Testing a new multivariate GNSS carrier phase attitude determination method for remote sensing platforms

GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems)-based attitude determination is an important field of study, since it is a valuable technique for the orientation estimation of remote sensing platforms. To achieve highly accurate angular estimates, the precise GNSS carrier phase observables must be employed. However, in order to take full advantage of the high precision, the unknown integer ambiguities of the carrier phase observables need to be resolved. This contribution presents a GNSS carrier phase-based attitude determination method that determines the integer ambiguities and attitude in an integral manner, thereby fully exploiting the known body geometry of the multi-antennae configuration. It is shown that this integral approach aids the ambiguity resolution process tremendously and strongly improves the capacity of fixing the correct set of integer ambiguities. In this contribution, the challenging scenario of single-epoch, single-frequency attitude determination is addressed. This guarantees a total independence from carrier phase slips and losses of lock, and it also does not require any a priori motion model for the platform. The method presented is a multivariate constrained version of the popular LAMBDA method and it is tested on data collected during an airborne remote sensing campaign.     

Regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Education and ICG Information Centres affiliated to the United Nations

Based on resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, Regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Education were established in India, Morocco, Nigeria, Brazil and Mexico. Simultaneously, education curricula were developed for the core disciplines of remote sensing, satellite communications, satellite meteorology, and space and atmospheric science. This paper provides a brief summary on the status of the operation of the regional centres with a view to use them as information centres of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG), and draws attention to their educational activities.     

Real-time zenith tropospheric delays in support of numerical weather prediction applications

The Geodetic Observatory Pecný (GOP) routinely estimates near real-time zenith total delays (ZTD) from GPS permanent stations for assimilation in numerical weather prediction (NWP) models more than 12 years. Besides European regional, global and GPS and GLONASS solutions, we have recently developed real-time estimates aimed at supporting NWP nowcasting or severe weather event monitoring. While all previous solutions are based on data batch processing in a network mode, the real-time solution exploits real-time global orbits and clocks from the International GNSS Service (IGS) and Precise Point Positioning (PPP) processing strategy. New application G-Nut/Tefnut has been developed and real-time ZTDs have been continuously processed in the nine-month demonstration campaign (February–October, 2013) for selected 36 European and global stations. Resulting ZTDs can be characterized by mean standard deviations of 6–10 mm, but still remaining large biases up to 20 mm due to missing precise models in the software. These results fulfilled threshold requirements for the operational NWP nowcasting (i.e. 30 mm in ZTD). Since remaining ZTD biases can be effectively eliminated using the bias-reduction procedure prior to the assimilation, results are approaching the target requirements in terms of relative accuracy (i.e. 6 mm in ZTD). Real-time strategy and software are under the development and we foresee further improvements in reducing biases and in optimizing the accuracy within required timeliness. The real-time products from the International GNSS Service were found accurate and stable for supporting PPP-based tropospheric estimates for the NWP nowcasting.     

一种卫星导航模拟器置信度评估方案及应用

置信度评估能够为卫星导航模拟器的研制与改进提供依据。提出了一种基于对数最小二乘的模糊层次分析法和相似度法相结合的置信度评估方案。该方案利用基于对数最小二乘的模糊层次分析法将卫星导航模拟器系统分解为若干子系统或模型,并利用相似度法计算各个子系统或模型的置信度,同时使用模糊层次分析法计算各子系统或模型的权重向量,而后再逐级综合得到模拟器系统的总置信度。该方案能够将复杂系统逐层细化,且求解的子系统或模型的权重向量与置信度较为客观真实,具有重要的工程参考价值。     

A priori zenith wet delays in the analysis of VLBI CONT sessions

Tropospheric delay is one of the major sources of error in VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) analysis. The principal component of this error can be accurately computed through reliable surface pressure data —hydrostatic delay— yet there is also a small but volatile component —wet delay— which is difficult to be modelled a priori. In VLBI analysis, troposphere delay is typically modelled in the theoretical delays using Zenith Hydrostatic Delays (ZHD) and a dry mapping function. Zenith Wet Delay (ZWD) is not modelled but estimated in the analysis process. This work studies inter alia the impact of including external GNSS estimates to model a priori ZWD in VLBI analysis, as well as other models of a priori ZWD.In a first stage, two different sources of GNSS troposphere products are compared to VLBI troposphere estimates in a period of 5 years. The solution with the best agreement to VLBI results is injected in the VLBI analysis as a priori ZWD value and is compared to other options to model a priori ZWD. The dataset used for this empirical analysis consists of the six CONT campaigns.It has been found that modelling a priori ZWD has no significant impact either on baseline length and coordinates repeatabilities. Nevertheless, modelling a priori ZWD can change the magnitude of the estimated coordinates a few millimeters in the up component with respect to the non-modelling approach. In addition, the influence of a priori ZWD on Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP) and troposphere estimates —Zenith Total Delays (ZTD) and gradients—has also been analysed, resulting in a small but significant impact on both geodetic products.     

GPS/BDS组合定位精度分析

随着定位技术的不断发展及多系统导航定位技术的逐步推广，多系统组合导航定位已经成为了GNSS导航定位领域中的主要发展趋势。主要阐述了GPS/BDS组合相对定位的观测方程和数学模型，并根据实测数据对比分析，从卫星可见性、精度因子、定位精度和均方根误差等方面对GPS、BDS及GPS/BDS组合定位系统的定位性能、定位精度进行了比较。研究结果表明，较单一的GPS和BDS系统定位，采用GPS/BDS组合定位可有效提高卫星可见数目和DOP值，且稳定性更好。GPS/BDS组合定位的定位精度也明显优于单一系统，这对GNSS高精度导航定位具有重要的参考价值。     

Accuracy analysis of GNSS-IR snow depth inversion algorithms

In recent years, with the continuous development of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), it has been applied not only to navigation and positioning, but also to Earth surface environment monitoring. At present, when performing GNSS-IR (GNSS Interferometric Reflectometry) snow depth inversion, Lomb-Scargle Periodogram (LSP) spectrum analysis is mainly used to calculate the vertical height from the antenna phase center to the reflection surface. However, it has the problem of low identification of power spectrum analysis, which may lead to frequency leakage. Therefore, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) spectrum analysis and Nonlinear Least Square Fitting (NLSF) are introduced to calculate the vertical height in this paper. The GNSS-IR snow depth inversion experiment is carried out by using the observation data of P351 station in PBO (Plate Boundary Observatory) network of the United States from 2013 to 2016. Three algorithms are used to invert the snow depth and compared with the actual snow depth provided by the station 490 in the SNOTEL network. The observations data of L1 and L2 bands are respectively used to find the optimal combination between different algorithms further to improve the accuracy of GNSS-IR snow depth inversion. For L1 band, different snow depths correspond to different optimal algorithms. When the snow depth is less than 0.8 m, the inversion accuracy of NLSF algorithm is the highest. When the snow depth is greater than 0.8 m, the inversion accuracy of FFT algorithm is higher. Therefore, according to the different snow depth, a combined algorithm of NLSF + FFT is proposed for GNSS-IR snow depth inversion. Compared with the traditional LSP algorithm, the inversion accuracy of the combined algorithm is improved by 10%. For L2 band data, the results show that the accuracy of snow depth inversion of various algorithms do not change with the variations of snow depth. Among the three single algorithms, the inversion accuracy of FFT algorithm is better than that of LSP and NLSF algorithms.     

Total electron content monitoring using triple frequency GNSS: Results with Giove-A/-B data

Triple frequency GNSS will be fully operational within the next decade, opening opportunities for new applications. Dual frequency GNSS already allow to study the ionosphere through the estimation of Total Electron Content (TEC). However, the precision is limited by the ambiguity resolution process. This paper studies a triple frequency TEC monitoring technique in which the use of Geometry-Free and Iono-Free linear combinations improves the ambiguity resolution process and therefore the precision of TEC. We have tested it on a set of triple frequency Giove-A/-B data from January and December 2008. The conclusions achieved are (1) TEC values are affected by an error of about 2–2.5 TECU produced through the ambiguity resolution process; (2) the error caused by the Geometric Free phase combination delays (hardware, multipath, noise, antenna phase center) on TEC is about 0.2 TECU; (3) the total error on TEC approximately reach 2–3 TECU.     

不同GNSS在高纬度地区时间传递性能分析

全球卫星导航系统（GNSS）载波相位时间传递技术是高精度时间传递领域的主要研究方法之一，但目前关于该部分的研究主要集中在中低纬度地区，在高纬度地区并不多见。不同GNSS由于星座设计不同，在高纬度地区结构差异较大，因此需要对不同GNSS在高纬度地区的时间传递性能进行分析。实验结果表明，在高纬度地区时间传递中，Galileo稳定度最高，GPS和BDS次之，GLONASS最差。同时因在高纬度地区卫星的高度角普遍偏低，为合理平衡低高度角时可视卫星多和多路径误差大的矛盾，对不同截止高度角下获取的链路时间传递性能进行了分析。结果表明，在5°截止高度角下，高纬度地区的时间传递链路稳定性最好。     

21世纪AMSS／GNSS空间段发展方向兼论卫星资源国际共享问题

航空移动卫星系统（ＡＭＳＳ）空间段采用单一的ＧＥＯ轨道卫星，未来将有ＭＥＯ和ＬＥＯ轨道卫星加入运行，仍然不排斥ＧＥＯ轨道卫星的使用。全球导航卫星系统（ＧＮＳＳ）空间段采用ＭＥＯ轨道卫星，未来将仍然以ＭＥＯ为主，可能有ＨＥＯ轨道卫星加入运行。２１世纪的空间段将为不同轨道卫星的多星座组合，采用一星多用、星座共用，形成多功能卫星和多功能星座。和平时期卫星资源的国际民间共建共营共享将更为普遍，要有全球观点，国内各行各业要有全局观点，对监测和增强系统统一筹建共用系统，防止分散投资、重复建设