Overview

The Bernese software is a robust and complex tool that can be both powerful and frustrating (sometimes at the same time). The complexity of the software is necessary to allow for automation, machine independence, and multiple processing options. Knowledge of the software structure and how it operates helps ease some of the problems users have. The Bernese software can be considered in three parts. The first is the Bernese processing programs, these are the programs that are used to translate, edit, and process the GPS data. The second part is the Bernese menu programs. These programs do not actually manipulate the data, rather they control the configuration and maintenance of files used by the processing programs. The third part is the Bernese Processing Engine (BPE). This section automates the Bernese programs and allows for batch processing of data sets.

Bernese Processing Programs

The section of programs that are actually used for data translation, simulation, orbit determination, processing, and estimation are collectively known as the Bernese processing programs. With a few exceptions, these programs are run in a batch mode. That is, once the programs have been executed, they run without interaction. This batch mode required the development of a system of input files that are used to define the data files and processing options that should be used for a particular program run (the -N, -I, and -F files). While it is possible to run the Bernese processing programs manually, the process can be rather difficult. File setup can be tedious, time consuming, and prone to typing and unintentional mistakes. For this reason, the Bernese Menu System was created to automate some tasks.

Bernese Menu Section

The Bernese Menu system is a collection of programs that are executed and run in an interactive enviroment. They were written to help the user to navigate through the preparation and maintanence of input and ancillary files which are used by the Bernese processing programs. Collectively, these menu programs are run through a user interface. This interface is the G program. The menu system minimizes the mistakes caused by such things as typo's and format errors and allows a user to navigate through the Bernese processing programs. However, it does not easily allow for automatic batch processing of data sets. This automated processing is done using the BPE.

Bernese Processing Engine (BPE)

While the menu system was written as a tool to help run the main Bernese processing programs, the menu programs also require interaction from the user. This can be tedious for processing large amounts of data from a campaign or experiment. In addition, there was not sufficient automation to allow for routine processing of continuous networks. The menu system does have an automatic processing portion, but a more robust and powerful tool was needed. This lead to the development of the Bernese Processing Engine (BPE).

The BPE can be thought of as yet another front end to the Bernese software. For the BPE however, the front end removes user interaction and runs through all the processing steps using a predefined and configured set of processing options and ancillary files. To use the BPE, the user must configure his processing system to run the necessary programs for the application desired (geodetic surveying, atmospheric parameter estimation, satellite orbit estimation, etc.). Once this initial setup has been correctly completed, it is possible to automatically process large amounts of data over many days using the same input options and ancillary files. This technique provides a consistent way for a scientist to analyze data and compute results.

While it is true that the BPE allows for automatic and consistent processing of data, it also requires the user to predefine many processing options before analyzing the data. This requires knowledge of both the BPE and the Bernese processing software. This tutorial is designed to introduce the user to the mechanics of the BPE by analyzing an example data set made available by the University of Berne. Hopefully, after completion of the tuturial, the user will have the skills and knowledge of the BPE mechanics to be able to create a processing environment that is tailored to their own projects and campaigns.

Last modified Thursday, 17-Nov-2005 03:58:00 UTC

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