A public ESOC Navigation Support Office GNSS station participating in the IGS network
Location
The antenna is mounted on a concrete pillar at Faa'a airport, Tahiti
The equipment is hosted by Meteo France, following a convention established between ESA and Meteo France in 2005.
FAA1 was the first EGON station to be installed in the Pacific, and remains one of the most critical (i.e. isolated) stations in terms of supporting global coverage
History and evolution
The receiver is located in the Main Equipment Room of the station. A computer provides for the operation and remote control of the system.
The station has pressure, temperature and humidity data hourly available.
The communications are carried out using an ADSL connection.
The Ashtech micro Z receiver was tested and installed at the station in February 2005, plus an Ashtech Chokering antenna.
In October 2006 a Javad Legacy receiver was installed.
State of the art equipment
In December 2012 a Septentrio PolaRx4 receiver was installed and a Leica AR25.R4 antenna, providing multi-GNSS tracking from this location: GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Beidou and QZSS.
In October 2019 the receiver was upgraded to a Septentrio PolarRx5.
Photos
from 2012
FAA1 GNSS antenna
from 2006
Series of pictures showing the horizon mask (still with the old Ashtech antenna but the same pillar that is currently used)
