An experiment to observe GNSS signals with the Australian VGOS array
Lucia McCallum, David Schunck, Jamie McCallum, Tiege McCarthy

TL;DR
This paper demonstrates the feasibility of using Australian VGOS radio telescopes to observe GNSS satellites, enabling direct VLBI-GNSS measurements that improve terrestrial reference frame accuracy.
Contribution
It introduces the novel use of VGOS telescopes for GNSS observations, bridging a gap between radio astronomy and satellite geodesy techniques.
Findings
Successful VLBI observations of GPS satellites with VGOS telescopes
First demonstration of inter-technique ties between VLBI and GNSS in Australia
Potential for critical geodetic measurements for space missions
Abstract
This paper introduces a new instrument enabling a novel combination of Earth measuring techniques: direct observations with the radio astronomical instruments to satellites of the global navigation satellite systems. Inter-technique biases are a major error source in the terrestrial reference frame. Combining two major space-geodetic techniques, GNSS and VLBI, through observations to identical sensors has been considered infeasible due to their seemingly incompatible operating frequencies. The newly accessible L-band capability of the Australian VGOS telescopes is shown here, invalidating this prevailing opinion. A series of test observations demonstrates geodetic VLBI observations to GPS satellites for a continental-wide IVS telescope array, with the potential for observations at a critical scale. We anticipate immediate impact for the geodetic community, through first-ever…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsGNSS positioning and interference · Geophysics and Gravity Measurements · Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology
