Bernese GPS Software Version 5.0 - Bernese GNSS Software

4.2 RINEX Observation Files
4.2.1 History of RINEX and Format Definitions
4.2 RINEX Observation Files
All GNSS data processing programs contain an explicit definition of the GNSS observables
that are to be used with that program. If these programs are to process data from different
receivers, they must first convert the raw receiver information to these local definitions and
formats. In order to facilitate this task, an exchange format has been designed that allows
the conversion of any raw receiver data not only into this format, but also into an explicit
definition of the observables.
The Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern developed a first version of such a
format to be used for the data exchange and processing of the EUREF-89 GPS campaign,
a campaign observed in May 1989 involving four different receiver types and nearly one
hundred stations in most countries of Western Europe. The new format was based on
a format developed and used by the US National Geodetic Survey for the exchange of
GPS data collected in the CIGNET GPS network, the first global network of permanent
GPS receivers used for civil geodetic purposes. The new format, named RINEX (Receiver-
INdependent EXchange Format), was presented to the geodetic community at the Fifth
International Geodetic Symposium on Satellite Positioning in Las Cruces, New Mexico in
March, 1989, where it was accepted as the format to be recommended for geodetic GPS
data exchange.
A second version (RINEX Version 2) was discussed and accepted at the Second International
Symposium on Precise Positioning with the Global Positioning System in Ottawa, Canada
in September, 1990. In April 1997, the RINEX definitions were extended in order to allow
the inclusion of GLONASS and mixed GPS/GLONASS data (RINEX Version 2.1). The
format descriptions have been published in the CSTG GPS Bulletins May/June 1989 and
September/October 1990. The most recent description (including observations, broadcast
messages, and meteo information) can be found on various web and ftp servers, e.g., at
or at
ftp://ftp.igs.org/pub/data/format/rinex210.txt
http://www.aiub.unibe.ch/download/rinex/rinex2.txt.
The most recent extension for the RINEX format is the inclusion of LEO-GPS data. A
RINEX version 2.20 is proposed but not yet approved by the IGS (only by the LEO Working
Group). A description of this version may be found at
http://www.aiub.unibe.ch/download/rinex/rnx_leo.txt.
4.2.2 Content of RINEX Observation Files and Naming Convention
The basic observables to be used in the RINEX format are:
• The epochs of observations defined as the reception time of the signals expressed in
the receiver time frame. The epochs are identical for all satellites (i.e., simultaneous
observations with respect to receiver time).
Bernese GPS Software Version 5.0 Page 53