
APN-070 Rev A
Page | 8 June 2015
3.1.2 Satellite Differential Code Bias
GPStation6 measures the TEC by differencing the pseudorange measurements between signals from
different frequencies (i.e. L1 C/A and L2P(Y)). The code phase between different RF signals at different
frequencies has biases from satellite hardware (i.e. up-conversion, filtering). These differential code
biases (DCB) are specific to a satellite and vary over the life span of the satellite.
Unlike traditional receivers that use cross-correlation (between L1 P(Y) and L2 P(Y)) to track L2 P(Y), the
GPStation6 uses the advanced l2 P(Y) tracking (i.e. Z-tracking). The receiver uses the L1 C/A tracking for
aiding L2 P(Y) tracking. Thus, the P2 (L2 P(Y)) code measurement is associated with C1 (C/A code) and
not P1 (L1 P(Y)). Hence, the differential code bias associated with P1C1 must be used to get consistent
measurements.
GPStation6 allows the user to enter the GPS satellite specific differential code biases (for 32 satellites)
that will be used internally within TEC calculation:
- C1P1 (between L1 C/A and L1 P(Y)), which is required for L1 C/A and L2 P(Y) differential TEC
estimation
- C2P2 (between L1C/A and L2C), which is required for L1C/A and L2C differential TEC estimation
See Section 4.2.8 SETDIFFCODEBIASES (OM-20000132) command for further details. The bias correction
can be applied to the C1P1 combination or C2P2 combination by setting them appropriately in the
“Code Pair” field.
Monthly mean values of GPS satellite specific corrections for GPS C1P1 and C2P2 are reported by the
Centre for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) (ref: ftp://ftp.unibe.ch/aiub/CODE/
). Note that C2P2
bias is associated with the GPS IIR-M satellites broadcasting modernized GPS L2C signal. Currently, the
biases are not reported by CODE but are expected in the future.
The SETDIFFCODEBIASES command is only applicable to C1P1 and C2P2 biases which are used in L1 C/A-
L2P(Y) and L1 C/A-L2C combinations. For all other signal combinations, there satellite specific differential
code biases will be present in the computed TEC value.
3.1.3 Receiver Differential Code Bias
As with any GNSS receiver, the GNSS RF signals propagate through a common path before satellite
specific processing (i.e. correlation, PSR/ADR measurement). These delays are common to all SV signals
for a specific frequency and manifest in the clock offset computation. However, the group delays differ
between frequencies and manifest as a bias on the geometry free linear combination. The following
components contribute to the difference in group delays between frequencies on the receiver side:
- GNSS Antenna (LNA, Band-pass filtering)
- GNSS Receiver (LNA, RF/IF Filtering)