Often referred to as “DGPS QC Software” this aspect of the precise positioning solution is somewhat of a paradox. We have unravelled this paradox and are delighted to offer our POSTMAN suite of software.

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To understand the benefits of POSTMAN it is necessary to clarify the purpose of DGPS QC Software and how POSTMAN addresses this.

 

In the early days of DGPS it was necessary to integrate GPS measurements with the differential corrections received from separate hardware into the position solution. Conducted within the GPS receiver, performance, quality control and overall visualisation and reporting of position status was very limited.

 

To resolve this separate software was developed which allowed proprietary algorithms to be employed with active quality-control and running on an external computer provided substantial visualisation, data logging and reporting.

Although much more control of the position was attained, the price to pay was additional hardware and the need to pass raw GPS data around, which induces latency into the position solution – not ideal for real-time operations such as DP. The computer hardware is also not ideal for operation in a marine environment.

 

The ideal solution was to contain all of this functionality within the GNSS hardware itself to ensure robustness, minimise latency. This was partly achieved with the evolution of hardware but due to the required processing power, the hardware size increased and required active cooling including fans, which are not a good solution for continuously operating systems in harsh environments. Fans draw in salt ridden air causing corrosion of electronics for one thing.