Estimating the Adequate Observation Times of a Single GNSS Receiver by Utilizing Online Processing Services

Abstract Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) have witnessed rapid developments in the field of online post-processing services and the abundance of continuously operating reference stations (CORS), which reflected on facilitating the tasks of surveyors, engineers and geoscientists. However, the sufficient time for observations to achieve a certain level of accuracy is still one of the main concerns for researchers and specialists. In this study, the geometry of a short-sides triangle has been employed to estimate the sufficient observing times of GNSS receivers throughout the online processing services. The short-sides triangle vertices were observed for 24 hours and partitioned into shorter periods of time, then GPS and GLONASS have been processed as well as GPS alone after filtering out the GLONASS observables. Datasets have been processed using online post-processing services, i.e. AUSPOS and CSRS-PPP. A number of propagation error models have been applied to investigate the station accuracy behaviour. the results have revealed that RMS errors of 1 cm can be achieved after two hours for horizontal component and three hours for the vertical component. Furthermore, including GLONASS satellites is playing a role to enhance accuracy especially in short observation times.