NGS Policy Statement:
GNSS Antenna Calibration

Approved by NGS PSC on March 15, 2012

Policy

The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) will serve the high-precision needs of the U.S. surveying and geodesy communities by conducting antenna calibrations and publicly distributing calibration values.

NGS will conduct antenna calibrations for eligible antennas. NGS calibrations will be conducted and formatted in accordance with International GNSS Service (IGS) standards. Operational details and eligibility information will be maintained in a companion document, the NGS Antenna Calibration Procedures.

All antenna calibrations published on the NGS ANTCAL web page have been approved by NGS for use in all its products and services.

Rationale

NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS) conducts antenna calibrations in order to provide more accurate access to the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS). The NSRS is tied to the wide variety of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) antennas that are available and in use in U.S. networks. To properly use these antennas and define the NSRS, antenna characteristics must be accurately and consistently measured, so that the physical position of the points being positioned may be unambiguously determined. NGS conducts these calibrations as an essential service for the surveying, mapping, and engineering infrastructure of the U.S. These calibrations are an essential component of GNSS data processing and are used by vendor-supplied software as well as NGS' Online Positioning User Service (OPUS).