EUREF Permanent Network (EPS) is a

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an network of more than 300 continuously operating

GNSS A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning. It allows satellite navigation devices to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude/elevation) to high pr ...

reference stations with precisely known

coordinate In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sign ...

s referenced to the

ETRS89 The European Terrestrial Reference System 1989 (ETRS89) is an ECEF (Earth-Centered, Earth-Fixed) geodetic Cartesian reference frame, in which the Eurasian Plate as a whole is static. The coordinates and maps in Europe based on ETRS89 are not su ...

. EPS is the key instrument in the maintenance of

geodetic datum A geodetic datum or geodetic system (also: geodetic reference datum, geodetic reference system, or geodetic reference frame) is a global datum reference or reference frame for precisely representing the position of locations on Earth or other pla ...

. The EPN stations collect continuously the observation data from high accuracy multi-

receivers. The data is processed in the centralized way in a few data processing centres. EPS is created and maintained by a voluntary agreement of about 100 European agencies and universities. EPS activities are coordinated by

EUREF Regional Reference Frame Sub-Commission for Europe (EUREF) is the sub-commission of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), part of the Sub-Commission 1.3 (''Regional Reference Frames''), under IAG Commission 1 (''Reference Frames''). EURE ...

.A. Kenyeres, C. Bruyninx. Monitoring of the EPN Coordinate Time Series for Improved Reference Frame Maintenance", GPS solutions, 8, 4, 2004, pp. 200-209.

Structure

The EPS consists of the following components: *''Tracking Stations'' include

tracking receivers and antennae on suitable geodetic markers. *''Operational Centres'' perform data validation, conversion of raw data to the

RINEX In the field of geodesy, Receiver Independent Exchange Format (RINEX) is a data interchange format for raw satellite navigation system data. This allows the user to post-process the received data to produce a more accurate result — usually w ...

format, data compression, and upload to ''Local Data Centres''. *''Local Data Centres'' store the data of ''Tracking Stations'' and disseminate them via the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

. *''Local Analysis Centres'' process a subnetwork of EPS stations and deliver weekly subnetwork solutions to ''Combination Centres''. *''Combination Centres'' combine subnetwork solutions into one official EPS solution, which is weekly sent to the IGS for the integration in the global

network solution. *''Central Bureau'' manages day-to-day the activities of EPS. It is located at the

Royal Observatory of Belgium The Royal Observatory of Belgium (french: link=no, Observatoire Royal de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Sterrenwacht van België), has been situated in the Uccle municipality of Brussels (Belgium) since 1890. It was first established in Saint-Josse ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Data and products

EPS ''data'' are raw multi-

pseudorange and phase observations, broadcast ephemerides, and supporting types of raw data (such as meteorological) as they are gathered by the ''Tracking Stations''. The EPS ''data'' is available in daily, hourly, 15-min

-formatted files, and for many stations as a real-time data stream via

NTRIP The Networked Transport of RTCM via Internet Protocol (NTRIP) is a protocol for streaming differential GPS (DGPS) corrections over the Internet for real-time kinematic positioning. NTRIP is a generic, stateless protocol based on the Hypertext Trans ...

. EPS ''products'' include *best-known

s of the ''Tracking Stations'' in both

and ITRS

s; *time series of the

s of the ''Tracking Stations''; *tropospheric zenith path delays at all the ''Tracking Stations''.

References

External links

EPN home pageEPN flyer (quick reference card)ETRS89 and ITRS Reference coordinates of EPN stationsTime series of the coordinates of the EPN stationsList of all the analysis centres
* tp://igs.bkg.bund.de/EUREF EPN data and products at BKGbr>historical EPN data at ROBBKG NTRIP broadcaster of real-time EPN dataROB NTRIP broadcaster of real-time EPN data
{{DEFAULTSORT:Euref Permanent Network Geodesy organizations Satellite navigation Information technology organizations based in Europe