AUSPOS FAQ-6. Trouble shooting

Online GPS Processing

• Question 6.1 - What if something goes wrong?
• Question 6.2 - I hit the submit button after mistyping my email address?
• Question 6.3 - The file upload (BROWSE) button doesn't work?
• Question 6.4 - When I click on submit, what happens doesn't seem right?
• Question 6.5 - What are the limits to how much data I can submit?
• Question 6.6 - Submitted data too old?
• Question 6.7 - What do I do if the processing terminates?
• Question 6.8 - The processing system doesn't seem to be working?
• Question 6.9 - After submitting I just get a blank page?
• Question 6.10 - AUSPOS Error - What should I do?
• Question 6.11 - AUSPOS Error - RINEX file does not conform to RINEX format standard?
• Question 6.12 - AUSPOS Error - No broadcast data available?
• Question 6.13 - AUSPOS Error - Not enough dual frequency data?
• Question 6.14 - AUSPOS Error - The requested processing date span is too long?
• Question 6.15 - AUSPOS Error - No IGS data available?
• Question 6.16 - AUSPOS Error - Submitted data has not been observed on consecutive days?
• Question 6.17 - AUSPOS Error - Site has data on the same day (UT) in more than one RINEX file?

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Question 6.1 - What if something goes wrong?

If your data doesn't conform to RINEX standards, or some other processing standard, then one of the following errors will occur:

• javascript error box will appear describing your problem;
• a text description of your error will appear in the newly created window; and
• a text description of your error will be sent to you via email.

The response to an error will depend on what software is currently in control of the processing job.

First, try to problem solve the issues yourself - please read all the AUSPOS documentation. If you are not successful, you can email us at geodesy@ga.gov.au, or call us during business hours (8:00am to 5:00pm EST Monday to Friday), on freecall 1800 800 173 (within Australia), and ask to speak to a GPS/AUSPOS expert in the Geodesy Program.

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Question 6.2 - I hit the submit button after mistyping my email address?

That's OK - take note of your job number, and after a reasonable amount of time, have a look in ftp://ftp.ga.gov.au/sgac/wwwgps/gps#####.pdf (where ##### = job number) - your processing report is also copied here.

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Question 6.3 - The file upload (BROWSE) button doesn't work?

The file upload (BROWSE) button may not work correctly with older browsers. Our advice is to try our page, and if it doesn't seem to work correctly, then you might think about upgrading your web browser. Our pages have been tested using Internet Explorer 5/5.5 on NT 4.0, Netscape Communicator 4.7 on NT 4.0, Netscape Version 4.73 on HPUX 10.20 and Netscape Version 6.2.1 on HPUX 11.00.

Firewalls can also interfere with this feature. We suggest that users who experience problems discuss the issue with their IT staff or Internet Service Provider.

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Question 6.4 - When I click on submit, what happens doesn't seem right?

What you should see is a new window, that after a short period of time starts displaying information about your data - this is a tricky problem. The file upload feature can have problems with some server - browser combinations. Big files (>~5MB), and the upload feature can cause problems. If your file is big, then you might like to check that your RINEX file has a 30 second observation interval, shorter data intervals swell the file size quickly and is of no use in this system.

On some systems after a user submits their data files, a blank window opens and nothing seems to happen. This is usually no problem, and after the data is uploaded to AUSPOS, the window starts sending useful information about the processing job back to the user. However, if the file is big, and/or your Internet connection is slow, this can take a while. Remember a 1MB file uploaded using a 19200bps connection will take around 10 minutes to upload.

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Question 6.5 - What are the limits to how much data I can submit?

Up to 7 RINEX files can be submitted simultaneously. Each submitted RINEX file can contain more than 1 day of data. The limit for each submission is 240 hours (= 10 site days) of user submitted data. However, a user can make as many submissions as they want.

If you submit multiple sites together, then they must be in the same approximate part of the world (closer than 5000km).

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Question 6.6 - Submitted data too old?

We are currently only processing data that has been observed after the 1^st of January 1998.

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Question 6.7 - What do I do if the processing terminates?

Our software will halt the processing job under the following circumstances:

• a RINEX file fails the format check process;
• more than 275 hours of data are submitted in the one processing job;
• more than one RINEX file with the same site name, on the same day (UT), in the same job is submitted;
• more than one RINEX file is submitted in the same job and are greater than 5000km apart;and
• more than one RINEX file is submitted but the session times differ by more than 24 hours.

Please read the error message carefully and try to fix the problem yourself. If that fails, please email us at geodesy@ga.gov.au. If you notify us of a problem, please quote the job number - that way we can look at your data.

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Question 6.8 - The processing system doesn't seem to be working?

As with all technology from time to time there may be problems. Also, occasionally we need to undertake maintenance on our system. If you think our system is down (we may not know), please feel free to let us know - it is the best way to help us get things working again quickly. You can email us at geodesy@ga.gov.au, or call us on freecall 1800 800 173 (within Australia), and ask to speak to a GPS/AUSPOS expert in the Geodesy Program.

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Question 6.9 - After submitting I just get a blank page?

On some systems after a user submits their data files, a blank window opens and nothing seems to happen. This is usually no problem, and after the data is uploaded to AUSPOS, the window starts sending useful information about the processing job back to the user. However, if the file is big and/or your Internet connection is slow, this can take a while. Remember a 1MB file uploaded using a 19200bps connection will take around 10 minutes to upload.

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Question 6.10 - AUSPOS Error - What should I do?

First, try to problem solve the issues yourself - please read all the AUSPOS documentation. If you are not successful, you can email us at geodesy@ga.gov.au, or call us during business hours (8:00am to 5:00pm EST Monday to Friday), on freecall 1800 800 173 (within Australia), and ask to speak to a GPS/AUSPOS expert in the Geodesy Program.

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Question 6.11 - AUSPOS Error - RINEX file does not conform to RINEX format standard?

Sometimes RINEX files can be corrupted, or perhaps the software used to create the RINEX file is not working correctly. If your RINEX is in some way non-valid, then a message giving the error is emailed to you. The best way to fix these errors is to eyeball your RINEX file (the line number is generally given in the error message) - often the problem is obvious.

You can always check your RINEX file against the RINEX Format Document.

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Question 6.12 - AUSPOS Error - No broadcast data available?

We retrieve all broadcast (GPS satellite navigation) information from the global IGS data centre Crustal Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS). Sometimes the broadcast information is unavailable at the time of submission - the solution is - simply try again later.

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Question 6.13 - AUSPOS Error - Not enough dual frequency data?

One of the first checks AUSPOS makes, is to see that the user file has both L1 and L2 carrier phase data. AUSPOS was designed to process only dual frequency data. A common user error is to accidentally submit the RINEX navigation file instead of the RINEX observation file.

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Question 6.14 - AUSPOS Error - The requested processing data span is too long?

Initially AUSPOS will determine the start and the end of an observation session in all the submitted files. If the data span exceeds 12 days, an error is generated and the user will be asked to break up their data set and resubmit in smaller batches. This feature was implemented to prevent massive processing jobs dominating the service.

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Question 6.15 - AUSPOS Error - No IGS data available?

For most IGS stations, including the Australian Regional GPS Network (ARGN), data is not available until several hours after the end of the UT day. This means that there is the potential that data that has been collected in the last 24 hours will not be able to be processed. The best solution is to wait and try again later.

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Question 6.16 - AUSPOS Error - Submitted data has not been observed on consecutive days?

Initially AUSPOS will determine the start and the end of an observation session in all the submitted files. AUSPOS will then process all the user data and the required IGS/ARGN data between the start and end times. However, to prevent users from submitting data that has been observed at greatly different times, a consecutive day test is applied - user data must have been observed on the same day or in a non-broken set of consecutive days. This test prevents any complications during the transformation of the coordinates to GDA by ensuring that any tectonic motion between the start and the end of the session is negligible.

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Question 6.17 - AUSPOS Error - Site has data on the same day (UT) in more than one RINEX file?

AUSPOS uses the first four characters of the RINEX filename to set the site name. AUSPOS also combines the solution from multiple files/sites into a combined weighted mean solution. To protect users who name all their RINEX files the same, regardless of their location i.e. 'base100a.02o' and 'base100b.02o', a same site on the same day test is applied. If the site is actually the same, then the RINEX files should be combined - if they are actually different - then one of the files should be renamed.

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