Ionospheric path delay models for spaceborne GPS receivers flying in formation with large baselines

GPS relative navigation filters could benefit notably from an accurate modeling of the ionospheric delays, especially over large baselines (>100 km) where double difference delays can be higher than several carrier wavelengths. This paper analyzes the capability of ionospheric path delay models proposed for spaceborne GPS receivers in predicting both zero-difference and double difference ionospheric delays. We specifically refer to relatively simple ionospheric models, which are suitable for real-time filtering schemes. Specifically, two ionospheric delay models are evaluated, one assuming an isotropic electron density and the other considering the effect on the electron density of the Sun aspect angle. The prediction capability of these models is investigated by comparing predicted ionospheric delays with measured ones on real flight data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment mission, in which two satellites fly separated of more than 200 km. Results demonstrate that both models exhibit a correlation in the excess of 80% between predicted and measured double-difference ionospheric delays. Despite its higher simplicity, the isotropic model performs better than the model including the Sun effect, being able to predict double differenced delays with accuracy smaller than the carrier wavelength in most cases. The model is thus fit for supporting integer ambiguity fixing in real-time filters for relative navigation over large baselines. Concerning zero-difference ionospheric delays, results demonstrate that delays predicted by the isotropic model are highly correlated (around 90%) with those estimated using GPS measurements. However, the difference between predicted and measured delays has a root mean square error in the excess of 30 cm. Thus, the zero-difference ionospheric delays model is not likely to be an alternative to methods exploiting carrier-phase observables for cancelling out the ionosphere contribution in single-frequency absolute navigation filters.     

附加双差模糊度网解约束的GNSS相位延迟估计

针对现有相位延迟估计方法未利用双差模糊度网解约束的特点,提出了一种附加双差模糊度网解约束的相位延迟估计方法。首先以整周双差模糊度网解为真值更新精密单点定位(PPP)估计的非差浮点模糊度,再通过网平差法估计未校正相位延迟(UPD)。实验结果表明,PPP双差模糊度与双差模糊度网解一致性好,其宽、窄巷中误差分别为0.07周和0.11周,误差大于1周的PPP双差模糊度主要出现在卫星初升阶段。约束改变了非差浮点模糊度,从而改变了参与UPD网平差的测站,使14%新升起卫星的窄巷UPD在短时间内较无约束有大于0.2周的差异。附加约束/无约束的全天星间单差UPD差异在大于99.9%的置信水平下满足零均值假设,表明整周双差模糊度网解约束方法与无约束方法估计UPD相关产品具有等效性。研究结果可为参考网非差模糊度解算和PPP与网络实时动态定位(RTK)的融合工作提供参考。     

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.