First Results of Field Absolute Calibration of the GPS Receiver Antenna at Wuhan University

GNSS receiver antenna phase center variations (PCVs), which arise from the non-spherical phase response of GNSS signals have to be well corrected for high-precision GNSS applications. Without using a precise antenna phase center correction (PCC) model, the estimated position of a station monument will lead to a bias of up to several centimeters. The Chinese large-scale research project “Crustal Movement Observation Network of China” (CMONOC), which requires high-precision positions in a comprehensive GPS observational network motived establishment of a set of absolute field calibrations of the GPS receiver antenna located at Wuhan University. In this paper the calibration facilities are firstly introduced and then the multipath elimination and PCV estimation strategies currently used are elaborated. The validation of estimated PCV values of test antenna are finally conducted, compared with the International GNSS Service (IGS) type values. Examples of TRM57971.00 NONE antenna calibrations from our calibration facility demonstrate that the derived PCVs and IGS type mean values agree at the 1 mm level.