 was GPS week 1, and so on; only
10 bits are used to represent the GPS week modulo 1024 in the L1C/A broadcast navigation messages from the GPS (#GPS) SVs (#SV) , leading
to a modulo 1024 rollover problem on 22.0 Aug 1999 (GPS week 1024), 7.0 Apr 2019 (GPS week 2048), 21.0 Nov 2038 (GPS week 3072),
and so on (see also calendar (#calendar) )
group: or data group; the top level of organization of GPS (#GPS) /GNSS (#GNSS) data (#data) at the UNAVCO Archive, each group being made up
of data from probably from one or more projects (#project) ; usually a group is related on a one-to-one basis to a campaign (#campaign) , or a
network (#network) of permanent stations (#permanent station) , or a single field support effort for multiple regional projects (#project) ; subdivision of
the group is by data sets (#data set) ; storage of removable media (#media) , log sheets (#log sheet) , etc. in the Physical Repository (#Physical Repository)
is by group ID (#group ID) number
group ID: for the purposes of the UNAVCO Archive, a unique number specifying a specific group (#group) ; the group ID is also used as the
primary organizational name for campaign (#campaign) data (#data) on the UNAVCO GPS (#GPS) /GNSS (#GNSS) ftp (#ftp) server, e.g.
ftp://data-out.unavco.org/pub/pickup/campaigns/request (ftp://data-out.unavco.org/pub/pickup/campaigns/request)
GSAC: "GPS Seamless Archive Center"; participant in the Seamless Archive initiative promoted as an activity for the UNAVCO (#UNAVCO)
community by NSF (#NSF) ; see also GSAC project overview (/projects/major-projects/gsac/gsac.html) and GSAC software (/software/data-
management/gsac/gsac.html)
GST: "Galileo System Time"; time system of Galileo (#Galileo) , maintained by the Galileo Central Segment; synchronized with TIA (#TIA) with a
nominal offset within ±50 nanoseconds; GST start epoch at 13 seconds before Sunday 00:00:00 22 Aug 1999 UTC (= 22.0 Aug 1999 GPST
(#GPS time) , neaning that GST and GPS time are only offset by 1024 604800-second weeks and by zero leap seconds (#leap second) ); GST is set
by the Galileo Control Centre, in Fucino, Italy, by the Precise Timing Facility (PTF) and the UTC disseminated by Galileo is the mean of the
UTC of 5 European time labs: Observatoire de Paris (France), PTB (Germany), IT (Italy), ROA (Spain) and SP (Sweden)
GTRF: "Galileo Terrestrial Reference Frame"; spatial reference system of Galileo (#Galileo) and an independent realization of the ITRS (#ITRS) ; as
of version GTRF09v01, GTRF is identical to ITRF2005 (#ITRF) (e.g. see Galileo Terrestrial Reference Frame
(http://www.unoosa.org/pdf/icg/2012/template/GTRF.pdf) )
H
Hatanaka (compression/decompression): a compression/decompression scheme of a RINEX (#RINEX) observation file into a smaller ASCII format
used by the IGS (#IGS) and UNAVCO (#UNAVCO) . The Hatanaka-compressed ASCII format version of a RINEX observation file is frequently used in
conjuction with the UNIX compress , zip , gzip or other generalized compression utilities to create a very small file for Internet transfer. (See
also Hatanaka Format Information at UNAVCO (/data/gps-gnss/hatanaka/hatanaka.html) and Hatanaka compression/decompression (/software/data-
processing/preprocessing/preprocessing.html#hatanaka) .)
I
ICD-GLONASS: the public "interface specification" document for GLONASS (#GLONASS) ; see:
draft versions of future CDMA signals in L1, L2, and L3 bands:
L1 version 1.0 (2016) (in Russian)

general description of GLONASS with CDMA, verion 1.0 (2016) (in Russian)
version 5.1 (2008) (in English)

ICRF: "International Celestial Reference Frame"; realization of the International Celestial Reference System (ICRS) (http://hpiers.obspm.fr/icrs-pc/)
IERS: "International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service"; see also:
IERS Central Bureau homepage
IERS Publications: Messages, Bulletins, Technical Notes, Annual Reports
IGS: "International GNSS Service", formally the "International GPS Service (for Geodynamics)"; a voluntary federation of more than 200
worldwide agencies that pool resources and permanent GNSS (#GNSS) station data to generate precise GNSS products, established by the
International Association of Geodesy (IAG) to aid high-precision geodetic positioning by providing carrier phase (#carrier phase) and
pseudorange RINEX data from permanent stations around the world, high-precision orbits for all
pseudorange (#pseudorange) RINEX (#RINEX) data (#data) from permanent stations (#permanent station) around the world, high-precision orbits for all
tracked GNSS satellites (~20 cm or better in accuracy), earth rotation parameters, etc.; Central Bureau of IGS at igscb igscb.jpl.nasa.gov ;
also see:
IGS Central Bureau homepage

IGS Network map
IGS Product listing
IGS Mailing lists
GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) summary of the last 100 days of IGS sites
and text documentation:
IGS antenna and receiver designations for RINEX
IGS log: a combination site (#site) and visit (#visit) history log (#log) developed by the IGS (#IGS) for recording permanent station (#permanent station)
metadata (#metadata) in an ASCII format; see also:
IGS site log instructions

blank IGS site log
IGSO: "Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit"; a non-0° inclination geosynchronous orbit around the Earth, i.e. with a period of exactly one sidereal
day (#sidereal day) ; the footprint of the satellite on the surface of the Earth can be a roughly symmetrical to a very non-symmetrical figure-"8"
pattern; compare with GEO (#GEO)
Iridium: a satellite constellation with 66 active LEO (#LEO) satellites and additional spares at a height of approximately 781 km above the
Earth at a high orbital inclination of 86.4° in six orbital planes with 11 active satellites in each plane, for global voice and data
communications, operating within 1618.85 to 1626.50 MHz; see also Iridium satellite constellation
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_satellite_constellation)
InSAR: "Interferometric Synthetic Apeture Radar"; a remote sensing technology using two or more SAR (#SAR) images to interferometrically
create a DEM (#DEM) or map of surface deformation relative to a DEM, the later having the potential to measure centimeter-scale changes in
surface deformation over time spans of days to years
inspection: going to a setup (#setup) /station (#station) for the purpose of checking equipment, general maintainance, etc. without modifying any
of the setup (see also visit (#visit) )
International Atomic Time: see TIA (#TIA)

IONEX: "Ionosphere map Exchange"; ASCII exchange representation of 2- and 3-dimensional TEC (#TEC) -value maps given in a geographic
grid; see also
IONEX: The IONosphere Map EXchange

differential code biases (DCB)
IP: "Internet Protocol"; see Wikipedia: Internet Protocol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Protocol)

IRIS: "Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology"; currently responsible for the USArray (http://www.usarray.org/) component of EarthScope
(#EarthScope) ; see more at IRIS website (http://www.iris.edu/)
IRNSS: "Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System"; a specific spaceborne radionavigation system developed by the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) planned to expand to seven satellites, four in 29° inclined geosynchronous orbits centered in pairs at 55°E and 111°E and
three in geostationary orbit at 34°E, 83°E, and 132°E with an expected accuracy for positioning of 10 meters or better in the Indian
subcontinent and 20 meters or better in the Indian Ocean, probably using code division multiple access (#CDMA) with a right-hand circularly
polarized L-band carrier frequency (#carrier frequency) at L5 = 1176.45 MHz and an S-band carrier frequency at S1 = 2492.028 MHz; currently
uses IRNSS system time (which is nominally identical to Galileo system time (#GST) ) for its time standard and WGS-84 (#WGS-84) as the spatial
reference frame; see also List of IRSO Navigation Satellites (http://www.isro.org/spacecraft/list-of-navigation-satellites)
IRNSS ICD: register at IRNSS (http://irnss.isro.gov.in/) to access the IRNSS Signal-in-Space ICD for SPS (version 1.0 1 Sept 2014)
IS-GPS-200: the unclassified "interface specification" document for the Navstar (#Navstar) GPS (#GPS) Space Segment/Navigation User
Interfaces; see:
GPS References, Navigation Center, U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security
IS-GPS-200, Rev. H (24 Sep 2013)
IS-GPS-200, Rev. G (5 Sep 2012)
IS-GPS-200, Rev. F (21 Sep 2011)
IS-GPS-200, Rev. E (8 Jun 2010)
IS-GPS-200, Rev. D (7 Mar 2006)
and related:
IS-GPS-705, Rev. D (24 Sep 2013) User Segement L5 Interfaces

IS-GPS-800, Rev. D (24 Sep 2013) User Segement L1C Interfaces
IS-QZSS: the public "interface specification" document for QZSS (#QZSS) ; see:
version 1.8 (3 Oct 2016)
version 1.7 (14 Jul 2016)
version 1.6 (28 Nov 2014)
version 1.5 (27 Mar 2013)

version 1.5 (27 Mar 2013)
version 1.4 (28 Feb 2012)
version 1.3 (22 Jun 2011)
version 1.2 (25 Feb 2011)
ITRF: "International Terrestrial Reference Frame"; a specific realization of the International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS (#ITRS) ),
produced by the IERS (#IERS) ITRS Centre (http://www.iers.org/IERS/EN/Organization/ProductCentres/ITRSCentre/itrs.html) ; see The International Terrestrial
Reference Frame (ITRF) (http://www.iers.org/IERS/EN/DataProducts/ITRF/itrf.html) and for details of specific frames:
ITRF2008
ITRF2005
ITRF2000
ITRF(19)97
ITRF(19)96
ITRF(19)94
ITRF(19)93
ITRF(19)92
and realizations ITRF(19)89, ITRF(19)90, ITRF(19)91, and ITRF(19)95 (see also WGS-84 (#WGS-84) , PZ-90 (#PZ-90) )
ITRS: "International Terrestrial Reference System"; see The International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS)
(http://www.iers.org/IERS/EN/DataProducts/ITRS/itrs.html) at the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS)
J
Julian date: solar days since 1.5 Universal Time (i.e. noon on the 1st) Jan 4713 BCE (on the proleptic Julian calendar); the start of GPS time
(i.e. GPS standard epoch) 6.0 Jan 1980 is exactly equivalent to Julian date 2444244.5 (i.e. GPS time and UTC (#UTC) were essentially
(#GPS time)
the same (to ±1 microsecond) from 6.0 Jan 1980 to 1.0 Jul 1981 when the first UTC leap second (#leap second) offset was introduced during
GPS time at the end of 30 Jun 1981); compare with modified Julian date (#modified Julian date) ; see also U.S. Naval Observatory's Julian Date
Converter (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.html)
Julian day: same as Julian date (#Julian date) , though sometimes incorrectly used to refer to the day-of-year (#day-of-year) or ordinal date of the
year
K
L
LAAS: "Local Area Agmentation System", being developed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the USA; see LAAS Program
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Area_Augmentation_System)
LARISSA: "Larsen Ice Shelf System, Antarctica"; NSF (#NSF) -funded initiative to study the environmental changes in the Larsen Ice Shelf; see
also POLENET (/projects/major-projects/larissa/larissa.html) at UNAVCO and LARISSA homepage (http://www.hamilton.edu/expeditions/larissa/)
latitude: geographic coordinate describing the polar (north-south) angular offset of a point from a reference plane (e.g. equator) equidistant
(or nearly so) from the poles of a reference axis of a spheroidal body; for a body with a fairly stable axis of rotation, like the Earth, the
reference axis is either the axis of rotation at a specified epoch (#epoch) or the time-averaged position of the axis of rotation over a specified
time interval, or for a body with chaotic rotation, like Saturn's moon, Hyperion, the reference axis might be based on the geometrical shape
of the body or one of the three principal axes of inertia; for a spheroidal body modeled as biaxial ellipsoid (#ellipsoid) , one usually uses
either:
geodetic (or geographic) latitude: the angle between the normal to the ellipsoid and the reference plane (e.g. equator)
geocentric latitude (for the Earth) or plantocentric latitude (for other bodies): the angle between the defined center of the body
(based on center of mass or geometrical center) and the reference plane (e.g. equator)
so if the spheroidal body is modeled as a sphere, then the geodetic latitude and the geocentric (or plantocentric) latitude are exactly equal;
see also Wikipedia: Latitude (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latitude) , especially for other definitions of latitude, such as authalic latitude, conformal
latitude, isometric latitude, and so on; compare with longitude (#longitude)
lcode: "location code"; a lexically-sortable, non-unique, case-insensitive, 6-character alphanumeric string which geographically locates a
Earth-based surface monument (#monument) to at least a 100m x 100m square on the Earth
LDM: "Local Data Manager"; product of UCAR's Unidata group that allows secure pushing and/or pulling of files between two nodes of a
TCP/IP network; establishing LDM on a group of nodes allows the establishment of a secure data flow topology; see also Unidata's LDM
homepage (http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/ldm/)
leap second: second added (or subtracted) to keep the UTC (#UTC) time scale within ±0.9 second of the UT1 (#UT1) time scale, which changes
due to changes in the rotation rate of the Earth; since the introduction of leap seconds into UTC (with the first on 1972 Jun 30), only
positive leap seconds have been included which begin at 23 h 59 min 60 s UTC and end at 0 h 0 min 0 s UTC demarking the beginning of
the next day; positive leap seconds since the beginning of GPS time (#GPS time) have been inserted at the end of:
1981 Jun 30
Thus:
1982 Jun 30
between 1.0 Jan 1999 UTC and 1.0 Jan 2006 UTC, GPS - 13 seconds = UTC;
1983 Jun 30
between 1.0 Jan 2006 UTC and 1.0 Jan 2009 UTC, GPS - 14 seconds = UTC;
1985 Jun 30 between 1.0 Jan 2009 UTC and 1.0 Jul 2012 UTC, GPS - 15 seconds = UTC;
between 1.0 Jul 2012 UTC and 1.0 Jul 2015 UTC, GPS - 16 seconds = UTC;
1987 Dec 31 between 1.0 Jul 2012 UTC and 1.0 Jul 2015 UTC, GPS - 16 seconds = UTC;
between 1.0 Jul 2015 UTC and 1.0 Jan 2017 UTC, GPS - 17 seconds = UTC;
1989 Dec 31
and as of 1.0 Jan 2017 UTC (and before the next leap second is inserted), GPS - 18 seconds = UTC.
1990 Dec 31
See NIST Time Scale Data Archive for the latest leap second listing (updated monthly); see USNO EO Database
1992 Jun 30 Search to obtain a daily listing of UT1-UTC (observed and/or predicted); see also USNO leap second for more
1993 Jun 30 background.
1994 Jun 30
Note: A positive leap second was inserted at the end of December 2016.
1995 Dec 31
1997 Jun 30
1998 Dec 31
2005 Dec 31
2008 Dec 31
See also The leap second: its history and possible future (http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/time/metrologia-leapsecond.pdf) ,
2012 Jun 30
Nelson et al., Metrologia, 38 , 509-529, 2001.
2015 Jun 30
Articles discussing the lack of leap seconds between the end of 1998 and the end of 2005:
2016 Dec 31
Goddard Space Flight Center: Satellites reveal a mystery of large change in Earth's gravity field
National Geographic News: Why is Earth's Girth Bulging?
LEO: "Low Earth Orbit"; any orbit around the Earth with an orbital period of less than about two hours
lidar: a portmanteau of the words "light" and "radar" (1963), although commonly (and incorrectly) assumed to be an acronym for "Light
Detection And Ranging" or "Laser Imaging, Detection, And Ranging"; a remote sensing technology that measures the range to a target by
timing laser light reflected back by the target; see also TLS (#TLS) and ALS (#ALS)
log: documentation of a site (#site) description and/or a visit (#visit) (see also form (#form) )
log file: electronic version of a log sheet (#log sheet) , e.g. an on-line IGS (#IGS) site (#site) log
log sheet: a blank or filled-in log (#log) on paper
longitude: geographic coordinate describing the azimuthal (east-west) angular offset of a point from a reference great-circle line (e.g. prime
meridian) connecting the poles of a reference axis of the body; for a body with a fairly stable axis of rotation, like the Earth, the reference
axis is either the axis of rotation at a specified epoch (#epoch) or the time-averaged position of the axis of rotation over a specified time
interval, or for a body with chaotic rotation, like Saturn's moon, Hyperion, the reference axis might be based on the geometrical shape of the
body or one of the three principal axes of inertia; see also Wikipedia: Longitude (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude) ; compare with latitude
(#latitude)
LSM: "Laser Strainmeter"; a type of strainmeter using interferometric lidar (#lidar) to measure changes in range thus allowing measurements of
strain over time; see Laser Strainmeters (/instrumentation/geophysical/lsm/lsm.html)
M
magnetic declination: offset between the direction of true geographic north and the local direction of magnetic north; see NOAA/NGDC's
geomagnetic calculators:
magnetic declination + rate

3-d magnetic field orientation + rate
current field grid, 1 of 7 parameters
marker: if it exists, an identifiable and distinct component of a monument (#monument) having a survey point (#survey point) , e.g. a USGS brass
cap
mean sea level: the time-averaged level of the ocean's surface and by geopotential extrapolation to land-covered areas; see also global
mean sea level (GMSL) (http://sealevel.colorado.edu/content/what-definition-global-mean-sea-level-gmsl-and-its-rate)
mean sea level elevation: (equivalent to "mean sea level height") the local geopotential vertical distance between a mean sea level (#mean sea
level) and some point such as a survey point (#survey point)
media: or physical media; best explained by example: 9-track, QIC (1/4" cartridge tape), audio cassette tape, 3.5" or 5.25" floppy disk, 4mm
DAT, 8mm data tape, 8mm video tape, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, PC-Card (PCMCIA), Zip disk, Jazz disk, CD-R, CD-ROM, hard disk,
etc.
MEO: "Medium Earth Orbit"; any orbit around the Earth with an orbital period of about two to sixteen hours; the SVs (#SV) of GNSS (#GNSS)
constellations far into this range
metadata: ancillary information about data; for GNSS (#GNSS) data (#data) the ancillary information is required for the accurate processing of
observation and navigation data to determine the position, velocity, and/or acceleration of a single or set of survey points (#survey point) ; e.g.
the antenna reference point (#antenna reference point) relative to a survey point (if no horizontal offset, this is just the "antenna height"), antenna
type, receiver type, approximate WGS-84 (#WGS-84) coordinates, etc.; most of the information in a RINEX (#RINEX) file header is metadata
MJD: "modified Julian date"; see modified Julian date (#modified Julian date) for definition
modified Julian date: an offset version of the Julian date (#Julian date) obtained by subtracting 2400000.5 days from the Julian date; thus the
start of GPS time (#GPS time) (i.e. GPS standard epoch) 6.0 Jan 1980 UTC is equivalent to a modified Julian date of 44244.0
monument: a physical object for which one is trying to collect data (#data) for a determination of position, velocity, and/or acceleration for
monument: a physical object for which one is trying to collect data (#data) for a determination of position, velocity, and/or acceleration for
one or more survey points (#survey point) on or very near that object. (In the case of a zero offset for the antenna, the survey point of
measurement is the phase center(s) (#phase center) of the antenna, which may or may not actually correspond to a physical point on the object.)
(see also lcode (#lcode) , marker (#marker) , monument code (#monument code) , monument ID (#monument ID) , monument name (#monument name) ,
monument setting (#monument setting) , site (#site) )
monument code: a non-unique, case-insensitive, 4-character alphanumeric string to identify a specific survey point (#survey point) on a specific
monument (#monument) , e.g. "PEAK" = "peak"; also known as the 4-character ID (#4-char ID) of a survey point of a monument, obtained from the
monument record (/kb/assets/63/monument.pdf) form or something similar
monument ID: for the internal purposes of the UNAVCO Archive, a unique number specifying a specific survey point (#survey point) on a specific
monument (#monument) ; if multiple survey points are used on a single monument, then multiple monument IDs would be assigned
corresponding to each survey point used
monument name: a (hopefully) descriptive name for a particular monument (#monument) ; a 60-character version of which could be used in the
RINEX (#RINEX) Observation file for the non-optional MARKER NAME field
monument setting: a date stamp associated with a monument (#monument) or a marker (#marker) on a monument indicating either 1) when the
monument was established, or if that time is not known 2) when the monument was first known to be used
multipath: in context of GNSS (#GNSS) technology, multipath interference, whereby the electrodynamic waves from a GNSS SV (#SV) travel to the
antenna (#antenna) by way of two or more paths and interfere with one another; typically multipath is mainly due to one or more reflections of
the GHz waves in the vicinity of the antenna; all or most GNSS signals (#signal) are righthand circularly polarized, so a single reflection (such
as from the ground) results in a mostly lefthand circularly polarized wave which can be more easily filtered out thus reducing the potential
for multipath interference and, in addition, most high-end GNSS antennae have a ground plane or a GHz-absorbing material below the active
antenna element to reduce interfence from many reflected signals from surfaces below the antenna ground plane
N
NASA: "National Aeronautics and Space Administration"; one UNAVCO (#UNAVCO) 's core sponsors; see also NASA website (http://www.nasa.gov/)
NAT: "Network Address Translation"; a methodology of modifying network address information in IP (#IP) datagram packet headers while they
are in transit across a traffic routing device for the purpose of remapping one IP address space into another
Navstar: "Navigation Satellite Timing And Ranging"; the official name of the GPS (#GPS) satellites, e.g. see NASA SPACEWARN Bulletin No. 653
(http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx653.html) describing Navstar 62 launched in March 2008
NetCDF: a set of software libraries and self-describing, machine-independent data formats that support the creation, access, and sharing of
array-oriented scientific data developed and maintained by Unidata at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR); see more
at UCAR/Unidata's NetCDF homepage (http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/docs/)
network: an array of GNSS (#GNSS) setups (#setup) and/or stations (#station) operating at the same time for the purpose of collecting more or less
continuous data (#continuous data) over the extent of the array; the spatial extent of the array can be global or anything smaller
Niell mapping function: a global grid of wet and hydrostatic delays in the troposphere of GNSS (#GNSS) carrier waves (#carrier wave) plus a
mapping function that describes the delays as a function of elevation angle of each SV (#SV) relative to the GNSS receiver (#receiver) ; see also
Global mapping functions for the atmosphere delay at radio wavelengths (http://www.haystack.mit.edu/geo/pubs/NMF_JGR.pdf) , A. E. Niell, JGR, 101, b2,
3227-3246, 1996
NGL: "Nevada Geodetic Laboratory"; at University of Nevada, Reno; see more at NGL homepage (http://geodesy.unr.edu/)
NGS: "National Geodetic Survey"; see more at NGS website (http://geodesy.noaa.gov/)
NSF: "National Science Foundation"; one UNAVCO (#UNAVCO) 's core sponsors; see more at NSF website (http://www.nsf.gov/)
NTrip: "Networked Transport of RTCM via Internet Protocol"; an application-level protocol streaming GNSS (#GNSS) data over the Internet, and
is a generic, stateless protocol based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol HTTP/1.1 where the HTTP objects are enhanced to support GNSS
data streams; see also:
Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie (BKG) NTrip homepage

NTrip.org homepage
O
observable: any measurement between the space segment and the user segment of Navstar (#Navstar) GPS (#GPS) , GLONASS (#GLONASS) ,
Beidou/Compass (#Beidou-2) , Galileo (#Galileo) , QZSS (#QZSS) or SBAS (#SBAS) , e.g. receiver (#receiver) clock epoch (#epoch) time, and at the epoch:
carrier phase (#carrier phase) (i.e. cycle count) measurements at specific carrier frequencies (#carrier frequency) (e.g. GPS L1, L2, L5), pseudorange
(#pseudorange) measurements of specific digital modulated codes (#code) (e.g. GPS C/A, P) on those carrier frequencies, doppler measurements of
the carrier frequencies, signal-to-noise (#SNR) measurements of the carrier frequencies, etc.
observation: a set of carrier phase (#carrier phase) and/or code (#code) pseudorange (#pseudorange) observables (#observable) for an individual Navstar
(#Navstar) GPS (#GPS) , GLONASS (#GLONASS) , Beidou/Compass (#Beidou-2) , Galileo (#Galileo) , QZSS (#QZSS) or SBAS (#SBAS) , SV (#SV) for a specific epoch
(#epoch)
occupation: a visit (#visit) (depending on whether you prefer a militaristic or pacific term)
off-site: someplace other than the site (#site)
ordinal date: same as day-of-year (#day-of-year)

ordinal date: same as day-of-year (#day-of-year)
On-line Repository: dedicated electronic RAID storage of archived data files (#data file) at the UNAVCO Archive
OS SIS ICD: the unclassified "interface specification" document for the Galileo (#Galileo) Open Service Signal-In-Space Interface Control
Document; see:
OS SIS ICD (up to Issue 1.3, Dec 2016) at European GNSS Service Centre
P
PANGA: "Pacific Northwest Geodetic Array"; see also:
PANGA, Central Washington University homepage
University of Washington GPS Geodesy homepage, including PANGA
PBO: "Plate Boundary Observatory"; one of the main components of EarthScope (#EarthScope) , this is a set of surface (GPS permanent stations
) and subsurface (strainmeters) to measure the crustal motion and deformation in the plate boundary between the North
(#permanent station)
American and Pacific plates in the western USA and Alaska; see also EarthScope - Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) (/projects/major-
projects/pbo/pbo.html)
PCO: "Phase Center Offset"; offsets of a GNSS (#GNSS) antenna (#antenna) phase center (#phase center) can be measured and corrected for when
processing GNSS data; PCOs for commonly used antennas are made available in the ANTEX (#ANTEX) format
PCV: "Phase Center Variation"; variations of a GNSS (#GNSS) antenna (#antenna) phase center (#phase center) can be measured and corrected for
when processing GNSS data; PCVs for commonly used antennas are made available in the ANTEX (#ANTEX) format
permanent station: very long-term setup (#setup) at a continous site (#continuous site) ; implies long-term power and possibly other infrastructure
such as communication
permanent station data: data (#data) from one or more permanent stations (#permanent station)
phase center: relative to the user's active antenna (#antenna) element and ground plane, where a specific carrier wave (#carrier wave) from GNSS
(#GNSS) SVs (#SV) seem to be received; the phase center may be modeled as averaged over all possible directions, modeled as a function of
elevation from the ground plane, or even modeled as a function of azimuth (#SV azimuth) and elevation (#SV elevation) (see phase center pattern
(#phase center pattern) ); similarly, the GNSS SV's antenna complex has a phase center for each carrier wave being transmitted
phase center pattern: the variation of the effective phase center (#phase center) of the antenna (#antenna) , usually by azimuth (#SV azimuth) and
elevation (#SV elevation) for a given GNSS (#GNSS) SV (#SV) carrier frequency (#carrier frequency) ; see also
GPS antenna calibrations by the staff of the Instrumentation and Methodologies Branch, Geodetic Services Division, National
Geodetic Survey, NOAA, Dept. of Commerce
igs_01.pcv: IGS antenna phase center offsets and variations
UNAVCO ARI antenna calibration report
Physical Repository: dedicated storage room(s) for physical media (#media) , log sheets (#log sheet) , etc. at the UNAVCO Archive, organized by
group (#group) ID number
POLENET: "POLar Earth Observing NETwork"; network of GNSS (#GNSS) stations (#station) in the polar regions of the Earth, broken in the
Antarctic Network (ANET) and Greenland Network (GNET) subnetworks; see POLENET (/projects/major-projects/polenet/polenet.html) at UNAVCO and
POLENET homepage (http://www.polenet.org/)
PPP: "Point-to-Point Protocol"; a data link protocol that establishs a direct connection between two nodes and can provide connection
authentication, transmission encryption, and compression
PPP: "Precise Point Positioning"; computational method for GNSS (#GNSS) positioning with position solutions at the centimeter to decimeter
level using precise SV (#SV) positions (such as with SP3 (#SP3) ) and clocks combined with multi-frequency carrier phase (#carrier phase) data;
requires fewer global reference stations than classic differential approaches; one set of precise orbit and clock data (computed by a central
processing centre) is valid for all users everywhere; the PPP solution is largely unaffected by individual reference-station failures
PPP-AR: Precise Point Positioning (#PPP-gnss) with integer Ambiguity Resolution

principal investigator: the big cheese/head honcho/primary cognizant entity associated with a project (#project)
PRN: "Pseudo-Random Noise" (or sometimes Number); an integer sequence number, 1-32, assigned to each of the Navstar (#Navstar) GPS (#GPS)
SVs (#SV) to indicate its own unique C/A-code and its own unique P-code; this is the GPS SV number that is used in a RINEX (#RINEX)
observation or navigation file that is used to distinguish each satellite at the same carrier frequency (#carrier frequency) , e.g. PRNs for GPS,
GBAS, SBAS, QZSS:
1 – 32 are used for the current constellation of GPS SVs

33 – 37 are reserved for other uses, such as ground transmitters
38 – 63 are reserved for future GPS SVs
64 – 119 are reserved for future GBAS amd other augmentation systems
120 – 158 are reserved for SBAS
159 – 210 are reserved for other GNSS applications such as QZSS
project: proposed or realized work in one or more of the following: site (#site) reconnaissance, monument (#monument) installation (or
monumentation), permanent station (#permanent station) installation, campaign (#campaign) or permanent station data (#data) collection
pseudorange: the range (or distance) from a given GNSS (#GNSS) SV (#SV) to the user's antenna (#antenna) plus errors due to one or more of the
pseudorange: the range (or distance) from a given GNSS (#GNSS) SV (#SV) to the user's antenna (#antenna) plus errors due to one or more of the
following:
clock error of the user's receiver

non-linear path and time-delay of the GNSS signal between the SV and the user's antenna due to atmospheric refraction (mostly
in the ionosphere), i.e. the path is not in a vacuum
Due mainly to the dispersive nature of the ionosphere at GHz frequencies, the paths and time-delays of different GNSS signals (#signal) vary
leading to different pseudorange measurements on the different GNSS signals. The pseudorange is found by a cross-correlation of the
signal's code (#code) with the reference code known by the receiver and finding the time shift of the broadcast code compared to the
receiver's time, i.e. the time shift multiplied by the speed of light is the pseudorange measurement, and since this technique relies on the
signal's code, this measurement is sometimes also referred to as a code pseudorange
PS-InSAR: "Persistent Scatterer Interferometric Synthetic Apeture Radar"; next-generation InSAR (#InSAR) processing techniques which remove
atmospheric effects by searching the imagery and interferograms for pixels that display stable amplitude and coherent phase throughout
every image of the data set; these points in the data set are referred to as permanent or persistent scatterers
PSK: "Phase-Shift Keying"; one of several digitial modulation schemes that allows binary data to be imprinted on a reference signal such as a
GNSS (#GNSS) carrier wave (#carrier wave) ; the traditional GPS (#GPS) L1C/A, L1P(Y), and L2P(Y) signals (#signal) use binary phase-shift keying (BPSK)
which have most of the spectral energy of the signal concentrated around the carrier frequency (#carrier frequency) ; compare with binary offset
carrier (BOC) (#BOC) modulation; see more at Wikipedia: Phase-Shift Keying (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase-shift_keying)
PZ-90: "Parameters of the Earth 1990" (PZ-90 in Russian); formerly known as Soviet Geodetic System 1990 (SGS-90) and nearly identical to
SGS-85; the ECEF (#ECEF) spatial coordinate system used by GLONASS (#GLONASS) ; the estimated transformation between SGS-85 and WGS-84
included a 4 meter offset of the z-axis and a 0.6" (3e-6 radian) rotation about the z-axis, whereas the transformation between PZ-90 and
WGS-84 is only a 0.33" to 0.40" (1.6e-6 to 1.9e-6 radian) rotation about the z-axis, with perhaps a 2.5 meter offset of the y-axis; the
system is defined as:
the origin is the center of mass of the Earth

z-axis is directed to the average North pole of the 1900-1905 epoch
x-axis is in the equator plane of the 1900-1905 epoch, the XOZ plane being parallel to the average Greenwich meridian
y-axis completes the system as a right-handed rectangular system
Some of the major constants in PZ-90, which models the Earth as an ellipsoid (#ellipsoid) of revolution, are:
semimajor axis (origin to equator on x-y plane) = 6378.136 km

flattening = 1/298.257839303
angular velocity of Earth = 7.2921150e-5 radians/s
G x mass of Earth = 3.9860044e14 m**3/s**2
second zonal harmonic coefficient = 1.08262575e-3
speed of light in vacuum = 2.99792458e8 m/s
(see also WGS-84 (#WGS-84) , ITRF (#ITRF) )
Q
QZSS: "Quasi- Zenith Satellite System"; a specific spaceborne radionavigation system financed and operated by the Japan planned to consist
of up to 18 IGSO (#IGSO) satellites (mean height of approximately 35786 km above mean sea level but in a highly elliptical orbit, with an
orbital period of 23h 56m 04.1s, or 1 orbit every sidereal day (#sidereal day) ) using code division multiple access (#CDMA) with a right-hand
circularly polarized carrier frequencies (#carrier frequency) at L1 = 1575.42 MHz, L2 = 1227.60 MHz, L5 = 1176.45 MHz, and LEX = 1278.75
MHz; operational and proposed satellites of PRN (#PRN) 193 to 202 (with 203-210 as potential spares):
L1-SAIF performance enhancement signal on 183-192, though 188-192 are used for QZS maintenance/test purposes and must
not be used by users
LEX performance enhancement signal on 193-202, though 198-202 are used for QZS maintenance/test purposes and must not
be used by users
other QZSS signals on 193-202, though 198-202 are used for QZS maintenance/test purposes and must not be used by users
thus normal user PRNs for initial QZSS without L1-SAIF are 193-197
The public user interface is defined in the IS-QZSS (#IS-QZSS) : Quasi-Zenith Satellite System Navigation Service: Interface Specification for
QZSS
R
radome: see antenna dome (#antenna dome)
raw data: lowest-level, proprietary or non-proprietary data file(s) (#data file) available from a GNSS (#GNSS) receiver (#receiver) containing both data
and metadata (#metadata) ; e.g. Trimble's DAT, EPH, ION, and MES download (#download) files, AOA's ConanBinary or TurboBinary files,
(#data)
Ashtech's B-, E-, and S-download files, etc.; usually a majority of the data and metadata in a data file is in an encoded binary format
raw file code: a non-unique, case-insensitive, 4-character alphanumeric string to identify a specific survey point (#survey point) on a specific
monument (#monument) , e.g. "PEAK" = "peak"; also known as the 4-character ID (#4-char ID) of a survey point of a monument, obtained from the
raw data (#raw data) file itself (see also monument code (#monument code) and visit code (#visit code) )
real-time data: continuous data (#continuous data) supplied with very low time latency
real-time monitoring: continuous data (#continuous data) is transferred near-real-time via one or more communication paths off-site (#off-site) for
near-real-time data (#data) collection, quality checking, and/or processing; time delay should generally be no more than a few minutes
receiver: device used to decode the digital and analog components of the GNSS (#GNSS) signal (#signal) supplied by the antenna (#antenna) , as
receiver: device used to decode the digital and analog components of the GNSS (#GNSS) signal (#signal) supplied by the antenna (#antenna) , as
specified in part by the IS-GPS-200 (#IS-GPS-200) for GPS (#GPS) , or the analog for GLONASS (#GLONASS) , Beidou/Compass (#Beidou-2) , Galileo
(#Galileo) , QZSS (#QZSS) , or SBAS (#SBAS)
reference frame (or geodetic reference frame): the coordinate system of a geodetic datum (#datum)
reference point: 1) specific survey points (#survey point) used to help realize a geodetic datum (#datum) ; 2) a special case of a survey point
usually used to locate a primary survey point or serve as a backup to a primary survey point especially in cases where the
(#survey point)
primary survey point has been lost or destroyed
RESESS: "Research Experience in Solid Earth Science for Students; undergraduate summer intership and support program in the Earth
sciences hosted at UNAVCO (#UNAVCO) in Boulder, Colorado; see RESESS (/projects/major-projects/resess/resess.html) overview and RESESS homepage
(http://resess.unavco.org/)
RINEX: "Receiver Independent Exchange"; ASCII exchange representation of GNSS (#GNSS) data (#data) and metadata (#metadata) currently
conforming to the specification given in "RINEX: The Receiver Independent Exchange Format Version 2(.xx)" available from the Astronomical
Institute, University of Berne (AIUB); one of several general file types:
RINEX observation (OBS) file

RINEX navigation (NAV) file (e.g. for GPS, GLONASS, Beidou/Compass, Galileo, QZSS, and/or SBAS)
RINEX meteorological (MET) file
RINEX clock (CLK) file
also see documentation:
IGS format documentation listing at IGS Central Bureau (start here if a link below fails)
RINEX Ver. 2(.00) (Apr 1993)
RINEX Ver. 2.10 (10 Dec 2007)
RINEX SBAS NAV Ver. 2.10 (19 Dec 2003)
RINEX Ver. 2.11 (10 Dec 2007)
RINEX Ver. 3.00 (28 Nov 2007)
RINEX Ver. 3.01 (22 Jun 2009)
RINEX Ver. 3.02 (3 Apr 2013)
RINEX Ver. 3.03 (14 Jul 2015)
and related:
IONEX Ver. 1.00 (25 Feb 1998)

Earth Rotation Parameters Ver. 2 (10 Jul 1998)
Clock Ver. 3.00 (14 Nov 2006)
Clock Ver. 3.02 (2 Sep 2010)
and see
IGS antenna and receiver designations for RINEX, available at JPL's IGS Central Bureau ftp site; these RINEX entries for receiver
and antenna types are not part of the RINEX specification, but, rather, represent an effort by the IGS to standardize the ASCII
strings used to describe various common receiver and antenna types and are widely accepted
ROI_PAC: "Repeat Orbit Interferometry Package"; a UNIX-based software package for processing SAR (#SAR) images to create InSAR (#InSAR)
images; developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology; see also ROI_PAC (http://www.roipac.org/)
homepage
RTCM: "Radio Technical Commission Maritime Services"; for example, RTCM Special Committee 104 (SC-104) recommends standards for
differential and real-time GPS (#GPS) /GNSS (#GNSS) data (#data) exchange; see also RTCM homepage (http://www.rtcm.org/)
RTK: "Real Time Kinematic"; a differential GNSS (#GNSS) positioning technique that provices 1-10 mm accuracy using real-time data
S
SAR: "Synthetic Apeture Radar"; see more at SAR satellites (/instrumentation/geophysical/imaging/sar-satellites/sar-satellites.html) for Earth-orbiting SAR
missions
SBAS: "Satellite Based Agmentation System"; the component of a set of geostationary satellites (one orbital plane at 0° inclination,
approximately 35786 km above mean sea level at the equator, with an orbital period of 23h 56m 04.1s, or 1 orbit every sidereal day (#sidereal
day) ) to augment GNSS (#GNSS) use for civilian applications using code division multiple access (#CDMA) with a right-hand circularly polarized
carrier frequencies (#carrier frequency) at L1 = 1575.42 MHz and (for some SVs) L5 = 1176.45 MHz; the operational and proposed satellites of
PRN (#PRN) 120 to 142 include:
EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) — a joint project of the European Space Agency (ESA), the European
Commission (EC) and Eurocontrol, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation for the European area; EGNOS ICD
(Ver. 2.1, 19 Dec 2014)
GAGAN (GPS And GEO Augmented Navigation) — India
MSAS (MTSAT-Based Augmentation System) — Japan MTSAT (Multi-functional Transport Satellite)
SDCM (System for Differential Correction and Monitoring) — Russia; SDCM ICD (Ed. 1, 2012)
SNAS (Satellite Navigation and Augmentation Service) — China
WAAS (Wide-Area Augmentation System) — USA, for the USA and Canadian area
where the current operational or proposed satellites are (ordered by PRN):
Satellite Longitude PRN Region Signals

Inmarsat 3 F2, PRN
15.5°W EGNOS L1
AOR-E 120
PRN
Astra 5B 31.5°E EGNOS L1 & L5
123
PRN
ESA Artemis 21.5°E EGNOS L1
124
PRN
Luch-5B 16.0°W SDCM L1
125
PRN
Inmarsat 4 F2 25.0°E EGNOS L1
126
PRN
GSAT-8 55.0°E GAGAN L1 & L5
127
PRN
GSAT-10 83.0°E GAGAN L1 & L5
128
PRN
MTSAT-1R 140.0°E MSAS L1
129
PRN
Inmarsat 4 F3 98.0 WAAS L1 & L5
133
PanAmSat Galaxy PRN

133.0°W WAAS L1 & L5
XV 135
PRN
Sirius-5 SES-5 5.0°E EGNOS L1 & L5
136
PRN
MTSAT-2 145.0°E MSAS L1
137
PRN
Telesat Anik F1R 107.3°W WAAS L1 & L5
138
PRN
Luch-5V 95.0°E SDCM L1
140
PRN
Luch-5A 167.0°E SDCM L1
141
see also:
IGS MGEX SBAS Status

SX Blue GPS: SBAS Resources, SBAS Made Easy, and SBAS Coverage Map
Wikipedia: Satellite Based Augmentation System
SCEC: "Southern California Earthquake Center"; see also SCIGN (#SCIGN) and SCEC homepages
(http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/office/hudnut/scec/SCEC_Group_E.html)
SCIGN: "Southern California Integrated GPS Network"; see also SCIGN homepage (http://www.scign.org/)
session: a pre-definable time during which a GNSS (#GNSS) receiver (#receiver) will record observations (#observation) according to some pre-defined
parameters, such as sample interval or data format (#data format)
semi-continuous site: a site (#site) with a continuous station (#continuous station) that has significant data (#data) gaps by design, for example so
that the equipment can be moved to another similar site
semi-continuous site data: data (#data) from one or more semi-continuous sites (#semi-continuous site)
setting: monument setting (#monument setting)
setup: (not necessarily limited to): the antenna dome (#antenna dome) (if any), the antenna (#antenna) , antenna's LNA (low-noise amplifier), the
choke ring (#choke ring) (if any), tripod or other antenna support, antenna cable (#antenna cable) , in-line surge suppressor (if any), receiver
(#receiver) , receiver firmware (#firmware) , (and any other item in the signal (#signal) path) established around a monument (#monument) for the
purpose of collecting GNSS (#GNSS) data (#data) ; modification of anything (see the above items, or a change in antenna height (#antenna height) )
that could effect positioning results constitutes a new setup (see also station (#station) , visit (#visit) )
sidereal day: time for a body to rotate 360° on its axis relative to the fixed stars; for example, the Earth's sidereal day is 23h 56m
4.098904s, based on the WGS-84 (#WGS-84) angular velocity of Earth == 7.2921151467e-5 radians/second
sidereal period: time for an orbiting body to make a full orbit relative to fixed stars, and is the orbital period in an inertial frame of
reference; for example, the sidereal period of the Moon about the Earth is 27d 7h 43m 11.5s thus defining a sidereal lunar month and the
sidereal period of a Navstar (#Navstar) GPS (#GPS) SV (#SV) about the Earth is 11h 58m 2s; compare with draconitic period (#draconitic period)
signal: both the analog and binary components of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by either the Navstar (#Navstar) GPS (#GPS) , GLONASS
, Beidou/Compass (#Beidou-2) , Galileo
(#GLONASS) (#Galileo) , QZSS (#QZSS) or SBAS (#SBAS) space segments; signals are centered at one or more GHz
microwave carrier frequencies (#carrier frequency)
SINEX: "Solution Independent Exchange": see specifications for 2.00 (24 May 2002), 2.01 (24 Mar 2005), and 2.02 (1 Dec 2006) at IERS
SINEX: "Solution Independent Exchange": see specifications for 2.00 (24 May 2002), 2.01 (24 Mar 2005), and 2.02 (1 Dec 2006) at IERS
SINEX format (http://www.iers.org/nn_10910/IERS/EN/Organization/AnalysisCoordinator/SinexFormat/sinex__cont.html?__nnn=true)
site: the general, immediate area around one or more monuments or where one or more monuments may be installed; a site is the top layer
in a hierarchy (after monument installation):
a site has one or more monuments,

a monument has zero or more markers,
a marker has one or more survey points.
if a physical marker is not part of a particular monument, that monument still must have at least one identifiable survey point. The
equipment to collect GNSS (#GNSS) data (#data) at a particular survey point is either a setup (#setup) or a station (#station)
site description: the general description of a site (#site) , primarily to identify how to find the site from surrounding towns, roads, landmarks,
etc.
SLR: "Satellite Laser Ranging"; a geodetic technique measuring the round-trip time-of-flight of a short-pulse laser between a ground site
and a satellite, together with data correction information such as atmospheric effects, which are to be applied to the data, thus allowing a
determination of the round-trip distance or range between the site and the satellite; SLR is one of the components used to constrain the
scale of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (#ITRF)
smtp: "simple mail transfer protocol"; normal email (#email) transfer protocol
SNR: "Signal-to-Noise Ratio"; the ratio of a GNSS (#GNSS) signal (#signal) to noise at the same frequency; modern receivers (#reciever) log the SNR
in units of dB-Hz
SOPAC: "Scripps Orbit and Permanent Array Center" of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California of San Deigo; see
also SOPAC homepage (http://sopac.ucsd.edu)
SP3: "Standard Product 3" Orbit Format for GPS (#GPS) (also now known as SP3-a, and later extended with SP3-b (#SP3-b) and SP3-c (#SP3-c) ), an
ASCII exchange format for representing GPS satellite orbits; see also
original SP3(-a) proposal
SP3-b: "Standard Product 3" Orbit Format for GPS (#GPS) and GLONASS (#GLONASS) , an ASCII exchange format for representing GPS and
GLONASS satellite orbits
SP3-c: Extended "Standard Product 3" precise orbit ASCII format for GPS (#GPS) , GLONASS (#GLONASS) , Galileo (#Galileo) , Beidou/Compass
(#Beidou-2) , QZSS (#QZSS) , and LEO (#LEO) satellite orbits; see also
Extended Standard Product 3 Orbit Format (SP3-c) (17 Aug 2010)

IGSMail-5008 (7 Sep 2004) Some information on the error codes given in the SP3-c
SP3-c files can be found at:
CDDIS — GNSS Orbit Products

SOPAC GPS Orbits
IGS Product Availability
IGS MGEX — Precise Orbit and Clock Products
station: a long-term setup (#setup) ; antenna support is usually more permanent than just a tripod; a station probably includes the setup plus
power, communication, and/or other infrastructure
Setup and station imply two ends of the time spectrum: a setup is generally more short-term (on the order of hours to days) and a station is
more long-term (on the order of months to years). On occasion, a setup (plus long-term power) is pushed into long-term use (many
months), but it still does not have the permanence and survivability implied by the term "station"
survey point: a precisely definable location (down to millimeter or sub-millimeter levels) to which an antenna (#antenna) is located for the
purpose of receiving GNSS (#GNSS) signals (#signal) ; this may be a physical point such a dimple or cross-hair intersection on a marker (#marker) ,
or may a virtual (non-physical) point (see also marker (#marker) , monument (#monument) , site (#site) )
survey mark: in our terminology the same as survey point (#survey point)
SV: "Space Vehicle", referring originally to a specific Navstar (#Navstar) GPS (#GPS) satellite, but now used to refer to any one of the Navstar GPS,
GLONASS (#GLONASS) , Beidou/Compass (#Beidou-2) , Galileo (#Galileo) , QZSS (#QZSS) or SBAS (#SBAS) satellites
SV azimuth: "Space Vehicle" azimuth; angle of view to a specific SV (#SV) about the local topocentric vertical referenced from a specific fixed
direction, usually clockwise from local north
SV elevation: "Space Vehicle" elevation; angle of view to a specific SV (#SV) above the local topocentric horizon plane
T
TEC: "total electron count" of the ionosphere, which dominates the ionospheric refraction
teqc: "translate, edit, and quality check" software, a UNAVCO data/metadata toolkit; see also teqc homepage (/software/data-
processing/teqc/teqc.html)
TIA: "Temps Atomique International" or "International Atomic Time", based on the weighted average of a large number of atomic clocks,
TIA: "Temps Atomique International" or "International Atomic Time", based on the weighted average of a large number of atomic clocks,
where since 1967 the second is defined as the period of time equal to 9192631770 cycles of the radiation corresponding to the transition
between the two hyperfine energy levels of the ground state of the cesium-133 atom (Cs-133); available since 1955, but TIA was defined as
being equal UT1 (#UT1) at the epoch 1.0 Jan 1958
TLALOCNet: "Trans-boundary, Land and Atmosphere Long-term Observational and Collaborative Network"; network of GNSS (#GNSS) stations
(#station) in Mexico; see TLALOCNet (/projects/major-projects/tlalocnet/tlalocnet.html) at UNAVCO
TLS: "Terrestrial Laser Scanning"; a lidar (#lidar) system installed on the ground (usually on a tripod or other ground-fixed platform) that
scans ground targets in a swath azimuthally from the system; see TLS Instrumentation (/instrumentation/geophysical/imaging/tls/tls.html)
Transit: full name of Navy Navigation Satellite System (NNSS) Transit, this was the immediate predecessor of the Navstar (#Navstar) GPS (#GPS)
system; a specific spaceborne radionavigation system financed and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense consisting of 6-10 satellites
(3-5 providing navigation service and 3-5 acting as in-orbit spares) in near-circular LEO (#LEO) polar orbits approximately 1075 km above the
Earth (orbital period of 1h 46m, or about 27 orbits every 2 sidereal days (#sidereal day) ) transmitting phase modulated navigation signals at
0.150 and 0.400 GHz; any signals after 31 Dec 1996 should not be used for timing or position; used WGS-72 (#WGS-72) until 27 Jan 1989 as
its ECEF (#ECEF) spatial coordinate system, whereupon this was switched to WGS-84 (#WGS-84)
U
UNAVCO: originally "University Navstar (#Navstar) Consortium" up until 30 Sept 2003, but after which UNAVCO is just a name (i.e. not an
acronym) representing the non-profit membership-governed organization that supports and promotes Earth science by advancing high-
precision geodetic and strain techniques and technologies such as the Global Positioning System (#GPS) ; see also UNAVCO About Us
(/about/about.html) .
UNIX epoch: time base for UNIX operating systems, based on the number on non-leap seconds since 1.0 Jan 1970 UTC (#UTC) ; many current
systems store the UNIX time internally as a 4-byte 2's complement integer, so that the maximum number of seconds that can be dealt with
is 2^31 - 1 = 2147483647, equivalent to 2038 Jan 19 03:14:07 -- though any potential problem with this end date will probably be dealt
with long before it's reached (probably by switching to a 8-byte 2's complement integer)
Universal Time: see definitions for the various realizations: UT0 (#UT0) , UT1 (#UT1) , UT2 (#UT2) , and UTC (#UTC)
UT0: Universal Time base defined as precise solar time at the zero meridian (Greenwich)
UT1: UT0 (#UT0) corrected for the Earth's polar motion
UT2: UT1 (#UT1) corrected for seasonal variations in the Earth's rotation rate
UTC: not an acronym, but "Coordinated Universal Time", a hydrid time scale defined where the rate of UTC is based on atomic frequency
standards (currently using TIA (#TIA) ) but the epoch of UTC is synchronized to be within ±0.9 sec of UT1 (#UT1) ; this synchronization was
defined as UTC = TIA - 10 seconds on 1.0 Jan 1972, and further synchronized since then by the insertion of leap seconds (#leap second) ;
some of the various realizations of UTC being:
UTC(USNO) — U.S. Naval Observatory (Washington D.C., USA)

UTC(GPS) — GPS time automatically steered to UTC(USNO) on a daily basis to keep system time within ±1 microsecond of
UTC(USNO)
UTC(NIST) — National Institute of Standards and Technology (Boulder, Colorado, USA)
UTC(NPL) — National Physical Laboratory (Middlesex, UK)
UTC(PTB) — Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (Braunschweig, Germany)
UTC(BIPM) — Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (Sèvres, France)
UTC(SU) — FSUE, East-Siberian Branch, Time and Frequency Division No. 10 (Vniiftri, Russia)
UTC(BSNC) — Beijing Satellite Navigation Center (Beijing, China)
UTC(NICT) — National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (Koganei/Tokyo, Japan)
and see listings (http://www.bipm.org/jsp/en/kcdb_data.jsp) of the delta between standardized UTC and various realizations
V
Vienna mapping functions: a global grid of wet and hydrostatic delays in the troposphere of GNSS (#GNSS) carrier waves (#carrier wave) plus a
mapping function that describes the delays as a function of elevation angle of each SV (#SV) relative to the GNSS receiver (#receiver) ; see also
Vienna Mapping Functions in VLBI Analyses (ftp://ivscc.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/general-meeting/2004/psgz/boehm1.ps.gz) , J. Boehm & H. Schuh, IVS 2004 General
Meeting Proceedings, p. 277-281, 2004
visit: also site visit; establishing a setup (#setup) /station (#station) at a monument (#monument) for the purpose of collecting data (#data) ; the
UNAVCO Data Group maintains a GPS site visit form (#form) to be filled out for each visit, the information on which corresponds to the visit
table in the Archive Database (#Archive Database) ; if something about a setup (#setup) changes during data collection (for example a change of
receiver (#receiver) , receiver firmware (#firmware) , antenna (#antenna) , antenna height (#antenna height) , etc.), the earlier visit ends and a new visit
begins at the time of the change (see also inspection (#inspection) , occupation (#occupation) )
visit code: a non-unique, case-insensitive, 4-character alphanumeric string to identify a specific survey point (#survey point) on a specific
monument (#monument) , e.g. "PEAK" = "peak"; also known as the 4-character ID (#4-char ID) of a survey point of a monument, usually the same
as the monument code (#monument code) , obtained from the survey log — monument visit (/kb/assets/62/UNAVCO_Camp_Log.pdf) logsheet, monument
record (/kb/assets/63/monument.pdf) logsheet, or something similar
visit ID: for the purposes of the UNAVCO Archive, a unique number specifying a specific visit (#visit)
VLBI: "Very Long Baseline Interferometry"; a geometric technique measuring the time difference between the arrival at two Earth-based
VLBI: "Very Long Baseline Interferometry"; a geometric technique measuring the time difference between the arrival at two Earth-based
antennas of a radio wavefront emitted by a distant quasar; the difference in the arrival times between antennas yields a determination of the
distance between the antennas and thus the precise positions of the antennas themselves; VLBI is one of the components used to constrain
the scale of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (#ITRF)
VPN: "Virtual Private Network"; allows secure access to a private network from public networks over the Internet; connections are secured
through the use of dedicated connections, virtual tunneling protocols and encryption; allows users to access services typically only available
to users on the local network
W
web service: a software method of communications to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a digital network; see
Web Services (/data/web-services/web-services.html) access to various data (#data) and metadata (#metadata) at UNAVCO
WGS-72: "World Geodetic System 1972"; the spatial coordinate system used by GPS (#GPS) through 21 Jan 1987 (see also WGS-84 (#WGS-84) )
Some of the major constants in WGS-72, which models the Earth as an ellipsoid (#ellipsoid) of revolution, are:

semiminor axis (origin to either pole) = 6356.7505 km
flattening = 1/298.26
WGS-84: "World Geodetic System 1984"; the ECEF (#ECEF) spatial coordinate system used by GPS (#GPS) since 22 Jan 1987 (see, for example,
"Session 2: World Geodetic System 1984" pp. 67-134, in Proceedings of the Fourth International Geodetic Symposium on Satellite
Positioning, Apr. 28 - May 2, 1986, Volume 1); defined in the IS-GPS-200 (#IS-GPS-200) as:
origin is the center of mass of the Earth
z-axis is parallel to the direction of the Conventional International Origin (CIO) as defined by the Bureau International de'l Heure
(BIH), and passes through instantaneous pole of epoch 1984.0
x-axis is the intersection of the reference meridian plane and the plane of the mean astronomic equator, with the reference
meridian being parallel to the zero meridian defined by the BIH
y-axis completes the system as a right-handed rectangular system
Some of the major constants in WGS-84, which models the Earth as an ellipsoid (#ellipsoid) of revolution, are:

semiminor axis (origin to either pole) = 6356.7523142 km
flattening = 1/298.257223563
angular velocity of Earth (untruncated) = 7.2921151467e-5 radians/s
(for precise satellite applications)
speed of light in vacuum = 2.99792458e8 m/s
(see also ITRF (#ITRF) , PZ-90 (#PZ-90) )
X
Y
Z
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7/1/2017 Glossary | Help | UNAVCO

home help glossary

IGS standard antennae dimensions (current)

for more information

IGS standard antennae dimensions (current)

IGS antenna files

although the exact steps vary on a case by case basis

ARP: antenna reference point (#antenna reference point)

BDS-SIS-ICD: "BeiDou System Signal In Space Interface Control Document"; see:

BD-1A (GEO) on 30 Oct 2000

(see Encyclopedia Astronautica: Beidou (http://www.astronautix.com/b/beidou.html) )

1-5 for GEO

B1-2/E1 = 1589.742 MHz

B1/L1 = 1575.420 MHz

Inside GNSS, News Update Sept/Oct 2008

BSM: "Borehole Strainmeter"; see Borehole Strainmeters (/instrumentation/geophysical/borehole/bsm/bsm.html)

CBIS: "Central Bureau Information System" of the IGS (#IGS)

Compass: see Beidou-2 (#Beidou-2)

DCB: see "differential code bias" (#differential code bias)

email: "electronic mail"; see smtp (#smtp)

elevation: depending on context:

pole coordinates (x, y)

GIOVE — first phase: definition (Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element)

GNSS Augmentation: Ground Based Augmentation System

Level 4 (8 characters) delineate a region approximately 480 meters on each side

geodetic datum: see datum (#datum)

L1 version 1.0 (2016) (in Russian)

version 5.1 (2008) (in English)

IGS Central Bureau homepage

IGS antenna and receiver designations for RINEX

IGS site log instructions

International Atomic Time: see TIA (#TIA)

IONEX: The IONosphere Map EXchange

IP: "Internet Protocol"; see Wikipedia: Internet Protocol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Protocol)

IS-GPS-705, Rev. D (24 Sep 2013) User Segement L5 Interfaces

version 1.5 (27 Mar 2013)

magnetic declination + rate

Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie (BKG) NTrip homepage

ordinal date: same as day-of-year (#day-of-year)

PPP-AR: Precise Point Positioning (#PPP-gnss) with integer Ambiguity Resolution

1 – 32 are used for the current constellation of GPS SVs

clock error of the user's receiver

the origin is the center of mass of the Earth

semimajor axis (origin to equator on x-y plane) = 6378.136 km

(see also WGS-84 (#WGS-84) , ITRF (#ITRF) )

RINEX observation (OBS) file

also see documentation:

IONEX Ver. 1.00 (25 Feb 1998)

Satellite Longitude PRN Region Signals

PanAmSat Galaxy PRN

IGS MGEX SBAS Status

a site has one or more monuments,

original SP3(-a) proposal

Extended Standard Product 3 Orbit Format (SP3-c) (17 Aug 2010)

SP3-c files can be found at:

CDDIS — GNSS Orbit Products

UTC(USNO) — U.S. Naval Observatory (Washington D.C., USA)

semimajor axis (origin to equator on x-y plane) = 6378.135 km

semimajor axis (origin to equator on x-y plane) = 6378.137 km

(see also ITRF (#ITRF) , PZ-90 (#PZ-90) )

Last modified: Friday, 02-Jun-2017 19:54:29 UTC

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