CALIFORNIA IMPLEMENTS NOAA-GENERATED TROPOSPHERIC MODEL TO IMPROVE REAL_TIME POSITIONING

February 21, 2007

CALIFORNIA IMPLEMENTS NOAA-GENERATED TROPOSPHERIC MODEL TO IMPROVE
REAL_TIME POSITIONING

The Global Systems Division (GSD) of NOAA's Earth Systems Research
Laboratory has developed NOAATrop, a new way to improve GPS positioning,
navigation and timing accuracy using real-time weather data. The
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), in collaboration
with the California Spatial Reference Center at Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, recently started using NOAATrop for real-time engineering
applications in the Central Valley of California. This is the first
known operational application of a weather model being used to improve
high accuracy GPS surveying. The initial tests in California using
NOAATrop were very positive yielding 15-25% improvements in accuracy
with the greatest improvements shown in height measurements made during
rapidly changing weather conditions. From Caltran’s perspective, using
NOAATrop increases the accuracy and productivity of their road and
infrastructure surveys. For more information contact Seth.I.Gutman@xxxxxxxxx
.