Geodetic Survey Campaigns and Maintenance Plan for KASS Reference Station Antenna Coordinates

Abstract

The Korea Augmentation Satellite System (KASS) system is a Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) under development to provide APV-I SBAS service in the Republic of Korea. The KASS ground segment generates correction and integrity information for GPS measurements of KASS users using the accurate positions of KASS Reference Station (KRS) antenna phase centers. For this reason, the accuracy of KRS reference points through geodetic survey campaigns is one of the important factors for providing the KASS service in compliance with the required navigation performance. In order to obtain accurate positions, two geodetic survey campaigns were performed at several reference points, such as Mark, Center of Mast at Ground Level (CMGL), and Center of Hole in Top Plate (CHTP), of each KRS site using three different survey methods, the Virtual Reference Station (VRS), Flächen Korrektur Parameter (FKP), and raw data post-processing methods. By comparing and analyzing the results, the computed coordinates of the reference points were verified and Antenna Phase Center (APC) positions were calculated using KRS Antenna Reference Point (ARP) data, and the first KASS Site Acceptance Test (SAT#1) was performed successfully using the verified APC coordinates. After the first site survey activities, the KASS operators should maintain the coordinates with the required performance such that the overall KASS navigation performance commitment is guaranteed during the lifetime of 15 years. Therefore, the maintenance plan for the KRS antenna coordinates should be developed before the commissioning of KASS operation planned after 2023. Therefore, this paper presents a geodetic survey method selected for the maintenance activities and provides the rationale for using this method.