Satellite emission radio interferometric earth surveying series—GPS geodetic system

The satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS) offer an important new geodetic resource making possible a highly accurate portable radio geodetic system. A concept called SERIES (Satellite Emission Radio Interferometric Earth Surveying) makes use of GPS radio transmissions without any satellite modifications. By employing the technique of very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) and its calibration methods, 0.5 to 3 cm three dimensional baseline accuracy can be achieved over distances of 2 to 200 km respectively, with only 2 hours of on-site data acquisition. The use of quasar referenced ARIES Mobile VLBI to establish a sparse fundamental control grid will provide a basis for making SERIES GPS measurements traceable to the time-invariant quasar directions. Using four SERIES stations deployed at previously established ARIES sites, allows the GPS satellite apparent positions to be determined. These apparent positions then serve as calibrations for other SERIES stations at unknown locations to determine their positions in a manner traceable to the quasars. Because this proposed radio interferometric configuration accomplishes its signal detection by cross-correlation, there is no dependence upon knowledge of the GPS transmitted waveforms which might be encrypted. Since GPS radio signal strengths are 10⁵ stronger than quasar signals, a great reduction in telecommunications sophistication is possible which will result in an order of magnitude less cost for a SERIES GPS station compared to a quasar based mobile VLBI system. The virtually all-weather capability of SERIES offers cost-effective geodetic monitoring with applications to crustal dynamics and earthquake research.     

A combined algorithm of improving INS error modeling and sensor measurements for accurate INS/GPS navigation

Although the integrated system of a differential global positioning system (DGPS) and an inertial navigation system (INS) had been widely used in many geodetic navigation applications, it has sometimes a major limitation. This limitation is associated with the frequent occurrence of DGPS outages caused by GPS signal blockages in certain situations (urban areas, high trees, tunnels, etc.). In the standard mechanization of INS/DGPS navigation, the DGPS is used for positioning while the INS is used for attitude determination. In case of GPS signal blockages, positioning is provided using the INS instead of the GPS until satellite signals are obtained again with sufficient accuracy. Since the INS has a very short-time accuracy, the accuracy of the provided INS navigation parameters during these periods decreases with time. However, the obtained accuracy in these cases is totally dependent on the INS error model and on the quality of the INS sensor data. Therefore, enhanced navigation parameters could be obtained during DGPS outages if better inertial error models are implemented and better quality inertial measurements are used. In this paper, it will be shown that better INS error models are obtained using autoregressive processes for modeling inertial sensor errors instead of Gauss–Markov processes that are implemented in most of the current inertial systems and, on the other hand, that the quality of inertial data is improved using wavelet multi-resolution techniques. The above two methods are discussed and then a combined algorithm of both techniques is applied. The performance of each method as well as of the combined algorithm is analyzed using land-vehicle INS/DGPS data with induced DGPS outage periods. In addition to the considerable navigation accuracy improvement obtained from each single method, the results showed that the combined algorithm is better than both methods by more than 30%.     

Identification of GPS positioning solutions deteriorated by signal degradations using a fuzzy inference system

The accuracy of GPS positioning based on pseudorange measurements under signal degradation environments is limited by poor satellite geometry and signal distortions due to diffraction and multipath. As a result, the GPS position solutions could become unreliable. Those deteriorated solutions should be identified and not used for navigation. For that purpose, methods for reliable identification of deteriorated GPS positioning solutions from a navigation receiver should be developed. In this paper, a fuzzy inference system is proposed to classify the quality of GPS positioning solutions. The input for the system includes the signal quality evaluated by the difference between the measured and expected carrier-to-noise density ratio (C/N0) and the satellites geometry strength evaluated by the dilution of precision (DOP) number. The proposed fuzzy inference system is developed based on the human knowledge and understanding of the problem under consideration and is further optimized using data acquired from the field. The test results indicate that the proposed method can be used for reliable identification of deteriorated GPS position solutions affected by signal degradations.     

GPS/Pseudolite/INS integration: concept and first tests

This paper discusses the introduction of pseudolites (ground-based GPS-like signal transmitters) into existing integrated GPS/INS systems in order to provide higher availability, integrity, and accuracy in a local area. Even though integrated GPS/INS systems can overcome inherent drawbacks of each component system (line-of-sight requirement for GPS, and INS errors that grow with time), performance is nevertheless degraded under adverse operational circumstances. Some typical examples are when the duration of satellite signal blockage exceeds an INS bridging level, resulting in large accumulated INS errors that cannot be calibrated by GPS. Such a scenario, unfortunately, is a common occurrence for certain kinematic applications. To address such shortcomings, both pseudolite/INS and GPS/pseudolite/INS integration schemes are proposed here. Typically, the former is applicable for indoor positioning where the GPS signal is unavailable for use. The latter would be appropriate for system augmentation when the number and geometry of visible satellites is not sufficient for accurate positioning or attitude determination. In this paper, some technical issues concerned with implementing these two integration schemes are described, including the measurement model, and the appropriate integration filter for INS error estimation and correction through GPS and pseudolite (PL) carrier phase measurements. In addition, the results from the processing of simulated measurements, as well as field experiments, are presented in order to characterize the system performance. As a result, it has been established that the GPS/PL/INS and PL/INS integration schemes would make it possible to ensure centimeter-level positioning accuracy even if the number of GPS signals is insufficient, or completely unavailable. Electronic Publication     

GPS芯片开发及授时性能分析

GPS接收机的核心器件即为GPS OEM板(即GPS芯片),对其直接进行开发,在使用上具有灵活方便、经济实用、便于融合等优点。本文以Motorola M12MT+TIMING ONCORE型GPS OEM板为例,论述了GPS OEM板的具体开发使用过程和相关注意事项,并对其授时性能、1pps(秒脉冲)输出的特点等进行了研究,提供了用其实现精确授时的方法,并对授时精度进行了分析,对于测量中精确数字授时的实现具有一定的实际意义。     

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。     

GPS signal diffraction modelling: the stochastic SIGMA-δ model

The SIGMA-Δ model has been developed for stochastic modelling of global positioning system (GPS) signal diffraction errors in high precision GPS surveys. The basic information used in the SIGMA-Δ model is the measured carrier-to-noise power-density ratio (C/N0). Using the C/N0 data and a template technique, the proper variances are derived for all phase observations. Thus the quality of the measured phase is automatically assessed and if phase observations are suspected to be contaminated by diffraction effects they are weighted down in the least-squares adjustment. The ability of the SIGMA-Δ model to reduce signal diffraction effects is demonstrated on two static GPS surveys as well as on a kinematic high-precision GPS railway survey. In cases of severe signal diffraction the accuracy of the GPS positions is improved by more than 50% compared to standard GPS processing techniques. Received: 27 July 1998 / Accepted: 1 March 1999     

基于GPS／BDS组合的浅海AUV定位性能分析

针对水下机器人在浅海工作时定位误差大的问题,在浅海电磁波信号衰减不大的情况下,文中重点介绍一种基于GPS/BDS双模组合定位技术的浅海水下机器人高精度定位导航系统,为了比较双模定位系统的定位性能,设置了GPS和BDS单模定位系统作对比,提出了使用中值滤波算法和卡尔曼滤波算法相结合的定位数据处理方法,通过对双模定位系统测试数据的滤波处理,得出系统的定位性能。测试结果表明,双模定位系统的定位精度要高于单模定位系统;中值滤波和卡尔曼滤波相结合算法的应用能够明显提高双模定位系统的定位精度。      

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。     

GNSS基本服务性能评估

针对现有全球卫星导航系统性能评估无规范的评估标准问题,该文提出了以统一模型和算法为评估体系的方法,较详细的评估了全球卫星导航系统公开服务信号的基本性能,主要评估了空间信号误差、广播电离层模型改正效率及伪距单点定位精度等。结果表明:空间信号误差方面,伽利略最优、GPS和北斗三号相当;广播电离层模型方面,北斗全球广播电离层模型改正效果最优,GPSK8与NeQuick模型在低中纬度改正效果相当,北斗区域电离层模型在其服务区内具有较高改正效果;定位方面,北斗、GPS和伽利略静态伪距单点定位的三维位置均方根误差优于5m,格洛纳斯优于10 m;动态伪距单点定位方面,北斗在中国境内定位精度最高;基于统一评估体系下,可以直观对比得到目前各卫星导航系统的性能差异,同时也为后续的建设提供相应的参考。     

Integration of GPS with a WiFi high accuracy ranging functionality

High accuracy seamless positioning is required to support a vast number of applications in varying operational environments. Over the last few years, the global positioning system (GPS) has become the de facto technology for positioning applications. However, its performance is limited in indoor and dense urban environments due to multipath as well as signal attenuation and blockage. A number of techniques integrating GPS with other positioning technologies have been developed to address the limitations of standalone GPS in these difficult environments. While most of the developed techniques cover the outages of GPS in such environments, they do not provide acceptable performance, in terms of positioning accuracy, especially for some mission-critical (e.g. safety) applications. This paper proposes a tightly coupled (i.e. in the measurement domain) GPS/WiFi integration method which, in addition to addressing GPS outages, improves the overall positioning accuracy to the meter-level, thus satisfying the requirements of a number of location based services and intelligent transport systems applications. The performance of the proposed GPS/WiFi integration method is assessed for a number of scenarios in a simulation environment for an identified dense urban area in London, UK.     

Adaptive wavelet transform based on cross-validation method and its application to GPS multipath mitigation

Global positioning system (GPS) multipath disturbance is a bottleneck problem that limits the accuracy of precise GPS positioning applications. A method based on the technique of cross-validation for automatically identifying wavelet signal layers is developed and used for separating noise from signals in data series, and applied to mitigate GPS multipath effects. Experiments with both simulated data series and real GPS observations show that the method is a powerful signal decomposer, which can successfully separate noise from signals as long as the noise level is lower than about half of the magnitude of the signals. A multipath correction model is derived based on the proposed method and the sidereal day-to-day repeating property of GPS multipath signals to remove multipath effects on GPS observations and to improve the quality of the GPS measurements.     

A wavelet-extreme learning machine for low-cost INS/GPS navigation system in high-speed applications

The combined navigation system consisting of both global positioning system (GPS) and inertial navigation system (INS) results in reliable, accurate, and continuous navigation capability when compared to either a GPS or an INS stand-alone system. To improve the overall performance of low-cost micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)-based INS/GPS by considering a high level of stochastic noise on low-cost MEMS-based inertial sensors, a highly complex problems with noisy real data, a high-speed vehicle, and GPS signal outage during our experiments, we suggest two approaches at different steps: (1) improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the inertial sensor measurements and attenuating high-frequency noise using the discrete wavelet transform technique before data fusion while preserving important information like the vehicle motion information and (2) enhancing the positioning accuracy and speed by an extreme learning machine (ELM) which has the characteristics of quick learning speed and impressive generalization performance. We present a single-hidden layer feedforward neural network which is employed to optimize the estimation accuracy and speed by minimizing the error, especially in the high-speed vehicle and real-time implementation applications. To validate the performance of our proposed method, the results are compared with an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and an extended Kalman filter (EKF) method. The achieved accuracies are discussed. The results suggest a promising and superior prospect for ELM in the field of positioning for low-cost MEMS-based inertial sensors in the absence of GPS signal, as it outperforms ANFIS and EKF by approximately 50 and 70%, respectively.     

Performance of the L2C civil GPS signal under various ionospheric scintillation effects

As GPS is modernizing, there are currently fourteen satellites transmitting L2C civil code and seven satellites transmitting L5 signal. While the GPS observables are subject to several sources of errors, the ionosphere is one of the largest error sources affecting GPS signals. Small irregularities in the electrons density along the GPS radio signal propagation path cause ionospheric scintillation that is characterized by rapid fluctuations in the signal amplitude and phase. The ionospheric scintillation effects are stronger in equatorial and high-latitude geomagnetic latitude regions and occur mainly due to equatorial anomaly and solar storms. Several researchers have analyzed the L2C signal quality since becoming available in December, 2005. We analyze the performance of L2C using GPS data from stations in the equatorial region of Brazil, which is subject of weak, moderate and strong ionospheric scintillation conditions. The GPS data were collected by Septentrio PolaRxS–PRO receivers as part of the CIGALA/CALIBRA network. The analysis was performed as a function of scintillations indexes S4 and Phi60, lock time (time interval in seconds that the carrier phase is tracked continuously without cycle slips), multipath RMS and position variation of precise point positioning solutions. The analysis shows that L2C code solutions are less affected by multipath effects than that of P2 when data are collected under weak ionospheric scintillation effects. In terms of analysis of positions, the kinematic PPP results using L2C instead P2 codes show accuracy improvements up to 33 % in periods of weak or strong ionospheric scintillation. When combining phase and code collected under weak scintillation effects, the results by applying L2C against P2 provide improvement in accuracy up to 59 %. However, for data under strong scintillation effects, the use of L2C for PPP with code and phase does not provide improvements in the positioning accuracy.     

Calibrating adaptive antenna arrays for high-integrity GPS

A major challenge in using GPS guidance for aircraft final approach and landing is to reject interference that can jam reception of the GPS signals. Antenna arrays, which use space–time adaptive processing (STAP), significantly improve the signal to interference plus noise ratio, but at the possible expense of distorting the received signals, leading to timing biases that may degrade navigation performance. Rather than a sophisticated calibration approach to remove biases introduced by STAP, this paper demonstrates that a relatively compact calibration strategy can substantially reduce navigation biases, even under elevated interference conditions. Consequently, this paper develops an antenna bias calibration strategy for two classes of adaptive array algorithm and validates this method using both simulated and experimental data with operational hardware in the loop. A proof-of-concept system and an operational prototype are described, which implement the adaptive antenna algorithms and deterministic corrections. This investigation demonstrates that systems with adaptive antenna arrays can approach the accuracy and integrity requirements for automatic aircraft landing, and in particular for sea-based landing on board aircraft carriers, while simultaneously providing significant attenuation of interference. Evidence suggests that achieving these goals is possible with minimal restrictions on system hardware configuration—specifically, limitations on the permissible level of antenna anisotropy and the use of sufficient analog-to-digital converter resolution.     

A scheme for weak GPS signal acquisition aided by SINS information

In order to enhance the acquisition performance of global positioning system (GPS) receivers in weak signal conditions, a high-sensitivity acquisition scheme aided by strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) information is proposed. The carrier Doppler shift and Doppler rate are pre-estimated with SINS aiding and GPS ephemeris, so that the frequency search space is reduced, and the dynamic effect on the acquisition sensitivity is mitigated effectively. Meanwhile, to eliminate the signal-to-noise ratio gain attenuation caused by data bit transitions, an optimal estimation of the unknown data bits is implemented with the Viterbi algorithm. A differential correction method is then utilized to improve the acquisition accuracy of Doppler shift and therefore to meet the requirement of carrier-tracking loop initialization. Finally, the reacquisition experiments of weak GPS signals are implemented in short signal blockage situations. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme can significantly improve the acquisition accuracy and sensitivity and shorten the reacquisition time.     

北斗三号空间信号测距误差评估与对比分析

北斗三号作为我国自主建设的全球卫星导航系统,其本身性能水平以及与其他卫星导航系统的性能对比情况,对后续推广应用具有重要影响。为此,本文以空间信号测距误差（signal-in-space range error,SISRE）作为系统关键性能指标,以GFZ提供的多系统精密轨道钟差作为标准,给出了卫星轨道、卫星钟差、SISRE的比对评估方法,并以2020年1—3月共3个月的实测数据,验证了北斗三号相对北斗二号的精度改进情况,并重点分析了北斗三号与GPS、Galileo、GLONASS之间的性能对比关系。结果表明：无论是卫星轨道还是卫星钟差,北斗三号的精度水平相对北斗二号都有了明显提高;北斗三号卫星轨道在R、T、N方向精度分别达到0.07、0.30、0.26 m,在4个全球系统中处于最优水平;卫星钟差精度达到1.83 ns,基本与GPS系统持平,优于GLONASS,但还略差于Galileo;在空间信号测距误差方面,如果仅考虑轨道误差,北斗三号SISRE（orb）平均达到0.08 m,紧随其后,Galileo达到0.26 m,GPS达到0.57 m,GLONASS达到0.98 m。如果综合考虑轨道和钟差误差,北斗三号SISRE平均达到0.50 m,稍逊于Galileo的0.38 m,略优于GPS的0.58 m,明显好于GLONASS的2.35 m。     

城市环境GPS/UWB组合系统定位精度研究

GPS可见卫星数量不足使得观测方程抗差性下降,在城市环境下一般难以精确定位。文章通过GPS/UWB组合定位抑制GPS观测粗差对定位精度的影响,提升组合系统的定位性能。实验证明,组合系统较GPS单系统在观测值数量、RDOP值、浮点解精度、双差模糊度浮点解精度和固定解精度方面均得到大幅改善。文章认为,借助UWB优秀的测距性能有效地提高了GPS的生存能力,特别是在城市峡谷等GPS信号遮挡严重的环境下应加设一定数量的UWB基准站,保证用户定位的连续性与准确性。     

GPS、BDS、GPS+BDS精密单点定位精度评估

由于北斗系统卫星正式完成组网,因此有必要对BDS系统性能进行精度评估与分析。本文选取了MGEX网所采集的31 d观测数据,对比分析了GPS、BDS、GPS+BDS不同情况下静态与动态精密单点定位精度。试验结果表明,GPS和BDS单系统静态PPP在N、E、U方向上的精度分别优于4、4、7 cm;GPS+BDS组合系统静态PPP在N、E、U方向上的精度分别优于3、3、6 cm;GPS单系统动态PPP在N、E、U方向上的精度分别优于5、5、10 cm;BDS单系统动态PPP在N、E、U方向上的精度分别优于5、6、12 cm;GPS+BDS组合系统动态PPP在N、E、U方向上的精度分别优于4、4、8 cm。因此组合系统相对于单系统可提高定位的稳定性和定位精度,尤其在动态PPP的情况下,组合系统的优势更为明显。     

基于GPS软件接收机的SINS／GPS紧组合系统仿真

为了系统验证SINS／GPS紧组合系统的性能,基于GPS软件接收机,进行了仿真系统构建。仿真系统由轨迹发生器、GPS中频信号模拟器、IMU信号模拟器、GPS软件接收机、SINS导航解算模块、组合滤波算法和导航性能分析模块等部分构成,其中详细设计了GPS软件接收机中的捕获和跟踪算法、SINS解算以及基于伪距和伪距率的组合滤波算法。仿真结果表明：紧组合导航系统收敛性较好,能够一定程度上抑制惯导系统误差的积累,有较好的导航性能。设计的该系统满足紧组合导航系统性能验证的需要,也为后续的超紧组合研究奠定了良好的基础。