May 2021
DCS Spatial Services has been engaged to upgrade all of the original AuSCOPE Tier 2 CORS sites across NSW for Geoscience Australia which will contribute to the Federal Government’s Positioning Australia program.
This vital upgrade ensures the currency and reliability of both Positioning Australia’s CORS network and CORSnet-NSW; a network of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) covering NSW.
In an increasingly digital world, positioning is essential to everyday life. The Federal Government’s Positioning Australia program is dedicated to delivering accurate positioning across the whole of the country.
In NSW, the Positioning Australia solution includes the Tier 2 CORS sites currently being upgraded by Spatial Services as well as the 173 CORSnet-NSW sites (owned and operated by Spatial Services), delivering innovation and efficiency across a range of sectors including agriculture, transport, emergency management, mining, engineering and logistics.
This is a program of work that has taken our survey team to the outmost reaches of the state. Most recently, they have been on the job at Ivanhoe in the Western Division of NSW, while upgrades at Port Kembla, Broken Hill and Tuross Head have already been completed.
Each site upgrade takes our team a week for the demolition and foundations then another week for the new installation, including travel.
Position cannot be compromised when it comes to CORS sites. At Ivanhoe, the team had to make room by removing the old NSW Rural Fire Service structure, which was originally a telephone exchange.
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| The telephone exchange has had multiple uses, being used as a farm shed, an RFS radio shed, a CORS shed and now a farm shed again. |
New concrete foundations and underground conduits were installed on the site. |
The concrete is allowed to cure for more than a week before a new cabinet is installed. |
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| Next the solar array is built and underground cables installed. | The meteorological station is put into position. |
The electronics are wired up. |
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| Our survey team then commissions and tests the site in conjunction with Geoscience Australia. After the site has been successfully tested, a switch from our receiver and cast to the Geoscience Australia equipment and cast is made.
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The completely upgraded CORS station playing its role in the network of CORS stations across NSW that deliver centimetre-level real-time positioning information. |