RxControl

Version 4.6.1

RxControl v4.6.1 1
RxControl
User Manual

Version 4.6.1
November 16, 2010

This document is applicable to RxControl v4.6.1

© Copyright 2000-2010 Septentrio nv/sa. All rights reserved.

Septentrio Satellite Navigation

Greenhill Campus, Interleuvenlaan 15G
B-3001 Leuven, Belgium

http://www.septentrio.com/support request.htm
[email protected]
Phone: +32 16 300 800
Fax: +32 16 221 640

RxControl v4.6.1 2
 LIST OF CONTENTS

List of Contents
1 I NTRODUCTION 7
1.1 RxControl compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 I NSTALLING R X C ONTROL 8
2.1 Recommended System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2 Windows installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3 Linux installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.4 Windows uninstall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5 Linux uninstall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3 G ETTING STARTED 12
3.1 A quick guide to RxControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.2 Controlling the Septentrio Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4 C ONNECTING TO THE S EPTENTRIO R ECEIVER 14
4.1 Establishing a connection to the Septentrio Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.2 Upgrading the Septentrio Receiver firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
5 R X C ONTROL ’ S MAIN WINDOW 18
5.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.2 RxControl main window information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.2.1 The Position Information section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.2.2 The Satellite Status section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.2.3 Receiver Information tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.2.3.1 Time tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.2.3.2 RxClock tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.2.3.3 DOP tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.2.3.4 PL tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.2.3.5 RAIM tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.2.3.6 PVT tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.2.3.7 Status tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.2.3.8 Integration tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.2.3.9 Attitude tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.2.4 The Status bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5.3 The menus and the toolbar of the RxControl window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5.3.1 The File menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
5.3.2 The View menu and the toolbar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5.3.3 The Communication and Navigation menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.3.4 The Tools menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5.3.5 The Logging menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5.3.6 The Help menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6 R X C ONTROL ’ S TABULAR AND GRAPHICAL VIEWS 32
6.1 Channel Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6.1.1 Channel Table Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6.2 Carrier to Noise Ratio Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6.2.1 Carrier to Noise Ratio Plot Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6.3 Sky Plot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6.3.1 Sky Plot Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.3.2 Sky Plot Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.4 The Planimetric Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.4.1 The main areas of the Planimetric Plot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

RxControl v4.6.1 3
 LIST OF CONTENTS

6.4.2 Planimetric Plot Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

6.5 Statistics Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
6.6 The DiffCorr Info window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6.7 The SBAS Ionospheric Delay Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
6.8 Stanford Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.9 Attitude View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
6.10 Auxiliary Antennas View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
6.11 Attitude/IMU 3D View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6.12 IMU View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
6.13 LBR Status Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
6.14 Time Plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
6.15 AGC Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
6.16 Spectrum View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
6.17 Message Inspector View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6.18 Message Statistics View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
7 T HE E XPERT C ONSOLE 59
7.1 The Receiver Commands Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.2 The ASCII Display Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
7.3 The NMEA Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
7.4 The Events Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
8 L OGGING 63
8.1 RxControl Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
8.2 Septentrio Receiver Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
8.2.1 Internal Logging Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
8.2.2 Download Internal Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
9 U PGRADING THE RECEIVER 71
A N ULL - MODEM CABLE 72
B C ONVERSION AND PROJECTION OF COORDINATES 73
B.1 Coordinate conversions on an ellipsoid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
B.2 The conformal direct Mercator projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
B.3 The topocentric ENU coordinate system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
C T ROUBLESHOOTING 77
C.1 RxControl’s screens are not updated or only partially updated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
C.2 The Septentrio Receiver specific menus are not available in RxControl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
C.3 Contacting Septentrio support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
D WARNING AND E RROR M ESSAGES 79
D.1 Serial port related Warning and Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
D.2 TCP/IP port related Warning and Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
D.3 SBF File Player related Warning and Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
D.4 RxControl data parser related Warning and Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
D.5 Logging related Warning and Error Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
D.6 Upgrade related Warning and Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
G LOSSARY 85

RxControl v4.6.1 4
 LIST OF FIGURES

List of Figures
4-1 Connection dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4-2 Create Serial Connection dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4-3 Create TCP/IP Connection dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4-4 Create SBF File Connection dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5-1 Main Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5-2 Position Information section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5-3 The planimetric dispersion ellips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5-4 Satellite Status section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5-5 Pop-up in the Satellite Status section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5-6 Receiver Information tabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5-7 PVT Mode icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5-8 Integration Mode icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5-9 Attitude Mode icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
5-10 File menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5-11 View menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
5-12 Tools menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5-13 Logging menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5-14 Help menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6-1 Channel Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
6-2 Carrier To Noise Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6-3 Sky Plot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6-4 Planimetric Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6-5 Selective display of PVT modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
6-6 Statistics Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6-7 The DiffCorr Info window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
6-8 SBAS Ionospheric Delay Plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
6-9 HPL Plot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
6-10 VPL Plot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
6-11 Attitude View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
6-12 Auxiliary Antennas View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6-13 Attitude/IMU 3D view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6-14 Attitude/IMU 3D View Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
6-15 IMU View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
6-16 LBR Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
6-17 ENU time plot with East, North and Up components on one plot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
6-18 AGC table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
6-19 Spectrum View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
6-20 Message Inspector View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6-21 Message Statistics View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
7-1 The Expert Console displaying its Receiver Communication tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
7-2 The ASCII Display tab of the Expert Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
7-3 The NMEA tab of the Expert Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
8-1 Logger dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
8-2 Logger Global Settings Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
8-3 Logger File Naming Settings Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
8-4 Data Logging SBF tab dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
8-5 Data Logging NMEA tab dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
8-6 Data Logging Post Processing tab dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
8-7 Download Internal Files dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
9-1 Upgrade Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

RxControl v4.6.1 5
 LIST OF TABLES

B-1 Difference between geodetic latitude ϕ and geocentric latitude Φ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

B-2 The Mercator projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
B-3 The topocentric ENU coordinate system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

List of Tables
3-1 Default serial port settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

RxControl v4.6.1 6
 1 INTRODUCTION

1 Introduction
RxControl is an intuitive GUI application, which allows you to control your Septentrio Receiver, to
log data, to monitor the navigation solution and other activities of the receiver.

1.1 RxControl compatibility

RxControl 4.6.1 has been designed and tested to work with the interface of receivers which were
released after PolaRx2. RxControl 4.6.1 does not support PolaRx2 or older receivers.

The menu of RxControl adapts itself to the connected Septentrio Receiver. So if new functionality
is added to the receiver via a firmware update, the new functionality may be visible in the menu of
RxControl without having to update RxControl itself.

Using an old version of the receiver than expected by RxControl may cause some screens not to
function properly since the receiver might not be able to provide the requested data to RxControl.

Please consult the release notes of RxControl 4.6.1 to check for specific differences and incompati-
bilities with previous versions.

RxControl v4.6.1 7
 2 INSTALLING RXCONTROL

2 Installing RxControl
2.1 Recommended System Requirements
RxControl has been tested on the following operating systems:

• Windows XP Service Pack 3, Vista and Windows 7

• Fedora Core 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13

Minimal system requirements (for 1 Hz. update rate 1 ) are:

• Pentium 800 MHz and above

• 512 MB RAM
• 1024×768 or higher resolution

2.2 Windows installation

Note 1. Administrative rights are required for installing RxControl.

The RxControl installation is performed by running the RxTools 1 6 1 Installer installer:

• RxTools 1 6 1 Installer.exe
(located in the RxTools\windows directory on the installation CD)

With the Windows setup program of the RxTools 1 6 1 Installer, users may choose to install some
or all of the following applications: RxControl 4.6.1 , SBF Converter 2.4.1, SBF Analyzer 2.0.1,
RxLogger 1.3.0, RxUpgrade 1.0.6 and/or Data Link 2.3.2.

Please see the release notes for installation instructions and warning. Also the release notes contains
detailed description of the programs above as their issues and limitations.

During the installation, you can indicate in which directory you want the RxTools 1 6 1 Installer to
be installed. If a previous version of RxControl is installed you will be prompted to remove that
version. Once RxControl is installed, it can be launched by clicking the RxControl shortcut icon
created by the installation program.

If you are planning to use USB to connect to your Septentrio Receiver then make sure that the Win-
dows USB driver is preinstalled. USB driver installation is an option which is selected by default in
the RxTools 1 6 1 Installer installer. After the driver is installed, connect your Septentrio Receiver
via USB and wait several seconds. The Windows Plug and Play functionality should recognize the re-
ceiver and automatically configure it for use. Two virtual serial ports will be created on your machine,
which can be used to communicate to the receiver via USB. Check the Device Manager to see the
exact names of these virtual serial ports. Usually they will stand out from the rest of the serial ports
since they will have an enumeration number which is a bit higher than the built in serial ports. Also
they should have the name Septentrio written beside the port name. These virtual serial ports will be
labeled as such when RxControl shows the Connection Dialog. The virtual serial port names
correspond to a given USB port. If you plug the receiver into a new USB port, the virtual serial ports
will have new names.

Data Link 2.3.2 is a communication utility which allows users to establish connections between
several serial and/or TCP/IP ports. Data Link is divided into 2 to 6 similar Port Panels, each of them
1
Higher data rates (e.g. 10 Hz.) will require higher CPU and memory requirements.

RxControl v4.6.1 8
 2 INSTALLING RXCONTROL

containing the controls to establish a simple connection to either a serial or a TCP/IP port. Once 2.3.2
is installed, it can be launched by clicking the Data Link shortcut icon created by the installation
program.

SBF Converter 2.4.1 is a conversion utility which allows users to convert SBF logged files of the
Septentrio Receiver to other formats such as RINEX, ASCII, GPX, KML and STFformat. Once SBF
Converter 2.4.1 is installed, it can be launched by clicking the SBF Converter shortcut icon
created by the installation program. Please consult the HTML help pages of SBF Converter 2.4.1 for
more information on this program.

SBF Analyzer 2.0.1 is an application designed to analyze data from SBF log files. Similar to Rx-
Control, SBF Analyzer allows visualization of multiple time plots as well as visualization of historic
information in the SBF log file. It is a powerful tool when deep analysis of data recorded by Septentrio
receivers is needed. As its output, SBF Analyzer can either open application windows allowing to in-
teract with the plots much in the same way as in RxControl, but also offers the possibility to generate
PDF documents following fully customizable templates.

RxLogger 1.3.0 is a program which facilitates logging and allows definition of logging streams
which can have independent communication connection, update rate and SBF blocks.

RxUpgrade 1.0.6 is a utility which can be used independently for upgrading your receiver.

2.3 Linux installation

To install RxControl, run the program RxTools 1 6 1 Installer.bin located in the directory
RxTools/linux-i386/ of the installation CD.

During the installation, you will be prompted in which directory you want the RxControl to be in-
stalled, and where you want to create the shortcuts. Remember that RxControl 4.6.1 and other
graphical tools might have some incompatible features with different Septentrio Receiver versions,
therefore you may want to choose a different directory for keeping parallel RxControl versions or
other tools running properly on the same PC.

For USB connectivity you do not need to install any special drivers on Linux.

In order to use RxControl with Linux OS the following settings are required:

• The RxControl process should have the rights to access the /dev/ttyS? serial ports. On
most modern Linux, the /dev/ttyS? devices are owned by root and belong to the uucp
group, with read and write access to the group. Additionally, the device is normally locked
by writing a file in the /var/lock/ directory, owned by root and belonging to the lock
group, with read and write access to the group. In order to access the serial ports, the user(s)
who want(s) to use RxControl must be part of the uucp group and of the lock group.
On a stand-alone Linux machine, the classic way to make a user part of the uucp group and
of the lock group is by editing the /etc/group file, adding the users name to the line
defining the uucp group and the lock group. For example, if the user jsmith must be
added to the uucp group, change the line:
uucp:x:14:uucp
to
uucp:x:14:uucp,jsmith
On many Linux distributions, graphical tools may edit the file, in Fedora Core, for instance,
the tool is found in the System Settings | Users and Groups menu. Editing the
/etc/group file requires c privileges.

RxControl v4.6.1 9
 2 INSTALLING RXCONTROL

On Linux machine administered centrally on a local network, the group members are likely to be
shared between the machines, using name services like the NIS (Network Information Service),
NIS+ or the LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). The /etc/nsswitch.conf
file controls the use of the name services. Ask your system administrator to add the needed
users to the uucp and the lock groups.
• This program will not run on your system if the permissions of the serial ports are not set to
read/write (rw) for you (normally this should not be a problem with the default permissions).
In case you run into problems make sure that you change the permissions using the command:
chmod 660 /dev/ttyS?
where the ?-mark has to be replaced by the correct figure for your port (e.g. /dev/ttyS0 for the
COM1 port).
Changing these permissions also require root privileges.
• The user has to update his environment by logging out and back in. Be aware that the X session
has to be restarted as well. On most systems this can be done by pressing the key combination
Ctrl-Alt-Backspace.
• It is not recommended to install RxControl as a root user for security reasons as well as for
avoiding that the installation overwrites other settings in your system. If you need to make
RxControl available to more than one user it is recommended to share the installation directory
of RxControl.

Once RxControl is installed, it can be launched by executing the link created by the installation pro-
gram or by executing ./runRxControl in the directory where the program is installed. Data Link
2.3.2 and SBF Converter 2.4.1 can be run from the bin directory so that the proper libraries can be
loaded on a Linux system. They can also be run from the install directory in a similar way as de-
scribed for RxControl above. If the RxTools 1 6 1 Installer installer has been used, then Data Link
and SBF Converter can be run by launching the runDataLink and/or the runSBFConverter script(s)
located in the /bin directory inside the RxTools 1 6 1 Installer installation path. These scripts make
sure of setting a temporal library path for the applications so that they can run properly on your Linux
system.

2.4 Windows uninstall

RxControl can be uninstalled by using the next shortcut created by the installation program:

• Uninstall RxControl

Alternatively users can also uninstall the software by using the Add/Remove Programs fea-
ture of Windows. In order to open the Add/Remove Programs window click the Start but-
ton on the Taskbar and select Settings and then Control Panel. The Control Panel
will be displayed. Double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon to open the Add/Remove
Programs properties sheet. Scroll down through the list of applications which Windows can remove
automatically. Locate the Uninstall RxTools application, Highlight Uninstall RxTools by selecting it
and click on the Remove button.

Both methods will launch the uninstall program of Uninstall RxTools. Follow the on-screen instruc-
tions to uninstall RxControl from your system.
Note 2. If Data Link or SBF Converter was/were also installed on the Windows PC, then these applications will also
be removed by the described uninstall procedure.

RxControl v4.6.1 10
 2 INSTALLING RXCONTROL

2.5 Linux uninstall

The RxTools 1 6 1 Installer (RxControl) are uninstalled by running the next program:

• Uninstall RxTools located in the UninstallerData directory of the programs in-

stallation directory.

After executing the command follow the on-screen instructions to complete the removal of the Rx-
Tools 1 6 1 Installer.

RxControl v4.6.1 11
 3 GETTING STARTED

3 Getting started
3.1 A quick guide to RxControl
The RxControl program is an intuitive GUI which allows you to control your Septentrio Receiver,
to perform data logging, to monitor the navigation solution and other activities of the Septentrio
Receiver. To fully understand the functionality and to be able to use all the capabilities of RxControl,
it is recommended to read the HTML help pages and the manual of RxControl. The purpose of this
section is to assist you with your first steps.

Once RxControl is installed (see Section 2 on page 8), your next task is to set up a connection
from your PC to the Septentrio Receiver. The user must be aware that the Septentrio Receiver has
several serial ports (e.g. COM1), and that they are not to be confused with the PC’s serial ports
(COM1 and COM2). On Linux systems, the serial ports of the PC are denoted by /dev/ttyS0 and
/dev/ttyS1 for COM1 and COM2 respectively. The next paragraphs refer to the Windows naming
convention.

To connect to the Septentrio Receiver via a serial cable, follow the next steps:

1. Make sure that the receiver is up and running and that it is connected to the antenna.
2. Use a null-modem serial cable (see Section A on page 72) to connect one of the serial ports of
your PC to one of the serial ports of the Septentrio Receiver.
3. Start RxControl, or, if it is already running, go to File | Change Connection.
4. The Change Connection dialog (see Figure 4-1 on page 14) will appear. For the first
connection, choose Serial Connection | Create New | Next>.
5. A dialog window (see Figure 4-2 on page 15) to select the communication port will be shown
(by default the serial port settings are not shown and are correctly filled in for the default receiver
settings). If the Septentrio Receiver is connected to your PC’s COM2 port, change the Serial
Port to COM2.
If you would like to connect via USB then select one of the two virtual serial ports, which have
been created for USB communication.
If you accept these settings your PC’s serial port will be in the same state as the Septentrio Re-
ceiver’s COMx port, and the communication with the Septentrio Receiver may begin. Every time
you turn your Septentrio Receiver on or reset it via software, the serial ports of the Septentrio
Receiver will return to the default communication settings as listed in the table below:

Parameter Value
baud rate 115200
data bits 8
parity none
stop bits 1
flow control none

Table 3-1: Default serial port settings

If you want to change these settings you have to press the little triangle next to Advanced
Settings to make the settings visible. Before pressing the Finish button, you have to
provide a file name to the connection settings. Enter a name in the Connection File text
field, even if you stay with the default settings. If you press the Enter button on your PC’s
keyboard, RxControl will add the extension .serial to the file name. Later you will be able
to reuse these settings for the chosen serial port by loading the settings file.

RxControl v4.6.1 12
 3 GETTING STARTED

Note 3. As an inheritance of the DOS background working under Windows systems, it is not allowed to have a
file named COM X.extension. Therefore, you should avoid naming your connection files something as COM1.serial.
6. Pressing the Finish button will start the connection to the Septentrio Receiver.

Connecting over a Local Area Network (LAN) or over the Internet using a TCP/IP socket is much
simpler than via a serial port. All you need to provide in this case is the hostname or the IP address of
your Septentrio Receiver (see Figure 4-3 on page 15).

Once connected, RxControl displays its Main Window (see Figure 5-1 on page 18) with the current
position, the list of tracked satellites and timing information. If you don’t see the normal display,
please look for more information in Section 4.1 on the following page.

If everything went all right and you are now connected, then welcome to the RxControl user interface!

Please hover your mouse over various texts and controls to see the tool tips which provide extra
receiver information or help.

The blinking green lights at the bottom of the main screen signal new data coming into RxControl.

To monitor the navigation solution and tracking, go to the View menu and choose one of the views.
All the screens are intuitive and easy to use. You can also click the icons in the tool bar to see various
views which visualize at real time information from the receiver.

To control the receiver, use the receiver menus (see Section 5.3.3 on page 29), which consist of
dialogs and commands to control the operation of your Septentrio Receiver. Have in mind that there
is a one-to-one correspondence between the Septentrio Receiver command set and the different items
in the Communication and Navigation dialogs; most of the time the name of the menu, item
or dialog clearly matches the name of the command. The settings you change in these dialogs are
actually changed in the receiver when you press the OK or Apply button.

To log SBF data, go to the RxControl Logging dialog used for logging data coming from the
receiver. (see Section 8 on page 63).

3.2 Controlling the Septentrio Receiver

If you want to change the receiver settings, the place you are likely to visit are the Communication
and Navigation menus (see Section 5.3.3 on page 29). These menus are built dynamically from
the MIB description, which is downloaded from the receiver. In these menus you will be able to find
different special settings and commands that set the receiver in a specific mode. The contents of these
dialogs always reflect the current settings of the receiver. If you change any parameter on these dialogs
and press OK, the new settings will be transmitted to the receiver.

All the current settings can also be requested or changed manually via the Expert Console (see
Section 7 on page 59), which acts as a command-line interface to the Septentrio Receiver. Besides
querying the current settings using the get-commands, the Expert Console also allows you to
change the settings by issuing the corresponding set-commands. For more information about the
commands of the receiver, please consult the ”Command Line Interface Reference Guide”. Other tabs
in this screen allow you to see the flow of NMEA and/or differential correction messages.

RxControl v4.6.1 13
 4 CONNECTING TO THE SEPTENTRIO RECEIVER

4 Connecting to the Septentrio Receiver

4.1 Establishing a connection to the Septentrio Re-
ceiver
RxControl connects to the Septentrio Receiver using either a serial RS-232 (see Appendix A on
page 72) cable, USB cable or a TCP/IP data stream connection. The latter allows RxControl to
operate a receiver remotely and can be useful for remote reference stations equipped with a Septentrio
Receiver.

On startup, RxControl pops up a Change Connection dialog asking the user to specify the com-
munication settings (see Figure 4-1). The user can choose between four connection options:

• Connecting with the last known connection

• Connecting via a serial link
(USB connection is done through a virtual serial link)
• Connecting via a TCP/IP socket
• Replaying a recorded file

Figure 4-1: Connection dialog

At first use of RxControl, the user has to create a new serial, TCP/IP or SBF file replay connection and
RxControl does not present the Use Last Connection option in the Change Connection
dialog. Creating a new serial, TCP/IP or SBF file replay connection is done by selecting the Create
New option in the corresponding drop-down list. The Finish button will become grayed out and the
Next > will become available indicating that the user has to enter additional information. Pressing
the Next > button pops up a Create a new Serial connection (see Figure 4-2 on the
next page), a Create a new TCP/IP connection dialog (see Figure 4-3 on the following
page) or a Create a new SBF file connection dialog (see Figure 4-4 on page 16).

The Create a new Serial connection dialog allows to specify the values of parameters
affecting the serial or USB connection between the Septentrio Receiver and the RxControl program.
The predefined values reflect the default settings of the serial ports of the Septentrio Receiver.

However for USB connection via virtual serial ports, some port parameters like baud rate will be
ignored since it is unnecessary (see Section 2.2 on page 8 for more USB details).

Keep in mind that after a restart, the serial ports of the Septentrio Receiver return to this state, so it is
advisable to use the default settings. After adjusting the parameters to the needed values, specify a file

RxControl v4.6.1 14
 4 CONNECTING TO THE SEPTENTRIO RECEIVER

name were these parameters can be stored. Once all information has been entered, press the Finish
button.
Note 4. As an inheritance of the DOS background working under Windows systems, it is not allowed to have a file
named COM X . EXTENSION.

Figure 4-2: Create Serial Connection dialog

If the Septentrio Receiver has Ethernet capabilities, then users may also connect to the receiver using
a TCP/IP connection.

Defining a TCP/IP connection is simply done by specifying the IP address or the hostname of the
Septentrio Receiver. In the latter case, the hostname must be resolved by a local DNS server or by
linking the hostname (e.g. MyReceiver) to the corresponding IP (e.g. 192.168.1.134) address. This
can be done by inserting a line into the hosts file:
192.168.1.123 receiver.yourdomain receiver

Contact your network administrator for more information on how to map the Septentrio Receiver IP
address to a DNS server.

Figure 4-3: Create TCP/IP Connection dialog

RxControl also has a standalone mode in which it can replay recorded SBF files. This is done by
using a SBF file connection. Defining such a connection is done by specifying the SBF file that must
be played. The file will be played at the interval at which it was recorded, or at a factor slower or
faster as specified by the user.
Note 5. The behaviour of RxControl in file play mode depends on the recorded messages. If messages required by
RxControl are not available in the file it is possible that some or all dialogs of RxControl do not function as expected.

RxControl v4.6.1 15
 4 CONNECTING TO THE SEPTENTRIO RECEIVER

Figure 4-4: Create SBF File Connection dialog

The parameters of each created connection are saved in a properties file. These files are located in the
user home dir/.septentrio directory. A serial connection properties file is identified by the
extension .serial while a TCP/IP connection has the extension .tcpip and a SBF file connection
.sbffile.

If properties files are available at startup, RxControl displays the Use Last Connection option
and specifies the name of the corresponding properties file in the Change Connection dialog (see
Figure 4-1 on page 14).

The user can decide to always connect to the last used connection and skip the dialogs from the
Change Connection dialog by selecting the Use the last connection at startup
check box accessed from the File | Preferences menu entry.

If RxControl is already running, the Change Connection dialog (see Figure 4-1 on page 14) can
be opened by choosing File | Change Connection in the RxControl’s main window.

During the display of the Change Connection dialog, there is no data communication between
the Septentrio Receiver and RxControl. Pressing the Work offline button allows you to use
RxControl without any receiver connected.

Whenever RxControl fails to initiate a connection to the receiver it will pop up an error dialog and
will allow the user to select another connection.

If RxControl loses its connection to a receiver it will try to reconnect using the same connection
parameters.

Also if receiver is connected via USB and it is restarted or unplugged RxControl will try to re-establish
the connection. Allow several seconds for the virtual serial port to become visible if receiver is
restarted using the USB connection.

Once connected, RxControl displays its Main Window (see Figure 5-1 on page 18) with the current
position, the list of tracked satellites and timing information. If you don’t see the normal display,
please check for a solution in Section C on page 77.

If everything went all right and you are now connected, then welcome to the RxControl user interface!

When you start RxControl afresh, it sends a request for a standard minimal set of SBF data blocks
required to update all the views. In order to maximize the performance of the Septentrio Receiver Rx-
Control will also adapt dynamically its SBF usage depending on the views and screens opened/closed

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 4 CONNECTING TO THE SEPTENTRIO RECEIVER

within RxControl. During a session, you cannot change or lower this minimal set of SBF messages
for your current connection.

4.2 Upgrading the Septentrio Receiver firmware

At the bottom of the Change Connection dialog (see Figure 4-1 on page 14) there is one more
option, which allows to upgrade the Septentrio Receiver firmware. This option is available at start
up of RxControl or by selecting the menu entry Tools | Upgrade Receiver. Selecting this
option allows to upgrade the firmware of the Septentrio Receiver. This procedure is fully described in
Section 9 on page 71.

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 5 RXCONTROL’S MAIN WINDOW

5 RxControl’s main window

5.1 General
RxControl’s main window is the central part of RxControl. It gives the user a general overview of
position related information, the satellite systems in use, and the status of the Septentrio Receiver.

If this window stays empty after having connected to the receiver, it means that something is wrong
with the connection or that the receiver is not turned on. This may happen if the wrong PC’s serial
port is specified, or if the PC’s serial settings do not match the receiver’s settings. Possible solutions
to this problem can be found in Section 4.1 on page 14.

RxControl’s main window is the central location for accessing all receiver related information and
offers full control of the Septentrio Receiver. The Septentrio Receiver outputs navigation and mea-
surement information in binary SBF data blocks and/or ASCII NMEA sentences at user-specified
intervals. RxControl dispatches the SBF data blocks to a variety of graphical or tabular views.
Quick access to these views is available through the toolbar of the RxControl window.

Figure 5-1: Main Window

If you would like to change the update rate of the main window and thus the update frequency coming
from the receiver, you can do so in the Preferences | General section.

RxControl’s main window consists of four main areas:

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 5 RXCONTROL’S MAIN WINDOW

• the Position Information section displays current position, velocity, and related accu-
racy parameters;
• the Satellite Status section gives an overview of the tracking status of the Septentrio
Receiver for various satellite systems;
• the Information tabs in the bottom part of the window display timing information, dilution
of precision parameters, protection levels (HPL/VPL), RAIM (HERL/VERL), PVT solution
information, and the status of the currently used communication link to the receiver;
• the Status bar gives a quick overview of the communication between the Septentrio Re-
ceiver and the RxControl program, current PVT mode and the status of logging.

The first three of them have a little triangle before their title. Clicking this triangle allows to expand/-
collapse the area.

A minimal subset of SBF blocks is needed to update the graphical windows of RxControl. The user
has no control over this minimal subset of SBF blocks for the current connection. Nevertheless,
the list of SBF blocks transmitted over other connections, can be controlled by the user through the
Communication | SBF Output dialog.

Closing RxControl’s main window closes all the current views, shuts down the communication link
to the Septentrio Receiver and terminates the RxControl program. During the shutdown, a file with
the user preferences (user home dir/.septentrio/rxcontrol.conf) for the RxControl
program and a connection file with properties for the current connection to the Septentrio Receiver
are saved ( user home dir/.septentrio/connectionname.tcpip for an Ethernet con-
nection, user home dir/.septentrio/connectionname.serial in the case of a seri-
al/usb port connection and user home dir/.septentrio/connectionname.sbffile in
the case of a file replay connection).

5.2 RxControl main window information

5.2.1 The Position Information section
The top section of the RxControl main window shows in separate tabs position- and velocity-related
information. The default view2 displays the current position and velocity expressed in the geodetic
geographic system (ϕ − latitude , λ−longitude, h − ellipsoidal height) based on the World Geodetic
System 1984 (WGS84) ellipsoid.

Figure 5-2: Position Information section

The format used is changed through the F ILE P REFERENCES . . . — F ORMATS menu entry, which
can be accessed by right clicking on the position information display. The formats preference set-
ting allow to alter the angular format and the coordinate system througout the RxControl. The an-
gular format is displayed as (a) sexagesimal degrees, (b) decimal degrees or (c) degrees-decimal
arcminutes as often used in nautical applications The user can switch the overall coordinate sys-
tem as (a) cartesian coordinates (X, Y, Z), (b) geodetic coordinates (ϕ, λ, h), (c) geocentric coordi-
2
At first startup of RxControl the position and velocity are always displayed in geodetic geographic coordinates. At
subsequent startups, RxControl will read the user’s preferences file and display the last used view.

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 5 RXCONTROL’S MAIN WINDOW

nates (Φ − geocentric latitude, Λ − geocentric longitude, r − geocetric distance) (See Section B.1 on
page 73), (d) topocentric coordinates (E − east, N − north, U − up) related to a topocentric reference
point (See Section B.3 on page 75), (e) or as a cartographic projection (E − east, N − north, H −
ortometric height) (See Section B.2 on page 74). The orthometric height H, referenced to the geoid,
by subtracting the geoid undulation N , H ≈ h − N . The Septentrio Receiver interpolates the geoid
undulation using the geoid model at 10 ◦ matrix derived from the full WGS84 coefficient set (see:
Technical Characteristics of the NAVSTAR GPS – June 1991).
Note 6. When running the Septentrio Receiver in base station mode, the position information section displays only
the known true position of the base station. In the base station mode, position errors or standard deviations are meaningless
and thus are not provided.

When no position updates are available, values are set to N/A and the cause of the problem can be
seen in the status bar (see Section 5.2.4 on page 25).

The position and velocity views display the standard deviation of the coordinate components. The
geodetic and geocentric view display the deviations (σE , σN ) of the standard planimetric error ellipse
along the parallel and meridian, while σU is measured along the normal direction to the ellipsoid.

N
meridian

σN
θ
σV σU
σE parallel
W E

Figure 5-3: The planimetric dispersion ellips

This semi-major and semi-minor axis (σU , σV ) and the orientation angle θ, measured clockwise from
the geographic North, are displayed in the topocentric and projection views. The velocity tab reports
the corresponding standard deviations of the velocity components.

The Position Information section is capable of showing either the GNSS-only solution or an inte-
grated solution (if available). Whether the GNSS-only or integrated solution is shown, is deter-
mined by a user preference as set in the preferences dialog, which can be opened by selecting the
Preferences... item in the File menu of the main application window. If an integrated so-
lution is shown, this is indicated by the presence of the text “Integrated” in the left column of the
tabs.

5.2.2 The Satellite Status section

The central section of the RxControl main window displays status information about the satellites and
their signals currently tracked by the Septentrio Receiver. At start-up, the RxControl program initi-
ates communication with the receiver and adjusts its views to the available options of the Septentrio

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 5 RXCONTROL’S MAIN WINDOW

Receiver. During this phase, the Septentrio Receiver receiver communicates its capability to track a
specific satellite system, such as GPS (Global Positioning System), GLONASS (Global Orbiting
Navigation Satellite System), Galileo or SBAS (Space-Based Augmentation System) like EGNOS.
RxControl adjusts its appearance to the actual tracking capability of the receiver. When the Septentrio
Receiver does not support tracking of a particular satellite system, the corresponding tab is disabled
and inaccessible for the user.

Figure 5-4: Satellite Status section

The satellite systems tab provides a quick overview of reception and usage status of the individual
satellites. The satellite number is preceded by a letter indicating the satellite system to which a satellite
belongs:

• “G” is used for the satellites of the GPS constellation,

• “R” for the satellites of the GLONASS constellation,
• “S” for the satellites of the SBAS constellation and
• “E” is used for the satellites of the Galileo constellation.

The signal indicator on each button reflects the status of each signal of the corresponding satellite. It
is represented by little coloured squares. The number of squares depends on the represented system
and the capabilities of the receiver (only the signals of which the receiver is capable of are displayed).
To find out which square represents which signal just hover the mouse over a button and a small pop-
up will appear with this information, as well as other satellite information. The colour code of the
squares is as follows:

• grey indicates that the receiver is neither tracking the corresponding satellite’s signal nor search-
ing for it. There could be two different reasons: (a) the almanac data reports that the satellite is
not visible from the current position, or (b) the user explicitly requested not to track this satel-
lite. (For more information about the commands of the receiver, please consult the ”Command
Line Interface Reference Guide”.) If all signals for a satellite are in this mode, the text on the
button is also grey to indicate that there is no activity for this satellite.
• yellow indicates that the receiver tries to detect the corresponding signal of the satellite and has
entered into the search mode.
• orange indicates that a valid satellite signal has been detected and that the tracking channel
enters into a synchronization phase.
• blue indicates that the satellite signal is tracked, but it is not used in the PVT.
• green indicates that the satellite signal is tracked and used in the PVT computation.
• red indicates that the satellite signal is tracked, but it has been thrown out of the PVT computa-
tion.

When the text for an SBAS satellite is printed in bold, this SBAS satellite is used as a source of SBAS
corrections that could be used by the PVT solution. Note that this can only be the case when the PVT
mode includes an SBAS-aided positioning solution.

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 5 RXCONTROL’S MAIN WINDOW

At the bottom of the satellite status section there is a summary of the tracking status of the Septentrio
Receiver for all the satellite systems. Both the total number of satellites and the number of satellites
per constellation that have signals in (a) search (b) synchronization (c) tracking but not used in PVT
(d) tracking and used in PVT are shown. If a satellite has signals of different statuses it will be counted
in the last possible list.

Hovering the mouse pointer over a satellite button pops up a message containing basic information on
the satellite (See Figure 5-5). The pop-up message reports the following:

Figure 5-5: Pop-up in the Satellite Status section

• The logical channel on which this satellite is being tracked by the Septentrio Receiver (next to
the satellite number).
• For SBAS satellites the name of the geostationary satellite is also displayed.
• The elevation and azimuth angles of the line-of-sight to the satellite in degrees. An arrow
indicator shows whether the satellite is rising (↑) or setting (↓).
• The status of all the satellite’s signals together with the name of the signal and if it is healthy
or not

5.2.3 Receiver Information tabs

The bottom section of RxControl’s main window contains the Time, RxClock, the Dilution Of Pre-
cision, the Protection Limit or Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring, PVT and Status tabs.

Figure 5-6: Receiver Information tabs

5.2.3.1 Time tab

The Time tab displays the current date and time. By default, the date and time are displayed in the
UTC (Universal Time Coordinated) time reference, but it can be changed to the GNSS time reference
or to the local time (derived from the PC’s locale) by right-clicking in the Time tab.

5.2.3.2 RxClock tab

The RxClock tab displays the current date and time expressed by the Week number (WNc) and the
Time Of Week (TOW). It also shows the offset and the drift of the Septentrio Receiver’s internal clock
with respect to the GNSS time reference.

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5.2.3.3 DOP tab

The central tabs show the Dilution Of Precision (DOP), Protection Limit (PL) or Receiver Au-
tonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) values. The DOP parameters represent the influence of the
geometric distribution of the observed satellite constellation on the navigation solution. The multi-
plication of the DOP parameter times the a-priori standard deviation of the range errors yields the
expected accuracy of the position (horizontal and/or vertical) and the time synchronization. PDOP
(Position DOP) is a measure of the achievable threedimensional geometric accuracy and has two
components: HDOP (Horizontal DOP) in the local horizontal plane and a vertical component VDOP
(Vertical DOP). An estimate of the timing error can be derived from the value of TDOP (Time DOP).

5.2.3.4 PL tab
If some SBAS satellites are being tracked, the PL limits are generated in real time and provide an
upper limit for the residual position error of the differentially corrected position.

5.2.3.5 RAIM tab

The Septentrio Receiver features RAIM to ensure the integrity of the computed position solution,
provided sufficient satellites are available. The RAIM tab shows Horizontal External Reliability
Level (HERL) and Vertical External Reliability Level (VERL) which are the distinct External
Reliability Levels (XERL) for the horizontal and the vertical components based on the Minimum
Detectable Bias (MDB). It also shows the RAIM integrity status (successful, failed or unavailable).

The RAIM tab shows Horizontal External Reliability Level (HERL) and Vertical External Reliability
Level (VERL) which are the distinct External Reliability Levels (XERL) for the horizontal and the
vertical components based on the Minimum Detectable Bias (MDB). It also shows the RAIM integrity
status (successful, failed or unavailable).

5.2.3.6 PVT tab

The PVT tab shows information about the PVT solution. If there is no PVT solution the reason is also
displayed here. If there is a PVT solution the following information is shown:

PVT mode: Stand-Alone PVT, Differential PVT, Fixed location, RTK with fixed ambiguities, RTK
with float ambiguities or SBAS aided PVT.
System: The systems used in the PVT solution (e.g.: GPS+SBAS).
Info: Indicates if the PVT solution is of the 2D or 3D type. Also this field indicates the type of
corrections used in case of SBAS, DGPS, or RTK solution.
Corr Age: When in DGPS or RTK mode this indicates the mean age of the differential corrections
and when in SBAS mode this indicates the mean age of the fast corrections.

The PVT tab only shows information about the GNSS-based PVT. Refer to Section 5.2.3.8 on the next
page for more information on the integrated solution, if available.

5.2.3.7 Status tab

The Status tab reports the:

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 5 RXCONTROL’S MAIN WINDOW

Up-Time of the Septentrio Receiver: expressed in days, hours, minutes and seconds.
CPU usage: high values during a long period of time may indicate a problem with the functioning of
the Septentrio Receiver and may require the user’s attention.
Connection port: the name of the connection port on the receiver side.
Throughput: the throughput of the currently used communication port.

5.2.3.8 Integration tab

The Integration tab shows information about the integrated solution for position, velocity and atti-
tude:

Mode: current integration mode.

Error: current integration error status.
Info: information regarding the status and the type of measurements used.
GNSS Age: Duration that no GNSS measurements were received and no GNSS-measurement based
PVT is computed.

As for most parts of the user interface, more detailed information or an explanation is shown when
the user hovers with the mouse over these fields.

The Integration tab only shows information if an integrated solution is available to RxControl. On
one hand this is determined by the capabilities of the Septentrio Receiver, and the selected positioning
mode. On the other hand, this is also determined by the user preference as set in the Preferences
dialog, which can be opened by selecting the Preferences... item in the File menu of the main
application window. If no integrated solution is used by the application, all fields in the Integration
tab show “N/A”. If the receiver does not support integration, the tab is not shown.

5.2.3.9 Attitude tab

The Attitude tab shows information about GNSS-based heading/attitude:

Mode: current GNSS heading/attitude mode.

Error1: current error status for auxiliary antenna 1.
Error2: current error status for auxiliary antenna 2.
Nr SV: the average over all antennas of the number of satellites currently included in the attitude
calculations.

As for most parts of the user interface, more detailed information or an explanation is shown when
the user hovers with the mouse over these fields.

The Attitude tab only shows the above information if this information is available to RxControl. On
one hand this is determined by the capabilities and settings of the Septentrio Receiver. On the other
hand, this is also determined by the user preference as set in the Preferences dialog, which can be
opened by selecting the Preferences... item in the File menu of the main application window.
The tab does not display information if the application is set up to only show integrated solutions. If
the receiver does not support GNSS Attitude/Heading, the tab is not shown.

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 5 RXCONTROL’S MAIN WINDOW

5.2.4 The Status bar

At the bottom of RxControl’s main window a status bar (See Figure 5-1 on page 18) can be found.
The status bar exists of two lines and contains the following information in the order from left to right:

• a LED which blinks if a valid SBF message is received. Normally this LED blinks green, but
whenever there is a CRC error or there are discarded bytes it starts blinking red. Hovering the
mouse over the LED will show a pop up with information about the number of CRC errors and
discarded bytes. Showing this pop up also makes the LED blink green again (until the next
error). Right-clicking the LED allows to reset the CRC errors and discarded bytes counters.
• a LED indicating the receiver status. If the receiver status indicates there are no errors, it blinks
green. If the error flag of the receiver is set, it blinks red. The history of previous errors
will also be kept in the tool tip of this LED. To clear this history right click on the LED and
select Reset Counter. The second option Display the error output in the
Expert Console issues the LstInternalFile, Error command to the receiver and
shows its output in the Expert Console. This also clears the error on the receiver side.
• a LED indicating that differential corrections are being received or transmitted by the Septentrio
Receiver. See DiffCor Info Window (Section 6.6 on page 42) for more details about the
correction messages that are coming in.
• a LED which will blink green every time an external event is detected by the receiver. See
Expert Console(Section 7 on page 59) Events tab if you would like to see the details about
the external event or if you would like to count the external events.
• a LED indicating that external sensor measurements are being received by the Septentrio Re-
ceiver.
• an icon indicating the logging status. If the arrow on the icon is moving, this indicates that
logging is currently taking place. If the icon is stationary then no logging is taking place.
• an icon indicating internal logging. If this icon is greyed out then your receiver does not support
internal logging. If the icon is coloured and stationary then the internal logging is available but
there is no logging taking place. If the arrow on the icon is moving this means that internal
logging is currently taking place.
• an icon indicating the current PVT mode of the Septentrio Receiver, see Figure 5-7 on the next
page:
(a) No PVT available
(b) Stand-alone PVT
(c) Differential PVT
(d) Base Station
(e) RTK Fixed Ambiguities
(f) RTK Float Ambiguities
(g) SBAS Enabled PVT
(h) Moving-Base RTK with Fixed Ambiguities
(i) Moving-Base RTK with Float Ambiguities
(j) Precise Point Positioning (PPP) with Fixed Ambiguities
(k) Precise Point Positioning (PPP) with Float Ambiguities
• an optional icon indicating the current integration mode of the position and velocity information
shown by RxControl, see Figure 5-8 on the following page:
(a) GNSS PV solution
(b) Loosely-integrated PV solution
(c) Extrapolated PV solution
(d) No integrated PV solution
The icon is not shown when not relevant, e.g. when automatically choosing the GNSS PV
solution when connected to a receiver that is not capable to perform integration.
• an optional icon indicating the current heading/attitude mode, see Figure 5-9 on the next page:

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 5 RXCONTROL’S MAIN WINDOW

(a) GNSS Heading/Attitude with Fixed Ambiguities 3

(b) GNSS Heading/Attitude with Float Ambiguities 3
(c) Integrated Attitude
(d) No Heading/Attitude
The icon is not shown when not relevant.
• an icon indicating the connection state of RxControl.
• a text area for messages indicating the current actions of RxControl.
• a text area showing that an external reference clock is connected to the receiver or nothing if no
such reference is there.
• a text area showing that a onePPS in pulse is available to the receiver or nothing if no such pulse
is there.
• a text area showing the type of the currently connected receiver.

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k)

Figure 5-7: PVT Mode icons

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Figure 5-8: Integration Mode icons

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Figure 5-9: Attitude Mode icons

5.3 The menus and the toolbar of the RxControl

window
The menu bar of RxControl’s main window allows a user to control every operational aspect of the
Septentrio Receiver, log data, open various graphical and tabular data views and get information about
the status and capabilities of the Septentrio Receiver.

Please note that all menus related the Septentrio Receiver commands are created dynamically via
the MIB (Management Information Base) downloaded from the receiver. RxControl communicates
with the receiver following the binary SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) protocol and
the command set as described in the MIB. Therefore it is impossible to describe in this section the
exact look and contents of the receiver menus. Only the entries that are hard coded in RxControl are
fully described here, so when your RxControl is connected to a receiver additional menu entries are
created. For more information about the commands of the receiver, please consult the ”Command
Line Interface Reference Guide”.
3
Computed either from multi-antenna receivers or moving base configurations.

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 5 RXCONTROL’S MAIN WINDOW

5.3.1 The File menu

The File menu allows you to access main functions of RxControl. It contains the following hard
coded entries:

Change Connection: Allows to connect to another Septentrio Receiver or file (this option is dis-
cussed in more detail in Section 4 on page 14).
Manage Connections Allows to view, rename or delete existing connection files.
Preferences: Opens the preferences dialog. This dialog is divided into the following sections:
• The Preference page of this dialog allows the user to change the general settings of
RxControl. These settings include the following:
– Setting the update rate of the SBF messages transmitted by the receiver.
– Position/Velocity/Attitude selection preference allows the user to specify if auto-
matic, integrated or GNSS-only solution is to be used. The integrated solution can
be shown when connected to a Septentrio Receiver offering integration capabilities
(e.g. using input from an IMU). Which solution is shown, is determined by this pref-
erence. By default, “Automatic” is selected. In this mode, the integrated solution is
shown when the connected Septentrio Receiver is capable of integration and if sensor
integration is enabled in the Positioning Mode settings of the receiver. Otherwise, the
“Automatic” mode causes the GNSS-based solution to be shown. “GNSS-based solu-
tion only” and “Integrated solution only” can be used to force the respective solutions
to be shown.
– Satellite Constellation Order can be selected. This will effect dialogs and displays
which show satellite information grouped by constellations. Their order can be changed
according to the selection of this preference.
– File Management preferences allow experienced users to change default behaviour
for dealing with files used by RxControl. Caution is advised.
• The Programs section allows to point to a specific program to execute a given task. For
example the user can select a preferred browser which will be used to open web pages
through RxControl.
• The Reference section allows to change the reference positions which effect various
plots. The True Antenna Position reference point effects the HPL/VPL plots, while the
Topocentric Reference Position effects Topocentric Position on the main screen, ENU
Time Plot and the Planimetric Plot.
• The Formats section the user can select the format of units which will be displayed.
Display Diagnostic Report: Opens a dialog displaying diagnostics about RxControl and the con-
nected receiver (if any).
Save MIB Description As: Allows to save the MIB description currently used by the RxControl to
build the receiver’s menu.
Show Reciever Configurations: Allows to see and save the different Septentrio Receiver configura-
tions.
Upload Script: Allows to execute a script on the receiver. This script can be used to set the receiver
into a certain configuration. Script files consist of a sequence of ASCII commands to be exe-
cuted on the receiver. Lines starting with #@ are not sent to the receiver, and can be inserted as
comments. The script execution can be suspended for a specified amount of time by inserting a
sleep statement as a comment. The duration is by default specified in milliseconds, but can also
be specified in seconds or minutes; e.g.:
• #@ sleep 1000
• #@ sleep 3 sec
• #@ sleep 2 min
Exit: Exit the program

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 5 RXCONTROL’S MAIN WINDOW

Figure 5-10: File menu

5.3.2 The View menu and the toolbar

The View menu provides access to the tabular and graphical views which characterize the navigation
solution and other aspects of the receiver operation. These views are explained in more detail in
sections 6.1 on page 32 to 7 on page 59. These views can be invoked through the View menu or by
clicking the corresponding icon in the toolbar. Clicking an icon for the first time will open the
corresponding view, while clicking it again will bring it to the front.

Figure 5-11: View menu

The entry Configure Toolbar... of the View menu allows the user to configure which buttons
are available on the toolbar.

This menu also contains entries to select:

• the available Views

• the time frame in which the time is displayed on the Time tab (see Section 5.2.3.1 on page 22)
• whether or not the toolbar is shown

The dimension and location of each tabular view and plot is saved in the rxcontrol.conf file
located in the user home dir/.septentrio/ directory. At startup, RxControl reads this file
and restores the sizes and relative positions of the views and plots. The same single file is shared in
the case that more than one RxControl is opened on the same system.

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5.3.3 The Communication and Navigation menu

The Septentrio Receiver has an extensive command set which allows the user to control many aspects
of the Septentrio Receiver operation. For more information about the commands of the receiver, please
consult the ”Command Line Interface Reference Guide”. Mastering all the commands can take some
time even for an experienced user, so in order to help the user, all receiver commands are made visible
via RxControl menus. These menus are built dynamically on information provided by the receiver
itself. The Communication menu contains the settings related to communication with the receiver
while the Navigation menu contains the receiver parameters linked to its operation. All commands
shown on these settings dialogs contain descriptive tool tips to assist the user.

Each time a settings dialog is shown, the receiver is queried for its current status so that the shown
settings reflect the actual receiver status. When no reply is received an error is reported. At the bottom
of each settings dialog there are always four buttons:

Default: Changes all the settings in the dialog to the default settings.
Apply: Applies the settings in the dialog without closing the dialog.
OK: Applies the settings in the dialog and closes the dialog.
Cancel: Closes the settings dialog without changing the receiver’s settings.

If RxControl is connected to a AsteRx2DR, PolaRx3, PolaRx3e, PolaRx3G, PolaRx3eG, PolaRx3TR

or PolaRx3eTR an extra ’Network settings...’ menu option will be available in the Communication
menu. Clicking on this option will open a wizard that allows the network setting of the connected
device to be changed. The following network settings are available:

• Static or dynamic IP configuration. The receiver can be configured to use a static (fixed) IP
address with gateway and netmask or to get a dynamic IP via the DHCP protocol.
• HTTP port number and password. The default HTTP port is 80 but can be changed if needed. A
HTTP password can be set to restrict users from configuring the network settings of the receiver
via HTTP.
• Telnet port number. The telnet port number can be changed from its default value of 28784.
• Ethernet device reset. This option will reset the Ethernet configurations of the receiver.

The wizard will finally save all new settings in the Septentrio Receiver.
Note 7. The wizard will setup the baudrate of the link to 115200 bps, the serial-to-ethernet board can go to higher
rates in these units but this requires a manual configuration of both the Septentrio Receiver and the serial-to-ethernet board.
Please check your Septentrio Receiver product manual for further information.

5.3.4 The Tools menu

Figure 5-12: Tools menu

With the Tools menu the user can upgrade the Septentrio Receiver. Please note that normal operation
is not possible during an upgrade.

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 5 RXCONTROL’S MAIN WINDOW

It also contains an entry to open the Expert Console (see Section 7 on page 59) to control the
receiver via the ASCII command line interface, see the receiver’s ASCII output or to visualize the
NMEA stream.

The last entries allow to open the other programs that are delivered together with RxControl.

5.3.5 The Logging menu

Figure 5-13: Logging menu

The RxControl program has a built-in logging functionality allowing to log the binary SBF stream (at
the same rate as the one RxControl is using) and/or the ASCII NMEA stream (at a user programmable
rate). Opening the RxControl Logger window (see Figure 8-1 on page 63) allows to specify the
log file name and the SBF/NMEA messages which will be logged. If logging is in progress closing
the window will not stop the logging. A logging icon in the status bar of RxControl main window will
be disabled if logging is stopped and enabled if logging is in progress. For a more detailed description
of the logger see Section 8 on page 63.

This menu entry also contains the Septentrio Receiver specific commands related to the internal log-
ging if supported.

If internal logging is supported by your receiver and you would like to log SBF data to a disk on your
receiver you must do so through Communication | Output Settings | SBF Output.
In the Ports row select DSK1, then select SBF message to be logged, and finally set the SBF
message output Interval. To manage your internal log files use the menu items which contain the
word Internal in the Logging menu.

5.3.6 The Help menu

Figure 5-14: Help menu

Help Topics: This menu provides access to the integrated HTML help of the RxControl program.
Event Viewer: Opens a window showing an event log of the current session of RxControl. This
window will log errors, warning, and significant events which took place since RxControl was
started.
Septentrio Website: Points your browser to the Septentrio website.
Support: Points your browser to the Septentrio support website for either RxControl or the connected
receiver. The opened web page has already some filled in fields with details about the program
or receiver.

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 5 RXCONTROL’S MAIN WINDOW

About RxControl: Shows a dialog with version information about the RxControl program.

Depending on the connected Septentrio Receiver other entries may appear here with information about
the Septentrio Receiver.

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 6 RXCONTROL’S TABULAR AND GRAPHICAL VIEWS

6 RxControl’s tabular and graphical views

6.1 Channel Table
The Channel Table can be opened using the View | Views | Channel Table menu en-
try or by clicking the corresponding icon in the toolbar of RxControl’s main window. There is
a tab for each system the receiver is capable of tracking (unavailable systems are greyed out). By
default the columns of the channel table contain the real-time values for measurements made by the
Septentrio Receiver. Each row contains measurements for a particular channel. If wanted the rows
and columns can be swapped via the Transpose option in the View menu. Please note that the
channel table adapts itself to the number of signals and antenna’s available as reported by the receiver.

Figure 6-1: Channel Table

The following information can be displayed:

The satellite PRN number or slot number is preceded by either one of the following:
• the letter G for GPS satellites
• the letter R for GLONASS satellites
• the letter S for SBAS satellites
• the letter E for Galileo satellites
The Elevation and Azimuth angles of the satellite characterize the location of the satellite relative
to the local horizontal plane. The Azimuth angle is measured from geographic North in positive
towards the East. The Elevation angle defines the angle between the local horizontal plane and
the direction to the satellite. Both angles are measured in degrees. The Elevation angle is pre-
ceded by an up (↑) or down (↓) arrow indicating whether the satellite is rising or setting. When
the arrow is absent, the Septentrio Receiver has not been able yet to determine the variation of
the Elevation. Both angles can be visualized in the Sky Plot (see Section 6.3 on page 36).
The State (for each available signal and antenna) displays the current tracking status of the satellite’s
signals. The affix (PVT) indicates whether a particular satellite is used in the navigation solu-
tion. The icon giving a graphical representation of the state follows the same colour conventions
as explained in Section 5.2.2 on page 20.
The Health status of the satellite’s signals as derived from the decoded navigation message. It can
take the values Healthy, Unhealthy or Unknown.

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The Carrier-to-Noise Ratio characterizes the quality of the different received satellite signals for
each available antenna and is expressed in dB-Hz. These values are also visualized in the Carrier
to Noise Ratio Plot (see Section 6.2 on the next page).
The Lock time indicates for how long each satellite’s signal has been continuously tracked on an
antenna and is expressed in hours, minutes, and seconds.
The Cumulative Loss-Of-Continuity counter starts at zero at receiver start-up, and is incremented
at each initial lock after signal (re)acquisition, or when a cycle slip is detected.
The Doppler is a measure of the velocity of the satellites relative to the antenna and is expressed in
Hz. A positive value for the Doppler shift indicates that a satellite is approaching the receiver,
while negative values indicate that a satellite is moving towards the receiver.
The Range measured by the code correlators of the receiver represent the pseudodistances to the
satellites in meters.
The SBAS corrections is a group of rows which allow you to visualize the GEOCorrections
SBF block from the receiver. It contains all the corrections as used in the PVT computation.
This group of rows is only displayed when the receiver has set an SBAS PVT mode. The next
corrections are displayed:
(a) SBAS Range Corr: The applied pseudorange correction based on the fast correction data
received in MT02-MT05 or MT24
(b) Fast Corr Age: The Age of applied fast correction
(c) Orbit Delta-X: X-component of applied orbit correction based on the long term correction
data received in MT24 or MT25
(d) Orbit Delta-Y: Y-component of applied orbit correction based on the long term correction
data received in MT24 or MT25
(e) Orbit Delta-Z: Z-component of applied orbit correction based on the long term correction
data received in MT24 or MT25
(f) SV Clock Corr: The satellite clock correction based on the long term correction data
received in MT24 or MT25
(g) Long Term Corr Age: Age of applied long term correction
(h) Iono Pierce Point Lat: The Latitude of ionospheric pierce point
(i) Iono Pierce Point Lon: The Longitude of ionospheric pierce point
(j) SBAS Iono Delay: The slant ionospheric delay at the ionosphere pierce point based on the
data received in MT18 and MT26
(k) Iono Corr Age: Maximum of the of the ionospheric correction age at each of the grid
locations used for the interpolated delay
(l) σ FLT: The standard deviation of fast and long-term corrections (used for XPL computa-
tion)
(m) σ UIRE: The standard deviation of ionospheric delay corrections (used for XPL compu-
tation)
(n) σ AIR: The standard deviation of unmodelled receiver errors, such as tracking noise and
multipath (used for XPL computation)
(o) σ TROPO: The standard deviation of tropospheric delay corrections (used for XPL com-
putation)
The RAIM Statistics is a group of rows that shows the detailed results of the RAIM algorithm
which ensures the integrity of the computed position solution, provided that sufficient satellites
are available. The next values are displayed:
(a) e i Code: The Code a-posteriori measurement residual
(b) w i Code: The absolute value of the w-test statistic for the Code
(c) MDB Code: The Minimal Detectable Bias for the Code
(d) e i Phase: The Phase a-posteriori measurement residual
(e) w i Phase: The absolute value of the w-test statistic for the Phase
(f) MDB Phase: The Minimal Detectable Bias for the Phase
(g) e i Doppler: The Doppler a-posteriori measurement residual

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(h) w i Doppler: The absolute value of the w-test statistic for the Doppler
(i) MDB Doppler: The Minimal Detectable Bias for the Doppler
The Nav. Page Decoding Statistics is a group of rows that shows the some statistics about the
decoding of the received navigation pages. The next values are displayed:
(a) # Pages: The number of received pages
(b) # CRC errors: The number of received pages with CRC errors
(c) Viterbi count: The sum of the viterbi decoder error counts for all received pages
The Galileo | Available Galileo Services is an item that is only available for the Galileo tab. It
shows the available services for the satellite

6.1.1 Channel Table Menu

View The Transpose option allows to swap the rows and columns of the channel table.
It also contains the option to show/hide specific items from the tabular view, a Print entry to
make a printout of the table and a Close option to close the window.
Sort This menu allows to choose between sorting according to the PRN number or according the
channel number.
Antenna’s If the receiver has more than one antenna, this menu allows to show/hide the items for an
antenna.
Signals Allows to show/hide the different signals for each available satellite system.

6.2 Carrier to Noise Ratio Plot

The accuracy of the navigation solution depends on several factors, such as the observed geometry of
the constellation and the quality of the received signals. The quality of the signals can be expressed
as the ratio of the power level of the received signals to the ambient noise level and is called the
Carrier-to-Noise Ratio (C/N0 ). Carrier-to-Noise Ratios are expressed in dB-Hz and the observed
values are influenced by the Elevation angles of the satellites and local conditions, such as multipath
effects. High levels of the Carrier-to-Noise Ratio indicate good tracking of the received satellite
signals. The PVT processing algorithm of the Septentrio Receiver assigns weights to the observations
based, among other criteria, on these ratios. The C/N0 Plot can be invoked with the View |
Views | Carrier to Noise Plot menu item or by clicking its icon on the toolbar of
RxControl.

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Figure 6-2: Carrier To Noise Plot

The carrier to noise plot (see Figure 6-2) displays the observed Carrier-to-Noise Ratios of the Septen-
trio Receiver for all the tracked satellites per system. The colour bars represent the C/N0 values for
all the signals of a satellite. Since the number of bars that are available for each system is depended
on the capabilities of the receiver the bars have a tool tip that describes which bar represents which
signal. The bar colour itself does not have any meaning. Within one channel there may be different
coloured bars representing different signals.

6.2.1 Carrier to Noise Ratio Plot Menu

• View
– With Tabbed Layout and Vertical Layout you can select to have either a tab for each
satellite system, or to show them all under each other. This can be useful for system
comparison purposes.
– Show Labels shows or hides the labels 4 above each bar indicating the current Carrier-to-
Noise value represented by that bar.
– Show Average show or hides lines with the average for each signal
– Print allows to make a printout of the plot
– Close closes the plot.
• Sort This menu allows to choose between sorting according to the PRN number or according
the channel number.
• Zoom This menu allows to set the zooming factor of width of the bars. 100% corresponds to
the width needed to put the labels under the set of bars for one satellite. Zooming in will make
the bars wider.
4
When the zoom factor is too small so that the labels are no longer readable, this menu item is greyed out and the labels
are no longer visible. Zooming in will enable them again.

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6.3 Sky Plot

The Sky Plot graphically represents the satellites in view in the local topocentric hemisphere. The
outer black circle represents the local horizon with true geographic North pointing to the top of the
figure. The grey radial lines represent successive lines of equal Azimuth (from 0◦ → 360◦ ), while
the concentric circles represent increasing values of equal Elevation (from 0◦ → 90◦ ). The blue
circle represents the current elevation Tracking mask angle of the Septentrio Receiver and the green
one represents the current elevation PVT mask angle. The Septentrio Receiver will not search for
satellites with an Elevation below the Tracking mask angle and it will not use tracked satellites with
an Elevation below the PVT mask angle in the PVT solution.

Figure 6-3: Sky Plot

Each satellite in tracking is represented by a coloured plus sign (+) in the Sky Plot. The satellite
PRN number or slot number, preceded by a letter (G for GPS, R for GLONASS, S for SBAS, E for
Galileo) and the status of the different signals of the satellite appears next to the cross.

The colour of the cross can either represent the system to which the satellite belongs or the current
state of the satellite depending on the user’s preference. When representing the system the possible
colours are:

Dark Purple identifies a GPS satellites

Black identifies an SBAS satellites
Blue-Purple identifies an Galileo satellites

When representing the satellite status the same coloured square box is used as on the status indicators
in RxControl’s main window (see Section 5.2.2 on page 20 for colour definition).

The satellite PRN number can be followed by either a question mark (?), indicating that no health
status for the satellite has been decoded, or the letter U when the satellite is set to unhealthy. In
absence of either indicator, the satellite’s status is healthy.

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The history of the satellite passes can be shown by tracks (with the same colour as for the crosses).
For a description of the possible user settings related to the satellite tracks see Section 6.3.1.

The Local Horizon Mask (shown by the light purple line in Figure 6-3 on the previous page) is
disabled by default, but it can be invoked using the Show Local Horizon item in the menu (see
Section 6.3.1). The Local Horizon Mask is a line, which connects for each Azimuth, the lowest
Elevation angles at which satellites were visible. At start-up, the Local Horizon Mask is not defined,
but the more tracked satellites pass overhead, the clearer and clearer the view of the local obstructions
blocking the satellite’s signals gets. In order to get an accurate representation, the Local Horizon
feature must be enabled for at least one day of continuous data collection. Local Horizons can be
stored as files with the extension .lhm. Later these files can be opened to continue the accumulation
of the data.

6.3.1 Sky Plot Menu

• View
– Show Tracking Elevation Mask: If enabled the Tracking Elevation mask is displayed.
– Show PVT Elevation Mask: If enabled the PVT Elevation mask is displayed.
– Show All Visible Satellites: Defines whether satellites that are not tracked (and of which
the Elevation and Azimuth is known) are or aren’t displayed on the Sky Plot.
– Show Satellites in Search: Defines whether satellites that are not tracked but are searched
for (and of which the Elevation and Azimuth is known) are or aren’t displayed on the Sky
Plot. This option is only available if Show Tracking Elevation Mask is unchecked.
– Show Satellites Labels: Defines whether the satellite number is shown or not.
– Show Signal Status Indicators: Defines whether the satellite’s signal indicator is shown
or not.
– Show Tracks: Defines whether the history of the satellite passes is shown or not.
– Clear Tracks: Clears the history of the satellite passes.
– Colour Tracks by Satellite System: The tracks shown on the Sky Plot (if enabled)
follow the system colour of the satellites.
– colour Tracks by Signal Status: The tracks shown on the Sky Plot (if enabled) follow
the status colour of the satellites.
– Print: Prints the Sky Plot.
– Close: Closes the Sky Plot.
• Local Horizon
– Enable Local Horizon: If enabled the Local Horizon is displayed.
– Clear Local Horizon: Clears the Local Horizon.
– Save Local Horizon: Allows saving of the Local Horizon so that it can be reloaded later.
– Save Local Horizon As: Allows saving of the Local Horizon to a specified file so that it
can be reloaded later.
– Open Local Horizon: Allows reopening of the Local Horizon that has been previously
saved.

6.3.2 Sky Plot Toolbar

The toolbar contains a checkbox for all the satellite systems. Depending on the capabilities of your
Septentrio Receiver, one or more systems can be disabled meaning that your receiver cannot use those
systems.

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If the checkbox for a system is selected the satellites/track history of that system are visualized on the
Sky Plot, if deselected the satellites/track history are not shown for that system.

6.4 The Planimetric Plot

The planimetric plot graphically represents the planimetric position reported by the Septentrio re-
ceiver. The displayed position is (a) either the projection coordinates (E, N ) obtained using the
conformal direct Mercator projection (See appendix B.2 on page 74), with the grid displaying either
the originating geodetic coordinates (ϕ, λ) or the projection coordinates (E, N ), or (b) the topocentric
coordinates (E, N ) determined, relative to a local topocentric reference station (See Section 5.3.1 on
page 27 and Section B.3 on page 75).

Figure 6-4 below shows the planimetric plot main screen. Beneath the menubar of the planimetric

Figure 6-4: Planimetric Plot

plot, the title indicates the current ellipsoid and displayed coordinate grid. When in topocentric coor-
dinates display mode, the used topocentric reference position is displayed. At the right of the plot, the
toolbar groups action buttons allowing to navigate around the plot, to perform zooming operations or
to center the plot around specific points. The statusbar is used for relaying information to the user.

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6.4.1 The main areas of the Planimetric Plot

The grid of the planimetric plot displays the position according to the current selected view (See
Section 6.4.2). The distance between the main ticks are determined by the scale factor of the plot.
The planimetric plot is capable of showing either the GNSS-only solution or an integrated solution.
Whether the GNSS-only or integrated solution is shown, is determined by a user preference as set in
the preferences dialog, which can be opened by selecting the Preferences... item in the File
menu of the main application window. An integrated solution can only be shown if the Septentrio
Receiver has integration enabled.

The toolbar of the planimetric plot gives fast access to several actions subdivided into 4 categories.
The first action group allows (a) to drag the plot by holding the left mouse button pressed down, (b) to
zoom to a specific rectangular area (the start point and size of this area is displayed in the statusbar),
and (c) to zoom to the limits of the plot by adjusting the center point and the scale used. The second
action group allows to clear the mean position or to clear the entire plot. The latter action also resets
the mean position. The third action group allows to center the plot on the current position, the mean
position or the local topocentric reference point. Finally, the vertical scaling slider performs zooming
actions on the plot. During zoom-actions, the statusbar displays the selected scale.

The statusbar permanently displays the total number of displayed points, the current size of the plots
history and the PVT mode of the current position. Punctual information is temporally displayed in the
statusbar. If the current position is calculated using integration, this is indicated in the status bar by
prepending “Integrated” to the current PVT mode. Moreover, if there is temporarily no GNSS PVT
solution, and the current position is an integrated position calculated through extrapolation, the age of
the last GNSS solution is shown in the status bar (instead of the current PVT mode).

In the lower left corner of the plot, an optional scale indicator displays the current scale. When the
projection coordinates are displayed, the linear distortion corresponding to the center point of the plot
is shown above the scale indicator.

The upper right corner of the plot can optionally display the legend of the plot. The legend indicates
the meaning of the colour of the positions. Depending on the current settings, this colour can either
indicate the GNSS PVT mode or the integrated mode.

6.4.2 Planimetric Plot Menu

• View
– Selection of the used grid. Possible values are :
(a) Geodetic Grid or Cartographic Grid plot the positions according to the Mercator
projection (See Section B.2 on page 74) coordinates (E, N ). When in Geodetic Grid
mode, the tick values represent latitude ϕ versus longitude λ coordinates. In Carto-
graphic Grid mode, the tick values correspond to the Mercator coordinates north N
versus East E.
(b) Topocentric Grid displays the local planimetric topocentric coordinates north N ver-
sus east E referenced to the local topocentric reference point.
In both grid modes, the distance between the main tick marks of the axis is based on the
selected scale.
A top of these grids, a circular or distance grid can be displayed. The center point of
these concentric circles is determined by the selection made in the Center—Circular
Grid Center menu. The radius of the consecutive circles depends on the selected scale.
– Selection of how the points are plotted. Possible values are :
(a) dot,

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(b) pixel,
(c) cross marker.
If wanted the points can be connected with a solid line.
– Different information :
(a) Dispersion Ellips : the planimetric Dispersion Ellips represents the horizontal preci-
sion of the position,
(b) Mean Position displays the mean position of all points since startup of
(c) Reference Position displays the position of the local reference point (See Section 5.3.1
on page 27) by a green upward triangle.
(d) Base Station Position displays the position of all base stations (See Section 6.6 on
page 42) sending out differential corrections by a grey downward oriented triangle.
The triangle is accompanied by the identification number of the base station.
– The View Legend selector allows to display the legend for the colours currently displayed.
– The dynamic Select PVT Modes sub menu allows to select which PVT modes are to be
displayed (See Figure 6-5). The sub menu always contains the buttons All and Current
displaying respectively all PVT modes or just the current PVT mode. The user further
has the possibility to select a specific PVT mode allowing a closer inspection of the data
calculated by the receiver.

(a) Display of all modes (b) Display of stand-alone modes (c) Display of SBAS modes

Figure 6-5: Selective display of PVT modes

– The Legend Mode sub menu allows to specify whether the positions must be coloured
according to the GNSS PVT mode or the integrated mode. Possible choices are :
(a) Automatic: if the last entry in the plot corresponds with a GNSS-only solution, colour
according to the GNSS PVT mode; if the last entry corresponds with an integrated
solution, use the integrated mode
(b) GNSS PVT Mode: the legend and the colours represent the GNSS PVT mode.
(c) Integrated Mode: the legend and the colours represent the integrated mode.
– The Mouse Tracking selector displays the position of the mouse cursor using the selected
grid in the statusbar. It is advisable not the leave this option on all the time due to high
CPU consumption.
– Close closes the Planimetric plot.
• Scale
– This menu item allows to set the scale of the Planimetric plot. A quick access to the scale
of the planimetric plot is provided by the vertical scaling slider in the toolbar.
– The Show Scale Indicator allows to toggle the visibility of the scale indicator and the
linear distortion, calculated at the current center point, drawn inside the plot
• Center
– The Plot Center submenu allows to center the plot around either the
(a) Current Position
(b) Mean Position

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 6 RXCONTROL’S TABULAR AND GRAPHICAL VIEWS

(c) Reference Position

(d) Middle Point of the plot
(e) the center point of a Selected Area.
The first three items are also accessible via the toolbar.
– The Circular Grid Center submenu allows to center the circular grid (when enabled)
around either the
(a) Current Position
(b) Mean Position
(c) Reference Position
(d) Middle Point of the plot
(e) the center point of a Selected Area.
• History
The planimetric plot accumulates the data points in a buffer. The user can manipulate the
buffering of data in several ways :
– The Size of the buffer can be adjusted between 3 600, 7 200, 36 000, 21 600 or 43 200
points.
– When the buffer fills up the oldest data points will be discarded. The number of points
discarded are selected using the Shift Out option expressed as a percentage (10%, 20%,
25% or 50%) of the history Size. For example, if Shift Out is 50% and Size is 3 600
points, then after filling up the data buffer, the oldest 1 800 points will be removed from
the plot.
– The Decimation is a useful feature especially at high data rates. When No Data Dec-
imation is selected, all points reported by the receiver will fill up the data buffer at the
selected update rate. For high update rates, data decimation allows to plot only selected
points. Two options are available :
(a) 1 out of n points (n = 2, 5, 10 or 20) selects the last point out of n points generated
by the receiver.
(b) mean from n points (n = 2, 5, 10 or 20) displays the mean value from the last n points
generated by the receiver.
– At any moment, the user can reset the mean position by selecting the Clear Mean Posi-
tion. This position is based on all points generated by the receiver from the moment that
connection with the receiver is established.
– At any moment, the history of the plot can be reset using the Clear Plot option.
• Tools

– Drag the plot allows to drag the plot by holding pressed the left mouse button.
– Zoom to Area performs a zooming operation to a selected rectangular area at the release
of the left mouse button.
– Zoom to Limits adjusts the scale and center point of the plot to adjust the plot to the limits
of collected points.
These items have a quick access button in the toolbar of the planimetric plot.

6.5 Statistics Plot

The Statistics Plot graphically represents number of PVT errors and PVT modes used. In
a pie chart this plot shows PVT errors which happened since the plot was opened. Likewise it only
shows various PVT modes which have been activated since the Statistics Plot was opened.
All possible PVT errors and modes are displayed in the legend on the right side of the pie charts. The
number of epochs spent in a certain mode or with a certain error is displayed. Also the percentage of
epochs in a given mode/error is shown.

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All possible errors and modes are displayed in the legend of the plot. See Statistics Plot figure
below for a full list of errors and modes.

Figure 6-6: Statistics Plot

6.6 The DiffCorr Info window

When the Septentrio Receiver is operated in rover mode, it receives differential corrections from
nearby base stations or reference stations. The stationary or moving base stations model the real-time
GPS error sources and send differential corrections to nearby users according to an internationally
agreed format. The Septentrio Receiver supports Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Ser-
vices (RTCM), versions 2.3 and 3.0, and Compact Measurement Record (CMR) data transmission
standards.

When either of these messages is enabled, the user can examine information about the base station and
the status of either of the received differential messages in the DiffCorr Info window (Figure 6-7
on the following page).

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Figure 6-7: The DiffCorr Info window

The upper part of the DiffCorr Info window is invariable with regard to the selected data trans-
mission standard for the differential corrections. This part displays information about the base stations
that are transmitting differential correction data to the receiver. For each base station a row displays :

• its identification (ID),

• the standard (RTCM V 2.3, RTCM V 3.1 or CMR) used for streaming the differential data,
• the system for which differential corrections are made available. This information is only avail-
able for base stations used for the differential PVT calculations of the receiver position. These
base stations are displayed in green.
• the connection on which the the differential correction data are received,
• the length of the current baseline and a baseline quality indicator. This indicator is a measure
for the spatial correlation of error sources between the base station and the rover receiver. Small
baselines are considered optimal while longer baselines tend to provide sub-optimal corrections.
The baseline quality indicator compares the current baseline length to 250 km when differential
code corrections are used. For RTK operations, the length is compared to a maximum separation
of 25 km.

A base station that is used by the receiver for its PVT calculation is highlighted in green colour.
Sorting the table can be done by clicking on the header of the column that should be used for sorting.

The lower part of the DiffCorr Info window represents the type, the number and age of mes-
sages received and identifies the base station which generated the differential data. The age of the
messages is updated each 0,1 s. When the value of the age of a message exceeds the Maximum
Correction Age, which defaults to 20 s, the corresponding line is highlighted either in red colour
or in a blue colour. A red highlight indicates that the receiver is no longer using these messages since
they exceeded the temporal decorrelation limit imposed by the Maximum Correction Age set-
ting. Messages highlighted in blue have information which does not decorrelate in time and therefor
are still used by the receiver.

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The status bar of the DiffCorr Info window displays the number of base stations used for PVT
calculation out of the total number of base stations available and the current value of the Maximum
Correction Age setting.

6.7 The SBAS Ionospheric Delay Plot

The ionosphere, located between ±70 and ±1000 km above the earth surface, is one of the major
error sources in GNSS navigation. The ionosphere causes the carrier phase to advance and the code to
be delayed. This delay directly contributes to the measured code ranges (see Section 6.1 on page 32)
and has to be modeled by the navigation algorithm.

Augmentation systems, like Europe’s EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System)
or USA’s WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System), monitor the ionospheric delay of the code mea-
surements and calculate the vertical ionospheric delays for grid-points within the coverage area. The
grid and the corresponding ionospheric delays are transmitted to the users via geostationary satellites.

In the ionospheric plot the received ionospheric vertical delays are represented by a colour code on
the world map. The value for each colour code is mapped on the continuous colour scale. The lower
limit of this scale is always set to 0 meter, while the upper limit can be adjusted by the user via the
Max Value entry in menu on the right side of the plot.

Figure 6-8: SBAS Ionospheric Delay Plot

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The cells with a black cross indicate that these these areas are not monitored. The ionospheric delay
error for these points can be greater than 45 meters, and the use of these values is not recommended.
Cells for which no vertical ionospheric delay is available are totally black, signaling a Don’t Use
status for these areas.

On the right side of the inosphere plot, the list of SBAS PRN’s allows the user to choose the provider
of ionospheric delay. If ionospheric information has been received for a specific SBAS PRN satellite,
then PRN number will be displayed in bold text. The user may select or de-select any PRN as preferred.
This allows the user to differentiate the information specially when the ionosphere is being monitored
by more than one PRN in an specific point. The user can also specify the order in which the PRN’s are
drawn. PRN’s on top of the list are drawn on top of the lower ones. Click on the arrows on the right
hand side of the PRN numbers to move the selected PRN up or down.

The user can also select which bands are displayed:

0 - 8 : only the vertical bands are shown

9 - 10 : only the horizontal bands are shown
0 - 10 : both the vertical and horizontal bands are shown, the horizontal ones are drawn on top of the
vertical ones

In the bottom group box the user can select for the ionospheric delay itself (together with the upper
limit of the scale) to be painted or for the GIVEI to be painted.

6.8 Stanford Plots

Note 8. Inspiration for plots: Courtesy of W IDE A REA D IFFERENTIAL GPS L ABORATORY at S TANFORD U NIVER -
SITY (http://waas.stanford.edu/)

In navigation and particularly for the vertical guidance of an aircraft on Precision Approach (PA),
the four concepts which enter almost every specification are accuracy, integrity, continuity, and
availability. While these are not new, the way in which they are expressed is very different for GNSS
systems as opposed to more conventional systems such as Instrument Landing System (ILS).

Accuracy, the first concept, is quite intuitive. It is measured as the difference between the measures
and the true positions. Any navigation aid has its inherent accuracy. The SBAS implementation is
obliged to quantify the accuracy of wide-area differentially corrected navigation solution. Accuracy is
most critical in the vertical dimension for aircraft precision approach. Moreover, in satellite navigation
the vertical dimension is the most difficult due to inherently weaker vertical geometry.

Accuracy or more specifically, Navigation Sensor Error (NSE) is defined as the difference between
the position estimated by the navigation sensor and the true position of the aircraft which is only
exceeded 5% of the time in the absence of system failures.

Two other concepts, integrity and continuity, address performance of the navigation system in the
presence of failures or rare natural events. Integrity measures the ability of the system to protect
the user from inaccurate position estimates in a timely fashion. Continuity measures the navigation
system’s ability to complete an operation without raising an alarm. These are the instantaneous metrics
of flight safety and are computed at 1 Hz.

Integrity risk is defined as the probability that the NSE exceeds either the horizontal alert limit or
vertical alert limit (HAL and VAL) and the navigation system alert is silent beyond the time-to-alarm.
On the other hand, continuity risk is defined as the probability that the navigation system alarm will
drop during the operation (precision approach in this case). These are competing constraints on the

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system; integrity failures shall not lead to Hazardously Misleading Information (HMI) favouring a
small alert limit but continuity failures lead to False alarms favouring a large alert limit.

The final metric for the SBAS or GNSS system is availability which emphasizes the operational
economy of the navigation system. It is computed as the fraction of time the SBAS system is providing
position fixes to the specified level of accuracy, integrity and continuity. The Minimum Operational
Performance Standards (MOPS) for SBAS specify the computation of the vertical protection level
(VPL) and horizontal protection level (HPL) of the differentially corrected navigation solution which
must be met at a probability of 99.99999%. Thus the true error must not exceed the protection level
more than once in 107 seconds. If the computed protection level exceeds the corresponding alert limit
then the alarm is raised and the operation cannot proceed. If the operation has already begun this
condition is a continuity breach and a missed approach must be conducted. Otherwise the system is
declared unavailable for that epoch.

Figure 6-9 displays the HPL value, as transmitted by the SBAS satellites, versus the calculated error
bounds for the corrected PVT solution. The true error is calculated by making the difference between
the true horizontal position of the antenna and the computed receiver’s horizontal position. The points
on the histogram are drawn with a colour code representing the number of epochs that that specific
bin of HPL–error occurred.

Figure 6-9: HPL Plot

The plot is divided in several zones:

The Normal Operation, is divided in two subzones, which are set corresponding to the upper limits
specified by HAL1 and HAL2. These two alarms allow you to specify 2 separate categories

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for Normal Operation. The points in the Normal Operation zone have a HPL value which is
larger than the true horizontal error.
-The first limit is formed by the HAL1, which value (default is 30 meters) can be set by right-
clicking on the plot (Set Horizontal Alert Limit 1).
-The second limit is formed by the HAL2, which value (default is 40 meters) can be set by
right-clicking on the plot (Set Horizontal Alert Limit 2).
You must always remember that the grey zone between HAL1 and HAL2 is a subset of the
Normal Operation zone (where HPL values are larger than true horizontal error). At the same
time you can set the Maximum Graph Size, so you can set higher values for your alarms. The
HPL1, HPL2 and the Maximum Graph Size are dependent of each other, so you must pay
attention to the valid ranges while setting them, meaning that relation should be: Maximum
Graph size > HPL2 > HPL1.
The long-term availability requirement of SBAS systems is 99.9% and hence at least 999 out
of 1000 points should lie in the Normal Operation region. The current percentage of the
number of points that are in this zone is labeled in the plot itself or in the Coloured legend Bar
displayed in the right of the plot.
The points in the System Unavailable zone have a HPL value that exceeds the horizontal alert limit
and a HPL larger than the true horizontal error. This condition raises an alarm incrementing the
corresponding pointer.
The points in the misleading information or the hazardously misleading information zones in-
dicate that the navigation system has produced (hazardously) misleading, and thus dangerous,
information to the navigator. Please notice that there are 3 separate zones for the misleading
information, each one defined depending on the values you set with your value alarms or per-
formance limits.

At the right of the plot you will see a coloured legend displaying the number of epochs and the
percentage of them in its corresponding area (the colours in the legend match the different zones in
the plot).

Each individual zone of the plot has its own counter displaying the total number of epochs and the
percentage of them that the navigation system yielded a corresponding point.

The View menu allows to (a) set the true antenna position 5 , (b) to Clear all the information already
gathered and start with a new clean plot, (c) to specify the maximum graph size, (d) the HPL1, (e) the
HPL2 and (f) to close the plot.

Figure 6-10 displays the vertical performance of the SBAS system. Just as the Horizontal graph, the
Vertical graph has default values for both the VALs, but in Vertical guidance these values are set to 12
and 20, meters respectively. Again you can use the View menu of the plot to change these values.
5
changing the true antenna position setting will reset the plot

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Figure 6-10: VPL Plot

The VPL plot is divided into zones similar to those of the HPL plot (see Figure 6-9). Legends plus all
functionality is also similar to the HPL plot. The main differences are that the limits for the different
performance categories have different default values for each category. Also the maximum graph size
is set to 25 as default because the Alarm Limit values are lower than in the Horizontal graph. Again
you can change this maximum size and change or set customized values or performances in the plot.

There are also two Stanford plots displaying the RAIM metrics: the HERL and VERL plot. They are
similar to the HPL and VPL plot respectively.

6.9 Attitude View

The Attitude View represents the current attitude of the receiver, both in a graphical way as well
as in a textual way.

The Velocity Attitude Indicator offers a combined graphical representation of velocity and attitude as
typically found in airplane cockpits (see Figure 6-11). It consists of the following components (left to
right, top to bottom):

• the horizontal speed indicator

• a virtual horizon, offering a combined representation of the heading, the pitch and the roll. The
heading is represented by ticks on the horizon.
• the orthometric height indicator
• the vertical speed indicator
• (at the bottom) the compass

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The lower part of the attitude view consists of zero or more clocks, each showing other aspects of the
current attitude. Figure 6-11 shows the attitude view, including all clocks that are available.

Figure 6-11: Attitude View

Below the Velocity Attitude Indicator, Figure 6-11 from left to right contains clocks showing:

• the heading (including the course over ground represented by a secondary green/cyan arrow)
• the pitch
• the roll

Each of these clocks can be individually hidden or shown by toggling the corresponding menu items in
the View menu. The View menu moreover contains an item to show or hide the course over ground
arrow, and a sub-menu Vehicle Type to select the type of vehicle shown in the heading, pitch and
roll clocks.

The lower part of the window consist of a textual representation of the attitude metrics, showing
heading, pitch and roll values and variances. These can be hidden or shown by clicking on the triangle
at the top left, or by the Show Textual Metrics item in the View menu.

Depending on the type and configuration of the attached receiver, attitude and PVT can be calculated
based purely on GNSS signals (from multi-antenna receivers or from moving base configurations) or
as a result of integrating GNSS signals with the input of an external IMU sensor. The status bar of the
attitude window displays the integration mode of the data that is currently shown. The user can con-
figure this through the preferences dialog, which can be opened by selecting the Preferences...
item in the File menu of the main application window. Figure 6-11 shows the attitude window
while in an automatic mode, which instructs the application to choose integrated position, velocity
and attitude data if available, and the GNSS-only solution otherwise. In the figure, integrated data is
shown.

6.10 Auxiliary Antennas View

The Auxiliary Antennas View displays the relative position of the auxiliary antennas to the
main antenna as well as the velocities of the auxiliary antennas. Both position and velocity are given
in the east, north and up directions.

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Figure 6-12: Auxiliary Antennas View

6.11 Attitude/IMU 3D View

The Attitude/IMU 3D View represents a custom vehicle which symbolizes the vehicle in the 3D
space dimension. As soon as the attitude information becomes available, the vehicle will be displayed
in motion depending on the three attitude angles: Heading, Pitch and Roll. The vehicle is shown
inside the ENU coordinate system. These ENU axes are displayed in green color. The positive axes
of the vehicle are displayed by a red arrow, while the negative axes are displayed by a blue arrow.

The user can choose to view the ENU system and the vehicle from different perspectives and angles
making the visualization of the vehicle more intuitive. In order to modify the perspective, you can use
the mouse by clicking on the vehicle and rotating it in the desired direction. At the same time you can
zoom into the vehicle by scrolling the mouse wheel.

The auxiliary antennas and the external sensors used by the receiver will also be shown with a relative
position within the 3D plot. The antennas are shown by a red wire framed antenna, the external
sensors are shown by a XYZ axis which is moving relatively to the vehicle.

Figure 6-13: Attitude/IMU 3D view

By choosing Measurements | 3D options... you can set some visualization parameters.

On the View Options tab you can enable or disable the drawing of the axes, the cube outline,
the resulting vectors, the vehicle, the antennas and the sensors. You can also chose a Parallel
Projection or a Perspective Projection.

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On the vehicle tab you can specify an different model for the vehicle by pressing the browse button.
You have to point to a OBJ formated file. Once the model is loaded you can alter color, blend factor,
wire frame view, scale, offset in ENU direction and the rotations of the vehicle. On the antenna tab
you can change the same parameters as for on the vehicle tab, except for the offset and the rotation.

Note that for correctly displaying the sensor measurements, you have to set up the sensor calibration.
You can do this on the Navigation | Receiver Setup... | External Sensors tab.

Figure 6-14: Attitude/IMU 3D View Options

6.12 IMU View

The IMU View represents graphically or textually accelerations and angular rates of the external
sensors measurements and integrated angular rate measurements. If a receiver has external sensors,
this view displays the raw measurements of the sensors and the integrated angular rates for the receiver.

For the raw measurements of the sensors the accelerations and angular rates are given in the XYZ
directions. The integrated angular rate measurements are given in east, north, up directions.

You can chose from which sensor you want to see the measurements by selecting the sensor in
the Measurements | Sensors menu. This menu is empty if no sensors are available. In the
Measurements | Measurements menu you can chose to see both acceleration and angular
rate measurements or only one of these two.

The scale menu is by default set to auto scale. As a consequence the scale is adapted to the measure-
ments. You can also set the scale manually by selecting the corresponding menu.

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Figure 6-15: IMU View

6.13 LBR Status Plot

In case your Septentrio Receiver is capable of tracking L-Band signals this panel shows the status of
the LBR.

The top part contains a table with a summary for each tracked L-Band signal, while the lower part
shows the status of the decoder.

Figure 6-16: LBR Status

6.14 Time Plots

The Time Plots graphically show how a particular value changes over time. The following plots
are available:

• Satellite/Measurements related plots:

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– Carrier to Noise plot shows Carrier to Noise ratio over time (CN0) for each tracked
satellite. In the Options of this plot it is possible to select a particular signal if your
receiver has more than 1 frequency.
– Doppler Shift plot the Doppler shift of each satellite.
– Doppler Rate plot shows the rate of change of the Doppler value for each satellite.
– Number of Satellites plot shows the total amount of visible satellites over time. You can
select to see number of satellites in view, in track or in PVT mode.
– PRNs in View6 plot shows for each chosen satellite if it is in view or not.
– Satellite Azimuth plots shows the azimuth values of chosen satellites over time.
– Satellite Elevation plots shows the elevation values of chosen satellites over time.
– Pseudorange plot shows the pseudorange of each tracked satellite.
• PVT related plots:
– Relative East, North, Up (ENU) plot shows the East, North, and Up values from a given
topocentric reference point.
– Height plot shows the current height. In the Options of this plot it is possible to select
Ellipsoidal or Orthometric height to be shown.
– Velocity plot shows the velocity values.
– Position Standard Deviations Cartesian plot shows the standard deviations of the Carte-
sian position components.
– Position Standard Deviations Geodetic plot shows the standard deviations of the geode-
tic position components.
– Residuals plot shows residuals for each active satellite. In the Options of this plot the
users can also select to view the w-test statistic or the Minimal Detectable Bias. Also the
user is able to choose the signal for which the residuals are being shown. In addition it is
possible to choose between Carrier-Phase, Pseudorange or Doppler residuals.
– GNSS PVT Mode, Error, NrSV plot shows the values of PVT Mode, PVT Error and
number of space vehicles (satellites) in track over time.
– Clock Bias and Drift plot shows the receiver’s clock bias and clock drift over time.
– Mean Differential Corrections Age shows the mean age of the differential corrections
over time.
– Dilution of Precision (DOP) plot shows the various dilution of precision values over time.
• Heading/Attitude related plots:
– Heading, Pitch, Roll (HPR) plot shows the Heading, Pitch, and Roll values of the atti-
tude, if an attitude solution exists.
– GNSS Attitude Mode, Error, NrSV plot the attitude mode and error for GNSS-based
attitude, and the number of satellites used in the computation of the attitude solution.
• Receiver Status related plots:
– CPU Load and Uptime plot can be used to observe the CPU load of your receiver over
time, as well as the uptime of the receiver over time.

The ENU, Height, Position Standard Deviations and HPR plots are capable of showing
either the GNSS-only solution or an integrated solution. Whether the GNSS-only or integrated solu-
tion is shown, is determined by a user preference as set in the preferences dialog, which can be opened
by selecting File | Preferences. An integrated solution can only be shown if the Septentrio
Receiver has integration enabled.

The Azimuth, Elevation, Doppler Shift, Pseudoranges and PRNs in View plots are
limited to an update rate of 1 second. Since their values change gradually it is not necessary to update
them more frequently.
6
The Y-axis of the plot shows the SVID’s numbers as retrieved from SBF so that no graphical overlap occurs for the
different systems

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 6 RXCONTROL’S TABULAR AND GRAPHICAL VIEWS

Figure 6-17: ENU time plot with East, North and Up components on one plot

When the user chooses a particular time plot, he/she may choose to click the Options... button
in the Time Plots Selection dialog, which will open the Time Plot Options dialog for
a particular Time Plot. In the Time Plot Options dialog the user can choose which satellites
will be visible in the plot. The user can also choose output to be displayed on up to 4 different plots.
This feature can be particularly useful for the ENU plots. The user may select any combination of the
East, North, or Up values to be displayed on any of the 4 plots. Once the plot is visible, the user can
reconfigure those plot options via View | Options. Doing this will however discard all data that
is already shown in the plot.

In all plots except the PVTMode, Error, NrSV plot, the PVT Mode can be visualized as a colored
bar at the bottom of the plot. This can be enabled or disabled using the Time Plots Selection
dialog. Likewise, in selected plots it is possible to visualize the Integration Mode or the Attitude
Mode using such a bar, provided that the connected receiver has the required capabilities. If the
PVT Mode bar is shown, the user can choose to show a vertical marker at times where the PVT
Mode changes, via View | Mark PVT Mode Changes. This makes it easier to spot PVT Mode
changes, even when they are short.

The time axis displays time corresponding to the time frame as selected in the application preferences.
If you wish to change the time frame go to the main screen: File | Preferences, and in the
Units section select the time frame from either GNSS time, UTC time, or local time. When you
change this value the time plots will automatically adjust the time axis to correspond to the selected

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time frame. The user can also choose to label the time axis with either h:mm:ss time display format
or TOW (number of seconds within the week) time display format. To change the time display, in the
Time Plot windows go to View | Time.

There are several ways to navigate through the data of a time plot. The zoom mouse tool (which can
be enabled in the tool bar) allows to indicate with the mouse which region the plot must zoom to,
while the pan mouse tool allows to move the visible part of the data by dragging the mouse. Panning
along either the time axis or the value axis is possible using the respective scroll bar. To the right of
the horizontal scroll bar and at the bottom of the vertical scroll bar, several buttons allow you to set
up the navigation in the corresponding direction: to zoom in, to zoom out, or to keep the entire data
range in view. The latter is one of the ways to automatically update the visible part of the plot: one
can choose to continuously keep the entire data range in view, or one can choose to automatically
scroll the visible part when needed to keep new data in view as it is received (follow mode). A plot
automatically switches to follow mode when you scroll to the right-most part of the data. The toolbar
has buttons to switch all plots in the view to follow mode or show all mode. The user can also select
the mode in the View menu. Zoom and scroll buttons are disabled if they are not applicable in the
current state.

Zooming and scrolling in the time dimension can be synchronized between plots, so that different
plots keep showing the same time extent as you navigate around. This facilitates the analysis of
contemporaneous data. This can be enabled or disables using the respective items in the View or
the buttons in the tool bar. You can choose between no synchronization, synchronization of all plots
within a window and synchronization of all time plots within the application.

When hovering with the mouse over a data point, a tooltip appears providing the following information
about the data point: the name of the data set, the date and time (resp. week number and time of week),
the value and unit, and (if relevant) the satellite.

If you would like to know the exact position of your cursor on the plot, turn on the View | Mouse
Tracking option by setting it checked. You will see the coordinates of your mouse on the bottom
left corner of the status bar. A horizontal and vertical marker marks the position of the mouse in the
plot. If more than one plot is shown in the window, the other plots will show a vertical marker at the
corresponding time position.

The History | Clear menu option allows to clear the plot at any time and start anew. Use the
History | Clear All Time Plots menu option to clear all open time plots.

When time plots stay open for a long period of time, they may accumulate a large amount of data.
The user can configure a limit to the amount of data that is maintained, as well as how the time plots
must reduce their data to maintain this limit. The configuration dialog can be shown using History
| Data Size Settings. The same settings can be edited in the application preferences. It is
possible to restrict the maximum number of data points in a single dataset and/or to place a limit to
the approximate amount of memory occupied by the data in all open time plots. The user can choose
to either decimate the data or to throw away the oldest data when a limit is reached. Decimating the
data consists of discarding all odd data points. After a time plot has been decimated, new incoming
data for that same plot will be decimated to the same degree.

6.15 AGC Table

The AGC Table can be opened using the View | Views | AGC Table menu entry or by
clicking the corresponding icon in the toolbar of RxControl’s main window. The columns of the
AGC table contain the real-time values of the Septentrio Receiver. Each column represents an analog

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front end part. The first row of every column is the front end code, which gives the signals that can be
tracked with the front end part. The next row gives the antenna to which the front end is connected to.
The third row gives the actual front end gain in dB. The fourth row indicates the normalized variance
of the IF samples. The nominal value for this variance is 100. The last row gives the percentage of
samples being blanked by the pulse blanking unit. This field is always 0 for receivers without pulse
blanking unit.

Figure 6-18: AGC table

6.16 Spectrum View

The Spectrum View enables spectral analysis of the RF signal received from the antenna. The user
can choose between visualizing the RF spectrum or the IF samples. The frequency band to analyze
can be selected at the top of the window. The user can also determine whether the values must be
averaged before visualization or not, and the number of values that must be included in the average.

Figure 6-19: Spectrum View

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6.17 Message Inspector View

With the Message Inspector View it is possible to show the contents of selected SBF blocks
as they are received from the receiver. Figure 6-20 shows the Message Inspector View, displaying the
live contents of the PVTGeodetic blocks sent by the receiver.

Figure 6-20: Message Inspector View

In the upper part of the message inspector view, the message for which the data must be shown can
be selected. First select the format to which the message belongs. Then the message can be selected,
using the line edit or the list. When you edit the text in the line edit, the list shows all matching
messages. When connected to a receiver, the list does not contain those SBF blocks which cannot be
requested from the connected receiver.

The lower part displays the data from the message selected above. This part is a tree, expanding
composed fields into subfields and showing nested submessages if applicable. The Value column
shows the current value of the corresponding field, if possible in an interpreted way. Besides the
default columns (Name and Value) the user can enable or disable columns showing the data type and
the raw value using the View | Columns menu.

The data is updated each time a new message of the selected type is received from the receiver.
Updating can be temporarily disabled through the View | Freeze menu item.

Currently, most SBF blocks are available in the message inspector view, though certain blocks and
fields may not yet be represented in full detail. Besides SBF, other data formats are available. In
particular, a number of formats for differential corrections are supported, offering the majority of

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their message types. When selecting a message type from differential correction format, the displayed
data is extracted from received DiffCorrIn SBF blocks.

6.18 Message Statistics View

The Message Statistics View shows how many times each kind of message has been re-
ceived. For messages that are received at a regular rate, that rate is also indicated. When an item for a
given kind of message is expanded in the view, detailed information is given about the distribution of
the different intervals at which that message has been received.

Figure 6-21 shows the Message Statistics View.

Figure 6-21: Message Statistics View

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7 The Expert Console

The expert console is designed for users familiar with the ASCII command set of the Septentrio
Receiver and allows an unlimited control of the receiver. Expert users can drive the receiver operations
through a command line interface by entering commands to adjust the behaviour and operation of
the Septentrio Receiver. For more information about the commands of the receiver, please consult the
”Command Line Interface Reference Guide”.

The expert console is divided into five tabs:

(a) The Receiver Commands tab (see Section 7.1) allows users to directly communicate with
their Septentrio Receiver.

(b) The ASCII Display tab (see Section 7.2 on page 61) allows the expert user to follow the
receiver’s operation throughout a textual representation of its state.

(c) The NMEA tab displays the NMEA sentences sent by the Septentrio Receiver. For this tab to dis-
play information NMEA messages must first be enabled through the Communication | Output
Settings menu.

(d) The Events tab allows the user to see the details of the external events if they are being gener-
ated.

The different tabs of the expert console share common features.

• Each tab has a LED (grey when inactive) which blinks green when a corresponding message or
sentence is received. If the tab that received a message is not active, the LED turns to orange to
indicate the user that a new message or sentence has arrived on this tab. After the user inspects
the new message or sentence by selecting this tab, the LED will return to its default grey colour.
• Just above the command line is a message area displaying relevant information (See Sec-
tions 7.1 until 7.3 on page 62 for specific information) according to the selected tab. Two buttons
control the operations of the message area :
(a) a Freeze button toggles the update of the message area allowing a closer inspection of
the displayed messages. When the freeze button is selected, the information normally
sent to this message area is discarded
(b) a Clear button that allows the user clear the message area.
• At the bottom of the Expert Console is the command line (see Figure 7-1 on the following
page) used for sending commands to the Septentrio Receiver The command line is explained
in more detail in Section 7.1.

7.1 The Receiver Commands Tab

The Receiver Commands tab of the Expert Console is the first tab and forms the central
communication channel with the Septentrio Receiver for the expert user. The window is split up in
the message area and the command line (see Figure 7-1 on the following page). The expert user
enters his/her commands on the command line, sending them to the Septentrio Receiver by pressing
the Enter key. The message area displays the commands entered and the replies received from the
Septentrio Receiver.

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 7 THE EXPERT CONSOLE

Figure 7-1: The Expert Console displaying its Receiver Communication tab

Commands sent by the user to the Septentrio Receiver are preceded in the message area beside the
”<” sign, while the receiver’s reply is identified by indenting with two spaces and the ”>” sign. A
typical communication between the user and the Septentrio Receiver is displayed as follows:

< ggu
> $R: ggu
> GeoidUndulation, auto, 0.0
< help, sno
> $R; help, sno
> setNMEAOutput (=sno), Stream, Cd, Messages, Interval
> getNMEAOutput (=gno), Stream
>
> "Select NMEA message types and update intervals"
>
>
< sno, Stream1, COM1, GGA, sec1
> $R: sno, Stream1, COM1, GGA, sec1
> NMEAOutput, Stream1, COM1, GGA, sec1

In this example the user queries the Septentrio Receiver for the current value of the geoid undulation
(ggu). The reply indicates that the Septentrio Receiver is currently configured to interpolate the value
for the geoid undulation using the built-in geoid model (setGeoidUndulation, auto). The
user then decides to request a short help about the short help about how to set the NMEA output
(sno). After having a look to the help, the user enables the output of the GGA NMEA message to
COM1 at 1Hz by sending the sno, Stream1, COM1, GGA, sec1 to the Septentrio Receiver.

The command line interface of the Expert Console directly connects to the central dispatching
unit of the Septentrio Receiver internal firmware. Through it, the user can use full names, mnemonics,
or numeric values of the command set to control the Septentrio Receiver. The Expert Console
gives a warning when a user attempts to set or modify the settings of the connection port which is
used by RxControl.

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The command line of the Expert Console has a history buffer limited to the last 50 commands.
The up and down arrow key allow the user to browse through the history. Using the normal editing
keys, a recalled command can be edited or given other arguments. When Enter is pressed, the edited
command is transmitted to the Septentrio Receiver.

Right-clicking in the message area of the Expert Console allows to Copy or Select All the
contents of the message area.

The scroll bar at the right side of the display area allows scrolling through the history of the commands
and replies exchanged between the Septentrio Receiver and RxControl.

7.2 The ASCII Display Tab

When the ASCII Display tab is visible RxControl turns on textual representation of the current
receiver’s status (see Figure 7-2). When the tab becomes inactive again, the ASCII output of the
receiver is turned off again.

Figure 7-2: The ASCII Display tab of the Expert Console

Right-clicking in the display area of the Display Output tab allows to Copy or Select All
the currently displayed output.

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The command line is still accessible from the ASCII Display tab, but the replies are directed to
the Receiver Commands tab (see Section 7.1 on page 59).

7.3 The NMEA Tab

When National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) output is enabled the user can examine the
NMEA sentences in the display area of the NMEA tab of the Expert Console.

Figure 7-3: The NMEA tab of the Expert Console

The command line is still accessible from the NMEA tab, but the replies are directed to the Receiver
Commands tab (see Section 7.1 on page 59).

Selecting the Freeze button allows for a closer examination of the NMEA sentences. Using the
scroll bar at the right side of the display area scrolls through the history of the NMEA sentences.

Right-clicking in the display area of the NMEA tab allows to Copy or Select All the currently
displayed sentences.

7.4 The Events Tab

This tab allows to see details about external events which are generated on the Septentrio Receiver.
The details displayed on the Events tab include:

• if the event was an Event A or an Event B

• polarity of the event or in other words if the event occurred on the rising or on the falling edge
• exact receiver time at which the event occurred
• receiver clock bias which can be used to calculate the satellite time at which the external event
occurred

There is also a running total of Events A and Events B, which can be reset by using the Reset
buttons. When the Expert Console is closed the counters are also reset.

RxControl v4.6.1 62
 8 LOGGING

8 Logging
8.1 RxControl Logging
RxControl has the ability to log the binary SBF blocks or the ASCII NMEA sentences transmitted by
the Septentrio Receiver.

Settings specific to the Septentrio Receiver data logging are changed via the Logging | RxControl
Logging... menu entry which opens the Logging window. This window is subdivided in five tabs
with the following information

(a) the status of the data logging,

(b) the global settings of the data logging,

(c) the selection of SBF messages to log,

(d) the selection of NMEA sentences to log, and

(e) a post processing.

The accessible fields in the Logging window adjust automatically according to the selections made:
inaccessible fields are greyed out. The data logging settings take effect when the user selects the
Start Logging button. When logging is ongoing you will see a moving logging icon at the
bottom right corner of the main screen. Use the Stop Logging button to stop the data logging.

The Status tab of the Logging Window

The Status tab (see Figure 8-1) shows the status of the logging.

Figure 8-1: Logger dialog

The upper part of the panel shows the log file name for both the SBF and the NMEA logging.
Also the file size and the number of bytes logged per second are shown.

RxControl v4.6.1 63
 8 LOGGING

The middle part shows an indicator of how much space is used on the drive which is currently
used for storing the data files.
The bottom part allows the user to select between viewing a tab containing an event log of the
logging process or a tab with message statistics of the logged messages.

The Global tab of the Logging Window

The Global settings tab (see Figure 8-2) allows to specify the following parameters:

Figure 8-2: Logger Global Settings Tab

(a) the Log Directory specifies the directory in which the logged files are stored
(b) the Message Types To Log allows to log only SBF or NMEA messages or both
(c) the Log Schedule allows to specify an interval for the logging process. The start and
stop time must always be specified in GNSS time, but the times are also printed in the currently
set time frame underneath the start and stop time entry fields.
(d) the Startup Script allows to send a script to the Septentrio Receiver just before the
logging starts

The File Naming tab of the Logging Window

The File Naming settings tab (see Figure 8-3) allows to specify the following parameters:

Figure 8-3: Logger File Naming Settings Tab

(a) the File Naming and subsequent fields allows to specify how the logged files will be
named. The File Naming settings are discussed in the next paragraph
(b) the Station Settings allows to change the Station Settings of the Septentrio
Receiver

File Naming Settings

Four different options are available for specifying the file name convention of the logged data.

RxControl v4.6.1 64
 8 LOGGING

The first three of them are (a) hourly, (b) six-hourly or (c) daily files according to the IGS
Convention (http://igscb.jpl.nasa.gov/). The last one, the Manual File Naming option al-
lows the user to specify a chosen filename.
When selecting the IGS File Naming convention the following options are available:
• Log messages with a ”do not use” time stamp to ”00000/<MarkerName>0000.00”:
Select this option if you want messages that have an invalid time stamp to be logged as
well.
• To set the markername part of the IGS file name the user has two options:
– Retreive the MarkerName from the receiver: In this case the NAME of the station is
downloaded from the Septentrio Receiver when the logging starts (it can be changed
via the Station Settings button).
– Force the MarkerName to: In this case the entered marker name is used.
Note 9. The IGS Convention option is mandatory when, in the Post Processing tab, the RINEX or
the CGGTTS conversion is chosen.
When the Manual File Naming has been selected, the user has to specify the following addi-
tional parameters:
• File Name: the base name or prefix of the data file(s) created for storing the SBF messages
or NMEA sentences
• SBF File Extension: the extension of the SBF filename(s) that will be created
• NMEA File Extension: the extension of the NMEA filename(s) that will be created
• to store all the messages in one large file or to split the file automatically when:
– it has reached a specified file size
– a specified amount of time has passed
In both cases of automatically splitting the base name is extended with XXXX with XXXX
a four digit number starting from 0000).
As an example, let the three text fields contain the entries SepRx, SBF and NME. The data files
created in the directory specified in the Log Directory are:
(a) SepRx.SBF for logging the SBF messages;
(b) SepRx.NME for logging the NMEA sentences.
If the user chooses the IGS Convention in the File Naming Convention selector.
According to this naming convention data files are created as follows:

NAMEDDDS.YYE where: NAME . . . is the 4 character code for the station name
DDD . . . is the day number of the year
S . . . is the session identifier
YY . . . are the last two digits of the current year
E . . . an identifier for the type of the data stored in the file
The session identifier S can be one of the following:
• the figure “0” identifies a data file that spans 24 consecutive hours
• data files comprised of data for 6 consecutive hours have the figures “1” (0-6hr), “2” (6-
12hr), “3” (12-18hr) and “4” (18-24hr) as session identifiers
• the letters from ‘A” (0-1hr) to “X” (23-24hr) are used to identify hourly data files
The time basis used for the IGS file naming convention is GPS time.
Finally, the data type identifier “ ” marks data files which contain SBF block categories, while
“1” identifies data files which contain only NMEA sentences. By default the project path is
further extended by the year-date subdirectory YYDDD.
The following example clarifies the afore mentioned IGS convention, where the current direc-
tory (“./”) is used as Project Path :

RxControl v4.6.1 65
 8 LOGGING

./03225/PLRX2251.03_
PLRX2252.03_
PLRX2253.03_
PLRX2254.03_
PLRX2255.03_
PLRX2256.03_
............
............
./03226/PLRX2260.031
./O3227/PLRX2270.031
./03227/MRKR227A.03_
MRKR227B.03_
MRKR227C.03_
MRKR227D.03_
MRKR227E.03_
............
............
............
MRKR227V.03_
MRKR227W.03_
MRKR227X.03_

On day 225 of year 03 (August 13, 2003) the data for the station identified as PLRX
was logged. Six data files (PLRX2251.03 . . . PLRX2256.03 ), each spanning 6 consec-
utive hours, containing SBF blocks are logged. The following 2 days, a single daily data file
(PLRX2260.O31 and PLRX2270.O31) was logged for the same station and it contains only
NMEA sentences.
This data file (a) either spans 24 hours of data, or (b) could be the result of scheduled data log-
ging that has started and ended during that day. On August 15, 2003 (day 227 year 03),
RxControl logged SBF messages in hourly data files (MRKR227A.03 . . . MRKR227X.03 )
from another station MRKR.
In the other hand the naming convention used for the CGGTTS data files follows the next defi-
nition:

GZXXYYMJ.DAY where: GZ . . . is a fix identifier for CGGTTS data

XX . . . identify the laboratory
or two character code of the station name
YY . . . identify the PolaRx receiver used (e.g. 1P)
MJ . . . are the first two digits of the
current Modified Julian Date
DAY . . . the last three digits of the
current Modified Julian Date
The SBF and NMEA tabs of the Logging Window

The user can select the SBF messages and/or NMEA sentences that he/she wants to log in these
tabs. Groups of SBF or NMEA messages are shown in bold on top of the list. These groups of
messages are already predefined and depend on the Septentrio Receiver you are connected to.

RxControl v4.6.1 66
 8 LOGGING

Figure 8-4: Data Logging SBF tab dialog

Figure 8-5: Data Logging NMEA tab dialog

The SBF messages are always logged at the same rate as the one used in RxControl, while the
rate(s) for the NMEA messages can be set by the user.
For NMEA messages it is even possible to create different streams with messages of which
each stream has its own rate. This is done by clicking the Add Stream button. The first row
contains the desired rate while the following rows contain the messages to be logged at that rate.

The Post Processing tab of the Logging Window

The Post Processing tab can be used to perform one or more actions on a log file after
the file is closed. A log file is closed when the logging is stopped or when a new file is started
according to the IGS convention or when the maximum file size is reached in manual file naming
mode.

RxControl v4.6.1 67
 8 LOGGING

Figure 8-6: Data Logging Post Processing tab dialog

The top part contains a list of the currently defined Post Processing rules. Each line
represents a Post Processing rule. The first column contains a checkbox allowing the
user to enable the rule by checking it, or disabling the rule by unchecking the checkbox. The
next two columns contain the name and description of the rule as specified by the user.
When the checkbox Remove Source Files, located under the rules list, is checked the
SBF or NMEA file used as input for the post processing action is removed after finishing the
post processing. If unchecked the file is left at its original position.
By clicking the Add button a wizard is shown to define a new Post Processing rule. To
define a Post Processing rule the following items have to be specified:
Post Process Action Input and Type
Here the user can specify if the rule should be applied on SBF or NMEA log files and
which conversion should be applied:
• No Conversion
• RINEX Conversion (SBF only)
• RINEX Conversion, no SBAS (SBF only)
• HATANAKA Conversion (SBF only)
• HATANAKA Conversion, no SBAS (SBF only)
• CGGTTS Conversion (SBF only)
• SBF Analyzer (SBF only)
• Custom Conversion
Custom Conversion
This page of the wizard is only shown when the user selects Custom Conversion as
conversion type. It allows the user to specify the custom program that should be run and
the command line parameters to use. The following parameters are available:
• $SSN INPUT$: replaced by the absolute path + filename of the logged file
• $SSN INPUT DIR$: replaced by the absolute path (without trailing ”/”) of the
logged file
• $SSN INPUT FILE$: replaced by filename of the logged file
When Custom Conversion is selected the next page of the wizard is the Name and
Description page.
RINEX Parameters
This page of the wizard is only shown when the user selected a conversion type that

RxControl v4.6.1 68
 8 LOGGING

includes RINEX conversion. It allows the user to specify the parameters for the RINEX
converter.
Compression Type This page allows to select which compression should be applied on the
file(s) resulting from the conversion. The possible options are:
• No Compression
• Zip Compression
• Unix Z Compression
• GZip Compression
Output File Destination Here the user can choose to move the created files to a FTP folder, to
a local directory or to both. In case a FTP folder is selected the user has to fill in
(a) the FTP server,
(b) the FTP port number,
(c) the remote path on the FTP server (which must exist!),
(d) the login name and
(e) the password to use.
Name and Description This page allows to specify the Name and Description for the Post
Processing rule.
Next to the Add button there is the Edit button. Clicking this button allows to change the set-
tings for the Post Processing rule that is currently selected in the rules list. The Delete
button removes the currently selected rule.

8.2 Septentrio Receiver Logging

8.2.1 Internal Logging Settings
Depending on the connected Septentrio Receiver, the internal logging options (if available) are shown
in the logging menu.

Further explanation of those options can be found in the Firmware User Manual.

8.2.2 Download Internal Files

The entry Logging | Download Internal Files... allows to download the internal logged
files that are stored on the non-volatile RAM of your Septentrio Receiver. The dialog shows a list of
the files currently avalailable on the Septentrio Receiver (see Figure 8-7 on the next page). One of
more files of the list can be selected by clicking on them (keep Ctrl down in order to select multiple
files). Files which are locked (indicated by yes in the Locked column of the list) are currently in use
by the Septentrio Receiver and cannot be selected for download. During the download the progress of
the current file is shown on the top progressbar, while the bottom one shows the overal progress.

RxControl v4.6.1 69
 8 LOGGING

Figure 8-7: Download Internal Files dialog

RxControl v4.6.1 70
 9 UPGRADING THE RECEIVER

9 Upgrading the receiver

If new firmware becomes available for the Septentrio Receiver, RxControl can be used as an upgrading
tool. This is done by choosing Tools | Upgrade Receiver menu option or the Upgrade
Receiver option in the connection dialog (see Figure 4-1 on page 14) which pops up at start-up.
After the upgrade option is chosen, the connection to the receiver will be closed and all windows of
RxControl will stop functioning.

Figure 9-1: Upgrade Receiver

A wizard will be shown that guides you through the upgrade process. It allows you to select the PC’s
port that should be used for the upgrade and the file containing the new receiver firmware. Normally
COM1 port should be chosen for the upgrade.

Once the actual upgrade is in progress a progress bar monitors the progress. Some serial port emula-
tion drivers don’t provide correct progress information, causing the progress bar to complete before
the upgrade is completed. A receiver upgrade can take up to several minutes so please leave the tool
untouched until it finishes its process. Once the upgrade is done, the receiver is rebooted and will
resume normal operation. In case of a failure an error dialog with the failure message will be shown.

After upgrading the user gets the Change Connection dialog to reconnect to the receiver.

RxControl v4.6.1 71
 A NULL-MODEM CABLE

Appendix A Null-modem cable

The Septentrio Receiver behaves as Data Terminal Equipment (DTE). For direct connection to a ter-
minal or a PC, a null-modem cable is needed. For the raw RS-232 serial connection via the Septentrio
Receiver serial ports, no handshaking is needed by default. Thus a simplified null-modem cable can
be used, just crossing the transmit data and receive data lines.

Please consult the Septentrio Receiver manual for more details on the RS-232 connectors and the
cable configurations that can be used to communicate with the receiver.

RxControl v4.6.1 72
 B CONVERSION AND PROJECTION OF COORDINATES

Appendix B Conversion and projection of co-

ordinates
The textual display of coordinates in the P OSITION I NFORMATION PANEL (See Section 5.2.1 on
page 19) or the graphical display of coordinates in the P LANIMETRIC P LOT (See Section 6.4 on
page 38) allow to switch between different representations of the current position. The cartesian,
geodetic and geocentric coordinates result from coordinate conversions based on the current refer-
ence ellipsoid (See Section B.1). The cartographic projection is obtained by applying the forward
mapping equations of the conformal direct Mercator projection (See Section B.2 on the following
page) while the topocentric coordinates are formed from a plane tangent to the Earth’s surface fixed
to a specific location (See Section B.3 on page 75).

B.1 Coordinate conversions on an ellipsoid

A point on or near the surface of the Earth can be represented by its cartesian or ECEF (Earth
Centered Earth Fixed) coordinates (X, Y, Z), geodetic coordinates latitude, longitude and ellipsoidal
height (ϕ, λ, h) or geocentric coordinates latitude, longitude and geocentric distance (Φ, Λ, r). The
conversion between these representations is done on the ellipsoid of revolution which is the mathe-
matical approximation of the Earth’s surface.

The ellipsoid is completely parameterized by its geodetic defining parameters7 semi-major axis a and
flattening f . From these parameters it is possible to derive the semi-minor axis b, the first numeric
eccentricity e and the second eccentricity e0 using the formulas in the following table.

Parameter Value
semi-minor axis b = a (1 − f )
1 − b2
first eccentricity squared e2 = = 2f − f 2
a2
a2 f (2 − f )
second eccentricity e02 = 2 − 1 =
b (1 − f )2

It is important to note the difference between the geodetic latitude ϕ and the geocentric latitude Φ. The
geodetic latitude ϕ is determined by the angle between the normal n of the ellipsoid and the plane
of the equator, whereas the geocentric latitude Φ is determined around the center of the ellipsoid
(Figure B-1 on the following page).
7 1
The defining geodetic parameters for the WGS84 ellipsoid are a = 6 378 137,0 m and f
= 298,257 223 563

RxControl v4.6.1 73
 B CONVERSION AND PROJECTION OF COORDINATES

rotation axis
h

r
Φ
ϕ
equator plane
rn

ellipsoid

Figure B-1: Difference between geodetic latitude ϕ and geocentric latitude Φ

The direct and inverse conversion between cartesian and geodetic coordinates is done according to :

Z + e2 rn sin ϕ
  
  arctan √
2 +Y 2
X
    
X (rn + h) cos ϕ cos λ ϕ  
 Y 
 Y  =  (rn + h) cos ϕ sin λ  and  λ =
  arctan 
2 √ X 
Z ((1 − e )rn + h) sin ϕ h 
2 2

 X +Y 
− rn
cos ϕ
a
where rn = √ is the local curvature of the ellipsoid along the first vertical.
1−e2 sin2 ϕ

The conversion between cartesian and geocentric coordinates follow the relations :
π Z
 
  
X r cos Λ sin Φ
  
Φ −
 2 r 
 Y  =  r sin Λ sin Φ  and Λ =   Y 
p arctan X

Z r cos Φ r

2
X +Y +Z 2 2

B.2 The conformal direct Mercator projection

The conformal direct Mercator cartographic projection displays the projected north N versus pro-
jected east E coordinates obtained by applying the following projection formulae :

E = f1 (ϕ, λ)
N = f2 (ϕ, λ)

As in all cylindrical projections, parallels and meridians are straight and perpendicular to each other.
In accomplishing this, the unavoidable east-west stretching of the map, which increases as distance
away from the equator increases, is accompanied by a corresponding north-south stretching, so that
at every point location, the east-west scale is the same as the north-south scale, making the projection
conformal.

A Mercator map (See Figure B-2 on the next page) can never fully show the polar areas, since linear
scale becomes infinitely high at the poles. Being a conformal projection, angles are preserved around
all locations, however scale varies from place to place, distorting the size of geographical objects, as
can be seen by the indicatrix of Tissot represented on Figure B-2 on the following page. In particular,

RxControl v4.6.1 74
 B CONVERSION AND PROJECTION OF COORDINATES

areas closer to the poles are more affected, transmitting an image of the geometry of the planet which
is more distorted the closer to the poles. At latitudes above N 70 ◦ or below S 70 ◦ , the Mercator
projection becomes practically unusable.

Figure B-2: The Mercator projection

The forward mapping for the applied Mercator projection are :


E = k0 × (λ − λ0 ) + fE

N = k0 × ln tan π4 + ϕ2 + fN

The scale factor k0 used is the semi-major axis of the WGS84 ellipsoid and the prime meridian is used
as central longitude λ0 . The origin is offset by applying a false east and north translation fE = fN =
25 000 km.

B.3 The topocentric ENU coordinate system

In many applications the representation of a point M by its topocentric or local East, North and
Up coordinates (E, N, U ) is much more intuitive and practical than its corresponding cartesian or
geodetic representation. The topocentric coordinates are formed in a plane tangent to the surface of
the Earth fixed to the location of a topocentric reference point R (See Figure B-3 on the next page).
The N -axis is tangent to the northern meridian of the topocentric reference point while the U -axis is
aligned with the local normal to the ellipsoid in the topocentric reference point. The E-axis is in the
local horizontal plane oriented towards east tangent to the first vertical.

RxControl v4.6.1 75
 B CONVERSION AND PROJECTION OF COORDINATES

z≡U
z
Z
M
x≡N s
A

R y≡E
h

Y
ϕ

X ellipsoide

Figure B-3: The topocentric ENU coordinate system

The conversion from geodetic coordinates to topocentric coordinates is done according to :

     
E − sin λ cos λ 0 XM − XR
N  = − sin ϕ cos λ − sin ϕ sin λ cos ϕ ×  YM − YR 
U cos ϕ cos λ cos ϕ sin λ sin ϕ ZM − ZR

and        
X − sin λ − sin ϕ cos λ cos ϕ cos λ E XR
 Y  =  cos λ − sin ϕ sin λ cos ϕ sin λ  × N  +  YR 
Z 0 cos ϕ sin ϕ U ZR

RxControl v4.6.1 76
 C TROUBLESHOOTING

Appendix C Troubleshooting
This section provides some troubleshooting tips in case there is a problem with RxControl and no
error warning is given. If a warning or error is shown, more information about it can be found in
Appendix D on page 79.

C.1 RxControl’s screens are not updated or only

partially updated
If you don’t see the normal display, you are probably experiencing one of the following situations:

1. No receiver is connected. Possible reasons are:

(a) During the connection you specified the wrong PC serial port to which receiver is con-
nected.
(b) Some of the serial port settings do not match the settings of the serial port of the Septentrio
Receiver. This may be the case if the Septentrio Receiver serial port settings have been
changed before your session. If you are not sure about this, reboot the Septentrio Receiver,
so that it returns to its default settings.
(c) The Septentrio Receiver is turned off or is in boot stage.
(d) The Septentrio Receiver is not connected to you computer.
2. Some dialogs have N/A instead of values and the statusbar shows a red message (such as Not
enough measurements). The most typical reason is that the antenna is not connected to
the receiver or the visibility of the sky is too limited. In these cases, you will still be able to
see the timing information in the Time or RxClock tab (see Section 5.2.3.1 on page 22 or
Section 5.2.3.2 on page 22). Most probably the Satellite Status dialog (see Figure 5-
4 on page 21) of RxControl will indicate the Search status of some satellites, showing the
corresponding satellite signal indicators in yellow (see Section 5.2.2 on page 20). This situation
could occur during a cold boot of the receiver. In this case the screen will gradually become
alive and position and velocity data will show up in several seconds.
3. The receiver has no permission to output the data for the particular screen.

C.2 The Septentrio Receiver specific menus are not

available in RxControl
If you don’t see the receiver specific menus you are probably experiencing one of the following situ-
ations:

1. No receiver is connected. Possible reasons are:

(a) You specified the wrong serial port for your PC.
(b) Some of the serial port settings do not match the settings of the serial port of the Septentrio
Receiver. This may be the case if the Septentrio Receiver serial port settings have been
changed before your session. If you are not sure about this, reboot the Septentrio Receiver,
so that it returns to its default settings.
(c) The Septentrio Receiver is turned off or is in a boot stage.
2. Your receiver is too old and incompatible with RxControl. If youre receiver is PolaRx2 then
please use the GUI from the PolaRx Graphical Tools installer.
3. There is connection bandwidth overload. This can happen when using a serial connection at
a high message interval. If this is the case you should see the SBF LED at the bottom left

RxControl v4.6.1 77
 C TROUBLESHOOTING

corner of the main window blink red in stead of green. In this case please use a USB or TCP/IP
connection (which provide a higher bandwith) or lower the message interval.

C.3 Contacting Septentrio support

If you experience a problem which is not described in this or the following section, or the provided
solutions are not working for you, Septentrio’s support team is always ready to help you. In order to
contact them use the support form on the website: http://www.septentrio.com/support_
request.php or you can use the support menu items of RxControl:

• Help | Support | RxControl support

• Help | Support | Receiver support

If you use the menus above some of the fields will be pre-filled for you. Please provide as many de-
tails as possible about your problem. Please attach a diagnostic report which can be generated through
(File | Display Diagnostic Report. This report shows a summary of RxControl’s ver-
sion, currently connected receiver, your platform information, etc. If you are experiencing problems
related to the Septentrio Receiver’s commands then the Septentrio Receiver’s MIB description file
would be helpful in order to help you with your problem. This file can be retrieved by selecting the
File | Save MIB Description As and specifying a location where this file can be saved.

RxControl v4.6.1 78
 D WARNING AND ERROR MESSAGES

Appendix D Warning and Error Messages

D.1 Serial port related Warning and Error Messages
[Port] is invalid or is already open:
The serial port with the name [Port] is invalid and does not exist on the system. This can happen
when you specify one of the virtual serial ports linked with the USB ports of the Septentrio Receiver
and the USB cable is not plugged in. Another cause can be that the port is already open in another
program and thus not available for RxControl.
Please:

(a) select another port

(b) connect the USB cable of the Septentrio Receiver.
(c) close the program that has the port currently in use

Receive overflow:
An overflow in the receiver buffer of the serial port has occured.
This can occur when the PC is heavely loaded and means that some of the bytes received from the
receiver are lost.

Transmit overflow:
An overflow in the transmit buffer of the serial port has occured.
This can occur when the PC is heavely loaded and means that some of the bytes transmitted to the
receiver are lost.

Retrieve current state:

There was an error while retreiving the current state of the serial port.

Setting the port settings:

There was an error while applying the settings needed for RxControl.

Setting up the serial port:

There was an error during the setup of the serial port.

Purging the device:

There was an error while trying to purge the serial port.

Invalid Baudrate:
The selected baudrate cannot be applied to the serial port.
Please select a valid baudrate.

Invalid number of databits:

The selected number of databits cannot be applied to the serial port.
Please select a valid number of databits.

Invalid number of stopbits:

The selected number of stopbits cannot be applied to the serial port.
Please select a valid number of stopbits.

Invalid parity:
The selected parity cannot be applied to the serial port.
Please select a valid parity setting.

Invalid flowcontrol:

RxControl v4.6.1 79
 D WARNING AND ERROR MESSAGES

The selected flowcontrol cannot be applied to the serial port.

Please select a valid flowcontrol.

Searching Baudrate...:
The serial port is searching for the baudrate of the connected Septentrio Receiver.
During this process there is no communication possible with the receiver.

Automatic searching for the baudrate failed:

While searching for a connected Septentrio Receiver with every possible baudrate, none was found.
Check if a Septentrio Receiver is connected to the selected serial port.

It seems that [Port] is no longer present on the system:

The serial port RxControl was using has disappeared from the system.
This can happen if you use a USB to serial device or the virtual serial ports linked with the USB ports
of the Septentrio Receiver and unplug the USB from the PC.

D.2 TCP/IP port related Warning and Error Messages

The connection was refused by the peer (or timed out):
The Septentrio Receiver refused the connection set up by RxControl or it timed out.
Please check your network settings.

The remote host closed the connection:

The connection between the Septentrio Receiver and RxControl has ended because the Septentrio
Receiver has closed the connection.
Please check if the Septentrio Receiver is still working and try to reconnect.

Host [Host] not found:

The specified hostname or IP-address for the Septentrio Receiver is not found on the network.
Please check:

(a) if the specified hostname or IP-address of the Septentrio Receiver is correct

(b) that the Septentrio Receiver is correctly connected to the network.

The local system ran out of resources (e.g., too many sockets):
There are to many network resources in use on your PC.
Please free up some network resources.

The socket operation timed out:

The socket operation has timed out before it was completed.

An error occurred with the network:

This error can occur if for example the network cable was accidentally unplugged.
Please check your network.

D.3 SBF File Player related Warning and Error Mes-

sages
The given SBF file does not exist:
The specified SBF file does not exist.
Please specify an existing SBF file.

RxControl v4.6.1 80
 D WARNING AND ERROR MESSAGES

There is already a SBF file connection open:

There is already a SBF file connection open and only one at a time can be opened.
Please close the other SBF file connection before trying to open another.

The SSN Stream has given an error:

There has been an error while parsing the SBF. This indicates an error in the SBF parser or an invalid
SBF file.
Please select a valid SBF file.

D.4 RxControl data parser related Warning and Er-

ror Messages
Wrong SNMP version:
A SNMP message with a wrong version number has been received.
This error can occur when something is wrong with the SNMP setup between the Septentrio Receiver
and RxControl or if there are communication problems leading to lost bytes.

a Please check the number of CRC errors by hooverig over the SBF LED (see Section 5.2.4 on
page 25). If the number of CRC errors is high there is a problem with the communication and bytes
are lost leading to this problem. So check your communication settings.
a If there are no CRC errors please restart RxControl after enabling the Delete the downloaded
MIB files at the next close of RxControl in the Preferences dialog (see
Section 5.3.1 on page 27) in order to refresh the SNMP setup.

A time out error occurred while retrieving a SNMP message from the receiver:
The Septentrio Receiver did not reply on a SNMP request of RxControl. This can happen if the
Septentrio Receiver’s CPU load is too high. If this error is displayed when displaying one of the
Septentrio Receiver settings dialogs it can occur that the shown values on that dialog does not reflect
the current status of the Septentrio Receiver.
Please try

(a) to send the message again

(b) to change your Septentrio Receiver settings so that the CPU load decreases.

A time out error occurred while changing the Septentrio Receiver settings:
The Septentrio Receiver did not react on a request of RxControl to change it’s settings. This can
happen if the Septentrio Receiver’s CPU load is too high. If this error is displayed when displaying
one of the Septentrio Receiver settings dialogs it can occur that the shown values on that dialog does
not reflect the current status of the Septentrio Receiver.
Please try

(a) to send the message again

(b) to change your Septentrio Receiver settings so that the CPU load decreases.

An error occurred while initializing the MIB:

There has been an error while downloading the Septentrio Receiver’s capabilities. As a result the
Septentrio Receiver specific menus are not shown.
Please close the connection to your Septentrio Receiver and reopen it again.

There was an error while parsing the current receiver configuration:

RxControl requested a setting that is unknown or invalid for the Septentrio Receiver. It may be that
the actual configuration of the receiver is different than the expected one.

RxControl v4.6.1 81
 D WARNING AND ERROR MESSAGES

Please restart RxControl after enabling the Delete the downloaded MIB files at the
next close of RxControl in the Preferences dialog (see Section 5.3.1 on page 27) in
order to refresh the SNMP setup.
If this does not help please contact Septentrio support.

There was an error while setting the receiver configuration:

RxControl changed a setting that is unknown or invalid for the Septentrio Receiver. It may be that the
actual configuration of the receiver is different than the expected one.
Please restart RxControl after enabling the Delete the downloaded MIB files at the
next close of RxControl in the Preferences dialog (see Section 5.3.1 on page 27) in
order to refresh the SNMP setup.
If this does not help please contact Septentrio support.

A time out error occurred while retrieving a receiver message from the receiver:
RxControl has send a request to the Septentrio Receiver to which no reply has been received. This can
happen if the Septentrio Receiver’s CPU load is too high. If this error is displayed when displaying
one of the Septentrio Receiver settings dialogs it can occur that the shown values on that dialog does
not reflect the current status of the Septentrio Receiver.
Please try

(a) to send the message again

(b) to change your Septentrio Receiver settings so that the CPU load decreases.

Re-initialize communication because no data has been received for X milliseconds:

Since there has been no communication between RxControl and the Septentrio Receiver for X mil-
liseconds RxControl decides that the communication is broken. Therefor it tries to re-initialize
the communication. This warning dialog disappears from the moment the communication is re-
established or when that fails it shows a dialog to change the connection settings.
Please check the connection between your Septentrio Receiver and the PC running RxControl.

No communication with receiver:

Since there is no communication between RxControl and the Septentrio Receiver RxControl decides
that the communication is broken. Therefor it tries to re-initialize the communication. This warning
dialog disappears from the moment the communication is re-established or when that fails it shows a
dialog to change the connection settings.
Please check the connection between your Septentrio Receiver and the PC running RxControl.

Receiving invalid data:

RxControl has received data that it cannot parse. This can happen if there are communication errors
between the Septentrio Receiver and RxControl.
Please check the connection between your Septentrio Receiver and the PC running RxControl.

This version of RxControl does not support PolaRx2 receivers:

This warning is shown when using a version of RxControl that communicates with the receiver via
the SNMP protocol while the receiver does not support it.
Please use RxControl from the PolaRx Graphical Tools installer.

D.5 Logging related Warning and Error Messages

RxControl has no permissions to write to X:
The user has entered a destination directory X for the logger output that is not writable by RxControl.

RxControl v4.6.1 82
 D WARNING AND ERROR MESSAGES

Please select another destination directory or change the settings of the directory so that RxControl
can write to it.

Disk full:
The disk containing the destination directory for logging is full preventing further logging.
Please free up some space on the disk or enter another logging destination.

The startup script could not be read:

The script that should be sent to the Septentrio Receiver at start of the logging cannot be found or
read.
Please provide a valid startup script.

The scheduled start time is later than the stop time:

The entered time for starting the scheduled logging is later in time than the stop time.
Please provide a valid start and stop time for the scheduled logging.

The logger is not initialized:

An internal error in RxControl occured preventing the logger to be started.
Please restart RxControl and try again. If the problem is persisting please contact Septentrio.

Action X requires that the file naming convention is set to IGS24:

A logging post-process action (with the name X) has been defined that requires that the naming con-
vention is set to IGS24.
Please set the naming convention to IGS24 or disable the post-process action X.

Action X requires that the SBF logging is enabled:

A logging post-process action (with the name X) has been defined that requires SBF logging however
SBF logging is not enabled.
Please enable SBF logging or disable the post-process action X.

Action X requires that the NMEA logging is enabled:

A logging post-process action (with the name X) has been defined that requires NMEA logging how-
ever NMEA logging is not enabled.
Please enable NMEA logging or disable the post-process action X.

D.6 Upgrade related Warning and Error Messages

Failed to open connection to receiver:
RxControl failed to open a connection to the Septentrio Receiver or your Septentrio Receiver is not
running.
Please check:

(a) the connection between your Septentrio Receiver and the PC running RxControl
(b) that Septentrio Receiver is turned on.

The upgrade file seems to be corrupt causing the upgrade to fail:

The file containing the upgrade is corrupt or is not a valid Septentrio Upgrade File.
Please select a valid Septentrio Upgrade File.

There was a connection time out:

While connecting to the Septentrio Receiver there was a timeout. This can happen if there is no oper-
ating Septentrio Receiver connected or if programName is connected to a serial port of the Septentrio
Receiver that is not capable of performing upgrades.

RxControl v4.6.1 83
 D WARNING AND ERROR MESSAGES

Please check if an operating Septentrio Receiver is connected and that the Septentrio Receiver’s serial
port is capable of performing upgrades.

Connection timed out:

While connecting to the Septentrio Receiver there was a timeout. This can happen if there is no oper-
ating Septentrio Receiver connected or if programName is connected to a serial port of the Septentrio
Receiver that is not capable of performing upgrades.
Please check if an operating Septentrio Receiver is connected and that the Septentrio Receiver’s serial
port is capable of performing upgrades.

RxControl v4.6.1 84
 GLOSSARY

Glossary
–A–
AGC Automatic Gain Control is an adaptive system found in many electronic devices. The
average output signal level is fed back to adjust the gain to an appropriate level for a
range of input signal levels. For example, without AGC the sound emitted from an AM
radio receiver would vary to an extreme extent from a weak to a strong signal; the AGC
effectively reduces the volume if the signal is strong and raises it when it is weaker.

ASCII The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a standard seven-bit code.
ASCII was established to achieve compatibility between various types of data processing
equipment. The standard ASCII character set consists of 128 decimal numbers ranging
from 0 . . . 127 assigned to letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and the most common
special characters. The Extended ASCII Character Set also consists of another 128 deci-
mal numbers and ranges from 128 . . . 255 representing additional special, mathematical,
graphic, and foreign characters.

Azimuth The Azimuth angle of a satellite indicates the direction of the projection of the line-of-
sight onto the local horizontal plane measured from the geographic North positive to the
East.

–C–
CGGTTS The Common GPS GLONASS Time Transfer Standard) format designed for interna-
tional time transfer among the respective timing organizations, and reported to the BIPM.

CMR The Compact Measurement Record format contains packet framing and message types
for raw L1 and L2 carrier phase and pseudorange data, plus reference station location
and description messages.

C/N0 Carrier-to-Noise ratio expressed in [db-Hz].

conformal A projection is conformal or angle-preserving when it preserves oriented angles be-

tween curves. This means that the shape of infinitesimally small figures are preserved,
though their size is generally distorted. Tissot’s indicatrix is a circle in each projection
point. Other local map properties are equivalent or equidistant.

CRC A cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is a type of function that takes as input a data stream
of unlimited length and produces as output a value of a certain fixed size. The term CRC
is often used to denote either the function or the function’s output. A CRC can be used
in the same way as a checksum to detect accidental alteration of data during transmission
or storage. CRCs are popular because they are simple to implement in binary hardware,
are easy to analyze mathematically, and are particularly good at detecting common errors
caused by noise in transmission channels.

–D–
direct A projection is direct or normal when the axis of the auxiliary surface (cone, cylinder or
plane) is coincident with the polar axis. Other orientations are transverse and oblique.

RxControl v4.6.1 85
 GLOSSARY

DNS The Domain Name Server is a distributed Internet directory service. A DNS is used
mostly to translate between domain names and IP addresses and to control the Internet
e-mail delivery.

DOP The Dilution Of Precision measures the relative degradation of the accuracy of the navi-
gation solution based on the constellation geometry. The reported value can be multiplied
by the uncertainty in the range measurements (assumed to be the same for all transmit-
ters) to provide the uncertainty in the navigation solution.

–E–
EGNOS The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System is the European SBAS sys-
tem developed by ESA, European Commission and Eurocontrol. Its service zone is the
European continental airspace.

Elevation The Elevation angle of a satellite defines the angle between the local horizontal plane
and the direction to the satellite.

ENU The coordinates measured in the topocentric reference with respect to a reference posi-
tion. The N -axis points to true geographic north, the E-axis is oriented towards the east
while the U -axis is along the local normal.

equivalent A projection is equivalent or equal-area when it preserves equally scales all surfaces.
This means that all surfaces are equally scaled after projection. Tissot’s indicatrix is of
constant surface in each projection point. Other local map properties are conformal or
equidistant.

–F–
FTP The File Transfer Protocol is used on the Internet for exchanging files and it is based on
the TCP/IP protocol. FTP is most commonly used to download a file from a server using
the Internet or to upload a file to a server.

–G–
Galileo The Galileo positioning system, referred to simply as Galileo, is a European Global
Navigation Satellite System, built by the European Satellite Navigation Industries for the
European Union (EU) and European Space Agency (ESA) as an alternative to the United
States operated Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Russian GLONASS. Galileo is
tasked with multiple objectives including the following: to provide a higher precision to
all users than is currently available through GPS or GLONASS, to improve availability of
positioning services at higher latitudes, and to provide an independent positioning system
upon which European nations can rely even in times of war or political disagreement.

GIVEI Grid Ionospheric Vertical Error.

GLONASS The Russian Global Orbiting Navigation Satellite System is a satellite based radion-
avigation system which enables unlimited number of users to make all-weather 3D posi-
tioning, velocity measuring and timing anywhere in the world or near-Earth space.

RxControl v4.6.1 86
 GLOSSARY

GNSS The Global Navigation Satellite System is a satellite navigation system which currently
includes GPS, its Russian analogue GLONASS and three space-based augmentation
systems: EGNOS, WAAS, and MTSAT.

GPS Global Positioning System (also NAVSTAR GPS)is a satellite navigation system owned
by the Department of Defence of the United States of America and designed to provide
instantaneous position,velocity and time information almost anywhere on the globe at
any time, and in any weather. NAVSTAR GPS stands for the NAVigation Satellite Timing
And Ranging Global Positioning System.

GPX GPS eXchange Format is an XML schema designed for transferring GPS data between
software applications. It can be used to describe waypoints, tracks, and routes.

GUI The Graphical User Interface gives the user a graphical way for controlling and viewing
the information of the receiver.

–H–
HAL Horizontal Alert Limit.

HDOP Horizontal Dilution Of Precision is a measure of the uncertainty of the navigation solu-
tion in the local horizontal plane.

HERL The Horizontal External Reliability Level for the position used in RAIM statistics.

HMI Hazardously Misleading Information.

HPL Horizontal Protection Level.

–I–
IGS The International GPS Service provides GPS orbits, tracking data, and other high-quality
GPS data and data products on line in near real time to meet the objectives of a wide range
of scientific and engineering applications and studies.

ILS Instrument Landing System facilities are a highly accurate and dependable means of
navigating to the runway. The ILS provides the lateral and vertical guidance necessary
to fly a precision approach.

IMU An Inertial Measurement Unit is a device that measures acceleration and rotation. When
the Septentrio Receiver is connected with an IMU, these measurements can be used for
determining position/velocity/attitude through a technique called integration.

indicatrix Tissot’s indicatrix, or ellipse of distortion, is a concept developed by French mathemati-

cian Nicolas Auguste Tissot to measure and illustrate map distortions. It is the theoretical
figure that results from the projection of an infinitesimal circle with unit radio, defined
in a geometric model of the Earth (a sphere or an ellipsoid), on the projection plane. Tis-
sot proved that this figure is normally an ellipse, whose axes indicate the two principal
directions of the projection at a certain point, i.e., the directions along which its scale
is maximum and minimum. When the Tissot’s indicatrix reduces to a circle it means
that, at that particular point, the scale is independent of direction. In conformal projec-
tions, where angles are preserved around every location, the Tissot’s indicatrix are all

RxControl v4.6.1 87
 GLOSSARY

circles, with varying sizes. In equivalent or equal-area projections, where area propor-
tions between objects are conserved, the Tissot’s indicatrix have all unit area, although
their shapes and orientations vary with location.

integration Approach to determining the position/velocity/attitude, based on the combination of

GNSS measurements together with measurements of other sensors, such as an IMU.

IP The Internet Protocol is responsible for moving packets of data between Internet nodes.
IP forwards each packet based on a four byte destination address (the IP number). The
Internet authorities assign ranges of numbers to different organizations. The organiza-
tions assign groups of their IP numbers to departments.

–K–
KML KML is a file format used to display geographic data in an earth browser, such as Google
Earth, Google Maps, and Google Maps for mobile. A KML file is processed in much the
same way that HTML (and XML) files are processed by web browsers. Like HTML,
KML has a tag-based structure with names and attributes used for specific display pur-
poses. Thus, Google Earth and Maps act as browsers for KML files.

–L–
LAN A Local Area Network is a computer network that spans a relatively small area. Most
LANs are confined to a single building or group of buildings. However, one LAN can
be connected to other LANs over any distance via telephone lines, radio waves, among
other ways.

LBR L- Band Receiver.

LDAP The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, or LDAP, is an application protocol for
querying and modifying directory services running over TCP/IP.

LED Light Emition Diode. Light-emitting diodes are diodes that emit visible light when elec-
tricity is applied, similar to a light bulb. RxControl simulates LEDs by animated images.

–M–
MDB Minimum Detectable Bias based on probability of missed detection set by the user.

Mercator Mercator was born Gheert Cremer (or Gerard de Cremere) in the Flemish town of Rupel-
monde. Mercator is the Latinized form of his name. He constructed a new chart and first
used it in 1569 : it had parallel lines of longitude to aid navigation by sea, as compass
courses could be marked as straight lines.

MI Misleading Information.

MIB a MIB is a type of database used to manage the devices in a communications network.
The MIB contains information on the commands and on the target’s objects (controllable
entities or potential sources of status information).

RxControl v4.6.1 88
 GLOSSARY

–N–
NIS The Network Information Service or NIS is Sun Microsystems’ ”‘Yellow Pages”’ (YP)
client-server directory service protocol for distributing system configuration data such as
user and host names between computers on a computer network.

NIS+ NISPLUS or NIS+, is an enhanced version of the Network Information Service devel-
oped by Sun Microsystems. It is a UNIX lookup service detailing disk mounts, users,
computer nodes, etc. It is designed to eliminate the duplication of tables, called ”‘maps”’,
thereby easing system administration by storing such maps on a master server rather than
keeping separate copies on individual machines, which is generally a sin. With the ex-
ception of NIS+ server, client & server versions of NIS & NIS+ have been ported to
other UNIX platforms, notably Linux. MS Windows can run NIS-Gina, but this is not
common.

NMEA The National Marine Electronics Association has developed a standard to permit ready
and satisfactory data communication between electronic marine instruments, navigation
equipment and communications equipment when interconnected via an appropriate inter-
face. The standard implemented by the Septentrio receivers is the NMEA 0183, version
2.30.

–P–
PA A Precision Approach is an approved descent procedure, which uses a navigation facility
aligned with a runway where glide slope information is given.

PDOP Position Dilution Of Precision is the geometric DOP parameter.

PL SBAS systems generate in real time protection limits for the residual position error in the
differential correction to GPS. When the residual error exceeds the protection limit, an
alarm is raised notifying the user of a potential dangerous situation.

PRN The Pseudo Random Noise refers to a code that is is apparently random although it has
been generated by means of a known process, hence the repeatability of the code indicate
by the prefix pseudo random. Each GNSS satellite has its PRN number.

projection A map projection is any method used in cartography to represent the two-dimensional
curved surface of the earth on a plane. The term projection refers to any function de-
fined on the earth’s surface and with values on the plane, and not necessarily a geometric
projection. Since the sphere or revolution ellipsoid are non-developable surfaces, a map
projection cannot exist without distortions. A map projection uses an intermediate sur-
face (a cone, cylinder or plane) to project the earth’s points onto, which is afterwards laid
out on a plane.

PVT Position, Velocity and Time, meaning that the navigation solution computes the current
position, velocity and time clock bias of the receiver.

–R–
RAIM The Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring is a technology developed to assess
the integrity of GPS signals in a GPS receiver system. It is of special importance in
safety-critical GPS applications, such as in aviation or marine applications. RAIM en-
sures the integrity of the computed position solution, provided that sufficient satellites

RxControl v4.6.1 89
 GLOSSARY

are available. The RAIM algorithm consists in three steps: detection, identification and
adaptation, or shortly ”D-I-A”.

RINEX The Receiver INdependent EXchange format is data format independent of receiver type.
RINEX can be seen as a standard exchange format for GPS data.

RS-232 The RS-232 standard specifies signal voltages, signal timing, signal function, a protocol
for information exchange, and mechanical connectors for a serial connection.

RTCM Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services. The committee NO. 104 of the
RTCM recommended a standard for exchange of data for Differential GPS service. The
standard addresses both code-based and carrier-phase based positioning.

RTK GPS Real-Time Kinematic is a high-precision surveying method. RTK is based on dif-
ferential carrier-phase prunning with either float or integer phase ambiguities. RTK re-
quires a real-time data link to transmit correction data from the base station to the rover.

–S–
SBAS A Space-Based Augmentation System is a regional augmentation systems for GPS and/or
GLONASS. An SBAS system is based on a networked ground segment and navigation
payloads on-board of geostationary satellites whose main purpose is to provide higher
position accuracies, better availability and continuity of service and integrity messages
to the users of space based navigation systems. Currently existing SBASs are based on
DO229 data exchange standard.

SBF The Septentrio Binary Format is a data format used by the Septentrio receivers. It ar-
ranges the data in so-called SBF blocks, identified by block IDs. The benefit of SBF is
compactness : large quantity of information with a high level of detail can be transmitted
over a low-bandwidth serial connection. This format should be your first choice if you
wish to receive detailed information from the receiver.

SNMP SNMP is used by network management systems to monitor network-attached devices

for conditions that warrant administrative attention. It consists of a set of standards for
network management, including an Application Layer protocol, a database schema, and
a set of data objects. SNMP exposes management data in the form of variables on the
managed systems, which describe the system configuration. These variables can then be
queried and sometimes set by managing applications.

STF Septentrio Text Format where similar SBF blocks are grouped per file.

–T–
TCP/IP TCP/IP is a communication protocol and is composed of layers:

IP : is responsible for moving packets of data between Internet nodes. IP forwards each
packet based on a four byte destination address (the IP number). The Internet authorities
assign ranges of numbers to different organizations. The organizations assign groups of
their IP numbers to departments.

TCP : is responsible for verifying the correct delivery of data from client to server. Data
can be lost in the intermediate network. TCP adds support to detect errors or lost data
and to trigger retransmission until the data is correctly and completely received.

RxControl v4.6.1 90
 GLOSSARY

Sockets : A name given to the package of subroutines that provide access to TCP/IP on
most systems.

TDOP Time Dilution Of Precision is a measure of the uncertainty of the navigation solution in
the time determination.

TOW GPS time is transmitted by a combination of the current Week Number and the Time
Of Week. The TOW represents the number of seconds into the week ranging from
[0 . . . 604800[ seconds and is counted from midnight Saturday/Sunday on the GPS time
scale.

–U–
USB Universal Serial Bus is a specification to establish communication between devices and
a host controller (usually personal computers).

UTC Coordinated Universal Time is a time scale that couples Greenwich Mean Time, which
is based solely on the Earth’s inconsistent rotation rate, with highly accurate atomic
time. When atomic time and Earth time approach a one second difference, a leap second
is calculated into UTC. UTC was devised on January 1st, 1972 and is coordinated in
Paris by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). For most practical
purposes associated with the Radio Regulations, UTC is equivalent to mean solar time at
the prime meridian (0◦ longitude), formerly expressed in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
The maintenance by BIPM includes cooperation among various national laboratories
around the world. The full definition of UTC is contained in CCIR Recommendation
460-4. The GPS system time is different from the UTC time by a whole number of leap
seconds (15 at the time of this writting).

–V–
VAL Vertical Alert Limit.

VDOP Vertical Dilution Of Precision is a measure of the uncertainty of the navigation solution
in the vertical direction.

VERL The Vertical External Reliability Level for the position used in RAIM statistics.

VPL Vertical Protection Level.

–W–
WAAS The Wide Area Augmentation System is the American SBAS system developed by the
FAA. WAAS is designed to improve the accuracy and ensure the integrity of information
coming from GPS satellites.

WGS84 The World Geodetic System 84 is an Earth-fixed global reference frame. It is defined
by a set of parameters defining the shape of the earth’s ellipsoid, its angular velocity,
the earth mass and a detailed gravity model of the earth. These parameters are needed
because WGS 84 is used not only for defining coordinates in surveying, but, for example,
also for determining the orbits of GPS navigation satellites.

RxControl v4.6.1 91
 GLOSSARY

WNc GPS time is transmitted by a combination of the current Week Number and the Time Of
Week. The week number represents the number of weeks elapsed since the introduction
of the GPS time scale on January, 6th 1980.

–X–
XERL The EXtErnal Reliability Levels give the opportunity to introduce a more stringent
application-specific integrity criterion. The positional solution is deemed as passed an
application-level integrity test if the XERLs are within user-defined (and application-
dependent) alarm limits. This comparison (and the definition of alarm limits as well)
takes place in a user application and is outside of the receiver scope.

RxControl v4.6.1 92