The impact of radome on the GPS observation

Abstract

The GPS antenna detects an electromagnetic signal arriving from a satellite, doing filtering, and finally going through further processing by the receiver electronics. For geodetic, high-precision applications such as for continuous monitoring, additional ground plane or choke rings have been used primarily to mitigate multipath effects. In addition, GPS antennas for such applications are often protected against possible damages by a plastic housing (radome), designed to minimize attenuation of the signal. This paper discusses the use of radome and field test results on the effect of using radome on the performance of GPS observations. This serves as the background for the implementation of radome on ground reference station antenna especially in countries such as Malaysia, which experienced high humidity and abundant rainfall. Several GPS measurements have been made by simulating the environment for example by spraying the water when the antenna is covered with or without hemisphere radome made of fibre glass. Finally, this paper will show the results of some case studies that have been performed.