Review of GPS Satellite Surveying, third edition by Alfred LeickGPS Satellite SurveyingJohn Wiley & Sons0-471-05930-7$120

Abstract

This book is a third edition recently updated to include new developments in global positioning system GPS theory that have occurred since the release of the second edition in 1995. The book highlights high-accuracy GPS positioning and is intended for use by surveyors, civil engineers, transportation engineers, geodesists, geologists, geographers, technicians, and students—basically anyone with a desire to learn how scientists use least-squares adjustments, geodesy, and various physical models to process data collected from existing and future global navigation satellite systems GNSS . The book consists of nine chapters and three appendixes, as well as an extensive list of bibliographic references and an index. Chapter 1 gives the history of GPS and presents a timeline of the major milestones. Chapter 2 discusses such geodetic reference systems as the international terrestrial reference frame, and the international celestial reference frame, and how to go from one to the other. It includes new material on the effects of polar motion, tectonic plate motion, solid earth tides, and ocean loading. It introduces the three-dimensional 3D geodetic model as the preferred, unifying model for combining satellite positioning with classical surveying measurements. It also discusses the geoid and reductions to the ellipsoid. Chapter 3 outlines basic satellite orbit theory such as the Keplerian elements and the major forces that perturb satellite orbits: variations in the earth’s gravity field, the attraction of the sun and moon, and solar radiation pressure. New sections have been added to address eclipse transits and yaw maneuvers by GPS satellites; the planned L2C-, L5-, and M-codes for GPS modernization; the Russian GLONASS navigation message; and the upcoming Galileo satellite system. Chapter 4 contains basically the same comprehensive treatment of least-squares adjustments covered in the second edition: stochastic and mathematical models, variance-covariance propagation, and the mixed adjustment model—together with the special cases of the observation equation and condition equation models, linearization, sequential solutions, minimal and inner constraints, properties of error ellipses, redundancy numbers, internal and external reliability, and data snooping. A short section has also been added on Kalman filtering; this section nicely defines the concepts behind Gauss–Markov processes, white noise, and random walk. Chapter 5 presents the observation equations for the many different types of pseudorange and carrier phase observables used with GPS. It discusses the single-, double-, and triple-differences for the carrier phases and adds new sections that describe the correction for the rotation of the earth during signal transmission and the P1-P2 and C1-P1 code biases needed to compute accurate pseudoranges for GPS. Chapter 6, on the troposphere and ionosphere, has been extensively rewritten to include additional material. The Saastamoinen equations for zenith hydrostatic delay and zenith wet delay are now given, together with the hydrostatic