Monitoring atomic clocks on board GNSS satellites

A method for monitoring atomic clocks on board Global Navigation Satellites System (GNSS) satellites is described to address the issue of clock related signal integrity in safety–critical applications of GNSS. The carrier-phase time transfer is employed in the clock monitoring method which enables tight tracking of the satellite onboard clocks and thus improves detectability of clock anomalies. Detecting onboard clock anomalies requires the ability to monitor clocks in real time, and a Kalman filter can then be utilized to estimate the phase offsets between the satellite clocks and ground clocks. This study, using the difference between the measured and predicted phase offset as a test statistic, sets a threshold for clock anomalies based on the prediction interval approach. Finally the validity of the monitoring method is examined by processing a set of real GNSS data that includes two recent incidents of clock anomalies in GNSS satellites.     

Enhancing the kinematic precise orbit determination of low earth orbiters using GPS receiver clock modelling

Clock error estimation has been the focus of a great deal of research because of the extensive usage of clocks in GPS positioning applications. The receiver clock error in the spacecraft orbit determination is commonly estimated on an epoch-by-epoch basis, along with the spacecraft’s position. However, due to the high correlation between the spacecraft orbit altitude and the receiver clock parameters, estimates of the radial component are degraded in the kinematic approach. Using clocks with high stability, the predictable behaviour of the receiver oscillator can be exploited to improve the positioning accuracy, especially for the radial component. This paper introduces two GPS receiver clock models to describe the deterministic and stochastic property of the receiver clock, both of which can improve the accuracy of kinematic orbit determination for spacecraft in low earth orbit. In particular, the clock parameters are estimated as time offset and frequency offset in the two-state model. The frequency drift is also estimated as an unknown parameter in the three-state model. Additionally, residual non-deterministic random errors such as frequency white noise, frequency random walk noise and frequency random run noise are modelled. Test results indicate that the positioning accuracy could be improved significantly using one day of GRACE flight data. In particular, the error of the radial component was reduced by over 40.0% in the real-time scenario.     

Low-cost precise measurement of oscillator frequency instability based on GNSS carrier observation

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) receivers can be used in time and frequency metrology by exploiting stable GNSS time scales. This paper proposes a low-cost method for precise measurement of oscillator frequency instability using a single-frequency software GNSS receiver. The only required hardware is a common radio frequency (RF) data collection device driven by the oscillator under test (OUT). The receiver solves the oscillator frequency error in high time resolution using the carrier Doppler observation and the broadcast ephemeris from one of the available satellites employing the onboard reference atomic frequency standard that is more stable than the OUT. Considering the non-stable and non-Gaussian properties of the frequency error measurement, an unbiased finite impulse response (FIR) filter is employed to obtain robust estimation and filter out measurement noise. The effects of different filter orders and convolution lengths are further discussed. The frequency error of an oven controlled oscillator (OCXO) is measured using live Beidou-2/Compass signals. The results are compared with the synchronous measurement using a specialized phase comparator with the standard coordinated universal time (UTC) signal from the master clock H226 in the national time service center (NTSC) of China as its reference. The Allan deviation (ADEV) estimates using the two methods have a 99.9% correlation coefficient and a 0.6% mean relative difference over 1–1000 s intervals. The experiment demonstrates the effectiveness and high precision of the software receiver method.     

单站GPST/GLONASST时差监测研究

精密定时/授时是全球导航卫星系统（GNSS）中重要的一部分。每个GNSS都维护有自己的参考时间,尽管他们都向协调世界时溯源,但各系统间可能存在着几十甚至几百ns的偏差。要充分利用各个系统的卫星资源进行统一定位和授时服务就必须准确确定各个系统间的时差。文中分析了基于空间信号法的单站时差监测原理,提出了利用GPS/GLONASS多模双频接收机输出的两个系统的观测数据、导航电文以及标准共视数据监测GLONASST与GPST的时差方法。利用BIPM T公报公布的相关数据对130d的时差监测结果进行了评定。结果表明,130d中,时差监测结果消除系统差后与T公报结果最大偏差优于8ns,证明监测结果是有效可用的。     

Carrier phase prediction method for GNSS precise positioning in challenging environment

Since the signals of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) are blocked frequently in challenging environments, the discontinuous carrier phases seriously affect the application of GNSS precise positioning. To improve the carrier phase continuity, this paper proposes a carrier phase prediction method based on carrier open-loop tracking. In the open-loop tracking mode, the carrier numerically controlled oscillator (NCO) is controlled by the predicted Doppler, but not by the loop filter output. To improve the phase prediction effective time, accurate receiver clock drift estimation is studied in the prediction method. The phase prediction performance is tested on GNSS software receiver. In the phase prediction effective time tests, open-loop processes were set for the tested channel. The test results show that, when some satellite signals are blocked in 15?s, the probability of carrier phase error less than quarter cycles is more than 94%. In the real time kinematic (RTK) positioning tests, some satellite signals are blocked in 10–15?s repeatedly. The test results show that, the carrier phase continuity is basically not affected by the signal interruption, and the RTK can almost keep continuous centimeter-level positioning accuracy without re-fixing the integer ambiguity.     

工作频率选择对GNSS接收机通道跟踪环路的影响CSCD

GNSS接收机因须并行接收处理大量卫星信号,使用通道数量较多,功耗大是其主要难题,降低功耗的解决方法之一是让通道工作时钟采用较低的频率。通过分析工作时钟与所需处理的伪码频率的关系,本文给出了通道时钟频率对伪码相位分辨率和相位抖动幅度的影响。选取两种频率的工作时钟进行仿真实验,结果表明在相同仿真条件下,选用21MHz工作时钟与选用63MHz工作时钟相比,接收机的伪码测量精度、载波测量精度均下降1倍左右,但其引入的测量误差仍小于理论估算结果,选取较低的工作时钟频率是兼顾功耗与精度的折中方法,适合作为工程设计方案。     

用铷原子钟对PC进行时间校准及其误差分析

个人计算机（以下简称PC）的系统时间由其自带的RTC晶振提供,其时间频率准确度并不高。为此,综合考虑各种方案,采用外部校准时间的方法提高PC时间的准确度。通过时间间隔测量的方法获得了作为校准时间结果的钟差值,并对实验结果做了详细分析。测试结果表明,PC与铷钟同步标准偏差小于1ms。经过时间校准后的PC可以作为网络时间服务器。     

一种地基GNSS接收机差分码偏差估算方法

GNSS不同频点间的码伪距作差会引入信号的差分码偏差(DCB),包括GNSS卫星及地面接收机的DCB.本文提出一种地基GNSS接收机差分码偏差参数估算方法,首先由电离层文件参数作线性插值,计算出电离层延迟误差.之后对IGS站观测文件进行加权最小二乘法估计,得到GPS卫星和地面GNSS接收机的L1C频点和L2P频点间码偏...     

Orbit determination performances using single- and double-differenced methods: SAC-C and KOMPSAT-2

In this paper, Global Positioning System-based (GPS) Orbit Determination (OD) for the KOrea-Multi-Purpose-SATellite (KOMPSAT)-2 using single- and double-differenced methods is studied. The requirement of KOMPSAT-2 orbit accuracy is to allow 1 m positioning error to generate 1-m panchromatic images. KOMPSAT-2 OD is computed using real on-board GPS data. However, the local time of the KOMPSAT-2 GPS receiver is not synchronized with the zero fractional seconds of the GPS time internally, and it continuously drifts according to the pseudorange epochs. In order to resolve this problem, an OD based on single-differenced GPS data from the KOMPSAT-2 uses the tagged time of the GPS receiver, and the accuracy of the OD result is assessed using the overlapping orbit solution between two adjacent days. The clock error of the GPS satellites in the KOMPSAT-2 single-differenced method is corrected using International GNSS Service (IGS) clock information at 5-min intervals. KOMPSAT-2 OD using both double- and single-differenced methods satisfies the requirement of 1-m accuracy in overlapping three dimensional orbit solutions. The results of the SAC-C OD compared with JPL’s POE (Precise Orbit Ephemeris) are also illustrated to demonstrate the implementation of the single- and double-differenced methods using a satellite that has independent orbit information available for validation.     

微波幅相接收机的低中频正交优化结构

为解决微波毫米波幅相接收机的频率偏移超过中频带宽的问题,提出了一种低中频正交接收机结合双边带抑载的优化结构.利用频率误差对消的方法,获得了稳定的低中频信号,不包含微波本振源的频率偏移且保持了2路输入信号之间的相位关系.它的2路中频通道不对称,其中一路用一个晶体振荡器产生的正弦波预调制,对消过程用模拟乘法器和正交解调器在第1中频实现.与频率误差跟踪不同,它避免了锁相环引入的寄生调制和复杂性.分析了其性能,包括I/Q幅相不平衡的误差和校正.概述了一个实际的基于此结构的微波接收机,该接收机的特点是电路结构简单、成本低和小型化,性能测试结果和实际应用表明其具有较高的灵敏度和精度.     

The Crab pulsar seen with AquEYE at Asiago Cima Ekar observatory

We are developing fast photon-counter instruments to study the rapid variability of astrophysical sources by time tagging photon arrival times with unprecedented accuracy, making use of a Rubidium clock and GPS receiver. The first realization of such optical photon-counters, dubbed AquEYE (the Asiago Quantum Eye), was mounted in 2008 at the 182 cm Copernicus Observatory in Asiago. AquEYE observed the Crab pulsar several times and collected data of extraordinary quality that allowed us to perform accurate optical timing of the Crab pulsar and to study the pulse shape stability on a timescale from days to years with an excellent definition. Our results reinforce the evidence for decadal stability of the inclination angle between the spin and magnetic axis of the Crab pulsar. Future realizations of our instrument will make use of the Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) time signal.     

Performance improvement of real-time PPP ambiguity resolution using a regional integer clock

Obtaining reliable GNSS uncalibrated phase delay (UPD) or integer clock products is the key to achieving ambiguity-fixed solutions for real-time (RT) precise point positioning (PPP) users. However, due to the influence of RT orbit errors, the quality of UPD/integer clock products estimated with a globally distributed GNSS network is difficult to ensure, thereby affecting the ambiguity resolution (AR) performance of RT-PPP. In this contribution, by fully utilising the consistency of orbital errors in regional GNSS network coverage areas, a method is proposed for estimating regional integer clock products to compensate for RT orbit errors. Based on Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) RT precise products, the regional GPS/BDS integer clock was estimated with a CORS network in the west of China. Results showed that the difference between the estimated regional and CNES global integer clock/bias products was generally less than 5 cm for GPS, whereas clock differences of greater than 10 cm were observed for BDS due to the large RT orbit error. Compared with PPP using global integer clock/bias products, the AR performance of PPP using the regional integer clock was obviously improved for four rover stations. For single GPS, the horizontal and vertical accuracies of ambiguity-fixed PPP solutions were improved by 56.2% and 45.3% on average, respectively, whereas improvements of 67.5% and 50.5% in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively, were observed for the combined GPS/BDS situation. Based on a regional integer clock, the RMS error of a kinematic ambiguity-fixed PPP solution in the horizontal direction could reach 0.5 cm. In terms of initialisation time, the average time to first fix (TTFF) in combined GPS/BDS PPP was shortened from 18.2 min to 12.7 min. In view of the high AR performance realised with the use of regional integer clocks, this method can be applied to scenarios that require high positioning accuracy, such as deformation monitoring.     

卫星与测站钟差支持条件下的GEO卫星精密定轨

在基于伪距的GEO卫星精密定轨中, GEO卫星的静地特性导致定轨解算无法对星地组合钟差进行有效估计, 需要独立的时间同步支持. 本文讨论了卫星和测站钟差支持条件下的GEO卫星定轨原理, 利用仿真数据系统地分析了中国区域网跟踪条件下GEO卫星的定轨精度, 从定性和定量角度分析了钟差二次项、星地时间同步精度、站间时间同步精度及系统差等因素对定轨精度的影响.      

Time synchronization of new-generation BDS satellites using inter-satellite link measurements

Autonomous satellite navigation is based on the ability of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as Beidou, to estimate orbits and clock parameters onboard satellites using Inter-Satellite Link (ISL) measurements instead of tracking data from a ground monitoring network. This paper focuses on the time synchronization of new-generation Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) satellites equipped with an ISL payload. Two modes of Ka-band ISL measurements, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) mode and the continuous link mode, were used onboard these BDS satellites. Using a mathematical formulation for each measurement mode along with a derivation of the satellite clock offsets, geometric ranges from the dual one-way measurements were introduced. Then, pseudoranges and clock offsets were evaluated for the new-generation BDS satellites. The evaluation shows that the ranging accuracies of TDMA ISL and the continuous link are approximately 4?cm and 1?cm (root mean square, RMS), respectively. Both lead to ISL clock offset residuals of less than 0.3?ns (RMS). For further validation, time synchronization between these satellites to a ground control station keeping the systematic time in BDT was conducted using L-band Two-way Satellite Time Frequency Transfer (TWSTFT). System errors in the ISL measurements were calibrated by comparing the derived clock offsets with the TWSTFT. The standard deviations of the estimated ISL system errors are less than 0.3?ns, and the calibrated ISL clock parameters are consistent with that of the L-band TWSTFT. For the regional BDS network, the addition of ISL measurements for medium orbit (MEO) BDS satellites increased the clock tracking coverage by more than 40% for each orbital revolution. As a result, the clock predicting error for the satellite M1S was improved from 3.59 to 0.86?ns (RMS), and the predicting error of the satellite M2S was improved from 1.94 to 0.57?ns (RMS), which is a significant improvement by a factor of 3–4.     

Demonstration of a high sensitivity GNSS software receiver for indoor positioning

Advances in signal processing techniques contributed to the significant improvements of GNSS receiver performance in dense multipath environments and created the opportunities for a new category of high-sensitivity GNSS (HS-GNSS) receivers that can provide GNSS location services in indoor environments. The difficulties in improving the availability, reliability, and accuracy of these indoor capable GNSS receivers exceed those of the receivers designed for the most hostile urban canyon environments. The authors of this paper identified the vector tracking schemes, signal propagation statistics, and parallel processing techniques that are critical to a robust HS-GNSS receiver for indoor environments and successfully incorporated them into a fully functional high-sensitivity software receiver. A flexible vector-based receiver architecture is introduced to combine these key indoor signal processing technologies into GSNRx-hs™ – the high sensitivity software navigation receiver developed at the University of Calgary. The resulting receiver can perform multi-mode vector tracking in indoor environment at various levels of location and timing uncertainties. In addition to the obvious improvements in time-to-first-fix (TTFF) and signal sensitivity, the field test results in indoor environments surrounded by wood, glass, and concrete showed that the new techniques effectively improved the performance of indoor GNSS positioning. With fine GNSS timing, the proposed receiver can consistently deliver indoor navigation solution with the horizontal accuracy of 2–15 m depending on the satellite geometry and the indoor environments. If only the coarse GNSS timing is available, the horizontal accuracy of the indoor navigation solution from the proposed receiver is around 30 m depending on the coarse timing accuracy, the satellite geometry, and the indoor environments. From the preliminary field test results, it has been observed that the signal processing sensitivity is the dominant factor on the availability of the indoor navigation solution, while the GNSS timing accuracy is the dominant factor on the accuracy of the indoor navigation solution.     

面向时间应用的可驯服铷钟

研制一种面向时间应用的GPS可驯服铷钟。当铷钟被GPS驯服后,它输出的秒信号实时同步于GPS接收机的秒信号。同时,铷钟和GPS接收机之间的时间差的数据通过一个比例积分控制器去校正铷钟的频率准确度。驯服后,两台GPS驯服铷钟之间的时间差小于20ns、频率差小于1E-12/d。使用一台专用的GPS信号处理板和特定的GPS接收机,时间差可小于5ns。     

Advanced receiver autonomous integrity monitoring (ARAIM) schemes with GNSS time offsets

Within the current Advanced Receiver Integrity Monitoring (ARAIM) scheme, the time offsets between different Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) constellations are estimated along with a position solution and the GNSS receiver clock error. This scheme is called the Time-offsets Estimated ARAIM, or the TOE ARAIM. In order to enhance the interoperability and compatibility between different constellations, the time offsets are expected to be broadcast to users in future multi-GNSS positioning and navigation applications. This paper describes two new ARAIM schemes to make use of the Broadcast Time Offsets (BTOs): Time Offset Observed ARAIM (TOO ARAIM) and Time Offset Synchronized ARAIM (TOS ARAIM). It has been shown that the VPL performances of these two new ARAIM schemes rely strongly on the accuracy of BTOs. By varying the error model of the BTOs, the simulation results also demonstrate that the proposed new TOO ARAIM scheme can outperform the existing TOE ARAIM scheme-even if the accuracy of BTOs for integrity is degraded to 4.5 m and the probability of a BTO fault is relaxed to 10⁻² h⁻¹. In addition, the new Time Offset Synchronized ARAIM scheme (TOS ARAIM) can also perform better than the existing TOE ARAIM scheme if the accuracy of BTOs for integrity can reach 0.75 m. As the TOO ARAIM also has a very relaxed requirement on BTOs and better VPL performance, the TOO ARAIM is regarded as a superior ARAIM scheme for multi-GNSS with BTOs available.     

NeQuick2 validation using multi-satellite and ground data

Global Navigation Satellite System’s (GNSS) positioning calculation is prone to ionospheric errors. Single frequency GNSS users receive ionospheric corrections through broadcast ionospheric models. Therefore, the accuracy of ionospheric models must be validated based on various geographic and geomagnetic conditions. In this work, an attempt is made to validate NeQuick2 electron density (Ne) using multiple sources of space-based and ground-based data at the Arabian Peninsula and for low solar activity conditions. These sources include space-based data from Swarm, DMSP and COSMIC-2 satellite constellations and ground-based data from GNSS receiver and the ionosonde. The period of this study is 1 year from October 2019 to September 2020. Analysis shows that the agreement between NeQuick2 and experimental Ne close to the peak density height depends on seasons and time of the day with the largest errors found in Autumn and during the daytime. NeQuick2 generally overestimates Ne during the daytime. During the early morning and evening hours, Ne estimates seem to be fairly accurate with slight underestimation in Winter and Spring. Estimation of slab thickness by NeQuick2 is found to be close to the values calculated using collocated ionosonde and GNSS receiver.     

基于信道复用方法的GNSS共视信号模拟

全球导航卫星系统（GNSS）共视（CV）技术应用中需要对GNSS共视信号进行模拟仿真,可以降低对共视接收机和共视算法进行测试过程中的成本。为此,提出了一种基于信道复用方法的GNSS共视信号的双路信号模拟方法。首先,对GNSS共视技术原理进行了分析。然后,根据GNSS直射信号的模拟思路,设计了基于GNSS直射信号模拟器的GNSS共视信号模拟方法,对共视信号传播过程中可能产生的误差进行了分析。最后,对零基线、短基线、长基线3种场景下仿真的共视信号,以及实场采集的试验数据进行了验证分析。验证的结果表明,仿真的GNSS共视信号定位准确,定位精度在米级;共视比对结果均方根值（RMS）精度优于12 ns,可以进行共视法时间传递,证明了提出的共视信号模拟方法能够有效地用于GNSS共视信号生成。对GNSS共视信号模拟器、共视接收机的研制和共视算法的研究具有一定的理论参考意义和实际应用价值。      

新一代GNSS接收机的智能跟踪状态评估技术

新一代全球导航卫星系统的接收机需要根据用户所处环境,自适应地调整接收机内部参数以达到最稳健的导航效果。这就要求接收机在运行过程中通过评估跟踪状态去检测和分析用户场景。基于对传统接收机控制系统缺陷的分析,提出了智能接收机的概念、特点及系统框架;在此基础上设计、分析接收机的智能跟踪状态评估算法;最后通过仿真验证了所设计的算法可以有效地识别场景及场景间的切换。