Improving Ambiguity Resolution Rate with an Accurate Ionospheric Differential Correction

2008 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mardina Abdullah ◽  
Hal J. Strangeways ◽  
David M. A. Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Ambiguity Resolution ◽  
Elevation Angle ◽  
Reference Station ◽  
Single Frequency ◽  
Gps Measurements ◽  
Differential Correction ◽  
Resolution Rate ◽  
Differential Positioning ◽  
Range Determination

Ambiguity resolution is essential for precise range determination. As it is difficult to process, a good ionospheric model is essential to get unambiguous results or to reduce time to solve the ambiguities. In this paper, a developed model to determine the differential ionospheric error to sub-centimetre accuracy is described. As a function of elevation angle and TEC, the model is applicable at any location and only requires a single frequency receiver provided the TEC over the reference station is known. It has been evaluated using real GPS measurements at spaced stations in Glasgow (UK) and Stirling (UK), where the results showed good correlation. It was found that the variance ratio and reference variance of the ambiguity resolution rate and the quality of the differential positioning solution are improved. Significant improvements of more than 50% have also been found by correcting the differential ionospheric delay in the measurements for the estimated positions.

scholarly journals Single-epoch RTK performance assessment of tightly combined BDS-2 and newly complete BDS-3

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanke Liu ◽  
Mingkui Wu ◽  
Xiaohong Zhang ◽  
Wang Wang ◽  
Wei Ke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Performance Assessment ◽  
Success Rate ◽  
Ambiguity Resolution ◽  
Satellite System ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Single Frequency ◽  
Navigation Satellite ◽  
Short Baseline ◽  
Positioning Accuracy ◽  
Single Epoch

AbstractThe BeiDou global navigation satellite system (BDS-3) constellation deployment has been completed on June 23, 2020, with a full constellation comprising 30 satellites. In this study, we present the performance assessment of single-epoch Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning with tightly combined BeiDou regional navigation satellite system (BDS-2) and BDS-3. We first investigate whether code and phase Differential Inter-System Biases (DISBs) exist between the legacy B1I/B3I signals of BDS-3/BDS-2. It is discovered that the DISBs are in fact about zero for the baselines with the same or different receiver types at their endpoints. These results imply that BDS-3 and BDS-2 are fully interoperable and can be regarded as one constellation without additional DISBs when the legacy B1I/B3I signals are used for precise relative positioning. Then we preliminarily evaluate the single-epoch short baseline RTK performance of tightly combined BDS-2 and the newly completed BDS-3. The performance is evaluated through ambiguity resolution success rate, ambiguity dilution of precision, as well as positioning accuracy in kinematic and static modes using the datasets collected in Wuhan. Experimental results demonstrate that the current BDS-3 only solutions can deliver comparable ambiguity resolution performance and much better positioning accuracy with respect to BDS-2 only solutions. Moreover, the RTK performance is much improved with tightly combined BDS-3/BDS-2, particularly in challenging or harsh conditions. The single-frequency single-epoch tightly combined BDS-3/BDS-2 solution could deliver an ambiguity resolution success rate of 96.9% even with an elevation cut-off angle of 40°, indicating that the tightly combined BDS-3/BDS-2 could achieve superior RTK positioning performance in the Asia–Pacific region. Meanwhile, the three-dimensional (East/North/Up) positioning accuracy of BDS-3 only solution (0.52 cm/0.39 cm/2.14 cm) in the kinematic test is significantly better than that of the BDS-2 only solution (0.85 cm/1.02 cm/3.01 cm) due to the better geometry of the current BDS-3 constellation. The tightly combined BDS-3/BDS-2 solution can provide the positioning accuracy of 0.52 cm, 0.22 cm, and 1.80 cm, respectively.

scholarly journals Assessing the quality of ionospheric models through GNSS positioning error: methodology and results

GPS Solutions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrià Rovira-Garcia ◽  
Deimos Ibáñez-Segura ◽  
Raul Orús-Perez ◽  
José Miguel Juan ◽  
Jaume Sanz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Satellite System ◽  
Ionospheric Delay ◽  
Single Frequency ◽  
Positioning Error ◽  
Dual Frequency ◽  
Error Sources ◽  
Ionospheric Models ◽  
Evaluation Metric ◽  
Global Navigation Satellite

Abstract Single-frequency users of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) must correct for the ionospheric delay. These corrections are available from global ionospheric models (GIMs). Therefore, the accuracy of the GIM is important because the unmodeled or incorrectly part of ionospheric delay contributes to the positioning error of GNSS-based positioning. However, the positioning error of receivers located at known coordinates can be used to infer the accuracy of GIMs in a simple manner. This is why assessment of GIMs by means of the position domain is often used as an alternative to assessments in the ionospheric delay domain. The latter method requires accurate reference ionospheric values obtained from a network solution and complex geodetic modeling. However, evaluations using the positioning error method present several difficulties, as evidenced in recent works, that can lead to inconsistent results compared to the tests using the ionospheric delay domain. We analyze the reasons why such inconsistencies occur, applying both methodologies. We have computed the position of 34 permanent stations for the entire year of 2014 within the last Solar Maximum. The positioning tests have been done using code pseudoranges and carrier-phase leveled (CCL) measurements. We identify the error sources that make it difficult to distinguish the part of the positioning error that is attributable to the ionospheric correction: the measurement noise, pseudorange multipath, evaluation metric, and outliers. Once these error sources are considered, we obtain equivalent results to those found in the ionospheric delay domain assessments. Accurate GIMs can provide single-frequency navigation positioning at the decimeter level using CCL measurements and better positions than those obtained using the dual-frequency ionospheric-free combination of pseudoranges. Finally, some recommendations are provided for further studies of ionospheric models using the position domain method.

scholarly journals Sensitivity of GNSS tropospheric gradients to processing options

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Kačmařík ◽  
Jan Douša ◽  
Florian Zus ◽  
Pavel Václavovic ◽  
Kyriakos Balidakis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Elevation Angle ◽  
Mapping Function ◽  
Global Navigation Satellite Systems ◽  
Gradient Estimates ◽  
Post Processing ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Mapping Functions ◽  
Gradient Mapping

Abstract. An analysis of processing settings impacts on estimated tropospheric gradients is presented. The study is based on the benchmark data set collected within the COST GNSS4SWEC action with observations from 430 Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) reference stations in central Europe for May and June 2013. Tropospheric gradients were estimated in eight different variants of GNSS data processing using precise point positioning (PPP) with the G-Nut/Tefnut software. The impacts of the gradient mapping function, elevation cut-off angle, GNSS constellation, observation elevation-dependent weighting and real-time versus post-processing mode were assessed by comparing the variants by each to other and by evaluating them with respect to tropospheric gradients derived from two numerical weather models (NWMs). Tropospheric gradients estimated in post-processing GNSS solutions using final products were in good agreement with NWM outputs. The quality of high-resolution gradients estimated in (near-)real-time PPP analysis still remains a challenging task due to the quality of the real-time orbit and clock corrections. Comparisons of GNSS and NWM gradients suggest the 3∘ elevation angle cut-off and GPS+GLONASS constellation for obtaining optimal gradient estimates provided precise models for antenna-phase centre offsets and variations, and tropospheric mapping functions are applied for low-elevation observations. Finally, systematic errors can affect the gradient components solely due to the use of different gradient mapping functions, and still depending on observation elevation-dependent weighting. A latitudinal tilting of the troposphere in a global scale causes a systematic difference of up to 0.3 mm in the north-gradient component, while large local gradients, usually pointing in a direction of increasing humidity, can cause differences of up to 1.0 mm (or even more in extreme cases) in any component depending on the actual direction of the gradient. Although the Bar-Sever gradient mapping function provided slightly better results in some aspects, it is not possible to give any strong recommendation on the gradient mapping function selection.

scholarly journals Single-Frequency GPS/BDS RTK and INS Ambiguity Resolution and Positioning Performance Enhanced with Positional Polynomial Fitting Constraint

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 2374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hang Yu ◽  
Houzeng Han ◽  
Jian Wang ◽  
Haiping Xiao ◽  
Chuanyang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Ambiguity Resolution ◽  
Inertial Measurement Unit ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Satellite System ◽  
Single Frequency ◽  
Measurement Unit ◽  
Polynomial Fitting ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Successful Resolution ◽  
System Configurations

Single-frequency GPS/BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) real-time kinematic (RTK) and inertial navigation system (INS) integration has wide range of application prospects due to the global deployment of GPS along with the rapid development of BDS. The instantaneous single-frequency ambiguity resolution will be significantly improved by the combined GPS/BDS and INS configuration. Owing to road conditions and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) on the carrier not being rigidly mounted, biased measurements in the IMU will occasionally emerge, leading to biased INS predictions. However, bias or inaccuracy from INS-predicted position can prevent the successful resolution of the whole set of ambiguities. This paper proposes the use of a positional polynomial fitting (PPF) constraint to compensate for the epochs with abnormal INS predictions. The aid from PPF is provided at two levels, i.e., at the ambiguity resolution (AR) level and at the solution level. In order to further increase the availability of ambiguity-fixed positioning solutions, a partial ambiguity resolution (PAR) strategy is introduced when full ambiguity resolution (FAR) fails. A field vehicular experiment was performed to show the validity of the proposed PPF-aided method by comparing different schemes regarding different INS-aided satellite system configurations, different AR strategies, and whether the PPF-aided method was adopted. The results show that the most attractive scheme is to combine the PAR with the PPF-aided dual-constellation and INS integration.

scholarly journals Integrity Monitoring for Horizontal RTK Positioning: New Weighting Model and Overbounding CDF in Open-Sky and Suburban Scenarios

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kan Wang ◽  
Ahmed El-Mowafy ◽  
Chris Rizos ◽  
Jinling Wang
Keyword(s):  
Ambiguity Resolution ◽  
Elevation Angle ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Cumulative Distribution ◽  
Correlated Errors ◽  
Short Baseline ◽  
Integrity Monitoring ◽  
Misleading Information ◽  
Spatially Correlated ◽  
Positioning Errors

Integrity monitoring is an essential task for ensuring the safety of positioning services. Under a selected probability of hazardous misleading information, the protection levels (PLs) are computed according to a considered threat model to bound the positioning errors. A warning message is sent to users when the PL exceeds a pre-set alert limit (AL). In the short-baseline real-time relative kinematic positioning, the spatially correlated errors, such as the the orbital errors and the atmospheric delays are significantly reduced. However, the remaining atmospheric residuals and the multipath that are not considered in the observation model could directly bias the positioning results. In this contribution, these biases are analysed with the focus put on the multipath effects in different measurement environments. A new observation weighting model considering both the elevation angle and the signal-to-noise ratios is developed and their impacts on the positional results are investigated. The coefficients of the proposed weighting model are determined for the open-sky and the suburban scenarios with the positional benefits maximised. Next, the overbounding excess-mass cumulative distribution functions (EMCs) are searched on the between-receiver level for the weighted phase and code observations in these two scenarios. Based on the mean and standard deviations of these EMCs, horizontal protection levels (HPLs) are computed for the ambiguity-fixed solutions of real experiments. The HPLs are compared with the horizontal positioning errors (HPEs) and the horizontal ALs (HALs). Using the sequential exclusion algorithm developed for the ambiguity resolution in this contribution, the full ambiguity resolution can be achieved in around 100% and 95% of the time for the open-sky and the suburban scenarios, respectively. The corresponding HPLs of the ambiguity-fixed solutions are at the sub-dm to dm-level for both scenarios, and all the valid ambiguity-fixed HPLs are below a HAL of 0.5 m. For the suburban scenario with more complicated multipath environments, the HPLs increase by considering extra biases to account for multipath under a certain elevation threshold. In complicated multipath environments, when this elevation threshold is set to 30 degrees, the availability of the ambiguity-fixed solutions could decrease to below 50% for applications requiring HAL as low as 0.1 m.

Conversion of a Telecommunications Antenna into a Radio Telescope: Laser Scanner Measurements of Optics and Dish Surface Quality of a Cassegrain Antenna

2019 ◽  
Vol 08 (03) ◽  
pp. 1950010
Author(s):  
Asif Rasha ◽  
Tim Natusch ◽  
Christophe Granet ◽  
Sergei Gulyaev
Keyword(s):  
Surface Quality ◽  
Radio Telescope ◽  
Surface Deformation ◽  
Elevation Angle ◽  
Laser Scanner ◽  
Length Variation ◽  
Cassegrain Antenna ◽  
Telescope Optics

A number of countries have identified redundant large telecommunications antennas (TA) and indicated their intention to convert them into radio telescopes (RT). As the efficiency of a parabolic dish radio telescope depends on its surface quality and optical alignment, a careful assessment of these properties should be undertaken before conversion. Here, as a case study, we describe a laser scanning (LS) procedure we developed and used for the Warkworth 30[Formula: see text]m Cassegrain antenna. To investigate gravity-induced mechanical deformation of the antenna surfaces and structure, we conducted measurements at elevation angles ranging from 6 to 90 degrees. The ability of a laser scanner to survey its nominal [Formula: see text] steradian surroundings allows for simultaneous study of the main and subreflectors, readily permitting a dynamic investigation of variation of the telescope optics as elevation changes occur. In particular, the method we present here allows determination of the surface quality of both main and subreflectors, the displacement between centers of the reflectors, their relative rotations and focal length variation as a function of elevation angle. We discuss details of settings, measurements, data processing and analysis focusing on possible difficulties and pitfalls. In our case study, no significant elevation-dependent surface deformation of the reflectors was observed, with the overall standard deviation of the postfit residuals varying between 1.0 and 1.7[Formula: see text]mm as elevation angle changes from 90∘ to 6∘, respectively. We, therefore, conclude that in our case both the main reflector and the subreflector, as well as the telescope optics, remain unaffected by gravitational deformation within the accuracy of the measurements, a conclusion that can possibly be extended to the similar class of TA currently considered for conversion.

Single Frequency Multipath Mitigation Based On Wavelet Analysis

2007 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Aram ◽  
Ahmed El-Rabbany ◽  
Sri Krishnan ◽  
Alagan Anpalagan
Keyword(s):  
Wavelet Analysis ◽  
Elevation Angle ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Single Frequency ◽  
Multipath Mitigation ◽  
Error Sources ◽  
Data Scatter ◽  
Residual Values ◽  
Multipath Environment ◽  
The One

Multipath is still one of the major error sources that degrades the accuracy of GPS positioning. The amount of multipath is highly dependent on the antenna's environment, which makes it difficult to isolate. Usually there is at least one in-view satellite which is more susceptible to multipath, particularly the one with the lowest elevation angle. To increase the positioning the best satellites must be selected (i.e. by least square or multipath mitigation) for computing a position. In this paper we propose an algorithm which picks up the best satellites (when there are more than four satellites in view) based on wavelet analysis for calculating a position. In this experiment, code and carrier measurements were collected in 15-minute segments by exploiting a single frequency (L1), stationary, navigation-grade receiver in a high-multipath environment. The magnitudes of these pseudoranges were often inflated by multipath error. We then post-processed the received data by applying wavelet filtering to the residuals (code minus carrier) to approximate the multipath values, and compute the receiver's position based on the selected satellites. Satellites were selected based on the residual values. To compare the results with the raw measurements, statistical elements were computed. The results showed significant improvement in variance of the estimated positions and, most importantly, a normalization of the data scatter-distribution was observed.

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