Investigating the effects of ultra-rapid, rapid vs. final precise orbit and clock products on high-rate GNSS-PPP for capturing dynamic displacements

Abstract

The use of final IGS precise orbit and clock products for high-rate GNSS-PPP proved its effectiveness in capturing dynamic displacement of engineering structures caused by earthquakes. However, the main drawback of using the final products is that they are available after approximately two weeks of data collection, which is not suitable for timely measures after an event. In this study, the use of ultra-rapid products (observed part), which are available after a few hours of data collection, and rapid products, which are available in less than 24 hrs, are investigated and their results are compared to the more precise final products. The tests are designed such that harmonic oscillations with different frequencies and amplitudes and ground motion of a simulated real earthquake are generated using a single axis shake table and the PPP was used to capture these movements by monitoring time-change of the table positions. To evaluate the accuracy of PPP using ultra-rapid, rapid and final products, their results were compared with relative GNSS positioning and LVDT (Linear Variable Differential Transformer) data, treated as reference. The results show that the high-rate GNSS-PPP solutions based on the three products can capture frequencies of harmonic oscillations and dynamic displacement with good accuracy. There were slight differences between ultra-rapid, rapid and final products, where some of the tested events indicated that the latter two produced are more accurate and provide better results compared to the ultra-rapid product for monitoring short-term dynamic displacements.