Reference Station Weighting and Frame Optimality in Minimally Constrained Networks

The aim of this paper is to present a general solution of the weight choice problem for the reference stations in minimally constrained network adjustment. Our treatment is based on the optimization of the accuracy of the estimated network coordinates over all possible choices of minimum constraints on the reference stations. The optimal criterion considers the joint effect of the data and datum noise on the estimated coordinates and it is implemented over an arbitrary subset of the network stations. The final solution leads to a flexible treatment of the datum choice problem by allowing the weight matrix of the reference stations to be tuned to various options regarding the frame quality in the adjusted network.