From relative to absolute antenna phase center corrections

Abstract

These relative phase center corrections, however, are based upon the arbitrary assumption that the phase center variations (PCVs) of the reference antenna AOAD/M T are zero. Moreover, it is impossible to correctly take into account the phase center positions when processing long intercontinental baselines, or simply when the receiver antenna is tilted. Relative antenna calibrations in the field do neither permit a homogeneous distribution of observations with regard to the antenna hemisphere nor the estimation of PCVs below an elevation angle of 10◦ (at the moment). In addition, relative receiver antenna PCVs contain site-dependent multipath effects. Finally, the systematic PCVs of the different satellite blocks cannot be taken into account using relative receiver phase center corrections only.