System Description - Network
The core of the GDGPS tracking network is a NASA-owned and JPL-operated network of 75+ geodetic-quality, triple frequency receivers, distributed globally. Additional real-time sites are contributed by a variety of U.S. and international agencies and partner organizations. The result is one of the world's largest real-time GPS tracking network, with more than 200 global sites feeding the GDGPS System. All these sites stream their GNSS measurements at 1 Hz to the GDGPS Operation Centers (GOCs), where it is processed and analyzed in real-time.
The GDGPS network is highly redundant, by design, to provide a unique measure of reliability to the many critical applications that depend on it, such as real-time GNSS integrity monitoring, and precise differential corrections. On average, the network is 25-fold redundant for GPS (meaning that at any given time each GPS satellite is observed, on average, by 25 ground sites), and is minimally 10-fold redundant. The network is 18-fold redundant, on average, for GLONASS, and 13-fold redundant for Galileo.
Data from each of the JPL-controlled sites are sent in parallel to multiple GOCs to ensure resiliency to internet outages. All the GOCs are inter-connected with dedicated high speed land lines, and the data is shared across all GOCs.
The GDGPS system counts 4 national timing laboratories among its contributing network partners. In particular, the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) contributes two monitoring sites driven by its Master Clock, allowing the GDGPS System to provide its global users the most accurate real-time realization of USNO UTC. In addition, many GDGPS sites (35+) are driven by atomic frequency standards, enabling robust data quality schemes.
Network Capabilities
Data Extraction
Because JPL fully controls a vast, redundant, global tracking network, we can configure our network receivers to extract any and all GNSS data. These include all L1, L2, and L5 phase and pseudorange measurements, the navigation messages on the various channels, SNR values, and any other publicly available data for all GNSS.
Low Latency
It typically takes about 1 second for the tracking data from most of the monitoring sites to reach the GOCs, and a few more seconds for processing and quality control. The final products, such as the precise corrections to the GNSS broadcast ephemeris, are available within 5 seconds of data collection at the remote site.
Data Authentication
To ensure the integrity of the GDGPS products, the data from JPL-controlled core of the tracking network can be authenticated to guard against data spoofing. The extremely high redundancy of the network is another powerful measure against spoofing of data from any site or region, as strong majority voting schemes are employed to detect any anomalous sites.
Partnership Opportunities
We continue to expand our network, and welcome contributions from interested organizations. We offer our network partners a variety of benefits, including real-time positioning, timing, and environmental monitoring, as well as data archiving and data distribution through the NASA CDDIS facility.
Global GDGPS Tracking Network
Click image to view full-size global network map