magicGNSS will be present at the fifth International Colloquium on Scientific and Fundamental Aspects of the Galileo Programme, presenting “MagicPPP in your Pocket: a Smart, Portable and Efficient Multi-GNSS High-accuracy Solution”.

magicPPP Android OS mobile application has been created with a very ambitious objective: to become the reference point for a new generation of GNSS applications and services. magicPPP has completed its portfolio of capabilities by adding two novel characteristics; single-frequency PPP processing and multi-GNSS constellations support. Hence, this new magicPPP version, together with an external receiver and a stream of accurate satellite products, provides an integrated PPP/RTK solution able to join in one single mobile application the algorithms needed by advance GNSS users, and also make available the GNSS high-accuracy technology to a new market segment that cannot afford the cost of acquiring multiple high-end multi-frequency receivers.

The single-frequency PPP data processing capability incorporated in magicPPP represents the cornerstone where a new GNSS concept will be sustained, Low Cost Precise Point Positioning. Supporting single-frequency receivers means extending magicPPP solution to a huge range of low cost devices, which can now navigate with decimeter-level accuracy. Our PPP algorithms have been enhanced to reduce the effect of the ionospheric delay, cope with different levels of measurements quality and work in harder environments.

The second novel point is the multi-GNSS support; it is a key evolution to improve the positioning solution at user level. The number of available satellites grows every year, and the possibility of processing all of them helps to improve the accuracy of the PPP solutions. In this sense, magicPPP has been upgraded to support all the available frequencies and services of GPS, GLONASS and Galileo, furthermore it has been designed to include new GNSS constellations as QZSS and Beidou with low development effort.

These advanced functionalities have been surrounded with a flexible and powerful android application focused on achieving the best user experience. Three key characteristics have been considered critical for the users, receiver management, session and singular points recording and compatibility with third party applications and data consuming.

PPP in your pocket is already here, watch it below!!!

After its launch back on March 27 , Galileo-FOC FM4 (GSAT0204) started transmitting on May 21th at about 11:32 UTC, being tracked at that time by the International GNSS Service Multi-GNSS Experiment tracking station in Windhoek, Namibia with PRN E22 (http://gpsworld.com/newest-galileo-satellites-now-transmitting/).

As for the previous FOC satellites, a magicODTS scenario has been configured using MGEX station data for May 23rd and May 24th, and setting WTZR as reference station.

The obtained results are below. Satellite code-phase and carrier-phase residuals:

The following plot shows the Galileo-FOC FM4 apparent clock estimation w.r.t WTZR station:

Following you can find the GPS and Galileo clock stability:

From the above results it seems as the IOT for Galileo-FOC FM4 is running quite smoothly,  let’s hope Galileo-FOC FM3 starts transmitting soon too!

Congratulations to ESA and the Galileo project!!

As mentioned in a recent article by GPS World (http://gpsworld.com/galileo-6-signals-acquired/), “On March 17, some stations participating in the International GNSS Service Multi-GNSS Experiment acquired E1 and E5a signals from Galileo 6 (FOC-FM2, GSAT0202). The satellite is using pseudorandom noise code E14.”

Analysing the RINEX data collected by the MGEX network, it seems that at least one clock correction (between 2015/03/19 00:40:00 and 02:00:00 UTC ) has been applied to the on-board atomic clock.

A magicODTS scenario has been configured using MGEX stations and removing all data for E14 prior to that apparent clock correction. The obtained results are below.

Satellite code-phase and carrier-phase residuals:

E14 apparent clock estimation w.r.t WTZZ station:

Apparent satellite clock stability:

Not enough data has yet been collected (roughly 24 hours of data) in order to perform a consisteny analysis, but the initial estimation shows an apparent clock behaviour for FOC-2 satellite which is in line with the expected performances from the Galileo satellites.

These are great news for the Galileo project!!

As published by ESA back on November 10th (www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Navigation/Galileo_satellite_set_for_new_orbit), Galileo satellite FM5 has been repositioned during the month of November into a more circular orbit, raising its perigee and reducing its eccentricity from an initial value of 0.23 to a target one of around 0.156 (as stated during last ION GNSS 2014 meeting by ESA).

Last Saturday, E18 satellite started transmitting (as advanced by @GNSS_news) and IGS’ MGEX network (http://igs.org/mgex/) is already tracking it. Based on the collected measurements during November 29th and 30th, and initial orbit and clock estimation for E18 has been performed by means of magicGNSS.

The 4 different clock intervals are shown below:

November 29th 06:15:00 to  November 29th 10:10:00:

After removing quadratic model adjustment:

November 30th 07:45:00 to  November 30th 12:25:00

After removing quadratic model adjustment:

November 30th 13:15:00 to  November 30th 19:25:00

After removing quadratic model adjustment:

November 30th 20:40:00 to  November 30th 23:55:00

After removing quadratic model adjustment:

We hope to better characterise E18 orbit over the next days as more data is available.

Some of the IGS stations placed in Japan are providing data after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that hit Japan on March 11th, 2011. We have processed data from those stations with magicGNSS, to evaluate the site displacements due to the earthquake and its aftershocks. They are shown in the following graphic:

The pre- and post-earthquake coordinates have been computed with static PPP (GPS only, as most of the sites do not provide GLONASS data) using 1 day of data (March 10th and 15th, 2011, respectively).

Note that due to the aftershocks, the coordinates on March 15th may not be considered truly static, yet the results are considered very illustrative of the magnitude of the event.
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