Global Positioning System (GPS) location accuracy improvement due to selective availability removal
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Published on: June 25, 2021
Christophe Adrados1, Irène Girard, Jean-Paul Gendner
1Institut de recherche sur les grands mammifères, Institut national de la recherche agronomique, BP 27, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France. cadrados@toulouse.inra.fr
Abstract:
Global Positioning System (GPS) is an important new technology for spatio-temporal behaviour studies of animals. Differential correction improves location accuracy. Previously, it mostly removed partially the influence of Selective Availability (SA). SA was deactivated in May 2000. The aim of this study was to quantify the influence of SA cancellation on location accuracy of various GPS receivers. We tested the accuracy of locations obtained from non-differential and differential GPS animal collars before and after SA removal. We found a significant improvement in accuracy for both types of GPS collars. However, differential GPS still provides more accurate locations.
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