RINEXFormat

RINEX, short for Receiver Independent Exchange Format, is a family of plain-text data formats used to store and exchange GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) observations and navigation data. It is designed to be receiver independent, allowing raw data to be shared and processed across different manufacturers and software. The standard is maintained by the International GNSS Service (IGS) and widely adopted in academic, governmental, and commercial GNSS workflows. RINEX supports multiple GNSS constellations and updated versions have expanded its scope to accommodate new systems and data types.

The RINEX family includes several file types. The most common are the observation files, typically with a .obs extension, which contain time-tagged carrier-phase, pseudorange, Doppler, and signal strength measurements for each satellite observed. Navigation or ephemeris files, usually with a .nav extension, provide satellite orbit and clock information needed to compute positions. Additional file types exist for meteorological data and other specialized observations, and later versions expanded support for multiple GNSS constellations such as GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, and others.

Files begin with a header section that describes the data contents, receiver and antenna information, time system, observation types, and other metadata. The header is followed by epoch-by-epoch observation data, where each epoch line lists the satellites observed and their corresponding measured values in a fixed, header-defined order. Navigation files present a structured set of satellite ephemeris parameters and clock corrections.

RINEX is widely used for GNSS data processing, precise positioning, orbit determination, and scientific research. Its text-based format facilitates archiving and interoperability, though newer tools may also support compact binary encodings.