Airborne gravimetry and the Global Positioning System

Abstract

The capabilities of using precise range and range rate measurements to satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for the determination of the platform position and its time derivatives are explored. The accuracy requirements for airborne gravimetry are reviewed, and different schemes for correcting the gravimeter measurements are presented. It is shown that the separation of gravitation and inertial accelerations in the measurements imposes the most stringent requirements on the GPS measurement accuracy and the GPS data processing. The results of GPS data reduction show that GPS receivers allow fixed-wing-aircraft gravity data reduction at the milligal (10/sup -5/ m/s/sup 2/) accuracy level for a spatial gravity field resolution of five kilometers.<>