A Triple Checked Partial Ambiguity Resolution for GPS/BDS RTK Positioning.

Reliable and accurate carrier phase ambiguity resolution is the key to high-precision Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning and application. With the fast development of modern GNSS, the increased number of satellites and ambiguities makes it hard to fix all ambiguities completely and correctly. The partial ambiguity fixing technique, which selects a suitable subset of high-dimensional ambiguities to fix, is beneficial for improving the fixed success rate and reliability of ambiguity resolution. In this contribution, the bootstrapping success rate, bounded fixed-failure ratio test, and the new defined baseline precision defect are used for the selection of the ambiguity subset. Then a model and data dual-driven partial ambiguity resolution method is proposed with the above three checks imposed on it, which is named the Triple Checked Partial Ambiguity Resolution (TC-PAR). The comprehensive performance of TC-PAR compared to the full-fixed LAMBDA method is also analyzed based on several criteria including the fixed rate, the fixed success rate and correct fixed rate of ambiguity as well as the precision defect and RMS of the baseline solution. The results show that TC-PAR could significantly improve the fixed success rate of ambiguity, and it has a comparable baseline precision to the LAMBDA method, both of which are at centimeter level after ambiguities are fixed.

A New Method for GNSS Multipath Mitigation with an Adaptive Frequency Domain Filter.

Multipath is the dominant error source for most fixed Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) sites and stations. The presence of multipath, particularly the multipath effect on pseudorange measurement, seriously affects positioning accuracy. Unfortunately, multipath effect reduction is still a challenging issue in high-accuracy GNSS positioning applications due to its special properties. To minimize the impact of the multipath effect, this paper focused on pseudorange multipath mitigation. First, the frequency spectrum of the code-minus-carrier divergence (CMCD) for Global Positioning System (GPS), Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), and BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) satellites observed in different environments were analyzed, where we found that periodic fluctuations appeared in GPS and GLONASS as well as medium earth orbit (MEO) and inclined geosynchronous satellite orbit (IGSO) of BDS satellites in some situations, which manifested as peaks in the frequency domain. The results showed that the location of the frequency peaks in the frequency domain, width, and basic frequency spectrum intensity were different between different satellites and environments, causing difficulty in reducing the error impact. To eliminate such period fluctuations mainly caused by the multipath effect, a novel method based on a frequency domain filter was proposed in this paper. One of the keys of the proposed method was the use of short-time Fourier transformation (STFT) in the GNSS signal data processing to calculate the accurate local frequency spectrum when code-minus-carrier divergence (CMCD) was assumed to be time varying. Once the frequency spectrum was obtained, a new spectrum peak extraction method was used to locate the peak frequency position. By interpolation and inverse Fourier transformation, the influence of the spectrum peaks could be effectively eliminated, thus improving pseudorange precision. The experimental results showed that the periodic multipath effect could be greatly reduced by the proposed method.

A New Real-Time Cycle Slip Detection and Repair Method under High Ionospheric Activity for a Triple-Frequency GPS/BDS Receiver.

Cycle slip detection and repair is a prerequisite for high-precision global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based positioning. With the modernization and development of GNSS systems, more satellites are available to transmit triple-frequency signals, which allows the introduction of additional linear combinations and provides new opportunities for cycle slip detection and repair. In this paper, we present a new real-time cycle slip detection and repair method under high ionospheric activity for undifferenced Global Positioning System (GPS)/BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) triple-frequency observations collected with a single receiver. First, three optimal linearly independent geometry-free pseudorange minus phase combinations are selected to correctly and uniquely determine the cycle slips on the original triple-frequency carrier phase observations. Then, a second-order time-difference algorithm is employed for the pseudorange minus phase combinations to mitigate the impact of between-epoch ionospheric residuals on cycle slip detection, which is especially beneficial under high ionospheric activity. The performance of the approach is verified with static GPS/BDS triple-frequency observations that are collected with a 30 s sampling interval under active ionospheric conditions, and observations are manually inserted with simulated cycle slips. The results show that the method can correctly detect and repair cycle slips at a resolution as small as 1 cycle. Moreover, kinematic data collected from car-driven and airborne experiments are also processed to verify the performance of the method. The experimental results also demonstrate that the method is effective in processing kinematic data.

Mitigating BeiDou Satellite-Induced Code Bias: Taking into Account the Stochastic Model of Corrections.

The BeiDou satellite-induced code biases have been confirmed to be orbit type-, frequency-, and elevation-dependent. Such code-phase divergences (code bias variations) severely affect absolute precise applications which use code measurements. To reduce their adverse effects, an improved correction model is proposed in this paper. Different from the model proposed by Wanninger and Beer (2015), more datasets (a time span of almost two years) were used to produce the correction values. More importantly, the stochastic information, i.e., the precision indexes, were given together with correction values in the improved model. However, only correction values were given while the precision indexes were completely missing in the traditional model. With the improved correction model, users may have a better understanding of their corrections, especially the uncertainty of corrections. Thus, it is helpful for refining the stochastic model of code observations. Validation tests in precise point positioning (PPP) reveal that a proper stochastic model is critical. The actual precision of the corrected code observations can be reflected in a more objective manner if the stochastic model of the corrections is taken into account. As a consequence, PPP solutions with the improved model outperforms the traditional one in terms of positioning accuracy, as well as convergence speed. In addition, the Melbourne-Wübbena (MW) combination which serves for ambiguity fixing were verified as well. The uncorrected MW values show strong systematic variations with an amplitude of half a wide-lane cycle, which prevents precise ambiguity determination and successful ambiguity resolution. After application of the code bias correction models, the systematic variations can be greatly removed, and the resulting wide lane ambiguities are more likely to be fixed. Moreover, the code residuals show more reasonable distributions after code bias corrections with either the traditional or the improved model.

Instantaneous Real-Time Kinematic Decimeter-Level Positioning with BeiDou Triple-Frequency Signals over Medium Baselines.

Many applications, such as marine navigation, land vehicles location, etc., require real time precise positioning under medium or long baseline conditions. In this contribution, we develop a model of real-time kinematic decimeter-level positioning with BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) triple-frequency signals over medium distances. The ambiguities of two extra-wide-lane (EWL) combinations are fixed first, and then a wide lane (WL) combination is reformed based on the two EWL combinations for positioning. Theoretical analysis and empirical analysis is given of the ambiguity fixing rate and the positioning accuracy of the presented method. The results indicate that the ambiguity fixing rate can be up to more than 98% when using BDS medium baseline observations, which is much higher than that of dual-frequency Hatch-Melbourne-Wübbena (HMW) method. As for positioning accuracy, decimeter level accuracy can be achieved with this method, which is comparable to that of carrier-smoothed code differential positioning method. Signal interruption simulation experiment indicates that the proposed method can realize fast high-precision positioning whereas the carrier-smoothed code differential positioning method needs several hundreds of seconds for obtaining high precision results. We can conclude that a relatively high accuracy and high fixing rate can be achieved for triple-frequency WL method with single-epoch observations, displaying significant advantage comparing to traditional carrier-smoothed code differential positioning method.