TEQC 1 July 1998 Release Notes

ConanBinary with multiple file input

A bug prior to 26 Jan 1998 caused a missed epoch of data and cycle slips to occur at each join of multiple ConanBinary files using the following syntax:

	teqc -aoa cb {options} *.cb

TurboBinary with long 0x68 records

The TurboBinary interpreter for 0x68 records has been modified to read non-standard "long" 0x68 records, which contain two additional floats for D1 and D1/dt. A pseudo-D2 is computed (from D1) if requested.

ConanBinary and TurboBinary SNR

ConanBinary and TurboBinary now use the same algorithms for determing SNRs. This will have no effect on the RINEX observables S1 and S2, which have and will continue to show volts of signal per volts of noise. The algorithm change will only have a small effect on the RINEX snr 0-9 values shown for TurboBinary L1 and L2.

"60" seconds in RINEX time tags

Several translators (notably, Leica SKI for Leica 300 DS format) occasionally produce values of "60.0000000" seconds in the RINEX time tag slot. Teqc will now read these values and not complain. Even better, if you use teqc as a RINEX-to-RINEX filter, the filtered RINEX will have these values reduced to "0.0000000" with the appropriate changes to the minute, hour, day, month, and/or year values as needed. (A strange artifact of the improved algorithm is that the seconds need not be bounded by [0., 60.], assuming that the values for minutes, etc. are appropriately correct. Try hand-editing a time tag of "30 30.0000000" (30 minutes, 30 seconds) to "29 90.0000000" (29 minutes, 90 seconds) and running this through the new teqc. It will be converted back to "30 30.0000000".)

GPS SV PRN #32 with qc-mode

An indexing bug (--I forgot in one spot that C indexes start at zero, rather than one--) caused the qc-mode of data containing GPS SV 32 to die or do an inaccurate ion slip count. Fortunately, data for SV 32 should only occur between 11 Dec 1992 and 28 Jan 1993 (as of June 1998). But this is also why this qc bug took so long to discover!

Benchmark ACT TurboBinary translation

Herb Dragert (dragertpgc.nrcan.gc.ca) discovered that the new AOA Benchmark ACT receiver produces TurboBinary that, if translated in the conventional way, uses the Y1-codeless derived L1-phase value that is 50% noiser than the C/A-derived L1-phase value. Consequently, teqc has been modified to accept the following

	teqc -aoa tb {rest of command}

	teqc -aoa tbY {rest of command}

Ashtech download translations

Various bugs related specifically to translation of Ashtech download files have been fixed:

• reading of the S-file is more crash-proof in case of binary garbage in the file
• correct finding of E- and S-files when the supplied B-file has a path prefix (e.g. <path>/Bfile) and E- and S-files have the same path (i.e. <path>/Efile and <path>/Sfile).
• change of the 4-character site name in the B-file no longer causes teqc to go into an infinite loop

Some users have noticed that the RINEX L1 values reported by teqc from Ashtech downloads are slightly different than the RINEX L1 values reported by Berne's ASRINEXO or by Ashtech's ASHTORIN. This has been traced to teqc extracting the L1-phase value from the P1-code data block, whereas the others extract the L1-phase value from the C/A-code data block. Preliminary high-precision solutions done by Simon McClusky at MIT (simoneverest.mit.edu) suggests that the L1-phase in the P1-code block produces a lower RMS. So, for the time being, teqc will continue to extract the L1-phase value from the P1-code block.

Ashtech LM-XII download translation

The original teqc Ashtech download translation was specifically tailored for the Z-XII receiver. However, teqc should now work for the LM-XII receiver, which is P-codeless and has L2-squared. For a B-file from the LM-XII, use:

	teqc -ash d -P {other options} Bfilename

Ashtech G-XII OEM stream translation

The original teqc Ashtech stream translation was specifically tailored for the Z-XII receiver. However, teqc should now work for the G-XII receiver, which is L1-only and P-codeless. For a stream-file from the G-XII, use:

	teqc -ash s -P -L2 {other options} stream_filename

Note: One test file from a G-XII with a sampling interval of 1 second had a large number of MBN and PBN records which had an invalid checksum, though the data seemed to be OK when the checksum requirement was ignored. For this release of teqc, the checksum requirement is in place. If you notice few or no epochs are translated by teqc, this may be the problem.

Leica LB2 translation

Teqc will now translate Leica LB2 format, used for example in the Leica MC1000, CRS1000, and CRS1500 receivers, into RINEX OBS and NAV (no MET yet). Currently, the translation uses information only in records 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x09, 0x85, and 0x88. (Other records are identified and skipped.) Like data from some other formats, there may be a GPS week ambiguity, so use of the -week option is encouraged. The general formats for translation to RINEX is:

	teqc -leica lb2 {other options} lb2_filename > RINEX_OBS
	teqc -leica lb2 {other options} +nav RINEX_NAV lb2_filename > RINEX_OBS
	teqc -leica lb2n {other options} lb2_filename > RINEX_NAV
	teqc -leica lb2n {other options} +obs RINEX_OBS lb2_filename > RINEX_NAV

ARGO format translation

Teqc will now translate ARGO format files into RINEX. Assuming the presense of an ARGO .dat file and a .orb file, try:

	teqc -argo {other options} argo.dat > RINEX_OBS
	teqc -argo {other options} +nav RINEX_NAV argo.dat > RINEX_OBS

Auto-identification of formats

If you use teqc with filenames (i.e. not stdin), you may want to try a new auto-identification feature that, in most cases, eliminates the need to specify the receiver/format option. The assumed stdout is always RINEX OBS. Therefore:

	teqc -tr d trimble.dat > RINEX_OBS 

	teqc trimble.dat > RINEX_OBS

• ARGO format; equivalent to -argo
• Ashtech download; equivalent to -ash d
• Ashtech stream; equivalent to -ash s
• Canadian Marconi binary; equivalent to -cmc b
• ConanBinary; equivalent to -aoa cb or -jpl cb
• Leica 300 DS format; equivalent to -leica ds
• Leica LB2 format; equivalent to -leica lb2
• Motorola Oncore format; equivalent to -motorola oncore
• RINEX OBS, NAV, and MET; assumed default in previous teqc versions
• Rockwell Zodiac format; equivalent to -rockwell zodiac
• TI-4100 GESAR or BEPP/CORE; equivalent to -ti gesar
• TI-4100 ROM; equivalent to -ti rom
• Trimble download; equivalent to -tr d
• Trimble stream; equivalent to -tr s
• Trimble TSIP; equivalent to -tr tsip
• TurboBinary; equivalent to -aoa tb or -jpl tb

Note: The auto-detection for Leica 300 DS format, Motorola Oncore format, and Trimble TSIP format is in place, but the translation code in teqc is not yet complete.

The auto-identification will work most of the time but is not guaranteed! This is because the auto-identification is based on reading only a small number of bytes (usually only 1-4 bytes) at the beginning of the file. This is probably most useful if you are testing files manually on the command line. For use of teqc in scripts, please continue to use explicit receiver/format options.

Option flags for P-codeless and L1-only receivers

The -P option has increased in status from a qc-mode only option to a generalized option for P-codeless receivers. -P (i.e. "no P-codes") should be used for P-codeless receivers, for example:

• Trimble ST, SST, SLD, STD, etc.
  (prior to the Geodesist-P and 4000SE/SSE/SSi series)
• Ashtech LM-XII

A new -L2 option has been added to indicate an L1-only receiver. -L2 (i.e. "no L2-data") should be used for all L1-only receivers, for example:

• Ashtech G-XII OEM
• Canadian Marconi Allstar OEM
• Motorola Oncore OEM
• Rockwell Zodiac OEM

If the receiver is both L1-only and P-codeless, use both -L2 and -P options (which is the case for all of the OEM receivers listed above).

RINEX header editing

The RINEX header field editing options

• -O.an
• -O.at
• -O.mn -M.mn
• -O.mo -M.mo
• -O.pr -N.pr -M.pr
• -O.r -N.r -M.r

now work for RINEX-to-RINEX editing, as well as the usual raw-to-RINEX translation/editing.

In addition, the +O.c[omment] option has now been completely generalized, especially for config files, to allow:

• leading whitespace before the first printing character
• any characters (except those that would be unadvisable to put in at RINEX comment, e.g. tab, carriage return, newline, etc.) like \, ", ’, etc.

There are two metacharacters for the +O.c option: " and \. The double-quote " is a metacharacter since it is used to demark the bounds of the comment string. To insert a " character in the string, the backslash metacharacter must precede it, i.e. \". The insert a \ character in the string, another backslash metacharacter must precede it, i.e. \\.

When using +config or ++config, any occurrences of " or \ in comments are automatically preceded with an extra \, so that the resulting output can be used as a valid teqc config file.

Time-window editing

The following time-windowing ±st, ±e, and/or ±dX option combinations should now work to extract time-windowed data:

• (no options listed)
• ±st alone
• ±st with ±dX
• ±st with ±e
• ±e alone
• ±dX with ±e
• -dX alone (- sign is critical)
• +dX alone (+ sign is critical)

EXCEPT the following for all input types but RINEX:

• ±e <mask> alone
• ±dX with ±e <mask>
• -dX alone (- sign is critical)

Metadata summary option

There is a metadata summary extraction option, +meta, which might prove useful to users. The usual syntax would be something like

	teqc +meta {other options} filename

Running on Windows 98

Any of the executables that run on Windows 95 should run on Windows 98, though this has not been tested at UNAVCO since we don't have a Windows 98 system yet. My only reservation is whether teqc will detect the system time correctly. If you execute the DOS command ver in a DOS-emulation window on Windows 98, and the first printing characters are "Windows 98" or "Memphis", all should be well.

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