Study the feasibility of using PPP for establishing CORS network

Abstract

Nowadays many continuously operating reference stations (CORS) network were established in Middle East to improve the surveying tasks. Establishing such geodetic control networks can be a costly business where multiple stations should be occupied simultaneously and post-processed with scientific software. Recently, precise point positioning (PPP) provides precise positioning values that may be an alternative to precise relative processing. The current research aims to investigate that PPP has a potential as a reliable absolute positioning technique operational simplicity as well as to investigate the capability of PPP approach to be a low cost alternative to the conventional positioning methods used in position determination of core networks stations. In comparison with common relative GPS techniques, the costs are reduced; because no base stations and no simultaneous observations are necessary, no need for control network maintenance which could be the most defective factors that Egypt HARN network suffered from. To see the feasibility study of using PPP for precise determination of the CORS, 14 days of GNSS data for the 14 Kuwait integrated with 27 IGS stations were processed by Bernese software to calculate the precise coordinates of Kuwaiti CORS network in the latest terrestrial geodetic frame. Three days of these data were processed by Trimble business center software and using PPP approach to calculate the precise coordinates of Kuwait network. In the current research, a comparable investigation was carried out between the coordinates obtained from Bernese software, Trimble business center, and PPP approach. The comparison proved high level of agreement between the coordinates which confirm that PPP approach can be applied for establishment of CORS network.