METHOD FOR ESTABLISHING COVERAGE AREA AND ACCURACY OF A WIDE-AREA DIFFERENTIAL GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

A method for measuring the effectiveness of a wide-area differential global positioning system by projecting the least-squares error covariance of the space vehicles and ground reference stations through the central control station. Through generation of the differential corrections at the central control station, the space vehicle-ground reference station error covariance is then projected onto the wide-area differential global positioning system user locations. A covariance analysis approach is then used to capture the dependencies of the space vehicle and observability of the space vehicle by the ground reference stations and to the user locations within the wide-area differential global positioning system coverage area.