TABLE OF CONTENTS Since individual GPS manufacturers have their own proprietary formats for storing GPS measurements, it can be difficult to combine data from different receivers. A similar problem is encountered when interfacing various devices, including the GPS receiver. To overcome these limitations, a number of research groups and agencies have developed standard formats for various user needs. Brief descriptions of some GPS (GNSS)-related standard formats and the agencies that developed them are given in Table 8.1. This chapter discusses the most widely used standard formats, namely, RINEX, SP3, RTCM SC-104, and NMEA 0183.
| Format | Description | Agency |
|---|---|---|
| RINEX | GPS and GLONASS observations, meteorological data, and navigation files | IGS (igscb.jpl.nasa.gov) |
| BINEX | Binary exchange format for GPS, GLONASS, and SBAS data mainly for research purposes | University Navstar Consortium (UNAVCO) (www.unavco.org) |
| SP3-c | GPS and GLONASS orbit solutions | IGS |
| SINEX | Station position and velocity solutions | IGS |
| IONEX | Ionospheric TEC grid products | IGS |
| Tropo SINEX | Tropospheric zenith path delay products | IGS |
| ANTEX | Antenna calibrations | IGS |
| RTCM SC-104 | Differential and kinematic GNSS corrections and data | RTCM (www.rtcm.org) |
| RTCA SC-159 | Differential corrections and the error bounds on them | RTCA (www.rtca.org) |
| NMEA 0183 | GNSS positioning solution, time, and other information related to GNSS and other sensors | NMEA (www.nmea.org) |
To save storage space, proprietary (nonstandard) formats developed by GPS receiver manufacturers are mostly binary, which means that they are not directly readable when displayed [1]. This creates a problem when combining data (in the postprocessing mode) from different GPS receivers. To overcome...
