The probability distribution of the ambiguity bootstrapped GNSS baseline

 The purpose of carrier phase ambiguity resolution is to improve upon the quality of the estimated global navigation satellite system baseline by means of the integer ambiguity constraints. However, in order to evaluate the quality of the ambiguity resolved baseline rigorously, its probability distribution is required. This baseline distribution depends on the random characteristics of the estimated integer ambiguities, which in turn depend on the chosen integer estimator. In this contribution is presented an exact and closed-form expression for the baseline distribution in the case that use is made of integer bootstrapping. Also presented are the bootstrapped probability mass function and easy-to-compute measures for the bootstrapped baseline's probability of concentration. Received: 28 September 2000 / Accepted: 11 January 2001     

Computed success rates of various carrier phase integer estimation solutions and their comparison with statistical success rates

The success rate of carrier phase ambiguity resolution (AR) is the probability that the ambiguities are successfully fixed to their correct integer values. In existing works, an exact success rate formula for integer bootstrapping estimator has been used as a sharp lower bound for the integer least squares (ILS) success rate. Rigorous computation of success rate for the more general ILS solutions has been considered difficult, because of complexity of the ILS ambiguity pull-in region and computational load of the integration of the multivariate probability density function. Contributions of this work are twofold. First, the pull-in region mathematically expressed as the vertices of a polyhedron is represented by a multi-dimensional grid, at which the cumulative probability can be integrated with the multivariate normal cumulative density function (mvncdf) available in Matlab. The bivariate case is studied where the pull-region is usually defined as a hexagon and the probability is easily obtained using mvncdf at all the grid points within the convex polygon. Second, the paper compares the computed integer rounding and integer bootstrapping success rates, lower and upper bounds of the ILS success rates to the actual ILS AR success rates obtained from a 24 h GPS data set for a 21 km baseline. The results demonstrate that the upper bound probability of the ILS AR probability given in the existing literatures agrees with the actual ILS success rate well, although the success rate computed with integer bootstrapping method is a quite sharp approximation to the actual ILS success rate. The results also show that variations or uncertainty of the unit–weight variance estimates from epoch to epoch will affect the computed success rates from different methods significantly, thus deserving more attentions in order to obtain useful success probability predictions.     

一种改进的宽巷引导整周模糊度固定算法

一般卫星导航接收机的伪距测量误差大于宽巷波长。根据宽巷引导模型,直接使用双差伪距取整固定双差宽巷整周模糊度有很大概率会产生一周固定错误。基于此,提出了一种改进的宽巷引导整周模糊度固定算法,针对宽巷整周模糊度一周固定错误进行探测和修复。利用整周模糊度为整数的特质构造理论探测量,并将该探测量与载噪比所确定的门限相比较,判断是否出现宽巷整周模糊度一周固定错误;利用双差整周模糊度自由度为3的特点,修复错误宽巷整周模糊度。对该算法在高斯噪声条件下的可行性进行了理论分析,结果表明正常载噪比的观测数据均可分辨出一周宽巷整周模糊度的估计错误。同时,分析了考虑多径等误差后该算法所能接受的载波相位最大误差。计算了不同伪距误差下宽巷整周模糊度一周固定错误出现的概率。使用GPS实测短基线数据对算法进行验证,该算法可将基于宽巷引导的整周模糊度固定算法的固定率从原来的只有不到1/3提升至接近100%。     

The least-squares ambiguity decorrelation adjustment: a method for fast GPS integer ambiguity estimation

The GPS double difference carrier phase measurements are ambiguous by an unknown integer number of cycles. High precision relative GPS positioning based on short observational timespan data, is possible, when reliable estimates of the integer double difference ambiguities can be determined in an efficient manner. In this contribution a new method is introduced that enables very fast integer least-squares estimation of the ambiguities. The method makes use of an ambiguity transformation that allows one to reformulate the original ambiguity estimation problem as a new problem that is much easier to solve. The transformation aims at decorrelating the least-squares ambiguities and is based on an integer approximation of the conditional least-squares transformation. This least-squares ambiguity decorrelation approach, flattens the typical discontinuity in the GPS-spectrum of ambiguity conditional variances and returns new ambiguities that show a dramatic improvement in correlation and precision. As a result, the search for the transformed integer least-squares ambiguities can be performed in a highly efficient manner.     

Reliability of partial ambiguity fixing with multiple GNSS constellations

Reliable ambiguity resolution (AR) is essential to real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning and its applications, since incorrect ambiguity fixing can lead to largely biased positioning solutions. A partial ambiguity fixing technique is developed to improve the reliability of AR, involving partial ambiguity decorrelation (PAD) and partial ambiguity resolution (PAR). Decorrelation transformation could substantially amplify the biases in the phase measurements. The purpose of PAD is to find the optimum trade-off between decorrelation and worst-case bias amplification. The concept of PAR refers to the case where only a subset of the ambiguities can be fixed correctly to their integers in the integer least squares (ILS) estimation system at high success rates. As a result, RTK solutions can be derived from these integer-fixed phase measurements. This is meaningful provided that the number of reliably resolved phase measurements is sufficiently large for least-square estimation of RTK solutions as well. Considering the GPS constellation alone, partially fixed measurements are often insufficient for positioning. The AR reliability is usually characterised by the AR success rate. In this contribution, an AR validation decision matrix is firstly introduced to understand the impact of success rate. Moreover the AR risk probability is included into a more complete evaluation of the AR reliability. We use 16 ambiguity variance–covariance matrices with different levels of success rate to analyse the relation between success rate and AR risk probability. Next, the paper examines during the PAD process, how a bias in one measurement is propagated and amplified onto many others, leading to more than one wrong integer and to affect the success probability. Furthermore, the paper proposes a partial ambiguity fixing procedure with a predefined success rate criterion and ratio test in the ambiguity validation process. In this paper, the Galileo constellation data is tested with simulated observations. Numerical results from our experiment clearly demonstrate that only when the computed success rate is very high, the AR validation can provide decisions about the correctness of AR which are close to real world, with both low AR risk and false alarm probabilities. The results also indicate that the PAR procedure can automatically chose adequate number of ambiguities to fix at given high-success rate from the multiple constellations instead of fixing all the ambiguities. This is a benefit that multiple GNSS constellations can offer.     

Variance reduction of GNSS ambiguity in (inverse) paired Cholesky decorrelation transformation

It has been discovered that (a) the variance of all entries of the ambiguity vector transformed by a (inverse) paired Cholesky integer transformation is reduced relative to that of the corresponding entries of the original ambiguity vector; (b) the higher the dimension of the ambiguity vector, the more significantly the transformed variance will be decreased. The property of variance reduction is explained theoretically in detail. In order to better measure the property of variance reduction, an efficiency factor on variance reduction of ambiguities is defined. Since the (inverse) paired Cholesky integer transformation is generally performed many times for the GNSS high-dimensional ambiguity vector, the computation formula of the efficiency factor on the multi-time (inverse) paired Cholesky integer transformation is deduced. The computation results in the example show that (a) the (inverse) paired Cholesky integer transformation has a very good property of variance reduction, especially for the GNSS high-dimensional ambiguity vector; (b) this property of variance reduction can obviously improve the success rate of the transformed ambiguity vector.     

Integer aperture bootstrapping: a new GNSS ambiguity estimator with controllable fail-rate

In this contribution, we introduce a new bootstrap-based method for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) carrier-phase ambiguity resolution. Integer bootstrapping is known to be one of the simplest methods for integer ambiguity estimation with close-to-optimal performance. Its outcome is easy to compute due to the absence of an integer search, and its performance is close to optimal if the decorrelating Z-transformation of the LAMBDA method is used. Moreover, the bootstrapped estimator is presently the only integer estimator for which an exact and easy-to-compute expression of its fail-rate can be given. A possible disadvantage is, however, that the user has only a limited control over the fail-rate. Once the underlying mathematical model is given, the user has no freedom left in changing the value of the fail-rate. Here, we present an ambiguity estimator for which the user is given additional freedom. For this purpose, use is made of the class of integer aperture estimators as introduced in Teunissen (2003). This class is larger than the class of integer estimators. Integer aperture estimators are of a hybrid nature and can have integer outcomes as well as non-integer outcomes. The new estimator is referred to as integer aperture bootstrapping. This new estimator has all the advantages known from integer bootstrapping with the additional advantage that its fail-rate can be controlled by the user. This is made possible by giving the user the freedom over the aperture of the pull-in region. We also give an exact and easy-to-compute expression for its controllable fail-rate.     

An optimality property of the integer least-squares estimator

A probabilistic justification is given for using the integer least-squares (LS) estimator. The class of admissible integer estimators is introduced and classical adjustment theory is extended by proving that the integer LS estimator is best in the sense of maximizing the probability of correct integer estimation. For global positioning system ambiguity resolution, this implies that the success rate of any other integer estimator of the carrier phase ambiguities will be smaller than or at the most equal to the ambiguity success rate of the integer LS estimator. The success rates of any one of these estimators may therefore be used to provide lower bounds for the LS success rate. This is particularly useful in case of the bootstrapped estimator. Received: 11 January 1999 / Accepted: 9 July 1999     

Modeling and quality control for reliable precise point positioning integer ambiguity resolution with GNSS modernization

Recent research has demonstrated that the undifferenced integer ambiguities can be recovered using products from a network solution. The standard dual-frequency PPP integer ambiguity resolution consists of two aspects: Hatch-Melbourne-Wübbena wide-lane (WL) and ionosphere-free narrow-lane (NL) integer ambiguity resolution. A major issue affecting the performance of dual-frequency PPP applications is the time it takes to fix these two types of integer ambiguities, especially if the WL integer ambiguity resolution suffers from the noisy pseudorange measurements and strong multipath effects. With modernized Global Navigation Satellite Systems, triple-frequency measurements will be available to global users and an extra WL (EWL) model with very long wavelength can be formulated. Then, the easily resolved EWL integer ambiguities can be used to construct linear combinations to accelerate the PPP WL integer ambiguity resolution. Therefore, we propose a new reliable procedure for the modeling and quality control of triple-frequency PPP WL and NL integer ambiguity resolution. First, we analyze a WL integer ambiguity resolution model based on triple-frequency measurements. Then, an optimal pseudorange linear combination which is ionosphere-free and has minimum measurement noise is developed and used as constraint in the WL and the NL integer ambiguity resolution. Based on simulations, we have investigated the inefficiency of dual-frequency WL integer ambiguity resolution and the performance of EWL integer ambiguity resolution. Using almanacs of GPS, Galileo and BeiDou, the performances of the proposed triple-frequency WL and NL models have been evaluated in terms of success rate. Comparing with dual-frequency PPP, numerical results indicate that the proposed triple-frequency models can outperform the dual-frequency PPP WL and NL integer ambiguity resolution. With 1 s sampling rate, generally, only several minutes of data are required for reliable triple-frequency PPP WL and NL integer ambiguity resolution. Under benign observation situations and good geometries, the integer ambiguity can be reliably resolved even within 10 s.     

Integer estimation in the presence of biases

 Carrier phase ambiguity resolution is the key to fast and high-precision GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) kinematic positioning. Critical in the application of ambiguity resolution is the quality of the computed integer ambiguities. Unsuccessful ambiguity resolution, when passed unnoticed, will too often lead to unacceptable errors in the positioning results. Very high success rates are therefore required for ambiguity resolution to be reliable. Biases which are unaccounted for will lower the success rate and thus increase the chance of unsuccessful ambiguity resolution. The performance of integer ambiguity estimation in the presence of such biases is studied. Particular attention is given to integer rounding, integer bootstrapping and integer least squares. Lower and upper bounds, as well as an exact and easy-to-compute formula for the bias-affected success rate, are presented. These results will enable the evaluation of the bias robustness of ambiguity resolution. Received: 28 September 2000 / Accepted: 29 March 2001     

改进的ARCE方法及其在单频 GPS快速定位中的应用

基于TIKHONOV正则化原理，设计了一种正则化矩阵的构造方法，将ARCE(ambiguity resolution using constraint equation)方法进行了改进。通过新的正则化矩阵的作用，减弱了GPS快速定位中少数历元情形下法矩阵的病态性，得到了比较准确的模糊度浮动解，大大减小了模糊度的搜索范围，利用ARCE方法固定模糊度的成功率高。并结合一个算例，验证了本文改进方法的效果。     

一种GPS整周模糊度单历元解算方法

仅利用单历元的载波相位观测值进行整周模糊度解算,观测方程秩亏,给单历元模糊度解算带来很大困难.因此,本文提出一种单历元确定GPS整周模糊度的方法.利用单历元测码伪距观测值和双频载波相位观测值组成双差观测方程,根据方差矩阵对宽巷模糊度进行分组,采用基于LABMDA方法的逐步解算方法来确定双差相位观测值的宽巷模糊度.确定宽...     

GPS/陀螺组合测姿中整周模糊度的快速解算

采用方向余弦矩阵描述姿态,建立GPS/陀螺组合姿态确定系统模型,由矩阵Kalman滤波方法解算整周模糊度的浮点解,然后再利用MCLambda方法得到整周模糊度固定解。仿真实验结果表明,附加方向余弦矩阵约束的Kalman滤波方法可以有效地提高整周模糊度浮点解的精度,使得整周模糊度的固定成功率和效率均得到提高,尤其是在GPS观测条件较差的情况下。     

用遗传算法搜索GPS单频单历元整周模糊度

介绍了短基线利用单频单历元双差载波相位定位时模糊度固定的基本理论，探讨了利用遗传算法快速搜索GPS单频单历元整周模糊度的一些理论和实现的方法．提出了用改进的正则化方法改善浮动解来提高搜索成功率的新思路。算例分析表明，在一定的条件下．应用遗传算法搜索整周模糊度成功率高、稳键性较好。     

Analysis of the upper bounds for the integer ambiguity validation statistics

Integer ambiguity validation is an essential quality control step for high-precision positioning and navigation with global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). In order to validate the resolved integer ambiguities, statistical tests, such as the R-ratio test, F-ratio test, W-ratio test, difference test, and projector test, have been favored. In practice, the critical values for these statistical tests are determined either empirically or from the assumed distributions. However, previous research has revealed that some of these statistics have upper bounds, which can be obtained from simulations. In this contribution, we find that under the framework of the integer aperture estimation, the upper bounds for these ambiguity validation statistical tests can be derived without actual measurements or simulation. As a result, the assumed distributions for these statistical tests are inappropriate. According to the derivation, it has been concluded that the upper bounds of these ambiguity validation tests depend only on the ambiguity geometry (e.g., the float ambiguity variance–covariance matrix) and can be obtained at the design stage of GNSS positioning. Thus, the critical value for these ambiguity validation statistics has a rigorous range, and it should be chosen to be smaller than a priori derived upper bound. Otherwise, no integer ambiguities can be obtained.     

Maximum-likelihood ambiguity resolution based on Bayesian principle

 Based on the Bayesian principle and the fact that GPS carrier-phase ambiguities are integers, the posterior distribution of the ambiguities and the position parameters is derived. This is then used to derive the maximum posterior likelihood solution of the ambiguities. The accuracy of the integer ambiguity solution and the position parameters is also studied according to the posterior distribution. It is found that the accuracy of the integer solution depends not only on the variance of the corresponding float ambiguity solution but also on its values. Received: 27 July 1999 / Accepted: 22 November 2000     

A modified geometry- and ionospheric-free combination for static three-carrier ambiguity resolution

The reliability of the classical geometry- and ionospheric-free (GIF) three-carrier ambiguity resolution (TCAR) degrades when applied to long baselines of hundreds of kilometers. To overcome this deficiency, we propose two new models, which are used sequentially to resolve wide-lane (WL) and narrow-lane (NL) ambiguities and form a stepwise ambiguity resolution (AR) strategy. In the first model, after a successful extra-wide-lane AR, the pseudorange and phase observations are combined to estimate WL ambiguities, in which the residual ionospheric delays and geometry effects are eliminated. In the second model, using the resolved ambiguities from the first step, the two WL ambiguities are combined to remove ionospheric and geometry effects. The unknown coefficients in the two models are determined in such that they minimize the formal errors in the ambiguity estimates to optimize the ambiguity estimation. Using experimental BeiDou triple-frequency observations, we evaluate our method and identify three advantages. First, the two models use double-differenced phase observations that are not differences across frequency. Second, the two models are entirely free from ionospheric delay and geometry effects. Third, the unknown estimates in the two models satisfy the minimum noise condition, which makes the formal errors in the float NL ambiguity estimates much lower than those obtained with common GIF TCAR methods, thereby directly and significantly increasing the success rate of AR compared to the cascaded integer resolution method and two other GIF combinations.     

单频GPS快速定位中病态问题的解法研究

研究只利用少数历元GPS载波相位观测值进行快速定位时的新解法.在分析病态法矩阵结构特性的基础上,基于TIKHONOV正则化原理,提出一种选择正则化矩阵R的新方法,减弱法方程的病态性.与其他方法相比,新方法得到与模糊度准确值更接近的浮动解及其相应的均方误差矩阵.结合LAMBDA方法,用均方误差矩阵代替协方差阵确定模糊度的搜索范围,可准确快速地确定模糊度,最后得到基线向量的解.结合算例,将新解法与最小二乘估计、岭估计和截断奇异值法分别结合LAMBDA方法解算模糊度的结果进行比较分析,展示新解法的效果.     

整周模糊度去相关的两种实现方法

整周模糊度搜索一直是GPS快速精确定位的关键问题。短时间的观测会导致观测方程和整周模糊度方差、协方差矩阵的高相关性，因而急剧增大整周模糊度的搜索空间，对整周模糊度未知数方差、协方差矩阵进行去相关性处理，可以有效地压缩搜索空间。本文对整周模糊度去相关的迭代法和联合变换法从原理上进行了阐述，并结合实际算倒进行了分析和比较。