Impact of GPS/BDS Satellite Attitude Quaternions on Precise Point Positioning with Ambiguity Resolution

Precise point positioning with ambiguity resolution (PPP-AR) based on multiple global navigation satellite system (multi-GNSS) constellations is an important high-precision positioning tool. However, some unmodeled satellite and receiver biases (such as errors in satellite attitude) make it difficult to fix carrier-phase ambiguities. In order to fix ambiguities of eclipsing satellites, accurate integer clock and satellite attitude products (i.e., attitude quaternion) have been provided by the International GNSS Service (IGS). Nevertheless, the quality of these products and their positioning performance in multi-GNSS PPP-AR have not been investigated yet. Using the PRIDE PPP-AR II software associated with the corresponding rapid satellite orbit, integer clock and attitude quaternion products of Wuhan University (WUM), we carried out GPS/BDS PPP-AR using 30 days of data in an eclipsing season of 2020. We found that about 75% of GPS, 60% of BDS-2 and 57% of BDS-3 narrow-lane ambiguity residuals after integer clock corrections fall within ±0.1 cycles in the case of using nominal attitudes. However, when using attitude quaternions, these percentages will rise to 80% for GPS, 70% for BDS-2 and 60% for BDS-3. GPS/BDS daily kinematic PPP-AR after integer clock and nominal attitude corrections can usually achieve a positioning precision of about 10, 10 and 30 mm for the east, north and up components, respectively. In contrast, the counterparts are 8, 8 and 20 mm when using attitude quaternions. Compared with the case of using attitude quaternions only at the network end for the integer clock estimation, using attitude quaternions only at the user end shows a pronounced improvement of 15% in the east component and less than 10% in the north and up components. Therefore, we suggest PPP users apply integer clock and satellite attitude quaternion products to realize more efficient ambiguity fixing, especially in satellite eclipsing seasons.

Download Full-text

An alternative integer recovery clock method for precise point positioning with ambiguity resolution

Satellite Navigation ◽

10.1186/s43020-020-00028-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xingyu Chen

Keyword(s):

Ambiguity Resolution ◽

Precise Point Positioning ◽

Satellite System ◽

International Gnss Service ◽

East Component ◽

The Mean ◽

Point Positioning ◽

Gnss Measurements ◽

Global Navigation Satellite ◽

Globally Distributed

AbstractWhen using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements, Precise Point Positioning with Ambiguity Resolution (PPP-AR) has been a popular substitute for relative positioning in geoscience applications. Compared with the Fractional Cycle Biases (FCB) method, the processing of Integer Recovery Clocks (IRC) products estimate, especially for ambiguity datum fixing, is so complex that its application has been greatly limited. Based on the concept of “carrier range”, we introduce an efficient way to implement the IRC method, termed as the alternative IRC method in this paper. In this method, the fixed ambiguities derived from PPP-AR using the FCB method, and not a fixed-ambiguity datum, are fixed in the IRC products estimate. This greatly reduces the complexity of implementing the IRC method and does not influence the accuracy of positioning. The alternative IRC method outperforms the FCB method by corroborating the consistency of daily positions in nature with international GNSS service weekly solution. To confirm this improvement, global positioning system measurements acquired over a year (2016) from approximately 500 globally distributed stations were processed. The accuracy of IRC products is approximately 20 ps and is highly stable for this year. Moreover, comparing the positioning accuracy of the FCB method to the alternative IRC method, we find that the mean root mean square over the year falls evidently from 2.03 to 1.65 mm at the east component. Therefore, we suggest that the alternative IRC method should be implemented when estimate IRC products.

Download Full-text

Real-Time Precise Point Positioning Using Orbit and Clock Corrections as Quasi-Observations for Improved Detection of Faults

Journal of Navigation ◽

10.1017/s0373463317001023 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 71 (4) ◽

pp. 769-787 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Ahmed El-Mowafy

Keyword(s):

Real Time ◽

Precise Point Positioning ◽

Exclusion Process ◽

Satellite Orbit ◽

Satellite System ◽

Navigation Satellite ◽

System Service ◽

Point Positioning ◽

Predicted Values ◽

Global Navigation Satellite

Real-time Precise Point Positioning (PPP) relies on the use of accurate satellite orbit and clock corrections. If these corrections contain large errors or faults, either from the system or by meaconing, they will adversely affect positioning. Therefore, such faults have to be detected and excluded. In traditional PPP, measurements that have faulty corrections are typically excluded as they are merged together. In this contribution, a new PPP model that encompasses the orbit and clock corrections as quasi-observations is presented such that they undergo the fault detection and exclusion process separate from the observations. This enables the use of measurements that have faulty corrections along with predicted values of these corrections in place of the excluded ones. Moreover, the proposed approach allows for inclusion of the complete stochastic information of the corrections. To facilitate modelling of the orbit and clock corrections as quasi-observations, International Global Navigation Satellite System Service (IGS) real-time corrections were characterised over a six-month period. The proposed method is validated and its benefits are demonstrated at two sites using three days of data.

Download Full-text

Consideration of GLONASS Inter-Frequency Code Biases in Precise Point Positioning (PPP) International Time Transfer

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app8081254 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (8) ◽

pp. 1254 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Yulong Ge ◽

WeiJin Qin ◽

Xinyun Cao ◽

Feng Zhou ◽

Shengli Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Precise Point Positioning ◽

Satellite Observation ◽

Satellite System ◽

Observation Data ◽

Time Transfer ◽

International Gnss Service ◽

Frequency Code ◽

Glonass Satellite ◽

Point Positioning ◽

Global Navigation Satellite

International time transfer based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) precise point positioning (PPP) is influenced by inter-frequency code biases (IFCBs) because of the application of frequency division multiple access technique. This work seeks to gain insight into the influence of GLONASS IFCBs on international time transfer based on GLONASS-only PPP. With a re-parameterization process, three IFCB handling schemes are proposed: neglecting IFCBs, estimating IFCB for each GLONASS frequency number, and estimating IFCB for each GLONASS satellite. Observation data collected from 39 globally distributed stations in a 71-day period (DOY 227–297, 2017) was exclusively processed. For the comparison reason, Global Positioning System (GPS)-only PPP solutions were regarded as reference values. The clock differences derived from GPS- and GLONASS-only PPP solutions were then analyzed. The experimental results demonstrated that considering GLONASS IFCBs could reduce standard deviation (STD) of the clock differences for both identical receiver types and mixed receiver types, of which reduction was from 3.3% to 62.6%. Furthermore, compared with neglecting IFCBs, STD of the clock differences with estimating IFCB for each GLONASS satellite in coordinate-fixed mode was reduced by more than 30% from 0.30 to 0.20 ns, and by 10% from 0.40 to 0.35 ns, for 1-day arc solutions and 10-day arc solutions, respectively. Moreover, different precise products from three International GNSS Service (IGS) analysis centers were also evaluated. Even though different IFCB handling schemes were adopted in GLONASS satellite clock estimation, our numerical results showed that international time transfer on the basis of estimating IFCB for each GLONASS satellite better than the other two processing schemes. To achieve high-precision GLONASS-only PPP-based international time transfer, it is highly recommended to estimate IFCB for each GLONASS satellite.

Download Full-text

Performance Analysis of GPS/GLONASS Precise Point Positioning

GEOMATICA ◽

10.5623/cig2013-049 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 67 (4) ◽

pp. 237-242 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mohamed Azab ◽

Ahmed El-Rabbany ◽

M. Nabil Shoukry ◽

Ramadan Khalil ◽

Akram Afifi

Keyword(s):

Precise Point Positioning ◽

Satellite System ◽

Data Sets ◽

Dual Frequency ◽

International Gnss Service ◽

Positioning Systems ◽

Processing Strategies ◽

Satellite Visibility ◽

Point Positioning ◽

Global Navigation Satellite

Precise Point Positioning (PPP) with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) has attracted the attention of many researchers over the past decade. Recently, the Russian global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) has been modernized and restored to near full constellation status, which has made it more attractive for positioning and navigation. Having two healthy systems, namely GPS and GLONASS provides a combination of both constellations, which in turn promises to improve the availability, positioning accuracy, and reliability of PPP solutions. This study investigates the effect of combining GPS and GLONASS dual-frequency measurements on the static PPP solution and its sensitivity to different processing strategies. Many data sets from five globally distributed International GNSS Service (IGS) tracking stations were processed using the Bernese GPS software package. The addition of GLONASS constellation improved the satellite visibility and geometry by more than 60%, and 40%, respectively, and improves the positioning convergence by up to 41%, 38%, and 19% in east, north, and up directions, respectively.

Download Full-text

GLONASS Aided GPS Ambiguity Fixed Precise Point Positioning

Journal of Navigation ◽

10.1017/s0373463313000052 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 66 (3) ◽

pp. 399-416 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Altti Jokinen ◽

Shaojun Feng ◽

Wolfgang Schuster ◽

Washington Ochieng ◽

Chris Hide ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ambiguity Resolution ◽

Precise Point Positioning ◽

Satellite System ◽

Integer Ambiguity ◽

Convergence Time ◽

Reference Network ◽

Positioning Errors ◽

Point Positioning ◽

Time Required ◽

Global Navigation Satellite

The Precise Point Positioning (PPP) concept enables centimetre-level positioning accuracy by employing one Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver. The main advantage of PPP over conventional Real Time Kinematic (cRTK) methods is that a local reference network infrastructure is not required. Only a global reference network with approximately 50 stations is needed because reference GNSS data is required for generating precise error correction products for PPP. However, the current implementation of PPP is not suitable for some applications due to the long time period (i.e. convergence time of up to 60 minutes) required to obtain an accurate position solution. This paper presents a new method to reduce the time required for initial integer ambiguity resolution and to improve position accuracy. It is based on combining GPS and GLONASS measurements to calculate the float ambiguity positioning solution initially, followed by the resolution of GPS integer ambiguities.The results show that using the GPS/GLONASS float solution can, on average, reduce the time to initial GPS ambiguity resolution by approximately 5% compared to using the GPS float solution alone. In addition, average vertical and horizontal positioning errors at the initial ambiguity resolution epoch can be reduced by approximately 17% and 4%, respectively.

Download Full-text

Evaluation and Application of the GPS Code Observable in Precise Point Positioning

Journal of Navigation ◽

10.1017/s0373463319000274 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 72 (06) ◽

pp. 1633-1648

Author(s):

Haojun Li ◽

Jingxin Xiao ◽

Bofeng Li

Keyword(s):

Precise Point Positioning ◽

Satellite System ◽

Convergence Time ◽

The North ◽

Global Positioning ◽

Gnss Receivers ◽

Point Positioning ◽

Global Navigation Satellite ◽

Accumulation Characteristic ◽

Better Than

The accuracy of the Global Positioning System (GPS) observable, especially for the code observable, has improved with the development of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver technology. An evaluation of the GPS code observable is presented in this paper, together with a stochastic model for the code and phase observables in Precise Point Positioning (PPP), established using the evaluated results. The results show that the code observables of Leica GNSS receivers are generally better than those of some other brand receivers and the Root Mean Square (RMS) for the code observables of the Leica GRX1200PRO, which includes the multipath effect, reaches 0·71 m, although Coarse/Acquisition (C/A) code observables are tracked. The static positioning of the code observable can reach centimetre level and the convergence time for the JPLM station is just 2·5 hours. The positioning results show that it is difficult to converge the Up direction to the centimetre level, compared with the North and East directions. The results show that static positioning can be correlated with the accumulation characteristic of the error for the code observable, while that that of the kinematic mode can be correlated to the error value. The shortened PPP convergence times verify that the presented stochastic models are effective.

Download Full-text

Single-frequency Ionosphere-free Precise Point Positioning Using Combined GPS and GLONASS Observations

Journal of Navigation ◽

10.1017/s0373463313000039 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 66 (3) ◽

pp. 417-434 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Changsheng Cai ◽

Zhizhao Liu ◽

Xiaomin Luo

Keyword(s):

Precise Point Positioning ◽

Low Cost ◽

Satellite Orbit ◽

Satellite System ◽

Convergence Time ◽

Single Frequency ◽

Positioning Accuracy ◽

Clock Correction ◽

Point Positioning ◽

Global Navigation Satellite

Single-frequency Precise Point Positioning (PPP) using a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) has been attracting increasing interest in recent years due to its low cost and large number of users. Currently, the single-frequency PPP technique is mainly implemented using GPS observations. In order to improve the positioning accuracy and reduce the convergence time, we propose the combined GPS/GLONASS Single-Frequency (GGSF) PPP approach. The approach is based on the GRoup And PHase Ionospheric Correction (GRAPHIC) to remove the ionospheric effect. The performance of the GGSF PPP was tested using both static and kinematic datasets as well as different types of precise satellite orbit and clock correction data, and compared with GPS-only and GLONASS-only PPP solutions. The results show that the GGSF PPP accuracy degrades by a few centimetres using rapid/ultra-rapid products compared with final products. For the static GGSF PPP, the position filter typically converges at 71, 33 and 59 minutes in the East, North and Up directions, respectively. The corresponding positioning accuracies are 0·057, 0·028 and 0·121 m in the East, North and Up directions. Both positioning accuracy and convergence time have been improved by approximately 30% in comparison to the results from GPS-only or GLONASS-only single-frequency PPP. A kinematic GGSF PPP test was conducted and the results illustrate even more significant benefits of increased accuracy and reliability of PPP solutions by integrating GPS and GLONASS signals.

Download Full-text

Performance Analysis of Static Precise Point Positioning Using Open-Source GAMP

Artificial Satellites ◽

10.2478/arsa-2020-0004 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 55 (2) ◽

pp. 41-60

Author(s):

Jabir Shabbir Malik

Keyword(s):

Performance Analysis ◽

Open Source ◽

Observational Data ◽

Precise Point Positioning ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Satellite System ◽

International Gnss Service ◽

Positioning Accuracy ◽

Position Accuracy ◽

Point Positioning

AbstractIn addition to Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation, the number of Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) satellites is increasing; it is now possible to evaluate and analyze the position accuracy with both the GPS and GLONASS constellation. In this article, statistical analysis of static precise point positioning (PPP) using GPS-only, GLONASS-only, and combined GPS/GLONASS modes is evaluated. Observational data of 10 whole days from 10 International GNSS Service (IGS) stations are used for analysis. Position accuracy in east, north, up components, and carrier phase/code residuals is analyzed. Multi-GNSS PPP open-source package is used for the PPP performance analysis. The analysis also provides the GNSS researchers the understanding of the observational data processing algorithm. Calculation statistics reveal that standard deviation (STD) of horizontal component is 3.83, 13.80, and 3.33 cm for GPS-only, GLONASS-only, and combined GPS/GLONASS PPP solutions, respectively. Combined GPS/GLONASS PPP achieves better positioning accuracy in horizontal and three-dimensional (3D) accuracy compared with GPS-only and GLONASS-only PPP solutions. The results of the calculation show that combined GPS/GLONASS PPP improves, on an average, horizontal accuracy by 12.11% and 60.33% and 3D positioning accuracy by 10.39% and 66.78% compared with GPS-only and GLONASS-only solutions, respectively. In addition, the results also demonstrate that GPS-only solutions show an improvement of 54.23% and 62.54% compared with GLONASS-only PPP mode in horizontal and 3D components, respectively. Moreover, residuals of GLONASS ionosphere-free code observations are larger than the GPS code residuals. However, phase residuals of GPS and GLONASS phase observations are of the same magnitude.

Download Full-text

Multi-GNSS Combined Precise Point Positioning Using Additional Observations with Opposite Weight for Real-Time Quality Control

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs11030311 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 311 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Wenju Fu ◽

Guanwen Huang ◽

Yuanxi Zhang ◽

Qin Zhang ◽

Bobin Cui ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Quality Control ◽

Real Time ◽

Precise Point Positioning ◽

Satellite System ◽

Convergence Time ◽

Navigation Satellite ◽

Positioning Accuracy ◽

Global Navigation ◽

Point Positioning ◽

Global Navigation Satellite

The emergence of multiple global navigation satellite systems (multi-GNSS), including global positioning system (GPS), global navigation satellite system (GLONASS), Beidou navigation satellite system (BDS), and Galileo, brings not only great opportunities for real-time precise point positioning (PPP), but also challenges in quality control because of inevitable data anomalies. This research aims at achieving the real-time quality control of the multi-GNSS combined PPP using additional observations with opposite weight. A robust multiple-system combined PPP estimation is developed to simultaneously process observations from all the four GNSS systems as well as single, dual, or triple systems. The experiment indicates that the proposed quality control can effectively eliminate the influence of outliers on the single GPS and the multiple-system combined PPP. The analysis on the positioning accuracy and the convergence time of the proposed robust PPP is conducted based on one week’s data from 32 globally distributed stations. The positioning root mean square (RMS) error of the quad-system combined PPP is 1.2 cm, 1.0 cm, and 3.0 cm in the east, north, and upward components, respectively, with the improvements of 62.5%, 63.0%, and 55.2% compared to those of single GPS. The average convergence time of the quad-system combined PPP in the horizontal and vertical components is 12.8 min and 12.2 min, respectively, while it is 26.5 min and 23.7 min when only using single-GPS PPP. The positioning performance of the GPS, GLONASS, and BDS (GRC) combination and the GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo (GRE) combination is comparable to the GPS, GLONASS, BDS and Galileo (GRCE) combination and it is better than that of the GPS, BDS, and Galileo (GCE) combination. Compared to GPS, the improvements of the positioning accuracy of the GPS and GLONASS (GR) combination, the GPS and Galileo (GE) combination, the GPS and BDS (GC) combination in the east component are 53.1%, 43.8%, and 40.6%, respectively, while they are 55.6%, 48.1%, and 40.7% in the north component, and 47.8%, 40.3%, and 34.3% in the upward component.

Download Full-text

Evaluation of the Integrity Risk for Precise Point Positioning

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs14010128 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 128

Author(s):

Bing Xue ◽

Yunbin Yuan ◽

Han Wang ◽

Haitao Wang

Keyword(s):

Precise Point Positioning ◽

Time Window ◽

Experimental Tests ◽

Satellite System ◽

Worst Case ◽

Zero Bias ◽

Point Positioning ◽

Integrity Risk ◽

Global Navigation Satellite ◽

The Impact

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Precise Point Positioning (PPP) is an attractive positioning technology due to its high precision and flexibility. However, the vulnerability of PPP brings a safety risk to its application in the field of life safety, which must be evaluated quantitatively to provide integrity for PPP users. Generally, PPP solutions are processed recursively based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF) estimator, utilizing both the previous and current measurements. Therefore, the integrity risk should be qualified considering the effects of all the potential observation faults in history. However, this will cause the calculation load to explode over time, which is impractical for long-time missions. This study used the innovations in a time window to detect the faults in the measurements, quantifying the integrity risk by traversing the fault modes in the window to maintain a stable computation cost. A non-zero bias was conservatively introduced to encapsulate the effect of the faults before the window. Coping with the multiple simultaneous faults, the worst-case integrity risk was calculated to overbound the real risk in the multiple fault modes. In order to verify the proposed method, simulation and experimental tests were carried out in this study. The results showed that the fixed and hold mode adopted for ambiguity resolution is critical to an integrity risk evaluation, which can improve the observation redundancy and remove the influence of the biased predicted ambiguities on the integrity risk. Increasing the length of the window can weaken the impact of the conservative assumption on the integrity risk due to the smoothing effect of the EKF estimator. In addition, improving the accuracy of observations can also reduce the integrity risk, which indicates that establishing a refined PPP random model can improve the integrity performance.

Download Full-text