GLONASS pseudorange inter-channel biases and their effects on combined GPS/GLONASS precise point positioning

Combined GPS/GLONASS precise point positioning (PPP) can obtain a more precise and reliable position than GPS PPP. However, because of frequency division multiple access, GLONASS carrier phase and pseudorange observations suffer from inter-channel biases (ICBs) which will influence the accuracy and convergence speed of combined GPS/GLONASS PPP. With clear understanding of the characteristics of carrier phase ICBs, we estimated undifferenced GLONASS pseudorange ICBs for 133 receivers from five manufacturers and analyzed their characteristics. In general, pseudorange ICBs corresponding to the same firmware have strong correlations. The ICB values of two receivers with the same firmware may be different because of different antenna types, and their differences are closely related to frequency. Pseudorange ICBs should be provided for each satellite to obtain more precise ICBs as the pseudorange ICBs may vary even on the same frequency. For the solutions of standard point positioning (SPP), after pseudorange ICB calibration, the mean root mean square (RMS) improvements of GLONASS SPP reach up to 57, 48, and 53 % for the East, North, and Up components, while combined GPS/GLONASS SPP reach up to 27, 17, and 23 %, respectively. The combined GPS/GLONASS PPP after pseudorange ICB calibration evidently improved the convergence speed, and the mean RMS of PPP improved by almost 50 % during the convergence period.     

Influence of the GLONASS inter-frequency bias on differential code bias estimation and ionospheric modeling

GPS Solutions - Due to the application of frequency division multiple access, the signals of GLONASS satellites suffer from code and carrier phase inter-frequency biases (IFBs). In this study, the...     

单站多参数GLONASS码频间偏差估计及其对组合精密单点定位的影响

在分析传统GPS/GLONASS组合PPP数学模型中忽略GLONASS码IFB不足的基础上,提出一种基于"多参数"的组合PPP与码IFB估计算法。将"频间偏差"与"系统时差"参数进行合并,通过引入多个独立的"时频偏差"参数对组合PPP中的GLONASS码IFB进行函数模型补偿,同时可实现基于单个测站观测数据的码IFB精确估计。对配备6种GNSS品牌接收机的30个IGS站实测数据进行GLONASS码IFB估计与分析。结果表明:各品牌接收机不同频率通道的GLONASS码IFB可达数米,且表现出与频率的明显相关性,但难以通过简单函数建模为其提供精确的先验改正值;相同品牌接收机的GLONASS码IFB整体上具有相似的特性,而在个别测站会表现出异常特征;即使接收机类型、固件版本及天线类型完全相同的测站,GLONASS码IFB值也可能存在显著差异。新算法能实现对GLONASS码IFB的有效补偿,明显加快组合PPP的收敛速度。虽然引入多个附加参数会导致函数模型自由度减小,但对定位精度的影响有限,与传统"单参数"法进行组合PPP的定位精度相当。     

Combined GPS/GLONASS data processing

To obtain the GLONASS satellite position at an epoch other than reference time,the satellite‘s equation of motion has to be integrated with broadcasting ephemerides.The iterative detecting and repairing method of cycle slips based on triple difference residuals for combined GPS/GLONASS positioning and the iterative ambiguity resolution approach suitable for combined post processing positioning are discussed systematically.Experiments show that millimter accuracy can be achieved in short baselines with a few hours‘ dual frequency or even single frequency GPS/GLONASS carrier phase observation,and the precision of dual frequency observations is distinctly higher than that of single frequency observations.     

Impact of GLONASS pseudorange inter-channel biases on satellite clock corrections

GLONASS carrier phase and pseudorange observations suffer from inter-channel biases (ICBs) because of frequency division multiple access (FDMA). Therefore, we analyze the effect of GLONASS pseudorange inter-channel biases on the GLONASS clock corrections. Different Analysis Centers (AC) eliminate the impact of GLONASS pseudorange ICBs in different ways. This leads to significant differences in the satellite and AC-specific offsets in the GLONASS clock corrections. Satellite and AC-specific offset differences are strongly correlated with frequency. Furthermore, the GLONASS pseudorange ICBs also leads to day-boundary jumps in the GLONASS clock corrections for the same analysis center between adjacent days. This in turn will influence the accuracy of the combined GPS/GLONASS precise point positioning (PPP) at the day-boundary. To solve these problems, a GNSS clock correction combination method based on the Kalman filter is proposed. During the combination, the AC-specific offsets and the satellite and AC-specific offsets can be estimated. The test results show the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed clock combination method. The combined clock corrections can effectively weaken the influence of clock day-boundary jumps on combined GPS/GLONASS kinematic PPP. Furthermore, these combined clock corrections can improve the accuracy of the combined GPS/GLONASS static PPP single-day solutions when compared to the accuracy of each analysis center alone.     

Time Transfer Experiments Using GLONASS P-code Measurements from RINEX Files

We have used GLONASS P-code measurements from different geodetic GPS/GLONASS receivers involved in the IGEX campaign to perform frequency/time transfer between remote clocks. GLONASS time transfer is commonly based on the clock differences between GLONASS system time and the local clock computed by a time transfer receiver. We choose to analyze the raw P-code data available in the RINEX files. This also allows working with the data from geodetic receivers involved in the IGEX campaign. As a first point, we show that the handling of the external frequency in some of the IGEX receivers is not suited for time transfer applications. We also point out that the GLONASS broadcast ephemerides give rise to a considerable number of outliers in the time transfer, compared to the precise IGEX ephemerides. Due to receiver clock resets at day boundaries, which is a characteristic of the R100 receivers from 3S-Navigation, continuous data sets exceeding one day are not available. Invthis context, it is therefore impossible to perform RINEX-based precise frequency transfer with GLONASS P-codes on a time scale longer than one day. Because the frequencies used by GLONASS satellites are different, the time transfer results must be corrected for the different receiver hardware delays. After this correction, the final precision of our time transfer results corresponds to a root-mean-square (rms) of 1.8 nanoseconds (ns) (maximum difference of 11.8 ns) compared to a rms of about 4.4 ns (maximum difference of 31.9 ns) for time transfer based on GPS C/A code observations. ? 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Combined GPS/GLONASS data processing

To obtain the GLONASS satellite position at an epoch other than reference time, the satellite's equation of motion has to be integrated with broadcasting ephemerides. The iterative detecting and repairing method of cycle slips based on triple difference residuals for combined GPS/GLONASS positioning and the iterative ambiguity resolution approach suitable for combined post processing positioning are discussed systematically. Experiments show that millimeter accuracy can be achieved in short baselines with a few hours' dual frequency or even single frequency GPS/GLONASS carrier phase observations, and the precision of dual frequency observations is distinctly higher than that of single frequency observations.     

顾及频率间偏差的GPS/GLONASS卫星钟差实时估计

GPS/GLONASS卫星钟差联合估计过程中，由于GLONASS系统采用频分多址技术区分卫星信号，因而会产生频率间偏差（IFB）^[1]。本文在GPS/GLONASS卫星定轨过程中的IFB参数特性分析的基础上，引入IFB参数，实现顾及频率间偏差的GPS/GLONASS卫星钟差实时估计。同时，为解决实时估计中待估参数过多导致的实时性较弱等问题，基于非差伪距观测值和历元间差分相位观测值改进实时估计数学模型，实现多系统卫星钟差的联合快速估计。结果表明：GPS/GLONASS联合估计时需引入IFB参数并优化其估计策略，采用MGEX和iGMAS跟踪站的实测数据进行实时钟差解算，快速估计方法可实现1.6 s逐历元快速、高精度估计，与GBM提供的最终精密卫星钟差相比，GPS卫星钟差实时精度约为0.210 ns，GLONASS卫星约为0.298 ns。     

Performance analysis of integrated GPS/GLONASS carrier phase-based positioning

Due to the different signal frequencies for the GLONASS satellites, the commonly-used double-differencing procedure for carrier phase data processing can not be implemented in its straightforward form, as in the case of GPS. In this paper a novel data processing strategy, involving a three-step procedure, for integrated GPS/GLONASS positioning is proposed. The first is pseudo-range-based positioning, that uses double-differenced (DD) GPS pseudo-range and single-differenced (SD) GLONASS pseudo-range measurements to derive the initial position and receiver clock bias. The second is forming DD measurements (expressed in cycles) in order to estimate the ambiguities, by using the receiver clock bias estimated in the above step. The third is to form DD measurements (expressed in metric units) with the unknown SD integer ambiguity for the GLONASS reference satellite as the only parameter (which is constant before a cycle slip occurs for this satellite). A real-time stochastic model estimated by residual series over previous epochs is proposed for integrated GPS/GLONASS carrier phase and pseudo-range data processing. Other associated issues, such as cycle slip detection, validation criteria and adaptive procedure(s) for ambiguity resolution, is also discussed. The performance of this data processing strategy will be demonstrated through case study examples of rapid static positioning and kinematic positioning. From four experiments carried out to date, the results indicate that rapid static positioning requires 1 minute of single frequency GPS/GLONASS data for 100% positioning success rate. The single epoch positioning solution for kinematic positioning can achieve 94.6% success rate over short baselines (<6 km).     

An approach to GLONASS ambiguity resolution

 When processing global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) carrier phases, the standard double-differencing (DD) procedure cannot cancel receiver clock terms in the DD phase measurement equations due to the multiple frequencies of the carrier phases. Consequently, a receiver clock parameter has to be set up in the measurement equations in addition to baseline components and DD ambiguities. The resulting normal matrix unfortunately becomes singular. Methods to deal with this problem have been proposed in the literature. However, these methods rely on the use of pseudo-ranges. As pseudo-ranges are contaminated by multi-path and hardware delays, biases in these pseudo-ranges are significant, which may result in unreliable ambiguity resolution. A new approach is addressed that is not sensitive to the biases in the pseudo-ranges. The proposed approach includes such steps as converting the carrier phases to their distances to cancel the receiver clock errors, and searching for the most likely single-differenced (SD) ambiguity. Based on the results from the theoretical investigation, a practical procedure for GLONASS ambiguity resolution is presented. The initial experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach is useable in cases of GLONASS and combined global positioning system (GPS) and GLONASS positioning. Received: 19 August 1998 / Accepted: 12 November 1999     

Method for real-time self-calibrating GLONASS code inter-frequency bias and improvements on single point positioning

Utilization of frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) leads to GLONASS pseudorange and carrier phase observations suffering from variable levels inter-frequency bias (IFB). The bias related with carrier phase can be absorbed by ambiguities. However, the unequal code inter-frequency bias (cIFB) will degrade the accuracy of pseudorange observations, which will affect positioning accuracy and convergence of precise point positioning (PPP) when including GLONASS satellites. Based on observations made on un-differenced (UD) ionospheric-free combinations, GLONASS cIFB parameters are estimated as a constant to achieve GLONASS cIFB real-time self-calibration on a single station. A total of 23 stations, with different manufacturing backgrounds, are used to analyze the characteristics of GLONASS cIFB and its relationship with variable receiver hardware. The results show that there is an obvious common trend in cIFBs estimated using broadcast ephemeris for all of the different manufacturers, and there are unequal GLONASS inter-satellite cIFB that match brand manufacture. In addition, a particularly good consistency is found between self-calibrated receiver-dependent GLONASS cIFB and the IFB products of the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). Via a comparative experiment, it is also found that the algorithm of cIFB real-time self-calibration not only corrects receiver-dependent cIFB, but can moreover eliminate satellite-dependent cIFB, providing more stable results and further improving global navigation satellite system (GNSS) point positioning accuracy. The root mean square (RMS) improvements of single GLONASS standard point positioning (SPP) reach up to 54.18 and 53.80% in horizontal and vertical direction, respectively. The study’s GLONASS cIFB self-estimation can realize good self-consistency between cIFB and stations, working to further promote convergence efficiency relative to GPS?+?GLONASS PPP. An average improvement percentage of 19.03% is observed, realizing a near-consistent accuracy with GPS?+?GLONASS fusion PPP.     

Hybrid GPS + GLONASS

The hybridization of GPS with GLONASS has formed a first stage in GNSS development. We examine the performance of the hybrid system in the position domain for both code and carrier phase cases. Several major differences exist between GPS and GLONASS; most significant is GLONASS's signal frequency diversity, which can lead to measurement bias, particularly so when a pair of receivers are operating at different temperatures. Unless signal frequency diversity is addressed either on-receiver or at the data processing stage, positioning errors can occur at the centimeter level. We outline the difficulties of combining observations from the two systems and discuss how these may be overcome. ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Analyses and Solutions of Errors on GPS／GLONASS Positioning

This paper focuses mainly on the major errors and their reduction approaches pertaining to combined GPS/GLONASS positioning.To determine thd difference in the time reference systems,different receiver clock offsets are introduced with respect to GPS and GLONASS system time.A more desirable method for introducing a independent unknown parameter of fifth receiver,which can be canceled out when forming difference measurements,is discussed.The error of orbit integration and the error of transformation parameters are addressed in detail.Results of numerical integration are give.To deal with the influence of ionospheric delay,a method for forming dual-frequency ionospheric free carrier phase measurements is detailed.     

Time and Frequency Transfer Using GPS Codes and Carrier Phases: Onsite Experiments

Recent studies have shown the capabilities of Global Positioning System (GPS) carrier phases for frequency transfer based on the observations from geodetic GPS receivers driven by stable atomic clocks. This kind of receiver configuration is the kind primarily used within the framework of the International GPS Service (IGS). The International GPS Service/Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (IGS/BIPM) pilot project aims at taking advantage of these GPS receivers to enlarge the network of Time Laboratories contributing to the realization of the International Atomic Time (TAI). In this article, we outline the theory necessary to describe the abilities and limitations of time and frequency transfer using the GPS code and carrier phase observations. We report on several onsite tests and evaluate the present setup of our 12-channel IGS receiver (BRUS), which uses a hydrogen maser as an external frequency reference, to contribute to the IGS/BIPM pilot project. In the initial experimental setup, the receivers had a common external frequency reference; in the second setup, separate external frequency references were used. Independent external clock monitoring provided the necessary information to validate the results. Using two receivers with a common frequency reference and connected to the same antenna, a zero baseline, we were able to use the carrier phase data to derive a frequency stability of 6 × 10⁻¹⁶ for averaging times of one day. The main limitation in the technique originates from small ambient temperature variations of a few degrees Celsius. While these temperature variations have no effect on the functioning of the GPS receiver within the IGS network, they reduce the capacities of the frequency transfer results based on the carrier phase data. We demonstrate that the synchronization offset at the initial measurement epoch can be estimated from a combined use of the code and carrier phase observations. In our test, the discontinuity between two consecutive days was about 140 ps. ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

An investigation of GNSS atomic clock behavior at short time intervals

A technique for obtaining clock measurements from individual GNSS satellites at short time intervals is presented. The methodology developed in this study allows for accurate satellite clock stability analysis without an ultra-stable clock at the ground receiver. Variations in the carrier phase caused by the satellite clock are isolated using a combination of common GNSS carrier-phase processing techniques. Furthermore, the white phase variations caused by the thermal noise of the collection and processing equipment are statistically modeled and removed, allowing for analysis of clock performance at subsecond intervals. Allan deviation analyses of signals collected from GPS and GLONASS satellites reveal distinct intervals of clock noise for timescales less than 100 s. The clock data collected from GPS Block IIA, IIR, IIR-M, and GLONASS satellites reveal similar stability performance at time periods greater than 20 s. The GLONASS clock stability in the 0.6–10 s range, however, is significantly worse than GPS. Applications that rely on ultra-stable clock behavior from the GLONASS satellites at these timescales may therefore require high-rate corrections to estimate and remove oscillator-based errors in the carrier phase.     

Rapid PPP ambiguity resolution using GPS+GLONASS observations

Integer ambiguity resolution (IAR) in precise point positioning (PPP) using GPS observations has been well studied. The main challenge remaining is that the first ambiguity fixing takes about 30 min. This paper presents improvements made using GPS+GLONASS observations, especially improvements in the initial fixing time and correct fixing rate compared with GPS-only solutions. As a result of the frequency division multiple access strategy of GLONASS, there are two obstacles to GLONASS PPP-IAR: first and most importantly, there is distinct code inter-frequency bias (IFB) between satellites, and second, simultaneously observed satellites have different wavelengths. To overcome the problem resulting from GLONASS code IFB, we used a network of homogeneous receivers for GLONASS wide-lane fractional cycle bias (FCB) estimation and wide-lane ambiguity resolution. The integer satellite clock of the GPS and GLONASS was then estimated with the wide-lane FCB products. The effect of the different wavelengths on FCB estimation and PPP-IAR is discussed in detail. We used a 21-day data set of 67 stations, where data from 26 stations were processed to generate satellite wide-lane FCBs and integer clocks and the other 41 stations were selected as users to perform PPP-IAR. We found that GLONASS FCB estimates are qualitatively similar to GPS FCB estimates. Generally, 98.8% of a posteriori residuals of wide-lane ambiguities are within \(\pm 0.25\) cycles for GPS, and 96.6% for GLONASS. Meanwhile, 94.5 and 94.4% of narrow-lane residuals are within 0.1 cycles for GPS and GLONASS, respectively. For a critical value of 2.0, the correct fixing rate for kinematic PPP is only 75.2% for GPS alone and as large as 98.8% for GPS+GLONASS. The fixing percentage for GPS alone is only 11.70 and 46.80% within 5 and 10 min, respectively, and improves to 73.71 and 95.83% when adding GLONASS. Adding GLONASS thus improves the fixing percentage significantly for a short time span. We also used global ionosphere maps (GIMs) to assist the wide-lane carrier-phase combination to directly fix the wide-lane ambiguity. Employing this method, the effect of the code IFB is eliminated and numerical results show that GLONASS FCB estimation can be performed across heterogeneous receivers. However, because of the relatively low accuracy of GIMs, the fixing percentage of GIM-aided GPS+GLONASS PPP ambiguity resolution is very low. We expect better GIM accuracy to enable rapid GPS+GLONASS PPP-IAR with heterogeneous receivers.     

GPS-assisted GLONASS orbit determination

 Using 1 week of data from a network of GPS/GLONASS dual-tracking receivers, 15-cm accurate GLONASS orbit determination is demonstrated with an approach that combines GPS and GLONASS data. GPS data are used to define the reference frame, synchronize receiver clocks and determine troposphere delay for the GLONASS tracking network. GLONASS tracking data are then processed separately, with the GPS-defined parameters held fixed, to determine the GLONASS orbit. The quality of the GLONASS orbit determination is currently limited by the size and distribution of the tracking network, and by the unavailability of a sufficiently refined solar pressure model. Temporal variations in the differential clock bias of the dual-tracking receivers are found to have secondary impact on the orbit determination accuracy. Received: 5 January 2000 / Accepted: 15 February 2001     

Preliminary evaluation of the Russian GLONASS system as a potential geodetic tool

By the beginning of 1996 the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) constellation was completely deployed, although several satellites have already been decommissioned since then. With 17 satellites in operation (status as of 21 December 1997, although two of them are unusable and one is a non-operative spare), GLONASS is now an alternative and a complement to GPS. We present an evaluation of the current status of the GLONASS system, paying particular attention to its possible geodetic applications. Data from several receivers were used for this evaluation, including data from GPS receivers in order to allow for a comparison between GLONASS and GPS. We tested the quality of the geodetic observables, the consistency of the broadcast orbits, the single-point positioning results, and we also looked at multipath errors and cycle slips in our GLONASS data. In general the GLONASS performance has been found to be very satisfactory, even better than GPS in aspects such as single-receiver positioning or in the quality of the second-frequency pseudo-ranges due to the degradation of the GPS measurement quality under selective availability and anti-spoofing. Received: 26 November 1996 / Accepted: 16 January 1998     

An enhanced calibration method of GLONASS inter-channel bias for GNSS RTK

A user of heterogeneous GPS and GLONASS receiver pairs in differential positioning mode will experience ambiguity fixing challenges due to the presence of inter-channel biases. These biases cannot be canceled by differencing GLONASS observations, whether pseudorange or carrier phase. Fortunately, pre-calibration of GLONASS pseudorange and carrier phase observations can make ambiguity fixing for GPS/GLONASS positioning much easier. We propose an effective algorithm that transforms an RTK (real-time kinematic) solution in a mixed receiver baseline from a float to a fixed ambiguity solution. Carrier phase and code inter-channel biases are estimated from a zero baseline. Then, GLONASS both carrier phase and code observations are corrected accordingly. The results show that a mixed baseline can be transformed from a float (~100 %) to a fixed (more than 92 %) solution.     

A two-step ionospheric modeling algorithm considering the impact of GLONASS pseudo-range inter-channel biases

The Global Navigation Satellite System presents a plausible and cost-effective way of computing the total electron content (TEC). But TEC estimated value could be seriously affected by the differential code biases (DCB) of frequency-dependent satellites and receivers. Unlike GPS and other satellite systems, GLONASS adopts a frequency-division multiplexing access mode to distinguish different satellites. This strategy leads to different wavelengths and inter-frequency biases (IFBs) for both pseudo-range and carrier phase observations, whose impacts are rarely considered in ionospheric modeling. We obtained observations from four groups of co-stations to analyze the characteristics of the GLONASS receiver P1P2 pseudo-range IFB with a double-difference method. The results showed that the GLONASS P1P2 pseudo-range IFB remained stable for a period of time and could catch up to several meters, which cannot be absorbed by the receiver DCB during ionospheric modeling. Given the characteristics of the GLONASS P1P2 pseudo-range IFB, we proposed a two-step ionosphere modeling method with the priori IFB information. The experimental analysis showed that the new algorithm can effectively eliminate the adverse effects on ionospheric model and hardware delay parameters estimation in different space environments. During high solar activity period, compared to the traditional GPS + GLONASS modeling algorithm, the absolute average deviation of TEC decreased from 2.17 to 2.07 TECu (TEC unit); simultaneously, the average RMS of GPS satellite DCB decreased from 0.225 to 0.219 ns, and the average deviation of GLONASS satellite DCB decreased from 0.253 to 0.113 ns with a great improvement in over 55%.