[IGSMAIL-5791]: Considerations for Future IGS Receivers

[Jim.Ray]

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IGS Electronic Mail      09 Jul 05:02:50 PDT 2008      Message Number 5791
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Author: Jim Ray

The position paper "Considerations for Future IGS
Receivers" was recently posted at the IGS 2008 Workshop
website, at:

http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/IGSWorkshop2008/docs/recDev-positionpaper.pdf

This document was prepared by Todd Humphreys, Larry Young,
and Thomas Pany.  Anybody interested in the future of GNSS
observing for high-accuracy applications should want to
review this paper.  The authors give a nice summary of
the array of GNSS signals that will become available in
the next few years, the relative performances of various
signal combinations, considerations for receiver design
options, and consequences for the IGS.

Very importantly, this paper proposes a set of thoughtful
recommendations for the IGS and other high-accuracy GNSS
users with respect to upcoming receiver issues.  This
includes a suggested schedule for the evolution of minimum
IGS receiver requirements, which might be met by either
future commercial or possibly non-commercial options.

This topic will profoundly affect all aspects of the IGS:
field operations, given that all observing equipment will
need to be replaced in the next few years; data analysis
to incorporate the new signals and deal with the complexities
of a much more heterogeneous ensemble of observables; and
various new products.  The perspectives raised in this
position paper should prove invaluable in sparking urgently
needed internal discussions and in guiding the IGS through
this challenging period.  Todd, Larry, and Thomas deserve
our deepest thanks for putting together such an informative
and helpful guide.