On the Effect of Antenna Calibration Errors on Geodetic Estimates: Investigation on Zero and Double Difference Approaches

Abstract

This paper addresses an approach to assess the impact of phase centre correction errors of selected receiving antennas in the Polish ASG-Eupos network using GNSS processing strategies such as zero differencing and double differencing. The objective is to characterise the nature of the error patterns of GNSS receiver antennas and to understand their impact on GNSS derived integrated water vapour and geodetic estimates. A semi-analytical approach for characterising variants of error patterns is applied. Differences of up to +12 mm between type-mean and individual receiver antenna calibrations of current antenna models on the ionosphere-free linear combination are identified for repeatable pattern deformations. The analyses show that repeatable effects on tropospheric estimates of up to 8 mm – which corresponds to approx. 1.2 kg/m2 – occur even though only 5 mm variations were applied to the pattern. The results of our analysis show a strong correlation with the type of error patterns that affect the estimates differently. Due to the complex relationship between datum settings, processing strategy, baseline orientation and satellite sky distribution, artefacts in GNSS processing models and their effects must to be modelled in order to achieve a better understanding in the context of GNSS networks and GNSS meteorology.