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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">ISPRS-Archives</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">ISPRS-Archives</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">2194-9034</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIX-B5-2026-57-2026</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Evaluating the Rover-Side Performance of a Low-Cost GNSS Station for High-Accuracy Positioning and ZTD Estimation</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bagheri</surname>
<given-names>Milad</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Dabove</surname>
<given-names>Paolo</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9646-523X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Masiero</surname>
<given-names>Andrea</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8028-2815</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ferrando</surname>
<given-names>Ilaria</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Mahdi Eldoud Mahdi</surname>
<given-names>Wafi</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Dept. of Environment, Land, and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI), Politecnico di Torino, Italy</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Dept. of of Land, Environment, Agriculture, and Forestry, University of Padova, Italy</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Dept. of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering University of Genoa, Italy</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>04</day>
<month>08</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>XLIX-B5-2026</volume>
<fpage>57</fpage>
<lpage>62</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Milad Bagheri et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLIX-B5-2026/57/2026/isprs-archives-XLIX-B5-2026-57-2026.html">This article is available from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLIX-B5-2026/57/2026/isprs-archives-XLIX-B5-2026-57-2026.html</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLIX-B5-2026/57/2026/isprs-archives-XLIX-B5-2026-57-2026.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLIX-B5-2026/57/2026/isprs-archives-XLIX-B5-2026-57-2026.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>The densification of GNSS Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) networks in mountainous regions is constrained by the high cost of geodetic-grade equipment. Low-cost (LC) multi-frequency GNSS receivers offer a viable alternative, yet their performance in challenging high-altitude Alpine environments remains largely unexplored. This study evaluates the rover-side positioning performance and tropospheric delay estimation capability of a newly installed LC permanent station at Prali (2200 m elevation), in the Alpine region of Piedmont, Italy. The station, based on a u-blox ZED-F9P receiver with a broadband LC antenna and a Raspberry Pi computer, was assessed using Virtual Reference Station (VRS) corrections from the SPIN3 professional CORS network. Six independent two-hour RTK sessions across a full diurnal cycle were processed using RTKLIB in forward-only kinematic mode to emulate real-time conditions. Results demonstrate that the LC station achieves centimetre-level horizontal precision (8&amp;ndash;11 mm) with fix rates up to 97% and time to first fix below 3 minutes under favourable conditions. A diurnal performance variability was observed and characterised across the six sessions. Zenith Tropospheric Delay estimation via CSRS-PPP with 92% fixed ambiguities yielded physically consistent values (mean ZTD = 1811 mm, ZWD = 41 mm), consistent with dry winter conditions at altitude. These results confirm that LC GNSS stations can deliver reliable centimetre-level positioning and meaningful tropospheric products in demanding Alpine environments, supporting their deployment for CORS network densification in regions where geodetic-grade infrastructure is economically or logistically prohibitive.</p>
</abstract>
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