Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) & Stanford University

A Global Positioning System (GPS) reference station at Mauna Loa facility is used to derive column water vapor profiles.

The system operates continuously and remotely. GPS data is communicated to Stanford University in real time.

Instruments used include: computer, UPS battery backup, dual frequency GPS receiver, rubidium clock, weather sensor package, router, modem. A GPS antenna and a weather sensor will be mounted on the top of the tower.

The primary interest is to prototype the development of a high integrity wide area differential GPS correction service for aviation use. Key issues include geographic separation of Hawaii from CONUS, the ionosphere at low altitudes, and the troposphere at high altitudes.