[G07-2] GGOS focus on reference frames

[G07-2-03] Recent Activities of the GGOS Standing Committee on Performance Simulations and Architectural Trade-Offs (PLATO)

^○Benjamin Maennel¹, Daniela Thaller², Markus Rothacher³, Johannes Boehm⁴, Juergen Mueller⁶, Mathis Blossfeld⁵, Alexander Kehm⁵, Susanne Glaser¹ (1.Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Potsdam, Germany, 2.Bundesamt fuer Kartographie und Geodaesie, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 3.ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, 4.TU Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 5.Deutsches Geodaetisches Forschungsinstitut - TU Muenchen, Munich, Germany, 6.Leibnitz Universitaet Hannover, Hanover, Germany)

The terrestrial reference frame (TRF) is the foundation for virtually all space-based and ground-based Earth observations. The commonly used global TRF is the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) that is generated by combining the observations of GNSS, VLBI, SLR and DORIS. GGOS has determined that the accuracy and stability of the ITRF, suitable for a global society on a changing planet, needs to be better than 1mm and 0.1mm/y, respectively. As these goals are not yet reached, several improvements are needed:
Developing next generation space-geodetic stations with improved technology and system performance;
Improving the ground network configuration in view of global coverage and co-locations;
Improving the number and accuracy of surveys between co-located stations;
Deploying, improving and optimizing space-based co-locations.

In order to support these activities, GGOS established the Standing Committee "Performance Simulations and Architectural Trade-Offs (PLATO)“. To achieve progress in the topic mentioned above the PLATO members develop improved analysis methods using all existing observation data and co-locations of space-geodetic techniques. In addition, extensive simulations are carried out in order to investigate future improvements and optimization of the ground network, the space segment and different observation scenarios. These simulations will help to assess future data product quality based on projected network configuration and performance. Since 2015, PLATO acts also as Joint Working Group under IAG's Sub-Commission 1.1.

This presentation summarizes the activities within the Standing Committee PLATO and gives an overview on our ongoing studies. Preliminary results will be highlighted and first recommendations will be given.