Study of Modern Instrumentation and Methods for Astronomic Positioning in the Field.

This study was performed to determine, through literature survey and interviews with appropriate experts, the types and characteristics of instruments and techniques used in Europe for astronomic positioning in the field, and to make recommendations as to the proper direction for future research. The first technical report contained a detailed simulation study about the possible accuracy of astronomic positioning in the field. Namely the reference is to Chapter Three, especially to Figures 2-29. The simulation study was based on the assumption that the objects of field observations, the stars, are perfectly known, including also the various astronomic reductions such as proper motion, aberration, parallax etc. The second technical report, therefore, allowed some uncertainty of the star position We present a detailed analysis of how to proceed once only dispersive pior information about star positions is available. The nonlinear condition equations are linearized by a two-step Taylor series expansion accounting for stochastic information 2, delta of right ascension and declination, the parameters of star positions. A numerical analysis is presented in the final report. JHD