ZED-F9P-Integration Manual
UBX-18010802 - R01
1 Overview Page 9 of 64
Objective Specification - Confidential
The  relevant  RTCM  standard  NTRIP  V2  can  be  downloaded  from  the  RTCM  standards  website:
http://www.rtcm.org/differential-global-navigation-satellite--dgnss--standards.html
1.8 Virtual Reference Station
In order for VRS to work the VRS Caster needs to know the location of the Rover receiver. To
do this the Rover has to output the NMEA GGA message and this has to be sent to the VRS
Caster. Typically only the NMEA GGA message is needed.
Reaching centimeter-level accuracy of positioning typically requires use of precise dual-frequency
carrier  phase  observations.  Furthermore,  these  observations  are  usually  processed  using  a
differential GNSS (DGNSS) algorithm, such as real time kinematic (RTK) or post-processing (PP).
Regardless of the specific differential algorithm, however, implicit in the process is an assumption
that  the  quality  of  the  reference  station  data  is  consistent  with  the  desired  level  of  positioning
accuracy. The virtual reference station (VRS) concept can help to satisfy this requirement using
a  network  of  reference  stations.  As  a  quick  review,  a  typical  DGNSS  setup  consists  of  a  single
reference station from which the raw data (or corrections) are sent to the rover receiver (i.e., the
user). The user then forms the carrier phase differences (or corrects their raw data) and performs
the  data  processing  using  the  differential  corrections.  In  contrast,  GNSS  network  architectures
often  make  use  of  multiple  reference  stations.  This  approach  allows  a  more  precise  modeling
of  distance-dependent  systematic  errors  principally  caused  by  ionospheric  and  tropospheric
refractions, and satellite orbit errors. More specifically, a GNSS network decreases the dependence
of the error budget on the distance of nearest antenna. The picture below shows the network of
reference stations used to build up a service covering the whole of Switzerland.
Figure 4: VRS network in Switzerland
The network of receivers is linked to a computation center, and each station contributes its raw data
to help create network-wide models of the distance-dependent errors. The computation of errors
based on the full network’s carrier phase measurements involves, first of all, the resolution of carrier
phase ambiguities and requires knowledge of the reference station positions. (The latter is usually
determined as part of the network setup.)