Bernese GPS Software Version 5.0 - Bernese GNSS Software

22. Data Structure
22.6.2 Header and Observation Files
Because of the identical format of all the header and observation files, these files are described
together in one section.
Type: Binary
Directory: Campaign-specific directory OBS.
Extension: CZH/CZO, PZH/PZO, CSH/CSO, or PSH/PSO
Content: Code/phase/range zero/single-difference observation and associated important
information in the header files.
Created by: Programs RXOBV3 (”Menu>RINEX>Import RINEX to Bernese format>Observation files”),
GPSSIM (”Menu>Service>Generate simulated observation data”), and SNGDIF (”Menu
>Processing>Baseline file creation”).
Used by: All programs dealing with observation/header information (CODSPP,
SNGDIF, MAUPRP, and GPSEST) and some other programs (e.g., service and
conversion programs in ”Menu>Service>Bernese observation files” and ”Menu>Conversion
>Observation files”).
Example: ASCII image of a header file (first part) and observation file (second part) in
Figure 22.18 for single-difference phase observations.
All observations are stored in a binary format. The program OBSFMT (”Menu>Conversion
>Observation files>Binary to ASCII”) and the edit and browse utilites in ”Menu>Service>Bernese observation
files>Edit observation header file” and ”Menu>Service>Bernese observation files>Browse observation data files” create
an ASCII image of a binary file. In the binary format the header and the observations are
stored in two different files. The program OBSFMT merges these two files into one ASCII
image. Real values are rounded to millimeters and nanoseconds which should be below the
measurement noise. Using program FMTOBS (”Menu>Conversion>Observation files>ASCII to binary”)
ASCII observation files may be transformed back to binary.
Remarks concerning this ASCII file (Figure 22.18, line numbers added for a better
explanation of contents):
Line Comment
1 Campaign name (ch*16); title (ch*53).
3 Measurement type: PHASE, CODE or RANGE; file creation date and time.
4 The reference epoch is the full second part of the first observation epoch in the file;
File modification date and time (updated by programs changing the file).
6 Number of differences: 0 = zero-difference file, 1 = single-difference file; File format
number (at present always set to 5, provided for further updates).
7 Number of frequencies: 1 or 2; session number (used in program SNGDIF to be sure
that the files are from the same session, in program IONEST to arrange files in sessions,
and in program GPSEST to know which files have to be correlated).
8 Total number of satellites in the file; The session file number is the last character of
the session string.
9 The number of epochs may be different from the number of observation epochs. The
epoch of the last observation record in the file may be computed from the reference
epoch, the number of epochs, and the observation interval.
Observation interval in seconds (sampling rates below 1 sec are not supported, at
present).
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