Modeling tropospheric wet delays with national GNSS reference network in China for BeiDou precise point positioning

During past decades, precise point positioning (PPP) has been proven to be a well-known positioning technique for centimeter or decimeter level accuracy. However, it needs long convergence time to get high-accuracy positioning, which limits the prospects of PPP, especially in real-time applications. It is expected that the PPP convergence time can be reduced by introducing high-quality external information, such as ionospheric or tropospheric corrections. In this study, several methods for tropospheric wet delays modeling over wide areas are investigated. A new, improved model is developed, applicable in real-time applications in China. Based on the GPT2w model, a modified parameter of zenith wet delay exponential decay wrt. height is introduced in the modeling of the real-time tropospheric delay. The accuracy of this tropospheric model and GPT2w model in different seasons is evaluated with cross-validation, the root mean square of the zenith troposphere delay (ZTD) is 1.2 and 3.6 cm on average, respectively. On the other hand, this new model proves to be better than the tropospheric modeling based on water-vapor scale height; it can accurately express tropospheric delays up to 10 km altitude, which potentially has benefits in many real-time applications. With the high-accuracy ZTD model, the augmented PPP convergence performance for BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) and GPS is evaluated. It shows that the contribution of the high-quality ZTD model on PPP convergence performance has relation with the constellation geometry. As BDS constellation geometry is poorer than GPS, the improvement for BDS PPP is more significant than that for GPS PPP. Compared with standard real-time PPP, the convergence time is reduced by 2–7 and 20–50% for the augmented BDS PPP, while GPS PPP only improves about 6 and 18% (on average), in horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. When GPS and BDS are combined, the geometry is greatly improved, which is good enough to get a reliable PPP solution, the augmentation PPP improves insignificantly comparing with standard PPP.     

GGOS对流层延迟产品精度分析及在PPP中的应用

对流层延迟是卫星导航定位的主要误差源,GNSS广域增强需要高精度的对流层延迟产品进行误差修正。对流层延迟可通过GNSS进行实时估计,也可通过融合多源数据的数值气象预报模型获取。IGS发布的全球对流层天顶延迟产品由GNSS解算,其精度可达4mm,时间分辨率为5min,但其分布不均匀,在广袤的海洋区域无数据覆盖。GGOS Atmosphere基于ECMWF 40年再分析资料,可提供1979年以来时间分辨率为6h、空间分辨率为2.5°×2°的全球天顶对流层总延迟格网数据。本文通过2015年全球IGS测站的ZTD资料对GGOS的ZTD产品进行了评估,研究了GGOS Atmosphere对流层延迟产品与IGS发布ZTD资料之间的系统差,通过线性拟合估计出每个测站GGOS-ZTD与IGSZTD系统差系数(包括比例误差a和固定误差b),然后对比例误差a、固定误差b进行球谐展开,建立了两种ZTD数据源之间的系统差模型。选取IGS测站和陆态网测站,对附加系统偏差改正后的GGOSZTD产品对PPP的收敛速度的影响进行研究。本文研究结果表明:GGOS-ZTD与IGS-ZTD间存在系统偏差,其bias平均为-0.54cm;两者之间较差的RMS平均为1.31cm,说明GGOS-ZTD产品足以满足广大GNSS导航定位用户对对流层延迟改正的需要。将改正了系统差后的GGOS-ZTD产品用于ALBH、DEAR、ISPA测站、PALM测站、ADIS测站、YNMH测站、WUHN测站进行PPP试验,发现可明显提高定位收敛速度,尤其是在U方向上,收敛速度分别提高10.58%、31.68%、15.96%、43.89%、51.46%、14.69%、18.40%。     

Assessment of ZTD derived from ECMWF/NCEP data with GPS ZTD over China

The accuracy and feasibility of computing the zenith tropospheric delays (ZTDs) from data of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the United States National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) are studied. The ZTDs are calculated from ECMWF/NCEP pressure-level data by integration and from the surface data with the Saastamoinen model method and then compared with the solutions measured from 28 global positioning system (GPS) stations of the Crustal Movement Observation Network of China (CMONOC) for 1 year. The results are as follows: (1) the error of the integration method is 1–3 cm less than that of the Saastamoinen model method. The agreement between the ECMWF ZTD and GPS ZTD is better than that between NCEP ZTD and GPS ZTD; (2) the bias and root mean square difference (RMSD), especially the latter, have a seasonal variation, and the RMSD decreases with increasing altitude while the variation with latitude is not obvious; and (3) when using the full horizontal resolution of 0.5° × 0.5° of the ECMWF meteorological data in place of a reduced 2.5° × 2.5° grid, the mean RMSD between GPS and ECMWF ZTD decreases by 4.5 mm. These results illuminated the accuracy and feasibility of computing the tropospheric delays and establishing the ZTD prediction model over China for navigation and positioning with ECMWF and NCEP data.     

QZSS L6E增强服务改正数支持的PPP性能评估

准天顶卫星系统目前利用QZS-2~QZS-43颗卫星播发L6E信号,为东亚和大洋洲地区用户提供实时的增强服务。该文分析了L6E信号结构及轨道和钟差的计算模型,研究了目前L6E信号的覆盖范围和可用性,评估了L6E改正数恢复的卫星轨道和钟差及其用于动态PPP的精度水平。结果表明:我国用户在使用15°截止高度角时L6E信号仍有100%的可用性;L6E改正数恢复的GPS和GLONASS卫星轨道的3D RMS平均值分别为5.3和13.9 cm,卫星钟差的STD平均值分别为0.14和0.22 ns,利用GPS卫星的轨道和钟差进行的动态PPP可以获得水平优于10 cm、高程优于15 cm的精度,在加入GLONASS卫星后,东方向和高程方向定位误差和收敛时间均有明显改善。     

基于相空间重构和高斯过程回归的对流层延迟预测

天顶对流层延迟(zenith tropospheric delay,ZTD)是影响GPS定位精度的关键因素,为了提高ZTD的预测精度,提出一种基于相空间重构的高斯过程回归预测模型。针对ZTD时间序列的混沌特性,利用国际GNSS服务(International GNSS Service,IGS)站提供的ZTD数据,采用Cao方法确定嵌入维数,对ZTD数据进行相空间重构,探究高斯过程(Gaussian process,GP)模型对12个位于南、北半球不同纬度等级IGS站的ZTD预测精度和准确性。为了验证GP模型的有效性,将预测结果分别与原始数据和反向传播(back propagation,BP)神经网络模型预测结果作对比分析,进一步探究不同时间对ZTD预测精度的影响,并分析了经度和海拔对ZTD预测精度的影响。结果表明,GP模型预测结果的均方根误差(root mean square error,RMSE)达到mm级,GP模型与理论值的相关性达到0.997,预测精度指标明显优于BP神经网络模型;GP模型在南半球的预测精度高于北半球,且在高纬地区的RMSE小于3.6 mm,更适用于高纬地区的对流层延迟预测;在研究时域内,GP模型在大部分站点对晚上的预测精度高于白天,经度对ZTD预测精度的影响不明显,海拔与ZTD预测精度呈正比。     

高纬度BDS/GPS PPP中的对流层延迟改正模型优选

由于高纬度地区气温气压值及变化率与中低纬度地区有较大差异,因此目前发布的多种对流层延迟模型在高纬度地区使用的精度会不同。为了给高纬度地区BDS/GPS用户提供更好的对流层延迟模型选择,文中采用UNB3,EGNOS和GPT2模型,以IGS发布的ZPD产品和SINEX文件作为参考,对比基于这三种对流层延迟模型计算的天顶对流层总延迟量以及精密单点定位精度,可知GPT2较UNB3和EGNOS在高纬度地区定位中有更好的精度表现。     

融合大气数值模式的高精度对流层天顶延迟计算方法

针对现有对流层天顶延迟模型改正法因水汽参数难以精确获取所导致的时空分辨率与精度上的不足问题，提出了一种融合WRF（weather research and forecasting model）大气数值模式的对流层天顶延迟估计方法。通过分析WRF模式的数值模拟机理及其数据结构特征，采用直接积分与模型改正相结合的混合计算方式，实现了全球任意位置上小时级的对流层天顶延迟估计。验证结果表明，该方法计算的小时级ZTD再分析值精度为13.6 mm，日均值精度更是可达9.3 mm，比传统模型UNB3m的49.6 mm以及目前标称精度最高模型GPT2w的34.6 mm，精度分别提高了约5倍和3.5倍。在30 h的预报时段内，预报值精度也可达22 mm。无论是ZTD再分析值还是预报值比现有模型的估计值精度均有明显提高。     

利用中国区域MERRA-2资料计算ZTD和ZWD的精度分析

对流层延迟是影响高精度定位与导航的主要误差之一,也是全球导航卫星系统（global navigation satellite system,GNSS）水汽探测的关键参数。美国航空航天局发布了最新一代的大气再分析资料（MERRA-2资料）,其可用于计算高时空分辨率的对流层延迟产品,但是目前尚无文献对利用MERRA-2资料计算天顶对流层延迟（zenith tropospheric delay,ZTD）和天顶湿延迟（zenith wet delay,ZWD）的精度进行分析。因此,联合2015年中国陆态网214个GNSS站ZTD产品和分布于中国区域的87个探空站资料,对利用MERRA-2资料在中国区域计算ZTD/ZWD的精度进行评估。结果表明：（1）以陆态网ZTD为参考值,利用MERRA-2资料积分计算ZTD的年均偏差和均方根误差（root mean square error,RMSE）分别为0.32 cm和1.21 cm,且偏差和RMSE均表现出一定的季节变化,总体上呈现为夏季精度低、冬季精度高;在空间分布上,偏差随纬度和高程的变化趋势并不明显,但RMSE随纬度和高程的增加总体上呈现递减的趋...     

一种区域实时对流层内插模型及其在PPP中的应用

利用反距离加权内插法,对基准站解算的天顶对流层延迟（ZTD）建立了区域实时ZTD模型,评估了该模型内插流动站对流层延迟对PPP定位精度和收敛时间的影响。试验表明：与传统ZTD采用参数估计的处理方法对比,二者解算得到的PPP精度在水平方向上效果相当,但在垂直方向上,模型内插对流层解算的定位精度提高约为5 cm,且能显著提高PPP收敛速度。说明应用本方法建立非气象参数的区域天顶对流层延迟模型能有效加快PPP的收敛速度,且提高定位精度。     

QZSS对GPS区域性能增强分析

在日本和中国中东部地区,就日本准天顶卫星系统(QZSS)对GPS导航精度增强、完好性增强以及可用性增强进行了仿真计算比较。结果表明,只有3颗卫星组成的QZSS在这些区域内对GPS提供了有效的性能增强,而且随着卫星截止角的增加,这种性能增强显得更为明显;QZSS在战时可有效降低由于部分GPS卫星失效而导致的性能恶化程度。分析结果对于我国在中部地区和东部热点地区有效利用GNSS导航资源具有指导作用。     

一种基于SARIMA的经验对流层延迟模型

为了减弱对流层延迟的影响,提高GNSS定位精度,探讨了在无气象参数的条件下,利用预测模型计算对流层延迟的可能性,并提出了一种经验对流层延迟预测模型,即基于季节性自回归移动平均模型（SARIMA）的对流层延迟预报方法。结合中国长春和上海两个地区的ZTD数据进行预测分析,预测结果表明：基于SARIMA的ZTD预报模型能够满足不同地区不同时段下的ZTD估计需求,是一种较高精度的ZTD预报方法。     

Characterization of diurnal cycles in ZTD from a decade of global GPS observations

The diurnal cycle of the tropospheric zenith total delay (ZTD) is one of the most obvious signals for the various physical processes relating to climate change on a short time scale. However, the observation of such ZTD oscillations on a global scale with traditional techniques (e.g. radiosondes) is restricted due to limitations in spatial and temporal resolution. Nowadays, the International GNSS Service (IGS) provides an important data source for investigating the diurnal and semidiurnal cycles of ZTD and related climatic signals. In this paper, 10 years of ZTD data from 1997 to 2007 with a 2-hour temporal resolution are derived from global positioning system (GPS) observations taken at 151 globally distributed IGS reference stations. These time series are used to investigate diurnal and semidiurnal oscillations. Significant diurnal and semidiurnal oscillations of ZTD are found for all GPS stations used in this study. The diurnal cycles (24 hours period) have amplitudes between 0.2 and 10.9 mm with an uncertainty of about 0.5 mm and the semidiurnal cycles (12 h period) have amplitudes between 0.1 and 4.3 mm with an uncertainty of about 0.2 mm. The larger amplitudes of the diurnal and semidiurnal ZTD cycles are observed in the low-latitude equatorial areas. The peak times of the diurnal cycles spread over the whole day, while the peak value of the semidiurnal cycles occurs typically about local noon. These GPS-derived diurnal and semidiurnal ZTD signals are similar with the surface pressure tides derived from surface synoptic pressure observations, indicating that atmospheric tides are the main driver of the diurnal and semidiurnal ZTD variations.     

Accuracy improvement of zenith tropospheric delay estimation based on GPS precise point positioning algorithm

In the precise point positioning(PPP),some impossible accurately simulated systematic errors still remained in the GPS observations and will inevitably degrade the precision of zenith tropospheric delay(ZTD) estimation.The stochastic models used in the GPS PPP mode are compared.In this paper,the research results show that the precision of PPP-derived ZTD can be obviously improved through selecting a suitable stochastic model for GPS measurements.Low-elevation observations can cover more troposphere informat...     

Optimum stochastic modeling for GNSS tropospheric delay estimation in real-time

GPS Solutions - In GNSS data processing, the station height, receiver clock and tropospheric delay (ZTD) are highly correlated to each other. Although the zenith hydrostatic delay of the...     

A grid-based tropospheric product for China using a GNSS network

Tropospheric delay accounts for one source of error in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). To better characterize the tropospheric delays in the temporal and spatial domain and facilitate the safety-critical use of GNSS across China, a method is proposed to generate a grid-based tropospheric product (GTP) using the GNSS network with an empirical tropospheric model, known as IGGtrop. The prototype system generates the GTPs in post-processing and real-time modes and is based on the undifferenced and uncombined precise point positioning (UU-PPP) technique. GTPs are constructed for a grid form (\(2.0{^{\circ }}\times 2.5{^{\circ }}\) latitude–longitude) over China with a time resolution of 5 min. The real-time GTP messages are encoded in a self-defined RTCM3 format and broadcast to users using NTRIP (networked transport of RTCM via internet protocol), which enables efficient and safe transmission to real-time users. Our approach for GTP generation consists of three sequential steps. In the first step, GNSS-derived zenith tropospheric delays (ZTDs) for a network of GNSS stations are estimated using UU-PPP. In the second step, vertical adjustments for the GNSS-derived ZTDs are applied to address the height differences between the GNSS stations and grid points. The ZTD height corrections are provided by the IGGtrop model. Finally, an inverse distance weighting method is used to interpolate the GNSS-derived ZTDs from the surrounding GNSS stations to the location of the grid point. A total of 210 global positioning system (GPS) stations from the crustal movement observation network of China are used to generate the GTPs in both post-processing and real-time modes. The accuracies of the GTPs are assessed against with ERA-Interim-derived ZTDs and the GPS-derived ZTDs at 12 test GPS stations, respectively. The results show that the post-processing and real-time GTPs can provide the ZTDs with accuracies of 1.4 and 1.8 cm, respectively. We also apply the GTPs in real-time kinematic GPS PPP, and the results show that the convergence time of the PPP solutions is shortened. These results confirm that the GTPs can act as an efficient information source to augment GNSS positioning over China.     

QZSS MICHIBIKI卫星实时轨道和钟差数据的精度评估

以日本宇宙航空研究开发机构(JAXA)提供的精密星历为参考,对QZSS MICHIBIKI卫星发布的实时轨道和钟差数据进行了评估。数值结果表明,QZSS MICHIBIKI卫星的实时轨道精度优于11 cm,实时钟差优于0.56 ns;GPS卫星的实时轨道精度优于5 cm,实时钟差优于0.4 ns。通过比较得知,QZSS MICHIBIKI卫星的实时轨道和钟差精度明显低于GPS卫星。     

GPS/VRS 参考站网络的对流层误差建模技术研究

在虚拟参考站(VRS)技术中,参考站与流动站间的高程差异会引起对流层误差改正数中存在系统偏差影响,使对流层改正精度降低。在常规网络内插改正模型的基础上,借助先验对流层模型,提出了一种能自主修正高程偏差的距离相关对流层网络内插模型(MHDIM)。基于四川GPS连续运行参考站网络(Sichuan GPS Reference Station Network-SGRSN)实际测试数据的分析表明,对于地形变化较大的中长距离稀疏GPS/VRS参考站网络(如流动站与参考站间高程差异大于500m),应用MHDIM模型可使对流层延迟误差改正精度提高到2到3cm并实现cm级网络RTK定位结果,适用于GPS/VRS参考站网络cm级实时动态定位要求。     

Comparison of individual and combined zenith tropospheric delay estimations during CONT08 campaign

CONT campaigns are 2-week campaigns of continuous VLBI observations. The IERS working group on combination at the observation level uses these campaigns to study such combinations. In this work, combinations of DORIS, GPS, SLR, and VLBI technique measurements are studied during CONT08. We present different results concerning the use of common zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) during the combination. We compare the ZTD obtained separately using each individual technique data processing, the combined ZTD, and the ZTD derived from a meteorological model. This resulted in a high level of consistency between each of these ZTD at a sub-centimeter level, a consistency which especially depends on the number of observations per estimated ZTD and the humidity level in the troposphere. We noted that GPS provides the main information about the combined ZTD, the other techniques providing complementary information when a lack of GPS observations occurs.     

GPS measurements of ocean loading and its impact on zenith tropospheric delay estimates: a case study in Brittany, France

 The results from a global positioning system (GPS) experiment carried out in Brittany, France, in October 1999, aimed at measuring crustal displacements caused by ocean loading and quantifying their effects on GPS-derived tropospheric delay estimates, are presented. The loading effect in the vertical and horizontal position time series is identified, however with significant disagreement in amplitude compared to ocean loading model predictions. It is shown that these amplitude misfits result from spatial tropospheric heterogeneities not accounted for in the data processing. The effect of ocean loading on GPS-derived zenith total delay (ZTD) estimates is investigated and a scaling factor of 4.4 between ZTD and station height for a 10° elevation cut-off angle is found (i.e. a 4.4-cm station height error would map into a 1-cm ZTD error). Consequently, unmodeled ocean loading effects map into significant errors in ZTD estimates and ocean loading modeling must be properly implemented when estimating ZTD parameters from GPS data for meteorological applications. Ocean loading effects must be known with an accuracy of better than 3 cm in order to meet the accuracy requirements of meteorological and climatological applications of GPS-derived precipitable water vapor. Received: 16 July 2001 / Accepted: 25 April 2002 Acknowledgments. The authors are grateful to H.G. Scherneck for fruitful discussions and for his help with the ocean loading calculations. They thank H. Vedel for making the HIRLAM data available; D. Jerett for helpful discussions; and the city of Rostrenen, the Laboratoire d'Océanographie of Concarneau, and the Institut de Protection et de S?reté Nucléaire (BERSSIN) for their support during the GPS measurement campaign. Reviews by C.K. Shum and two anonymous referees significantly improved this paper. This work was carried out in the framework of the MAGIC project (http://www.acri.fr/magic), funded by the European Commission, Environment and Climate Program (EC Contract ENV4-CT98–0745). Correspondence to: E. Calais, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1397, USA. e-mail: ecalais@purdue.edu Tel. : +1-765-496-2915; Fax:+1-765-496-1210     

IRNSS和QZSS在各自主服务区域的L5定位性能评估：独立系统与GPS联合

印度区域导航卫星系统（IRNSS）与日本准天顶系统（QZSS）是近年来宣布正式运行的两个区域卫星导航系统。本文首先评估了IRNSS和QZSS在各自主服务区域的L5信号单点定位性能。然后,为了探究导航星座结构差异对各区域系统联合GPS在城市峡谷环境下定位性能的影响程度,详细对比分析了卫星截止高度角为5°、15°、25°、35°、45°、55°时各区域系统在其主服务区内联合GPS定位的表现。结果表明：① IRNSS在其主服务区内可提供全天连续独立L5定位服务,水平方向定位精度小于2.50m,高程方向定位精度小于4.10m;② QZSS在其主服务区内只能提供全天部分时段的独立L5定位服务,水平方向定位精度小于4.80m,高程方向定位精度小于7.40m;③由于QZSS独特的星座结构,其在主服务区城市峡谷环境中联合GPS定位的性能要优于IRNSS在其相应主服务区联合GPS定位的表现,尤其是在天空视野有限的情况下。本文结果对决策者设计新的区域导航系统具有一定的参考价值。