高性能原子钟钟差建模及其在精密单点定位中的应用

鉴于当前许多IGS跟踪站均配置有高性能原子钟的现状,本文首先采用修正Allan方差法分析了不同IGS跟踪站的接收机钟随机噪声的时域特性,进而评估了不同类型接收机的短期稳定度及钟差建模的可行性,然后利用IGS站配有氢原子钟的观测数据,在精密单点定位算法中,通过对钟差参数进行短时建模约束接收机钟差的随机变化,进而改进精密单点定位(PPP)的定位性能。试验结果表明钟差建模方法显著降低了高程分量参数、天顶对流层延迟参数与接收机钟差参数之间的相关性,GNSS高程分量的精度可提高50%。该方法对于提升PPP技术在地壳形变监测、低轨卫星定轨、水汽监测及预报等高精度GNSS地学领域的应用水平具有一定意义。     

Kalman-filter-based GPS clock estimation for near real-time positioning

In this article, an algorithm for clock offset estimation of the GPS satellites is presented. The algorithm is based on a Kalman-filter and processes undifferenced code and carrier-phase measurements of a global tracking network. The clock offset and drift of the satellite clocks are estimated along with tracking station clock offsets, tropospheric zenith path delay and carrier-phase ambiguities. The article provides a brief overview of already existing near-real-time and real-time clock products. The filter algorithm and data processing scheme is presented. Finally, the accuracy of the orbit and clock product is assessed with a precise orbit determination of the MetOp satellite and compared to results gained with other real-time products.

Benefits of receiver clock modeling in code-based GNSS navigation

Due to the limited frequency stability and poor accuracy of typical quartz oscillators built-in GNSS receivers, an additional receiver clock error has to be estimated in addition to the coordinates. This leads to several drawbacks especially in kinematic applications: At least four satellites in view are needed for navigation, high correlations between the clock estimates and the up-coordinates. This situation can be improved distinctly when connecting atomic clocks to GNSS receivers and modeling their behavior in a physically meaningful way (receiver clock modeling). Recent developments in miniaturizing atomic clocks result in so-called chip-scale atomic clocks and open up the possibility of using stable atomic clocks in GNSS navigation. We present two different methods of receiver clock modeling, namely in an extended Kalman filter and a sequential least-squares adjustment for code-based GNSS navigation using three different miniaturized atomic clocks. Using the data of several kinematic test drives, the benefits of clock modeling for GPS navigation solutions are assessed: decrease in the noise of the up-coordinates by up to 69 % to 20 cm level, decrease in minimal detectable biases by 16 %, and elimination of spikes and subsequently decrease in large position errors (35 %). Hence, a more robust position is obtained. Additionally, artificial partial satellite outages are generated to demonstrate position solutions with only three satellites in view.     

广域实时精密定位与时间服务系统

广域实时精密定位与时间服务已成为GNSS应用领域研究热点,目前国内外学者围绕其模型算法已展开大量的研究。本文重点论述广域实时精密定位与时间服务数据的处理方法和服务系统,给出了基于不同基准约束的卫星钟差解算数学模型,提出通过引入外接原子钟测站、标准时间源(UTC/BDT)等不同时间基准,构建卫星拟稳基准、外接原子钟跟踪站拟稳基准及标准时间源等约束下的钟差解算模型,分析了时间基准对精密单点定位和精密单点授时的影响。本文采用实时卫星轨道、钟差、相位偏差、电离层延迟等服务产品及跟踪站实时数据,验证了系统产品可靠性及终端定位与时间服务性能。实测结果表明:GPS轨道径向精度1.8 cm,钟差STD精度约0.05 ns;BDS-3轨道径向精度6.7 cm,钟差STD精度优于0.1 ns;GPS和BDS-2电离层改正精度分别为0.74 TECU与1.03 TECU。基于该产品实现了用户端PPP、PPP-RTK及PPT、PPT-RTK服务,满足了用户实时厘米级定位和优于0.5 ns的单站时间传递服务,当采用GPS+BDS-2 PPP-RTK解算时,平面收敛至5 cm约需要12 min。     

Precise orbit determination of BeiDou constellation: method comparison

Chinese BeiDou navigation satellite system is in official service as a regional constellation with five geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites, five inclined geosynchronous satellite orbit (IGSO) satellites and four medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites. There are mainly two methods for precise orbit determination of the BeiDou constellation found in the current literatures. One is the independent single-system method, where only BeiDou observations are used without help from other GNSS systems. The other is the two-step GPS-assisted method where in the first step, GPS data are used to resolve some common parameters, such as station coordinates, receiver clocks and zenith tropospheric delay parameters, which are then introduced as known quantities in BeiDou processing in the second step. We conduct a thorough performance comparison between the two methods. Observations from the BeiDou experimental tracking stations and the IGS Multi-GNSS Experiment network from January 1 to March 31, 2013, are processed with the Positioning and Navigation Data Analyst (PANDA) software. The results show that for BeiDou IGSO and MEO satellites, the two-step GPS-assisted method outperforms the independent single-system method in both internal orbit overlap precision and external satellite laser ranging validation. For BeiDou GEO satellites, the two methods show close performances. Zenith tropospheric delays estimated from the first method are very close to those estimated from GPS precise point positioning in the second method, with differences of several millimeters. Satellite clock estimates from the two methods show similar performances when assessing the stability of the BeiDou on board clocks.     

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.     

Initial results of precise orbit and clock determination for COMPASS navigation satellite system

The development of the COMPASS satellite system is introduced, and the regional tracking network and data availability are described. The precise orbit determination strategy of COMPASS satellites is presented. Data of June 2012 are processed. The obtained orbits are evaluated by analysis of post-fit residuals, orbit overlap comparison and SLR (satellite laser ranging) validation. The RMS (root mean square) values of post-fit residuals for one month’s data are smaller than 2.0 cm for ionosphere-free phase measurements and 2.6 m for ionosphere-free code observations. The 48-h orbit overlap comparison shows that the RMS values of differences in the radial component are much smaller than 10 cm and those of the cross-track component are smaller than 20 cm. The SLR validation shows that the overall RMS of observed minus computed residuals is 68.5 cm for G01 and 10.8 cm for I03. The static and kinematic PPP solutions are produced to further evaluate the accuracy of COMPASS orbit and clock products. The static daily COMPASS PPP solutions achieve an accuracy of better than 1 cm in horizontal and 3 cm in vertical. The accuracy of the COMPASS kinematic PPP solutions is within 1–2 cm in the horizontal and 4–7 cm in the vertical. In addition, we find that the COMPASS kinematic solutions are generally better than the GPS ones for the selected location. Furthermore, the COMPASS/GPS combinations significantly improve the accuracy of GPS only PPP solutions. The RMS values are basically smaller than 1 cm in the horizontal components and 3–4 cm in the vertical component.     

Improved GRACE kinematic orbit determination using GPS receiver clock modeling

Kinematic positions of Low Earth Orbiters based on GPS tracking are frequently used as pseudo-observations for single satellite gravity field determination. Unfortunately, the accuracy of the satellite trajectory is partly limited because the receiver synchronization error has to be estimated along with the kinematic coordinates at every observation epoch. We review the requirements for GPS receiver clock modeling in Precise Point Positioning (PPP) and analyze its impact on kinematic orbit determination for the two satellites of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission using both simulated and real data. We demonstrate that a piecewise linear parameterization can be used to model the ultra-stable oscillators that drive the GPS receivers on board of the GRACE satellites. Using such a continuous clock model allows position estimation even if the number of usable GPS satellites drops to three and improves the robustness of the solution with respect to outliers. Furthermore, simulations indicate a potential accuracy improvement of the satellite trajectory of at least 40 % in the radial direction and up to 7 % in the along-track and cross-track directions when a 60-s piecewise linear clock model is estimated instead of epoch-wise independent receiver clock offsets. For PPP with real GRACE data, the accuracy evaluation is hampered by the lack of a reference orbit of significantly higher accuracy. However, comparisons with a smooth reduced-dynamic orbit indicate a significant reduction of the high-frequency noise in the radial component of the kinematic orbit.     

Characterization of Compass M-1 signals

An analysis of observations from China’s first medium earth orbit satellite Compass M-1 is presented, with main focus on the first orbit and clock solution for this satellite. The orbit is computed from laser ranging measurements. Based on this orbit solution, the apparent clock offset is estimated using measurements from two GNSS receivers, which allow Compass tracking. The analysis of the clock solutions reveals unexpectedly high dynamics in the pseudorange and carrier-phase observations. Furthermore, carrier-to-noise density ratio, pseudorange noise, and multipath are analyzed and compared to GPS and GIOVE. The results of the clock analysis motivate further research on the signals of the geostationary satellites of the Compass constellation.     

GNSS星载原子钟性能评估

星载原子钟作为导航卫星上维持时间尺度的关键载荷,其性能会对用户进行导航、定位与授时的精度带来影响。介绍了原子钟评估常用的三个指标（频率准确度、飘移率和稳定度）的定义及计算方法,利用事后卫星精密钟差数据,开展了全球卫星导航系统（global navigation satellite system,GNSS）星载原子钟性能评估,分析了GNSS星载原子钟特性。结果表明,GPS（global position system）BLOCKIIF星载铷钟与Galileo星载氢钟综合性能最优;北斗系统中地球轨道卫星与倾斜同步轨道卫星星载原子钟天稳定度达到2~4×10-14量级,与BLOCK IIR卫星精度相当;频率准确度达到1~4×10-11量级;频率漂移率达到10-14量级。     

基于高频观测值的不同GNSS卫星钟稳定性分析

在GNSS高精度数据处理中,卫星钟差往往是决定结果精度的核心因素之一。采用20 Hz的双频观测数据对GNSS星载原子钟0.05~100 s平滑时间下的短期稳定性进行分析,通过星间单差的方法消除接收机钟差,采用无电离层组合及夜间观测避免电离层高阶项短期变化的影响,同时采用经验模型和映射函数来进行对流层延迟改正。通过Lag 1自相关函数分析了影响GNSS卫星钟稳定性的主要噪声类型,并使用阿伦方差计算分析GPS、GLONASS及BDS各自系统内不同卫星组合之间的钟差。结果表明,GPS、GLONASS及BDS系统钟差稳定性0.05秒稳均可达到10-10量级,秒稳可达10-11量级。可以认定,GPS、GLONASS及BDS在短期内的稳定性量级相当,从而验证了基于星间单差的BDS掩星数据处理方案的可行性。     

MADOCA-LEX高频GPS卫星钟差 短期预测精度分析

日本准天顶卫星系统（QZSS）卫星通过L波段实时播发高频全球卫星导航系统（GNSS）精密轨道和钟差产品,为GNSS导航用户提供实时精密单点定位（PPP）服务. 本文以JAXA MADOCA数据中心提供的1 s采样率GPS卫星钟差数据为研究对象,首先采用阿伦方差对卫星钟差的短期稳定性进行评估;然后分别采用一阶多项式、二阶多项式和灰色模型对高频钟差产品进行建模,在5 s,10 s和30 s的拟合窗口内预报后续10 s内钟差,并基于预报残差的均方根误差（RMS）评定不同类型GPS卫星钟差产品的短期预报精度. 基于2020年1月1日-21日连续21天的实时高频钟差统计分析结果表明,不同型号的GPS卫星钟差1 s,5 s和10 s的短期稳定性均能达到10-12量级;对比预报精度显示,10 s以内的拟合窗口采用最简单的一阶多项式最为稳定可靠,10 s延迟预报RMS精度可控制在0.1 ns以内;若采用30 s的拟合窗口,考虑钟差频漂特性的二阶多项式则更为稳定可靠,预报钟差的RMS精度能达到0.15 ns以内．由此可见,本文基于MADOCA-LEX钟差产品的实时预报精度可以满足厘米级PPP的需求．      

GPS,Galileo, QZSS and IRNSS differential ISBs: estimation and application

Knowledge of inter-system biases (ISBs) is essential to combine observations of multiple global and regional navigation satellite systems (GNSS/RNSS) in an optimal way. Earlier studies based on GPS, Galileo, BDS and QZSS have demonstrated that the performance of multi-GNSS real-time kinematic positioning is improved when the differential ISBs (DISBs) corresponding to signals of different constellations but transmitted at identical frequencies can be calibrated, such that only one common pivot satellite is sufficient for inter-system ambiguity resolution at that particular frequency. Recently, many new GNSS satellites have been launched. At the beginning of 2016, there were 12 Galileo IOV/FOC satellites and 12 GPS Block IIF satellites in orbit, while the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) had five satellites launched of which four are operational. More launches are scheduled for the coming years. As a continuation of the earlier studies, we analyze the magnitude and stability of the DISBs corresponding to these new satellites. For IRNSS this article presents for the first time DISBs with respect to the L5/E5a signals of GPS, Galileo and QZSS for a mixed-receiver baseline. It is furthermore demonstrated that single-frequency (L5/E5a) ambiguity resolution is tremendously improved when the multi-GNSS observations are all differenced with respect to a common pivot satellite, compared to classical differencing for which a pivot satellite is selected for each constellation.     

实时卫星钟差基准精化方法

在基于精密单点定位(PPP)的授时方法中,卫星钟差产品的高精度时间基准至关重要. 针对实时卫星钟差产品时间基准不够稳定的问题,本文采用一组具有原子钟外部输入的国际全球卫星导航系统(GNSS)服务(IGS)跟踪站建立了顾及原子钟变化特性的基准精化方法. 该方法首先采用阿伦方差对不同的IGS跟踪站外接原子钟进行稳定度分析,挑选出一组稳定度高的原子钟用以精化时间基准. 在此基础上,利用阿伦方差分析各台原子钟的噪声参数特征,并确定不同原子钟之间的权比关系. 最终,建立时间基准改正量的随机模型,并计算出精化后的时间基准. 通过实例验证表明:与IGS事后精密钟差产品定义的时间基准比较,改正后的实时钟差基准单天内的标准差(STD)优于0.1 ns,相比于改正前最高提升了93％. 同时,基准改正后的天内万秒稳达到10-15量级,实现了一个量级的提高. 此外,通过相对钟差精度的分析,表明钟差基准修正不影响PPP的定位精度.      

CODE’s five-system orbit and clock solution—the challenges of multi-GNSS data analysis

This article describes the processing strategy and the validation results of CODE’s MGEX (COM) orbit and satellite clock solution, including the satellite systems GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, and QZSS. The validation with orbit misclosures and SLR residuals shows that the orbits of the new systems Galileo, BeiDou, and QZSS are affected by modelling deficiencies with impact on the orbit scale (e.g., antenna calibration, Earth albedo, and transmitter antenna thrust). Another weakness is the attitude and solar radiation pressure (SRP) modelling of satellites moving in the orbit normal mode—which is not yet correctly considered in the COM solution. Due to these issues, we consider the current state COM solution as preliminary. We, however, use the long-time series of COM products for identifying the challenges and for the assessment of model-improvements. The latter is demonstrated on the example of the solar radiation pressure (SRP) model, which has been replaced by a more generalized model. The SLR validation shows that the new SRP model significantly improves the orbit determination of Galileo and QZSS satellites at times when the satellite’s attitude is maintained by yaw-steering. The impact of this orbit improvement is also visible in the estimated satellite clocks—demonstrating the potential use of the new generation satellite clocks for orbit validation. Finally, we point out further challenges and open issues affecting multi-GNSS data processing that deserves dedicated studies.     

Joint estimation of GPS/BDS real-time clocks and initial results

We present the joint estimation model for Global Positioning System/BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (GPS/BDS) real-time clocks and present the initial satellite clock solutions determined from 106 stations of the international GNSS service multi-GNSS experiment and the BeiDou experimental tracking stations networks for 1 month in December, 2012. The model is shown to be efficient enough to have no practical computational limit for producing 1-Hz clock updates for real-time applications. The estimated clocks were assessed through the comparison with final clock products and the analysis of post-fit residuals. Using the estimated clocks and corresponding orbit products (GPS ultra-rapid-predicted and BDS final orbits), the root-mean-square (RMS) values of coordinate differences from ground truth values are around 1 and 2–3 cm for GPS-only and BDS-only daily mean static precise point positioning (PPP) solutions, respectively. Accuracy of GPS/BDS combined static PPP solutions falls in between that of GPS-only and BDS-only PPP results, with RMS values approximately 1–2 cm in all three components. For static sites, processed in the kinematic PPP mode, the daily RMS values are normally within 4 and 6 cm after convergence for GPS-only and BDS-only results, respectively. In contrast, the combined GPS/BDS kinematic PPP solutions show higher accuracy and shorter convergence time. Additionally, the BDS-only kinematic PPP solutions using clock products derived from the proposed joint estimation model were superior compared to those computed using the single-system estimation model.     

BDS/GPS联合定轨的贡献分析

北斗卫星导航系统（BeiDou satellite navigation system,BDS）目前暂未具有全球导航定位能力,卫星轨道的全程跟踪与测站的几何结构还不完善,影响了卫星轨道的测定精度。针对上述问题,根据动力学定轨的原理与方法,推导了多个全球导航卫星系统（global navigation satellite system,GNSS）联合定轨对参数求解精度的解析贡献量,并利用实测数据分析了BDS/GPS联合定轨对轨道和钟差求解精度的统计贡献量。结果表明,联合定轨对系统间公共参数求解精度的贡献显著,除地球静止轨道（geostationary orbit,GEO）卫星外,其余轨道和钟差求解精度均有显著提高。BDS/GPS联合定轨对BDS卫星轨道、卫星钟差均方根误差（root mean square,RMS）以及接收机钟差RMS的统计贡献量分别为36.21%、26.88%和20.88%,其中对可视卫星数较少的区域接收机钟差求解精度的贡献尤为显著,贡献量为45.95%。     

Identifying a low-frequency oscillation in Galileo IOV pseudorange rates

Galileo, the European global navigation satellite system, is in its in-orbit validation phase and the four satellites which have been available for some months now have allowed a preliminary analysis of the system performance. Previous studies have showed that Galileo will be able to provide pseudorange measurements more accurate than those provided by GPS. However, a similar improvement was not found for pseudorange rate observations in the velocity domain. This fact stimulated additional analysis of the velocity domain, and, in particular, an unintended oscillatory component was identified as the main error source in the velocity solution. The magnitude of such oscillation is less than 10 cm/s, and its period is in the order of few minutes. A methodology was developed to identify oscillatory components in the Galileo IOV pseudorange rate observables, and it was verified that the measurements from Galileo IOV PFM and Galileo IOV FM2 are affected by a small oscillatory disturbance. This disturbance stems from the architecture adopted for combining the frequency references provided by the two active clocks present in the Galileo satellites. The issue has been solved in Galileo IOV FM3 and Galileo IOV FM4, and the oscillatory component has been eliminated. We also propose a methodology for removing this unwanted component from the final velocity solution and for determining the performance that Galileo will be able to achieve. The analysis shows that Galileo velocity solution will provide a root-mean-square error of about 8 cm/s even in the limited geometry conditions achieved using only four satellites. This shows the potential of Galileo also in the determination of user velocity.     

精密卫星钟差加密方法及其对星载GPS低轨卫星定轨精度影响

系统分析、比较了几种精密卫星钟差加密方法，研究了利用全球分布的IGS永久跟踪站的GPS观测数据估计高采样率卫星钟差参数的原理与方法，并将各种卫星钟差加密方法得到的结果与IGS数据分析中心估计的卫星钟差结果相比较。最后将不同加密方法得出的精密卫星钟差结果用于基于星载GPS双频非差观测值的CHAMP低轨卫星的定轨，并将不同方法得到的定轨精度进行比较。结果表明，利用地面跟踪站的GPS观测数据，可高精度、高密度地估计GPS卫星钟差，估计精度可达0．1～0．5ns。经地面GPS跟踪站数据估计的GPS卫星钟差，应用于基于PPP方法的低轨卫星定轨，其定轨精度在10cm以内。     

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.