Estimation of elevation-dependent satellite antenna phase center variations of GPS satellites

A method for the estimation of the phase center variations of GPS satellite antennas using global GPS data is presented. First estimations have shown an encouraging repeatability from day to day and between satellites of the same block. Thus, two different satellite antenna patterns for Block II/IIA and for Block IIR with a range of about 4 cm and an accuracy of less than 1 mm could be found. The present approach allows the creation of a consistent set of receiver and satellite antenna patterns and phase center offsets. Thereby, it is possible to switch from relative to absolute phase center variations without a scale problem in global networks. This changeover has an influence on troposphere parameters, reduces systematic effects due to uncorrect antenna modeling and should diminish the elevation dependence of GPS results. AcknowledgmentsThe authors thank Prof. G. Seeber (University of Hannover) and Dr. G. Wübbena (Geo++ GmbH) and their groups for their kindness in making available the absolute field calibration results derived from robot measurements.     

BDS接收机天线相位中心标定

在高精度GNSS定位中,接收机天线相位中心偏差(PCO)和天线相位中心变化(PCV)的影响不可忽略。目前,IGS发布的绝对天线相位模型文件中包含了GPS/GLONASS系统的标定值,但是没有发布北斗系统(BDS)的标定值。本文借助机械臂可以控制天线自由旋转,在数小时内实现全方位GNSS观测的特性,采用历元间差分的方法对接收机天线包括GPS L1/L2和BDSB1I/B2I/B3I等多个频点的PCO和PCV分别进行标定和拟合。标定结果表明,比较最小二乘估计的GPS PCO与IGS发布值,其STD和RMS在L1/L2上均小于1 mm;BDS PCO估计值的STD在B1I/B2I/B3I上分别为0.5、0.3、0.3 mm。利用球谐函数拟合的GPS PCV格网值与IGS发布值相比,其偏差在天顶距小于75°时均小于1.5 mm。BDS PCV拟合值范围均在-5～8 mm,且随天顶距变化曲线呈现波谷状。BDS PCV在低高度角处拟合值波动较大,随方位角变化曲线峰值-峰值最大达到了5.6 mm。     

GPS天线相位中心变化及测试

对GPS天线相位中心随卫星变化的情况及减小和消除天线相位中心误差的方法进行了阐述 ,并详细介绍了对两种型号GPS天线相位中心变化进行比较和测试的结果     

GPS天线相位模型变化对高精度GPS测量解算的影响研究

GPS天线存在相位中心偏差,在高精度测量中必须对其进行补偿改正。本文针对GPS天线的两种改正模型:相对改正模型和绝对改正模型,在讨论了它们所具有的相同改正办法的基础上,分析了它们在测定方法上存在区别,最后通过一个算例分别研究了这两种模型对GPS测量解算精度的影响,得出了一些有意义的结论。     

天线相位中心改正对GPS精密单点定位的影响

GPS卫星与接收机由于自身特性以及机械加工等原因,导致其质量中心与相位中心不重合而产生相位中心误差,进而对GPS精密单点定位产生一定影响。介绍GPS天线相位中心偏移(PCO)、变化(PCV)的原理,并分析PCO、PCV,以及不同模型改正对GPS精密单点定位的影响。结果表明,在GPS精密单点定位中,天线相位中心改正不容忽略:在平面方向上,天线相位中心改正对定位影响较小,仅为毫米级;在高程方向上,天线相位中心改正对定位影响较大,可达厘米级;与相对中心改正模型相比,绝对相位中心改正模型精度更高。     

GPS扼流圈天线相位中心修正效果的实验分析

针对高精度GPS测量中天线相位中心的修正效果问题,该文对GPS扼流圈天线相位中心修正在不同长度基线解算中的影响进行了实验分析。根据不同类型天线间的高程测量受相位中心修正影响较为显著的实验结果,提出利用超短基线水准比对法对相位中心改正模型的修正效果进行评价,开展了相关理论分析,并利用该方法对两种相位中心改正模型的修正效果进行了实验研究。实验结果表明,超短基线水准比对法可以作为天线相位中心校准工作中检验校准结果的新手段。     

天线相位中心改正模型对南极GPS基线解算的影响

针对南极地区全球定位系统(GPS)数据解算结果精度较差的问题,该文通过选取合适的解算策略来得到高精度的解算结果。采用GAMIT软件对我国南极地区的长城站、中山站及周边的11个IGS站进行数据处理,对比分析了不使用天线相位中心改正模型以及相对和绝对天线相位中心改正模型对基线解算的影响。结果表明,在南极地区进行高精度GPS数据处理时应考虑天线相位中心的影响,绝对相位中心改正模型比相对相位中心改正模型得到的结果更为精确。     

GPS接收机噪声对天线相位中心检测的影响分析

利用四天的零基线观测数据，截取不同时间长度的数据段，解算出北方向、东方向、高程方向的偏差量△N、△E、△U，对这些偏差量进行统计分析和误差分析。     

Tests of phase center variations of various GPS antennas, and some results

Phase variations of GPS receiving antennas are a significant error component in precise GPS applications. A calibration procedure has been developed by Geo++ and the Institut für Erdmessung, which directly determines absolute phase center variations (PCVs) without any multipath influence by field measurements. The precision and resolution of the procedure allows the determination of reliable azimuthal variations. PCV may affect long-term static GPS differently than real-time GPS, depending on the applications. At the same time, different antenna types are involved. Less investigations have been done on absolute PCV of rover antennas than on geodetic antennas which, however, becomes more important due to the mixed antenna situation in GPS reference networks and RTK networks. The concepts of the absolute PCV field calibration are summarized and emphasis is placed on a variety of absolute PCV patterns of geodetic and rover antennas. Electronic Publication     

一种顾及现势指向的上行天线阵相位中心精确标校方法

针对上行天线阵相位中心标校技术粗糙、精度不高等问题,引入精密工程测量技术测定天线实际状态,提出了一种顾及现势指向的相位中心精确标校方法。首先,利用工业摄影测量系统获取天线各姿态的型面数据,并通过最小二乘法拟合求解出现势性强的机械轴;然后,用矩阵法解算各姿态下机械轴的交点作为旋转中心;最后,基于反角度加权插值法推估得到天线在任意姿态下的机械轴,进而从投影中心沿机械轴延伸既定长度获得可靠的相位中心。以3台φ3 m上行阵天线为试验对象,通过工程控制网统一摄影测量坐标系,并按照本文方法标校天线相位中心。电信号合成效果表明,本文方法能有效克服天线自重变形、机械安装等因素的影响,实现了相位中心的精确标校,增强了上行天线阵合成信号的幅度。     

GPS浮标天线高的动态标定方法

针对组装式全球定位系统浮标因每次加载设备不同,浮标体质心与吃水存在变化的问题,该文提出一种借助全球定位系统动态后处理和验潮仪的浮标全球定位系统天线高的动态标定方法。实验表明,该方法能有效测定全球定位系统浮标天线相位中心至吃水面距离,标定精度优于1cm,并可应用于所有类型全球定位系统浮标的天线高标定和校核。     

北斗天线相位中心偏差改正对精密单点定位的影响

利用厂商模型、MGEX模型和ESA模型对BDS卫星天线相位中心偏差进行改正,结果表明,3种模型对BDS精密单点定位精度均有所提升,其中,水平方向提升1～2 cm,高程方向定位精度由1 dm提升为厘米级,ESA模型优于另外两种模型。利用GPS接收机天线相位中心偏差改正值对BDS接收机天线相位中心偏差进行改正,其精度改善情况随天线类型的不同而存在差异,水平方向精度影响为毫米级,高程方向与天线类型有关,精度影响最大可达厘米级。     

Influence of different GPS receiver antenna calibration models on geodetic positioning

To better understand how receiver antenna calibration models contribute to GPS positioning error budget, we compare station positions estimated with different calibration models: igs05.atx, igs08.atx and individual antenna calibrations. First, the impact of switching from the igs05.atx antenna calibration model to the igs08.atx antenna calibration model is investigated using the EUREF Permanent Network historical data set from 1996 until April 2011. It is confirmed that these position offsets can be effectively represented by the igs05.atx to igs08.atx latitude-dependent model. Then, we demonstrate that the position offsets resulting from the use of individual calibrations instead of type mean igs08.atx calibrations can reach up to 1 cm in the up component, while in the horizontal, the offsets generally stay below 4 mm. Finally, using six antennas individually calibrated by a robot as well as in an anechoic chamber, we observe a position agreement of 2 mm in the horizontal component and a bias of 5 mm in the up component. Larger position offsets, dependent on the antenna/radome type, are, however, found when these individual calibrations are compared to type mean calibrations of two tested antennas.     

Unbiased vs biased estimation of GPS phase ambiguities from dual-frequency code and phase observables

With access to dual-frequency pseudorange and phase Global Positioning System (GPS) data, the wide-lane ambiguity can easily be fixed. Advantage is taken of this information in the linear combination of the above four observables for base ambiguity estimation (i.e. of N ₁ and N ₂). Starting points for our analysis are the Best Linear Unbiased Estimators BLUE₁ and BLUE₂. BLUE₁ is the best one (with minimum mean square error, MSE) if the ionosphere effect is negligible. If this is not the case, BLUE₂ has the smallest variance, but not necessarily the least mean square error. Hence, both estimators may suffer from a non-optimal treatment of the ionosphere bias. BLUE₁ ignores possible ionosphere bias, while BLUE₂ compensates for this bias in a less favourable way by eliminating it at the price of increased noise. As an alternative, linear estimators are derived, which make a compromise between the ionosphere bias and the random observation errors. This leads to the derivation of the Best Linear Estimator (BLE) and the Restricted Best Linear Estimator (RBLE) with minimum MSE. The former is generally not very useful, while the RBLE is recommended for practical use. It is shown that the MSE of the RBLE is limited by the variances of BLUE₁ and BLUE₂, i.e.

接收机天线相位中心改正对Galileo定位精度的影响分析

针对接收机天线相位中心与天线参考点ARP不一致引起的测量误差,从距离域和位置域分析其对定位精度的影响.同时,顾及IGS未提供接收机端Galileo天线相位中心改正,采用GPS的天线相位中心改正近似替代,并进行精密单点定位和静态相对定位.结果表明,天线相位中心偏差引起测距的误差可达1 dm,应当改正;采用近似PCO与PCV改正后,PPP垂向偏差由dm-cm级提高到mm级,不同接收机天线相对定位的垂向偏差由cm级提高到mm级,近似替代策略可明显改善Galileo精密定位的精度.     

Antenna phase center calibration for precise positioning of LEO satellites

Phase center variations of the receiver and transmitter antenna constitute a remaining uncertainty in the high precision orbit determination (POD) of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites using GPS measurements. Triggered by the adoption of absolute phase patterns in the IGS processing standards, a calibration of the Sensor Systems S67-1575-14 antenna with GFZ choke ring has been conducted that serves as POD antenna on various geodetic satellites such as CHAMP, GRACE and TerraSAR-X. Nominal phase patterns have been obtained with a robotic measurement system in a field campaign and the results were used to assess the impact of receiver antenna phase patterns on the achievable positioning accuracy. Along with this, phase center distortions in the actual spacecraft environment were characterized based on POD carrier phase residuals for the GRACE and TerraSAR-X missions. It is shown that the combined ground and in-flight calibration can improve the carrier phase modeling accuracy to a level of 4 mm which is close to the pure receiver noise. A 3.5 cm (3D rms) consistency of kinematic and reduced dynamic orbit determination solutions is achieved for TerraSAR-X, which presumably reflects the limitations of presently available GPS ephemeris products. The reduced dynamic solutions themselves match the observations of high grade satellite laser ranging stations to 1.5 cm but are potentially affected by cross-track biases at the cm-level. With respect to the GPS based relative navigation of TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X formation, the in-flight calibration of the antenna phase patterns is considered essential for an accurate modeling of differential carrier phase measurements and a mm level baseline reconstruction.

The impact of the antenna phase center models on the coordinates in the EUREF Permanent Network

GPS Solutions - Precise positioning using the signals of the Global Position System requires correcting the distance between the points of reception of the signal carrier phase and the antenna...