Configuration Examples

BNC comes with a number of configuration examples which can be used on all
operating systems. Copy the complete directory 'Example_Configs' which comes
with the software including sub-directories 'Input' and 'Output' to your disc.
There are several ways to start BNC using one of the example configurations:

* On graphical systems (except for Mac systems) you may use the computer mouse
to 'drag' a configuration file icon and 'drop' it on top of BNC's program icon.

* You could also start BNC using a command line for naming a specific
configuration file (suggested e.g. for Mac systems):
bnc --conf <configFileName>

* On non-graphical systems or when running BNC in batch mode in the background
you may start the program using a command line with a configuration file
option in 'no window' mode (example for Windows systems):
bnc.exe --conf <configFileName> --nw

Although it's not a must, we suggest that you always create BNC configuration
files with the filename extension '.bnc'.

We furthermore suggest for convenience reasons that you configure your system
to automatically start BNC when you double-click a file with the filename
extension '.bnc'. The following describes what to do on Windows systems to
associate the BNC program to such configuration files:

1. Right-click a file that has the extension '.bnc' and then click 'Open'. If
the 'Open' command is not available, click 'Open With' or double-click the
file.

2. Windows displays a dialog box that says that the system cannot open this
file. The dialog box offers several options for selecting a program.

3. Click 'Select the program from a list', and then click 'OK'.

4. The 'Open With' dialog box is displayed. Click 'Browse', locate and then
click the BNC program, and then click 'Open'.

5. Click to select the 'Always use the selected program to open this kind
of file' check box.

6. Click 'OK'.

Some of the presented example configuration files contain a user ID 'Example'
with a password 'Configs' for accessing a few GNSS streams from public Ntrip
Broadcasters. This generic account is arranged for convenience reasons only.
Please be so kind as to replace the generic account details as well as the
place holders 'User' and 'Pass' by the personal user ID and password you
receive following an online registration through
http://register.rtcm-ntrip.org.

Note that the account for an Ntrip Broadcaster is usually limited to
pulling a specified maximum number of streams at the same time. As running
some of the example configurations requires pulling several streams, it
is suggested to make sure that you don't exceed your account's limits.

Make also sure that sub-directories 'Input' and 'Output' which are part of
the example configurations exist on your system or adjust the affected
example configuration options according to your needs.

Some BNC options require antenna phase center variations as made available
from IGS through so-called ANTEX files at
https://files.igs.org/pub/station/general/igs20.atx
An example ANTEX file 'igs20.atx' is part of the BNC package for convenience.

The example configurations assume that no proxy protects your BNC host.
Should a proxy be operated in front of BNC then you need to introduce its
name or IP and port number in the 'Network' panel.

(A) Working with Configuration Files

You should be able to run all configuration file examples without changing
contained options. However, configurations 'Upload.bnc' and 'UploadEPH.bnc' are
exceptions because they require an input stream from a connected network engine.

1. Configuration File 'RinexObs.bnc'
Purpose: Convert RTCM streams to RINEX Observation files.
The configuration pulls RTCM Version 3 streams from Ntrip Broadcasters using
Ntrip Version 2 to generate 15min 1Hz RINEX Version 4 Observation files. See
https://igs.bkg.bund.de/ntrip/#rtcm-obs for observation stream resources.

2. Configuration File 'RinexEph.bnc'
Purpose: Convert a RTCM stream with navigation messages to RINEX Navigation
files. The configuration pulls a RTCM Version 3 stream with Broadcast Ephemeris
coming from the real-time EUREF and IGS networks and saves hourly RINEX Version
4 Navigation files. See https://igs.bkg.bund.de/ntrip/#rtcm-eph for further
real-time Broadcast Ephemeris resources.

3. Configuration File 'BrdcCorr.bnc'
Purpose: Save Broadcast Corrections from RTCM SSR messages in hourly plain
ASCII files. See https://igs.bkg.bund.de/ntrip/#rtcm-corr for various real-time IGS
or EUREF orbit/clock correction products.

4. Configuration File 'RinexConcat.bnc'
Purpose: Concatenate several RINEX Version 3 files to produce one compiled file
and edit the marker name in the file header. The sampling interval is set to 30
seconds. See section 'RINEX Editing & QC' in the documentation for examples on
how to call BNC from command line in 'no window' mode for RINEX file editing,
concatenation and quality check.

5. Configuration File 'RinexQC.bnc'
Purpose: Check the quality of a RINEX Version 4 file by means of a multipath
analysis. Results are saved on disk in terms of a plot in PNG format. See
section 'RINEX Editing & QC' in the documentation for examples on how to call
BNC from command line in 'no window' mode for RINEX file editing, concatenation
and quality check.

6. Configuration File 'RTK.bnc'
Purpose: Feed a serial connected receiver with observations from a nearby
reference station for conventional RTK. The stream is scanned for RTCM
messages. Message type numbers and latencies of incoming observations are
reported in BNC's logfile.

7. Configuration File 'FeedEngine.bnc'
Purpose: Feed a real-time GNSS engine with observations from remote reference
stations. The configuration pulls a single stream from an Ntrip Broadcaster.
You could also pull several streams from different casters. Incoming
observations are decoded, synchronized, output through a local IP port and also
saved into a file. Failure and recovery thresholds are specified to inform
about outages.

8. Configuration File 'PPP.bnc'
Purpose: Precise Point Positioning from observations of a rover receiver. The
configuration reads RTCM Version 3 observations, a Broadcast Ephemeris stream
and a stream with Broadcast Corrections. Positions are saved in the logfile.
More detailed PPP results are saved in the PPP logfile.

9. Configuration File 'PPPNet.bnc'
Purpose: Precise Point Positioning for several rovers or receivers from an
entire network of reference stations in one BNC job. The possible maximum
number of PPP solutions per job depends on the processing power of the hosting
computer. This example configuration reads two RTCM Version 3 observation
streams, a Broadcast Ephemeris stream and a stream with Broadcast Corrections.
Detailed PPP Results for the two stations are saved in PPP logfiles.

10. Configuration File 'PPPQuickStart.bnc'
Purpose: Precise Point Positioning in Quick-Start mode from observations of a
static receiver with precisely known position. The configuration reads RTCM
Version 3 observations, Broadcast Corrections and a Broadcast Ephemeris stream.
Positions are saved in NMEA format on disc. They are also output through IP
port for real-time visualization with tools like RTKPLOT. Positions are saved
in the logfile.

11. Configuration File 'PPPPostProc.bnc'
Purpose: Precise Point Positioning in post processing mode. BNC reads RINEX
Version 3 Observation and Navigation files and a Broadcast Correction file.
Optionally, an Ionosphere file containing VTEC informations can be used. If such
a file is not specified, VTEC informations from the Broadcast Corrections file
are used. PPP processing options are set to support the Quick-Start mode.
The output is saved in a specific post processing logfile and contains
coordinates derived over time following the implemented PPP filter algorithm.

12. Configuration File 'PPPOsm.bnc'
Purpose: Track BNC's point positioning solutions using OpenStreetMap as background.
BNC reads a RINEX Observation file and a RINEX Navigation file to carry out
a 'Standard Point Positioning' solution in post processing mode.
Although this is not a real-time application it requires the BNC host to be
connected to the Internet. Specify a computation speed, then hit button 'Open Map'
to open the track map, then hit 'Start' to visualize receiver positions on top
of OSM maps.

13. Configuration File 'PPPGalHAS.bnc'
Purpose: Precise Point Positioning in Quick-Start mode with SSR corrections
from the Galileo HAS Internet Data Distribution (IDD) interface with observations
of a static receiver with quite precisely known position.
Because the Galileo HAS provides Code Biases and corrections for satellite orbits
and clocks for GPS and Galileo, the configuration uses GPS and Galileo
navigation data only.
Access to the Galileo HAS Internet Data Distribution is available by registration:
https://www.gsc-europa.eu/galileo/services/galileo-high-accuracy-service-has/internet-data-distribution-registration-form

14. Configuration File 'SaveSp3.bnc'
Purpose: Produces SP3 files from a Broadcast Ephemeris stream and a Broadcast
Correction stream. The Broadcast Correction stream is formally introduced in
BNC's 'Combine Corrections' table. Note that producing SP3 requires an ANTEX
file because SP3 file content should be referred to CoM.

15. Configuration File 'Sp3ETRF2000PPP.bnc'
Purpose: Produce SP3 files from a Broadcast Ephemeris stream and a stream
carrying ETRF2000 Broadcast Corrections. The Broadcast Correction stream is
formally introduced in BNC's 'Combine Corrections' table. The configuration
leads to a SP3 file containing orbits also referred to ETRF2000. Pulling in
addition observations from a reference station at precisely known ETRF2000
position allows comparing an 'INTERNAL' PPP solution with a known ETRF2000
reference coordinate.

16. Configuration File 'Upload.bnc'
Purpose: Upload orbits and clocks from a real-time GNSS engine to an Ntrip
Broadcaster. For that the configuration reads precise orbits and clocks in
RTNET format. It also reads a stream carrying Broadcast Ephemeris. BNC converts
the orbits and clocks into Broadcast Corrections and encodes them to
IGS-SSR messages to finally upload them to an Ntrip Broadcaster. The
Broadcast Correction stream is referred to satellite Antenna Phase Center (APC)
and reference system IGS20. Orbits are saved on disk in SP3 format, clocks
are saved in Clock RINEX format and biases are saved in SINEX Bias format.

17. Configuration File 'Combi.bnc'
Purpose: Pull 2 streams carrying Broadcast Corrections, and Satellite Code Biases
together with Broadcast Ephemeris from an Ntrip Broadcaster
to produce a combined Broadcast Correction stream.
BNC encodes the combination product in IGS-SSR messages and uploads them to
an Ntrip Broadcaster. The Broadcast Correction stream is referred to
satellite Antenna Phase Center (APC) and not to satellite Center of
Mass (CoM). Its reference system is IGS20. Orbits are saved on disk in SP3 format,
clocks are saved in Clock RINEX format and biases are saved in SINEX Bias format.

18. Configuration File 'CombiPPP.bnc'
Purpose: This configuration equals the 'Combi.bnc' configuration. However, the
combined Broadcast Corrections are in addition used for an 'INTERNAL' PPP
solutions based on observations from a static reference station with known
precise coordinates. This allows a continuous quality check of the combination
product through observing coordinate displacements.

19. Configuration File 'UploadEph.bnc'
Purpose: Pull a number of streams from reference stations to get the
contained Broadcast Ephemeris messages. They are encoded to RTCM Version 3
format and uploaded for the purpose of providing a Broadcast Ephemeris stream
with an update rate of 5 seconds.

20. Configuration File 'CompareSp3.bnc'
Purpose: Compare two SP3 files to calculate RMS values for orbit and clock
differences. GPS satellite G05 and GLONASS satellite R18 are excluded from this
comparison. Comparison results are saved in a logfile.

21. Configuration File 'Empty.bnc'
Purpose: Provide an empty example configuration file for BNC which only
contains the default settings.

(B) Working with Command Line configuration options

The following configuration examples make use of BNC's 'Command Line Interface'
(CLI). Configuration options are exclusively specified via command line. No
configuration file is used. Examples are provided as shell scripts for a Linux
system. They call BNC in 'no window' batch mode (command line option -nw).
The scripts expect 'Example_Configs' to be the current working directory.

22. Shell Script 'RinexQC.sh'
Purpose: Equals configuration file example 'RinexQC.bnc', checks the quality of
a RINEX Version 4 file by means of a multipath analysis. The platform offscreen
is used while producing plot files in PNG format. BNC is offline.
All results are saved on disk.

23. Shell Script 'RinexConcat.sh'
Purpose: Equals configuration file example 'RinexConcat.bnc', concatenates
several RINEX Version 3 files to produce one compiled file and edit the marker
name in the file header. The sampling interval is set to 30 seconds. BNC is
offline.

24. Shell Script 'RinexEph.sh'
Purpose: Equals configuration file example 'RinexEph.bnc', converts a RTCM
stream with navigation messages to RINEX Navigation files. The configuration
pulls a RTCM Version 3 stream with Broadcast Ephemeris coming from the
real-time EUREF and IGS networks and saves hourly RINEX Version 4 Navigation
files. BNC runs online until it's terminated after 10 seconds. See
https://igs.bkg.bund.de/ntrip/#rtcm-eph for further real-time Broadcast
Ephemeris resources.

25. Shell Script 'ScanLate.sh'
Purpose: Scan an observation stream for contained RTCM message types, print
observation latencies. The output is saved in a logfile. Latencies are
reported every 10 seconds. BNC runs online until it's terminated after 20
seconds.

26. Shell Script 'RinexObs.sh'
Purpose: Equals configuration file example 'RinexObs.bnc', converts RTCM
streams to RINEX Observation files. The configuration pulls streams from two
Ntrip Broadcasters using Ntrip Version 2 to generate 15min 1Hz RINEX Version 4
Observation files. See https://igs.bkg.bund.de/ntrip/#rtcm-obs for
observation stream resources. BNC runs online until it's terminated after 30
seconds.

For specific applications you may like to use your own set of standard
configuration options from a configuration file and update some of its content
via command line. When using a configuration file and command line configuration
options together in one BNC call, the command line configuration options will
always overrule options contained in the configuration file.

27. Shell Script 'CompareSp3.sh'
Purpose: Equals configuration file example 'CompareSp3.bnc', compares two SP3
files to calculate RMS values for orbit and clock differences. However, instead
of excluding GPS satellite G05 and GLONASS satellite R18 from the comparison as
specified in 'CompareSp3.bnc', GPS satellite G06 and all GLONASS satellites are
excluded via command line option. BNC runs offline. Comparison results are saved
in a logfile.

Andrea Stuerze, BKG
Frankfurt, September 2022
igs-ip@bkg.bund.de