Recent Activities of the GGOS Standing Committee on Performance Simulations and Architectural Trade-Offs (PLATO)

The Standing Committee on Performance Simulations and Architectural Trade-Offs (PLATO) was established by the Bureau of Networks and Observations of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) in order to support – by prior performance analysis – activities to reach the GGOS requirements for the accuracy and stability of the terrestrial reference frame. Based on available data sets and simulated observations for further stations and satellite missions the committee studies the impact of technique-specific improvements, new stations, and additional co-locations in space on reference frame products. Simulation studies carried out so far show the importance of the individual station performance and additional stations for satellite laser ranging, the perspectives for lunar laser ranging assuming additional stations and reflectors, and the significant impact of the new VGOS antennas. Significant progress is achieved in processing VLBI satellite tracking data. New insights in technique-specific error sources were derived based on real data from short baselines. Regarding co-location in space PLATO members confirmed that E-GRASP could fulfill the GGOS requirements with reaching a geocenter and scale accuracy and stability of 1 mm and 0.1 mm/year, respectively.