RINEX File Header Information

R2026b

RINEX file header information describes metadata contained in the header section of a RINEX file. This metadata provides information about the file, including the file type, satellite systems present, and the definitions of navigation messages or observation data recorded in the file. The set of available header fields depends on the type and version of the RINEX file and the header entries present in the file, and applies to both RINEX v3 and RINEX v4 files.

Unlike navigation data, RINEX header information uses a mostly consistent structure across RINEX version 3 and version 4 files. However, RINEX v4 does include possible header entries depending on the contents of the file.

Both the rinexread and rinexinfo functions return this header information as a structure.

Navigation File Header Information

If the specified RINEX file is a navigation message file, the header output is a structure with these fields:

Field	Type	Description
FileName	string	Name of the file. This field is present if you use rinexinfo to extract the header data.
FileSize	double	File size in bytes. This field is present if you use rinexinfo to extract the header data.
FileVersion	double	RINEX file version.
FileSatelliteSystem	char	'G' — GPS 'R' — GLONASS 'S' — SBAS 'E' — Galileo 'C' — BeiDou 'J' — QZSS 'I' — IRNSS 'M' — Mixed
FileType	char	File type, specified as either 'N' for navigation message files and 'O' for observation data files.
PGM	string	Name of the program that created the file
RunBy	string	Name of the agency that created the file
CreationDate	string	Date and time of file creation
Comments (Optional)	string	Comment lines from file header
IonosphericCorrections (Optional)	structure array	An array of structures with a number of elements equal to the number of IONOSPHERIC CORR header lines in the file. Each structure has the CorrectionType, Parameters, TimeMark, and SVID fields. TimeMark and SVID are optional for all satellite systems except BeiDou. Correction type: GAL — Galileo ai0 to ai2 GPSA — GPS alpha0 to alpha3 GPSB — GPS beta0 to beta3 QZSA — QZS alpha0 to alpha3 QZSB — QZS beta0 to beta3 BDSA — BDS alpha0 to alpha3 BDSB — BDS beta0 to beta3 IRNA — NavIC/IRNSS alpha0 to alpha3 IRNB — NavIC/IRNSS beta0 to beta3 Parameters: GAL — ai0, ai1, ai2, Blank GPS — alpha0 to alpha3 or beta0 to beta3 QZS — alpha0 to alpha3 or beta0 to beta3 BDS — alpha0 to alpha3 or beta0 to beta3 IRN — alpha0 to alpha3 or beta0 to beta3 Time mark, Transmission Time (seconds of week) converted to hours of day and then to A—X. A is 00h—01h, B is 01h—02h, …, X is 23—24h satellite system time. SV ID, identify which satellite provided the ionospheric parameters
TimeSystemCorrections	structure	An array of structures with a number of elements equal to the number of TIME SYSTEM CORR header lines in the file. Each structure has the CorrectionType, Parameters, ReferenceTime, ReferenceWeekNumber, SVID, and UTCID fields. Correction type: GPUT = GPS - UTC (a0, a1) GLUT = GLO - UTC (a0 = -TauC, a1 = zero) GAUT = GAL - UTC ( a0, a1) BDUT = BDS - UTC (a0 = A0UTC, a1 = A1UTC ) QZUT = QZS - UTC (a0, a1) IRUT = IRN - UTC (a0 = A0UTC, a1 = A1UTC ) SBUT = SBAS - UTC (a0, a1) GLGP = GLO - GPS (a0 = -TauGPS, a1 = zero) GAGP = GAL - GPS (a0 = A0G, a1 = A1G for GAL INAV/FNAV; a0 = –A0GGTO, a1 = –A1 GGTO for GPS CNAV) QZGP = QZS - GPS (a0, a1) IRGP = IRN - GPS (a0 = A0, a1 = A1 ) Parameters: a0, a1 coefficients of linear polynomial Δt = a0 + a1 · (t - tref) for fractional part (excluding leap seconds) of time system difference (a0; sec, a1; sec/sec) Reference time (T) for polynomial (Seconds into GPS/GAL/BDS/QZS/IRN/SBAS week) Reference week number (W) GPS/GAL/QZS/IRN/SBAS week aligned to GPS, continuous number from 6-Jan-1980 GLONASS T and W zero. BDS week, continuous from: 1-Jan-2006 SV ID, System identifier and PRN/slot number ‘snn’ of the GNSS satellite broadcasting the time system difference or SBAS satellite broadcasting the MT12. Use EGNOS, WAAS, or MSAS for SBAS time differences from MT17. UTC Identifier 0 if unknown 1 = UTC(NIST) 2 = UTC(USNO) 3 = UTC(SU) 4 = UTC(BIPM) 5 = UTC(Europe Lab) 6 = UTC(CRL) 7 = UTC(NTSC) (BDS) >7 = not assigned yet.
LeapSecondParameters (Optional)	structure	Leap second parameters in a structure with fields LeapSeconds, DeltaTimeLeapSeconds, WeekNumber, DayNumber, and TimeSystemID . LeapSeconds — Current number of leap seconds. DeltaTimeLeapSeconds — Future or past leap seconds. For example, it is future leap seconds if the week and day numbers are in the future. WeekNumber — For GPS, GAL, QZS, and IRN, number of weeks since January 6, 1980. For BDS, it is number of weeks since January 1, 2006. DayNumber — The day number is the GPS or BeiDou day before the leap second. For GPS, this number is in the range [1, 7]. For BeiDou, this number is in the range [0, 6]. TimeSystemID — Only "GPS" and "BDT" are valid values. If blank the field defaults to "GPS".

For RINEX v4 navigation files, the header structure may include these fields in addition to the fields listed for RINEX v3 navigation files.

Field	Type	Description
NumMergedFiles (Optional)	double	Number of files merged. This line appears when the filename is a merged navigation file.
DOI (Optional)	string array	Digital object identifier (DOI) for data citation
LicenseOfUse (Optional)	string array	Name of license and a link to the specific version of the license. Use standard data licenses from https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.
StationInformation (Optional)	string array	One or more persistent links to station metadata describing the receiver, antenna, and monument configuration. Station metadata can be specified in formats such as site logs or GeodesyML.

Note that optional fields are not present in the structure unless specified in the RINEX file.

Observation File Header Information

If the specified RINEX file is an observation data file, the output is a structure with these fields:

Field	Type	Entry
FileName	string	Name of the file. This field is present if you use rinexinfo to extract the header data.
FileSize	double	File size in bytes. This field is present if you use rinexinfo to extract the header data.
FileVersion	double	RINEX file version.
FileSatelliteSystem	char	'G' — GPS 'R' — GLONASS 'S' — SBAS 'E' — Galileo 'C' — BeiDou 'J' — QZSS 'I' — IRNSS 'M' — Mixed
FileType	char	File type, specified as either 'N' for navigation message files and 'O' for observation data files.
PGM	string	Name of the program that created the file
RunBy	string	Name of the agency that created the file
CreationDate	string	Date and time of file creation
Comments (Optional)	string	Comment lines from file header
MarkerName	string	Name of antenna marker
MarkerNumber (Optional)	string	Number of antenna marker
MarkerType (Optional for GEODETIC and NON_GEODETIC marker types)	string	Type of marker
Observer	string	Name of observer
Agency	string	Name of agency
ReceiverNumber	string	Receiver number
ReceiverType	string	Receiver type
ReceiverVersion	string	Receiver version
AntennaNumber	string	Antenna number
AntennaType	string	Antenna type
ApproxPosition	double	Approximate marker position in meters.
AntennaDeltaHEN	double	Height of the antenna reference point (ARP) above marker, and horizontal eccentricity of ARP relative to marker (East/North) in meters.
AntennaDeltaXYZ	double	Position of antenna reference point for antenna on vehicle in meters.
AntennaPhaseCenter (Optional)	structure array	A structure array with number of elements equal to the number of ANTENNA: PHASECENTER header lines in the file. Each structure has SatelliteSystem, ObservationCode, and PhaseCenterfields. Where: SatelliteSystem — The specified satellite system. ObservationCode — The observation code. See Observation Type Descriptors for more information. PhaseCenter — The average phase center position with respect to the antenna reference point, in meters, North/East/Up for fixed station, XYZbody-fixed system for a vehicle.
AntennaBSightXYZ	double	Direction of the vertical antenna axis toward the GNSS satellites. If the antenna is on a vehicle, the direction is a unit vector in a body-fixed coordinate system. If the antenna is a tilted antenna on fixed station, the direction is a unit vector in East-North-Up (ENU) left-handed system.
AntennaZeroDirXYZ (Optional)	double	Zero direction of the antenna. If the antenna is on a vehicle, the zero direction is unit vector is in a body-fixed coordinate system. If the tilted antenna is on a fixed station, the zero direction is a unit vector in East-North-Up (ENU) left-handed system.
CenterOfMassXYZ	double	Current center of mass of the vehicle in a body-fixed coordinate system, in meters.
ObservationTypes	structure array	A structure array with number of elements equal to the number of satellite systems in the file. Each structure has SatelliteSystem and Descriptors fields. Where: SatelliteSystem — String specifying the satellite system. Descriptors — String array of 3-element observation descriptors. The first element is the Type, the second is the Band, and the third is the Attribute. See Observation Type Descriptors for more information.
SignalStrengthUnit (Optional)	string	Unit of the carrier to noise ratio observables SNN (if present) DBHZ: S/N given in dbHz.
Interval (Optional)	double	Observation interval in seconds.
FirstObsTime (Optional, unless RINEX file is a mixed GNSS file)	datetime	Time of first observation record. Time systems are: GPS — GPS time system GLO — UTC time system GAL — Galileo time system QZS — QZSS time system BDT — BDS time system IRN — NavIC/IRNSS time system
HasReceiverClockOffset (Optional, unless, the epoch lines of the data section reports clock offsets)	logical	Epoch, code, and phase are corrected by applying the real-time-derived receiver clock offset.
DCBS (Optional)	structure array	An array with number of elements equal to number of satellite systems in the file. Each structure has SatelliteSystem, Program, and Source fields. Where: SatelliteSystem — String specifying satellite system Program — String specifying the program used to apply differential code bias corrections (DCBS) Source — String URL of source of corrections
PCVS (Optional)	structure array	An array with number of elements equal to number of satellite systems in the file. Each structure has SatelliteSystem, Program, and Source fields. Where: SatelliteSystem — String specifying satellite system Program — String specifying the program used to apply phase center variation corrections (PCVS) Source — String URL of source of corrections
ScaleFactor	structure array	An array with number of elements equal to number of “SYS / SCALE FACTOR” header lines in the file. Each structure has SatelliteSystem, Factor, and ObservationTypes fields. Where: SatelliteSystem — String specifying satellite system Factor — is a factor to divide stored observations with before use ObservationTypes — is a list of observation types
PhaseShift (Optional)	structure array	An array with number of elements equal to number of “SYS / PHASE SHIFT” header lines in the file. Each structure has SatelliteSystem, ObservationType, Correction, SatelliteIDs fields. Where: SatelliteSystem — String specifying the satellite system. ObservationType — String specifying carrier phase observation code. Correction — Value of correction applied (cycles). SatelliteIDs — String array of satellites where correction is applied.
GLONASSFrequencyNumbers (Optional unless using files with GLONASS satellites)	structure	A structure with fields Slot and FrequencyNumber. Where: Slot — String array of satellite numbers (system code (R), slot) FrequencyNumber — Vector of integer doubles.
GLONASSCodePhaseBias	structure	A structure with fields ObservationTypes and Bias. Where: ObservationTypes — String array of observation types. Valid values are “C1C”, “C1P”, “C2C”, or “C2P”. Bias — Vector of code phase bias corrections in meters.
LeapSecondParameters (Optional)	structure	Leap second parameters in a structure with fields LeapSeconds, DeltaTimeLeapSeconds, WeekNumber, DayNumber, and TimeSystemID . LeapSeconds — Current number of leap seconds. DeltaTimeLeapSeconds — Future or past leap seconds. For example, it is future leap seconds if the week and day numbers are in the future. WeekNumber — For GPS, GAL, QZS, and IRN, number of weeks since January 6, 1980. For BDS, it is number of weeks since January 1, 2006. DayNumber — The day number is the GPS or BeiDou day before the leap second. For GPS, this number is in the range [1, 7]. For Beidou, this number is in the range [0, 6]. TimeSystemID — Only "GPS" and "BDT" are valid values. If blank the field defaults to "GPS".
NumSatellites (Optional)	double	Number of satellites, for which observations are stored in the file.
TotalObservations (Optional)	structure array	An array of structure with the number of elements equal to the number of PRN / # OF OBS header lines in the file. Each structure has a SatelliteID and NumObservations field.

Note that optional fields are not present in the structure unless specified in the RINEX file.