Real-time clock comparison and monitoring with multi-GNSS precise point positioning: GPS,GLONASS and Galileo

The precise point positioning (PPP) technique is widely used in time and frequency applications. Because of the real-time service (RTS) project of the International GNSS Service, we can use the PPP technique for real-time clock comparison and monitoring. As a participant in the RTS, the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) implements the PPPWIZARD (Precise Point Positioning with Integer and Zero-difference Ambiguity Resolution Demonstrator) project to validate carrier phase ambiguity resolution. Unlike the Integer-PPP (IPPP) of the CNES, fixing ambiguities in the post-processing mode, the PPPWIZARD operates in the real-time mode, which is also called real-time IPPP (RT-IPPP). This paper focuses on applying the RT-IPPP for real-time clock comparison and monitoring. We review the principle of real-time clock comparison and monitoring, and introduce the methodology of the RT-IPPP technique. The observations of GPS, GLONASS and Galileo were processed for the experiments. Five processing modes were provided in the experiment to analyze the benefits of ambiguity resolution and multi-GNSS. In the clock comparison experiment, the average reduction ratios of standard deviations with respect to the G PPP mode range from 9.7% to 35.0%. In the clock monitoring experiment, G PPP mode can detect clock jumps whose magnitudes are larger than 0.9 ns. The RT-IPPP technique with GRE PPP AR (G) mode allows for the detection of any clock jumps larger than 0.6 ns. For frequency monitoring, G PPP mode allows detection of frequency changes larger than 1.1 × 10⁻¹⁴. When the RT-IPPP technique is applied, monitoring with GRE PPP AR (G) mode can detect frequency changes larger than 6.1 × 10⁻¹⁵.     

Satellite selection methods for multi-constellation advanced RAIM

The increased number of potential threat modes under multi-constellation advanced receiver autonomy integrity monitoring (ARAIM) requires an increase in the number of subsets and a correspondingly high computational load. A new satellite selection method based on integrity support message (ISM) parameters is proposed and compared with GDOP-based selection. The performance was tested on five days of data measurements from 21 multi-global navigation satellite system experiment (MGEX) stations distributed around the world, as well as simulation using the broadcast ephemeris. The results show that the proposed ISM-based satellite selection method is highly compatible with the baseline ARAIM. This method could reduce the computational times by about 60–70% quickly, with minimising vertical protection level (VPL) loss, which was consistently within 1 m, even a reduced VPL value in some epochs, and resulting in an improved availability. The simulation results were similar to the MGEX data. It appears that the application of ISM-based satellite selection can effectively reduce computational burden with a minimal impact on availability.     

Analysis of the code and phase between-receiver inter-system biases of the overlapping frequencies for GPS/Galileo/BDS

The overlapping-frequency signals from different GNSS constellations are interoperable and can be integrated as one constellation in multi-GNSS positioning when inter-system bias (ISB) is properly disposed. The look-up table method for ISB calibration can enhance the model strength, maximize the number of integer-estimable ambiguities, and thus is preferred. However, the characteristics and magnitudes of the receiver code ISB and phase fractional ISB (F-ISB) are not well known and the wrong values of the biases can seriously degrade the positioning results. In this contribution, we first estimate the between-receiver code ISB and phase F-ISB of hundreds of the baselines up to around 25km in the European Permanent GNSS Network (EPN) and the Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) for the overlapping frequencies L1-E1 (L1), L5-E5a (L5) and E5b-B2b (L7). The data collected from 1st January 2016 to 1st January 2019. Second, the receiver-type and firmware-version combinations for the receivers of Trimble, Leica, Javad, Septentrio and NovAtel are carefully classified. Results show that the Septentrio receivers have consistent code and phase ISB values for the three overlapping frequencies i.e. only one value for each frequency and no receivers are different. The Leica, Trimble and Javad receivers have two or more ISB values for at least one of the three frequencies. A few receivers with biases to the groups are also found and listed. Third, the code ISB and phase F-ISB of the groups are adjusted by the least-squares method. The root mean square errors (RMSE) of the least square adjustment are 0.240 m, 0.250 m and 0.200 m for code of L1, L5 and L7 frequencies, respectively, and are 0.0009 m, 0.0015 m and 0.0031 m for phase of L1, L5 and L7 frequencies, respectively. Finally, the effects of code ISB errors on code positing are investigated with the zero-baseline MAT1_MATZ. The distance root mean square error (DRMS) of L1-E1 code positioning can be reduced by 48.2% with 5 GPS and Galileo satellites and the DRMS degrades quickly when the code ISB error is larger.     

面向Android智能终端的多模GNSS实时非差精密定位

Android操作系统中全球导航卫星系统(GNSS)原始数据的开放为大众高精度位置服务的应用带来了重要机遇。在对Android系统GNSS原始数据特性分析的基础上,利用智能终端GNSS原始数据实现了实时非差精密定位,研制了面向Android平台的实时精密单点定位(PPP)软件PPPAnd,并开展了实际环境下的定位测试。测试结果表明:基于Android终端GNSS原始数据的实时静态伪距单点定位精度(RMS)为1.16m(水平方向)和1.51m(垂直方向),较其自身位置速度和时间(PVT)解算结果分别提高了70%和76%;实时静态精密单点定位解算结果的精度(RMS)为0.62m(水平方向)和0.66m(垂直方向),较PVT结果分别提高了87%和82%,精度收敛至1m以内所需时间约8min,并且收敛后的精度可达亚米级;城市环境中车载实时动态精密单点定位的水平和垂直精度(RMS)分别约为1.32m和0.81m,较PVT结果分别提高了39%和65%。     

Ambiguity resolution performance with GPS and BeiDou for LEO formation flying

The evolving BeiDou Navigation Satellite System constellation brings new opportunities for high-precision applications. In this contribution the focus will be on one such application, namely precise and instantaneous relative navigation of a formation of LEO satellites. The aim is to assess the ambiguity resolution performance with the future GPS and BeiDou constellations depending on system choice (GPS, BeiDou, or GPS+BeiDou), single- or dual-frequency observations, receiver noise, and uncertainties in ionosphere modelling. In addition, for the GPS+BeiDou constellation it will be shown how the growing BeiDou constellation in the years to come can already bring an important performance improvement compared to the GPS-only case. The performance will be assessed based on the percentage of time that the required precision can be obtained with a partial ambiguity resolution strategy.     

Multi-GNSS contributions to differential code biases determination and regional ionospheric modeling in China

Due to the limited number and uneven distribution globally of Beidou Satellite System (BDS) stations, the contributions of BDS to global ionosphere modeling is still not significant. In order to give a more realistic evaluation of the ability for BDS in ionosphere monitoring and multi-GNSS contributions to the performance of Differential Code Biases (DCBs) determination and ionosphere modeling, we select 22 stations from Crustal Movement Observation Network of China (CMONOC) to assess the result of regional ionospheric model and DCBs estimates over China where the visible satellites and monitoring stations for BDS are comparable to those of GPS/GLONASS. Note that all the 22 stations can track the dual- and triple-frequency GPS, GLONASS, and BDS observations. In this study, seven solutions, i.e., GPS-only (G), GLONASS-only (R), BDS-only (C), GPS + BDS (GC), GPS + GLONASS (GR), GLONASS + BDS (RC), GPS + GLONASS + BDS (GRC), are used to test the regional ionosphere modeling over the experimental area. Moreover, the performances of them using single-frequency precise point positioning (SF-PPP) method are presented. The experimental results indicate that BDS has the same ionospheric monitoring capability as GPS and GLONASS. Meanwhile, multi-GNSS observations can significantly improve the accuracy of the regional ionospheric models compared with that of GPS-only or GLONASS-only or BDS-only, especially over the edge of the tested region which the accuracy of the model is improved by reducing the RMS of the maximum differences from 5–15 to 2–3 TECu. For satellite DCBs estimates of different systems, the accuracy of them can be improved significantly after combining different system observations, which is improved by reducing the STD of GPS satellite DCB from 0.243 to 0.213, 0.172, and 0.165 ns after adding R, C, and RC observations respectively, with an increment of about 12.3%, 29.4%, and 32.2%. The STD of GLONASS satellite DCB improved from 0.353 to 0.304, 0.271, and 0.243 ns after adding G, C, and GC observations, respectively. The STD of BDS satellite DCB reduced from 0.265 to 0.237, 0.237 and 0.229 ns with the addition of G, R and GR systems respectively, and increased by 10.6%, 10.4%, and 13.6%. From the experimental positioning result, it can be seen that the regional ionospheric models with multi-GNSS observations are better than that with a single satellite system model.     

基于遗传算法的多星座选星方法

提出了一种基于遗传算法的选星方法,该方法能够准确、快速地实现多个全球导航卫星系统(GNSS)下选星颗数大于4的选星。经过大量试验确定了遗传算法选星的选择、交叉、变异等关键参数,并通过在交叉和变异中穿插染色体优选过程克服了遗传算法的选星结果容易陷入局部最优的缺点。以不同GNSS星座个数和不同选星颗数下的选星仿真校验了所设定遗传参数的有效性和可靠性。仿真结果表明,利用遗传算法可以高效、准确地实现选星,该方法特别适用于多星座多选星颗数的情况。     

Estimation of QZSS differential code biases using QZSS/GPS combined observations from MGEX

As an important error source in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning and ionospheric modeling, the differential code biases (DCB) need to be estimated accurately, e.g., the regional Quasi-Zenith satellite system (QZSS). In this paper, the DCB of QZSS is estimated by adopting the global ionospheric modeling method based on QZSS/GPS combined observations from Multi-GNSS experiment (MGEX). The performance of QZSS satellite and receiver DCB is analyzed with observations from day of year (DOY) 275–364, 2018. Good agreement between our estimated QZSS satellite DCB and the products from DLR and CAS is obtained. The bias and root mean square (RMS) of DCB are mostly within ±0.3 ns. The day-to-day fluctuation of the DCB time series is less than 0.5 ns with about 96% of the cases for all satellites. However, the receiver DCB is a little less stable than satellite DCB, and their standard deviations (STDs) are within 1.9 ns. The result shows that the stability of the receiver DCBs is not significantly related to the types of receiver or antenna.     

A fast satellite selection algorithm with floating high cut-off elevation angle based on ADOP for instantaneous multi-GNSS single-frequency relative positioning

With the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) developing, the single-frequency single-epoch multiple GNSSs (multi-GNSS) relative positioning has become feasible. Since a larger number of the observed satellites make the instantaneous (single-epoch) positioning time-consuming, a proper satellite selection is necessary. Among the present methods, the satellite selection with a fixed high cut-off elevation angle (CEA) is least time-consuming. However, there is no criterion how large a fixed high CEA should be to achieve a high success rate and less time consumption. Besides, a fixed high CEA makes the number of visible satellites largely variable, which affects the success rate. Hence, a satellite selection strategy based on ambiguity dilution of precision (ADOP) is proposed. Firstly, the theoretical proof that the ADOP increases the least when removing satellites are all low-elevation-angle satellites is given, which is important to achieve the fast positioning with a high success rate. Then, the threshold $\beta$ is calculated for a different number of satellites and a given ADOP. The satellites are selected based on their elevation angles from high to low until $\beta$ of the selected satellites becomes smaller than the corresponding threshold; this method is called the extended floating CEA multi-GNSS (EF-multi-GNSS). The comparison of the single-frequency single-epoch positioning performance of the EF-multi-GNSS with the satellite selections based on a fixed low CEA (L-multi-GNSS) and a fixed high CEA (H-multi-GNSS) via the relative positioning experiments shows that: (1) the EF-multi-GNSS with a minimal number of satellites can achieve the fast positioning and a high success rate close to 100%. It can greatly reduce the time consumption of the L-multi-GNSS, by about 64.0%, by selecting 12.6 satellites of 23.4 satellites; (2) the floating CEA of EF-multi-GNSS eliminates the consideration how large a fixed high CEA should be, and a CEA larger than the fixed high CEA of the H-multi-GNSS makes it more suitable for different conditions.     

双线程滑动窗口多系统GNSS超快精密定轨实现及评估

全球导航卫星系统（GNSS）超快精密定轨为GNSS实时应用提供了高精度空间基准。基于天地协同定位、导航与授时（PNT）网络服务中心实现了四系统GNSS卫星超快精密定轨,并对定轨结果进行精度评价。介绍了天地协同PNT网络的概念内涵以及网络服务中心部署的超快精密定轨软件架构和详细功能,并针对实时应用需求提出了一种双线程滑动窗口超快精密定轨策略。最后利用重叠弧段比较、与外部轨道产品比较以及卫星激光测距（SLR）检核3种方式对定轨结果进行了精度评价。结果表明,与武汉大学分析中心的最终事后精密轨道产品相比,四系统GNSS MEO卫星预报6 h弧段的径向均方根（RMS）误差整体在2~5 cm水平,BDS2 IGSO卫星最小一维RMS误差在10~15 cm水平;GPS和Galileo卫星的SLR检核残差均值在1~3 cm水平,标准差在3~6 cm水平,能够满足后续厘米级实时应用对空间基准的精度需求。