Fugro are the world leaders in the provision of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for offshore survey applications. We have developed a range of GPS based products and solutions which are second to none. These are widely adopted by precise positioning users including seismic and construction contractors.

• Starfix services provide RTCM based Differential GPS (DGPS) signals from a worldwide network of over 70 reference stations. The services have the greatest selection of SPOT beam and Inmarsat data delivery solution options of any available commercial provider. Our comprehensive systems and solutions approach to positioning satisfy all industry performance and monitoring criteria. Network support and QC are conducted by three control centres which are manned 24 hours a day.

• Real Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS systems provide real time high accuracy positioning and tidal information for a number of offshore and inshore clients.
  Relative GPS (R-GPS) systems are provided for a wide range of uses. 120 units are currently in service around the globe supporting seismic tailbuoy and source positioning applications.

• Structural monitoring activities are conducted with state-of-the-art, high accuracy DGPS equipment and technically advanced processing systems.

A summary of available services are given below.

Starfix.L1
Differential GPS (DGPS) services have been developed specifically to meet the offshore community's demand for highly accurate world-wide positioning. Differential GPS algorithms, developed by Fugro, remove both natural errors and man-made errors from the US Department of Defence's orbiting satellite System GPS. Fugro's Starfix.L1 services have access to more than 80 land-based reference stations, with permanently manned control centres in Houston and Perth. Real-time data is delivered world-wide over a network of high and low power satellite links.

Starfix.Plus
As an augmentation to our standard Starfix services, Fugro have developed an advanced dual frequency DGPS solution Starfix.Plus to combat the problems of increased ionospheric activity in equatorial and nearpolar regions. The deployment of dual frequency GPS equipment at selected Starfix reference sites allows an accurate model of ionospheric activity to be calculated. Data is combined within an advanced vessel mobile solution, to provide the user with stable and reliable positioning.

Starfix.HP
To serve central offshore areas, Fugro have developed the Starfix.HP (High Performance) Service. Starfix.HP is based on dual frequency GPS instrumentation measuring the phase and code for the individual GPS satellites on the reference station and onboard the offshore vessel. By means of advanced computation algorithms, Starfix.HP ensures a short initialisation time and robust performance with 10 to 20 centimetre accuracy.

Skyfix.XP
To ensure 100% redundancy of high precision GPS psoitioning dervices, Fugro Survey AS also offers Skyfix.XP. This system is based on orbit and clock corrections being transmitted over the link instead of traditional DGPS data. These orbit and clock corrections are generated by NASA / JPL using their independant set of reference stations. As with Starfix.HP, Skyfix.XP has a positioning accuracy of 10 to 20 cm.