卫星激光测距站分级与GNSS卫星轨道精度校核

GNSS卫星轨道是实现导航定位等位置服务的基础,对卫星轨道精度的精确评估关系到服务的精度与可靠性。卫星激光测距技术是评估卫星轨道精度的独立外部检核手段,由于SLR站系统水平不一,导致数据质量差异较大,因此合理选用高性能SLR站是精确评估卫星轨道的关键。本文利用聚类分析方法,依据国际激光网发布的近10 a全球SLR站性能评估报告,选择观测总圈数、LAGEOS标准点RMS值和系统短期偏差3个参数作为测站分级评估指标,将全球SLR站进行分级。在此基础上,对2020年所有参与国际激光联测的GNSS卫星的事后精密轨道进行了精度校核。结果表明,SLR站水平与数据质量密切相关,利用模糊C-均值聚类算法可有效对全球SLR测站进行分级,Ⅰ、Ⅱ和Ⅲ级测站占比分别为28%、51%和21%;采用不同级站观测数据得到的检核结果存在明显差异,基于Ⅰ级站数据的校轨残差均值的绝对值和标准差总体小于Ⅱ和Ⅲ级测站,3种GNSS卫星轨道精度在R、T、N方向上的差异不明显,对应分量的RMS值之间的较差均处于毫米级水平。     

测站数目及分布对地球自转参数解算精度的影响

为研究GPS数据解算地球自转参数(ERP)精度受测站数目及分布均衡性影响规律的问题,该文利用全球国际GNSS服务(IGS)站提供的GPS数据,设置不同测站数、不同测站分布均衡程度的解算策略,通过对比不同策略下ERP解算精度,来研究测站数目和均衡程度对ERP解算过程中的影响规律。结果表明,考虑到解算效率的情况下,测站数目选择40个时能达到最佳效果,此时极移在x方向的RMS值为0.223 081 mas,在y方向的RMS值为0.186 941 mas;对于测站分布均衡性,该文提出用观测网的网重心坐标转换为大地坐标作为评价指标,当网重心越接近地心,解算精度越高。研究成果表明在利用GPS数据解算ERP参数时,选择适当数目的测站以及分布均衡性好的解算策略可以提高解算效率及精度。     

GNSS精密卫星钟差估算与分析

为估算与分析GNSS卫星钟差的精度,利用中国测绘科学研究院国际GNSS监测评估系统分析中心研发的软件,采用全球均匀分布的50个IGS跟踪站和8个我国自建的IGMAS测站的观测数据,对GNSS包含的四大导航系统事后精密卫星钟差进行了估计。计算结果分别与国际上的分析中心结果进行了比对,得出GPS卫星钟差与IGS结果互差在0.2ns,GALILEO卫星钟差精度与GPS相当,在亚纳秒量级,GLONASS卫星钟差精度相对较低,在4ns以内,BDS各轨道类型上卫星之间钟差存在较大的系统性偏差,选择多星基准消除偏差之后,估算的北斗卫星钟差精度在1ns以内。试验结果表明,目前我国分析中心估算的卫星钟差总体上与国际IGS各分析中心估计的卫星钟差精度相当。     

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%。     

GNSS数据处理时空参数的相关性

卫星轨道、钟差以及测站坐标等是全球导航卫星系统定位（global navigation satellite system,GNSS）的核心参数,构成了卫星导航系统数据处理的时空基准。通过比较国际GNSS服务（International GNSS Service,IGS）不同数据分析中心提供的GNSS精密时空产品发现,各分析中心的轨道、钟差存在明显差异,并且轨道、钟差的相对偏差存在很强的相关性。针对该问题,讨论了GNSS卫星轨道、钟差的相关性问题,分析了轨道、钟差相对偏差的周期特性,并提取了周期项模型参数;建立改正模型,提高了不同分析中心产品的一致性;对时空基准周期性误差的原因进行了分析,并以参数降相关为出发点,对GNSS时空基准精度提升的方法提出了建议。     

卫星定位定轨系统SPODS：理论与测试

卫星定位定轨系统SPODS是西安测绘研究所开发的GNSS定位定轨软件。该软件目前能够处理GPS数据,具有高精度GPS定位定轨能力。本文简要介绍SPODS的基本理论和性能测试情况。性能测试使用了2009年1月4日至10日大约127个IGS站采集的GPS数据。结果表明,GPS卫星轨道解与IGS最终轨道的1DRMS差为1.1cm;站坐标日解的重复性,水平分量为1.5mm,高度分量为4.5mm;极坐标和日长变化解与IGS最终产品的一致性,分别为0.025mas、0.093mas和0.013ms/d。     

联合GNSS和SLR观测对地球自转参数的解算与分析

选取不同数量的IGS站,分别利用GPS和GPS+GLONASS观测数据计算ERP参数,并将结果和IGS公布值进行比较,分析测站数量增加和加入GLONASS观测数据对解算ERP参数的影响。此外,还利用GLONASS卫星的全部卫星激光测距(SLR)数据进行ERP参数解算,并将SLR结果和GNSS解算结果联合计算ERP,结果表明,联合SLR可改善GNSS数据解算ERP参数及高频ERP参数的系统性误差影响和稳定性。     

不同星历下实时精密单点定位精度分析

基于自主研制的软件,分别利用超快速外推星历和钟差,以及基于广播星历的实时SSR改正的精密星历和钟差进行实时精密单点定位。结果表明,利用SSR改正信息的实时精密单点定位精度更高;利用SSR改正信息得到的实时星历和钟差与IGS最终产品对比,卫星位置互差RMS值优于7 cm,钟差互差RMS值优于0.3 ns;收敛后实时SSR改正和超快速这两种产品实时静态定位精度水平方向RMS值分别优于3 cm、4 cm,高程RMS值优于3 cm、6 cm。     

双差精密定轨中地面站的选取方法

针对目前全球的地面测站数量多、测站观测数据质量参差不齐及测站地理分布不均的问题,总结了一种测站选取方法。利用该方法编制的测站选取软件对IGS站进行了选择,并根据选得的测站设计了几种定轨试验。结果显示,利用由本文的测站选取方法得到的70个基准站进行定轨时,得到的卫星位置与IGS精密星历在径向、切向、法向偏差均方根分别为1.11、2.19、1.72cm。验证了本文选站软件的可靠性,避免了选站过程中过多的人为因素,并且在保障精度的前提下提高了定轨效率。     

GBM快速轨道产品及非差模糊度固定对其精度的改进

GNSS是实时定位导航最重要的方法,精密卫星轨道钟差产品是GNSS高精度服务的前提。国际GNSS服务中心(IGS)及其分析中心长期致力于GNSS数据处理的研究及高精度轨道和钟差产品的提供。GFZ作为分析中心之一,提供GBM多系统快速产品。本文基于2015—2021年GBM提供的精密轨道产品,阐述了数据处理策略,分析了轨道的精度,介绍了非差模糊度固定的原理和对精密定轨的影响。结果表明:GBM快速产品中的GPS轨道精度与IGS后处理精密轨道相比的精度约为11~13 mm,轨道6 h预报精度约为6 cm;GLONASS预报精度约为12 cm,Galileo在该时期的精度均值为10 cm,但是在2016年底以后精度提升到5 cm左右;北斗系统的中轨卫星(medium earth orbit,MEO)在2020年以后预报精度约为10 cm;北斗的静止轨道卫星(geostationary earth orbit,GEO)卫星和QZSS卫星的预报精度在米级;卫星激光测距检核表明,Galileo、GLONASS、BDS-3 MEO卫星轨道精度分别为23、41、47 mm;此外,采用150 d观测值的试验结果表明,采用非差模糊度固定能显著改善MEO卫星轨道精度,对GPS、GLONASS、Galileo、BDS-2和BDS-3的MEO卫星的6 h时预报精度改善率分别为9%~15%、15%~18%、11%~13%、6%~17%和14%~25%。     

The international global navigation satellite systems service (IGS): development and achievements

Since 21 June 1992 the International GPS Service (IGS), renamed International GNSS Service in 2005, produces and makes available uninterrupted time series of its products, in particular GPS observations from the IGS Global Network, GPS orbits, Earth orientation parameters (components x and y of polar motion, length of day) with daily time resolution, satellite and receiver clock information for each day with different latencies and accuracies, and station coordinates and velocities in weekly batches for further analysis by the IERS (International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service). At a later stage the IGS started exploiting its network for atmosphere monitoring, in particular for ionosphere mapping, for troposphere monitoring, and time and frequency transfer. This is why new IGS products encompass ionosphere maps and tropospheric zenith delays. This development became even more important when more and more space-missions carrying space-borne GPS for various purposes were launched. This article offers an overview for the broader scientific community of the development of the IGS and of the spectrum of topics addressed today with IGS data and products.     

云南及周边地区GNSS数据处理方法优化

采用麻省理工学院开发的GAMIT／GLOBK软件,将2015年-2016年全球347个IGS站观测数据分七个子网解算,得到一个固定的参考框架来解算云南及周边地区的35个全球卫星导航系统（GNSS）基准站的坐标,测站坐标均方根误差水平方向在0.7 mm以内,垂直方向在0.3 mm以内,水平方向的坐标重复性精度在5 mm以内,垂向坐标的重复性精度大多数在2.5 cm以内;与在ITRF2014下解算的测站坐标、基线长度、水平速度场结果对比表明:测站坐标存在系统误差,水平方向上的差异在8.5 mm以内,垂直方向上在3 cm以内;基线长度差异在2 mm以内,水平速度场在数值上存在毫米级的差异,方向上基本一致．      

多分析中心站坐标产品的综合方法研究

首先介绍了多分析中心产品融合处理的两种综合策略,然后基于解层面的综合策略,提出了站坐标和地球自转参数同时综合的方法。采用国际GNSS服务组织（International GNSS Service,IGS）9个分析中心1 a的数据进行试验,从站坐标、地球自转参数精度以及地心运动3个方面验证了该方法的正确性。结果表明,基于综合方法得到的综合解和IGS综合解处于同一精度水平。站坐标在平面和高程方向的一致性分别为0.5 mm和1.0 mm,极移和极移速率的一致性分别优于7.0×10-6"和40.0×10-6"/d,日长参数优于7.7×10-6 s/d。所提出的综合方法可用于全球连续监测评估系统（international GNSS monitoring and assessment system,iGMAS）的站坐标/地球自转参数产品综合。     

Accurate absolute GPS positioning through satellite clock error estimation

 An algorithm for very accurate absolute positioning through Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite clock estimation has been developed. Using International GPS Service (IGS) precise orbits and measurements, GPS clock errors were estimated at 30-s intervals. Compared to values determined by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the agreement was at the level of about 0.1 ns (3 cm). The clock error estimates were then applied to an absolute positioning algorithm in both static and kinematic modes. For the static case, an IGS station was selected and the coordinates were estimated every 30 s. The estimated absolute position coordinates and the known values had a mean difference of up to 18 cm with standard deviation less than 2 cm. For the kinematic case, data obtained every second from a GPS buoy were tested and the result from the absolute positioning was compared to a differential GPS (DGPS) solution. The mean differences between the coordinates estimated by the two methods are less than 40 cm and the standard deviations are less than 25 cm. It was verified that this poorer standard deviation on 1-s position results is due to the clock error interpolation from 30-s estimates with Selective Availability (SA). After SA was turned off, higher-rate clock error estimates (such as 1 s) could be obtained by a simple interpolation with negligible corruption. Therefore, the proposed absolute positioning technique can be used to within a few centimeters' precision at any rate by estimating 30-s satellite clock errors and interpolating them. Received: 16 May 2000 / Accepted: 23 October 2000     

Impact of Earth radiation pressure on GPS position estimates

GPS satellite orbits available from the International GNSS Service (IGS) show a consistent radial bias of up to several cm and a particular pattern in the Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) residuals, which are suggested to be related to radiation pressure mismodeling. In addition, orbit-related frequencies were identified in geodetic time series such as apparent geocenter motion and station displacements derived from GPS tracking data. A potential solution to these discrepancies is the inclusion of Earth radiation pressure (visible and infrared) modeling in the orbit determination process. This is currently not yet considered by all analysis centers contributing to the IGS final orbits. The acceleration, accounting for Earth radiation and satellite models, is introduced in this paper in the computation of a global GPS network (around 200 IGS sites) adopting the analysis strategies from the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE). Two solutions covering 9 years (2000–2008) with and without Earth radiation pressure were computed and form the basis for this study. In previous studies, it has been shown that Earth radiation pressure has a non-negligible effect on the GPS orbits, mainly in the radial component. In this paper, the effect on the along-track and cross-track components is studied in more detail. Also in this paper, it is shown that Earth radiation pressure leads to a change in the estimates of GPS ground station positions, which is systematic over large regions of the Earth. This observed “deformation” of the Earth is towards North–South and with large scale patterns that repeat six times per GPS draconitic year (350 days), reaching a magnitude of up to 1 mm. The impact of Earth radiation pressure on the geocenter and length of day estimates was also investigated, but the effect is found to be less significant as compared to the orbits and position estimates.     

M_DCB: Matlab code for estimating GNSS satellite and receiver differential code biases

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) have been widely used to monitor variations in the earth’s ionosphere by estimating total electron content (TEC) using dual-frequency observations. Differential code biases (DCBs) are one of the important error sources in estimating precise TEC from GNSS data. The International GNSS Service (IGS) Analysis Centers have routinely provided DCB estimates for GNSS satellites and IGS ground receivers, but the DCBs for regional and local network receivers are not provided. Furthermore, the DCB values of GNSS satellites or receivers are assumed to be constant over 1?day or 1?month, which is not always the case. We describe Matlab code to estimate GNSS satellite and receiver DCBs for time intervals from hours to days; the software is called M_DCB. The DCBs of GNSS satellites and ground receivers are tested and evaluated using data from the IGS GNSS network. The estimates from M_DCB show good agreement with the IGS Analysis Centers with a mean difference of less than 0.7?ns and an RMS of less than 0.4?ns, even for a single station DCB estimate.     

Combining the orbits of the IGS Analysis Centers

Currently seven Analysis Centers of the International GPS Service for Geodynamics (IGS) are producing daily precise orbits and the corresponding Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP). These individual products are available at several IGS Data Centers (e.g. CDDIS, IGN, SIO, etc.). During 1993 no official IGS orbits were produced, but the routine orbit comparisons by IGS indicated that, after small orientation and scale alignments, the orbit consistency was approaching the 20 cm level (a coordinate RMS), and that some orbit combination should be possible and feasible. An IGS combined orbit could provide a precise and efficient extension of the IERS Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF). Another advantage of such a combined orbit would be reliability and precision.Two schemes of orbit combinations are considered here: (a) the first method consists of a weighted averaging process of the earth-fixed satellite positions as produced by the individual Centers; (b) the second method uses the individual IGS orbit files as pseudo-observations in an orbit determination process, where in addition to the initial conditions, different parameter sets may be estimated. Both orbit combination methods have been tested on the January 1993 orbit data sets (GPS weeks 680 and 681) with an impressive agreement at the 5 cm level (coordinate RMS). The quality of the combined orbits is checked by processing a set of continental baselines in two different regions of the globe using different processing softwares. Both types of combined orbits gave similar baseline repeatability of a few ppb in both regions which compared favorably to the best individual orbits in the region.     

Geocenter variations derived from a combined processing of LEO- and ground-based GPS observations

GNSS observations provided by the global tracking network of the International GNSS Service (IGS, Dow et al. in J Geod 83(3):191–198, 2009) play an important role in the realization of a unique terrestrial reference frame that is accurate enough to allow a detailed monitoring of the Earth’s system. Combining these ground-based data with GPS observations tracked by high-quality dual-frequency receivers on-board low earth orbiters (LEOs) is a promising way to further improve the realization of the terrestrial reference frame and the estimation of geocenter coordinates, GPS satellite orbits and Earth rotation parameters. To assess the scope of the improvement on the geocenter coordinates, we processed a network of 53 globally distributed and stable IGS stations together with four LEOs (GRACE-A, GRACE-B, OSTM/Jason-2 and GOCE) over a time interval of 3 years (2010–2012). To ensure fully consistent solutions, the zero-difference phase observations of the ground stations and LEOs were processed in a common least-squares adjustment, estimating all the relevant parameters such as GPS and LEO orbits, station coordinates, Earth rotation parameters and geocenter motion. We present the significant impact of the individual LEO and a combination of all four LEOs on the geocenter coordinates. The formal errors are reduced by around 20% due to the inclusion of one LEO into the ground-only solution, while in a solution with four LEOs LEO-specific characteristics are significantly reduced. We compare the derived geocenter coordinates w.r.t. LAGEOS results and external solutions based on GPS and SLR data. We found good agreement in the amplitudes of all components; however, the phases in x- and z-direction do not agree well.     

On the precision and accuracy of IGS orbits

In order to explore the precision and accuracy of International GNSS Service (IGS) orbits, we difference geocentric satellite positions midway between successive daily Final orbits for the period starting 5 November 2006, when the IGS switched its method of antenna calibration, through 31 December 2007. This yields a time series of orbit repeatabilities analogous to the classical geodetic test for position determinations. If we compare our average positional discontinuities to the official IGS accuracy codes, root-sum-squared (RSS) for each pair of days, we find the discontinuities are not well correlated with the predicted performance values. If instead the IGS weighted root-mean-square (WRMS) values from the Final combination long-arc analyses are taken as the measure of IGS accuracy, we find the position differences and long-arc values are correlated, but the long-arc values are exaggerated, particularly around eclipses, despite the fact that our day-boundary position differences apply to a single epoch each day and the long-arc analyses consider variations over a week. Our method is not well suited to probe the extent to which systematic effects dominate over random orbit errors, as indicated by satellite laser ranging residuals, but eclipsing satellites often display the most problematic behavior. A better metric than the current IGS orbit accuracy codes would probably be one based on the orbit discontinuities between successive days.     

Implementation and testing of the gridded Vienna Mapping Function 1 (VMF1)

The new gridded Vienna Mapping Function (VMF1) was implemented and compared to the well-established site-dependent VMF1, directly and by using precise point positioning (PPP) with International GNSS Service (IGS) Final orbits/clocks for a 1.5-year GPS data set of 11 globally distributed IGS stations. The gridded VMF1 data can be interpolated for any location and for any time after 1994, whereas the site-dependent VMF1 data are only available at selected IGS stations and only after 2004. Both gridded and site-dependent VMF1 PPP solutions agree within 1 and 2 mm for the horizontal and vertical position components, respectively, provided that respective VMF1 hydrostatic zenith path delays (ZPD) are used for hydrostatic ZPD mapping to slant delays. The total ZPD of the gridded and site-dependent VMF1 data agree with PPP ZPD solutions with RMS of 1.5 and 1.8 cm, respectively. Such precise total ZPDs could provide useful initial a priori ZPD estimates for kinematic PPP and regional static GPS solutions. The hydrostatic ZPDs of the gridded VMF1 compare with the site-dependent VMF1 ZPDs with RMS of 0.3 cm, subject to some biases and discontinuities of up to 4 cm, which are likely due to different strategies used in the generation of the site-dependent VMF1 data. The precision of gridded hydrostatic ZPD should be sufficient for accurate a priori hydrostatic ZPD mapping in all precise GPS and very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) solutions. Conversely, precise and globally distributed geodetic solutions of total ZPDs, which need to be linked to VLBI to control biases and stability, should also provide a consistent and stable reference frame for long-term and state-of-the-art numerical weather modeling.