This chapter discusses the most serious sources of error affecting global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) signals, classifying these in a new way, according to their nature and/or effects. For instance, errors due to clock bias or drift are grouped together. Errors related to the signal propagation medium, too, are treated in the same way. GNSS errors need to be corrected to achieve accepted positioning and navigational accuracy. We provide a theoretical description for each source, supporting these with diagrams and analytical figures where possible. Some common metrics to measure the magnitude of GNSS errors, including the user equivalent range error (UERE) and the dilution of precision (DOP), are also presented. The chapter concludes with remarks on the significance of the sources of error.
Part of the book: Multifunctional Operation and Application of GPS