Improved positioning by addition of atmospheric corrections to local area differential GPS

A local area differential GPS (DGPS) method applies corrections from a reference GPS receiver to improve positioning accuracy for a roaming GPS receiver. Increasing separation between reference and roaming receivers dilutes this improvement, largely because ionospheric and tropospheric effects differ between their two locations. We correct differential corrections for this difference and determine the improvement with this “atmospheric” DGPS method at roaming receiver positions that are separated from a Coast Guard reference receiver at Annapolis, Maryland, by 44, 67, and 228 km. For ionospheric corrections we use our Raytrace–Ionospheric conductivity and electron density–Bent–Gallagher ionospheric propagation model with driving parameters obtained from two-frequency data of surveyed reference GPS receivers. For tropospheric corrections we use the Hopfield model and weather station data for surface temperature, pressure, and relative humidity. Internet delivery of atmospheric differential corrections is used to avoid blockage or range cutoff of radio transmissions. Some comparisons are made with Wide Area Augmentation System GPS receiver performance.