Adaptive GPS/INS integration for relative navigation

Relative navigation based on GPS receivers and inertial measurement units is required in many applications including formation flying, collision avoidance, cooperative positioning, and accident monitoring. Since sensors are mounted on different vehicles which are moving independently, sensor errors are more variable in relative navigation than in single-vehicle navigation due to different vehicle dynamics and signal environments. In order to improve the robustness against sensor error variability in relative navigation, we present an efficient adaptive GPS/INS integration method. In the proposed method, the covariances of GPS and inertial measurements are estimated separately by the innovations of two fundamentally different filters. One is the position-domain carrier-smoothed-code filter and the other is the velocity-aided Kalman filter. By the proposed two-filter adaptive estimation method, the covariance estimation of the two sensors can be isolated effectively since each filter estimates its own measurement noise. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method improves relative navigation accuracy by appropriate noise covariance estimation.     

Ionospheric GPS radio occultation measurements on board CHAMP

The GPS radio occultation technique is a rather simple and inexpensive tool for getting information about the global characteristics of the vertical electron density distribution. No other ionospheric sounding technique (bottomside/topside vertical sounding, incoherent scatter) unifies vertical profiling through the entire ionosphere with global coverage. The paper addresses retrieval methods and algorithms applied for the generation of operational products including their limitations in accuracy and spatial resolution. Preliminary results of ionospheric radio occultation (IRO) measurements carried out onboard the German CHAMP satellite are reported. The achieved accuracy of the retrieved electron density profiles (EDPs) is estimated in particular by comparing the IRO results with independent vertical sounding data from European stations. It is concluded that CHAMP-IRO measurements have the potential to establish global data sets of EDPs, contribute to ionospheric research, develop and improve global ionospheric models and to provide operational space weather information.     

GPS/INS支持下的机载干涉SAR定标试验

干涉定标技术是机载InSAR获取高精度DEM的关键技术,根据GPS高精度定位数据支持下的机载SAR定标模型,通过一定数量的地面定标点校正干涉SAR系统参数,InSAR与高精度GPS/INS技术的结合进一步提高了InSAR测图的精度。文中对GPS支持下的干涉定标技术进行仿真试验,基于机载SAR正侧视模型的成像几何关系,建立关于干涉参数和地面定标点的定标模型,采用基于敏感度方程的干涉定标方法,对地面定标点的测量高程值上加入不同的随机误差,分析该测量误差对干涉定标结果的影响,结果表明,高精度的GPS定位数据提高了机载InSAR测图的精度。     

Integrated GPS/INS navigation system with dual-rate Kalman Filter

A dual-rate Kalman Filter (DRKF) has been developed to integrate the time-differenced GPS carrier phases and the GPS pseudoranges with INS measurements. The time-differenced GPS carrier phases, which have low noise and millimeter measurement precision, are integrated with INS measurements using a Kalman Filter with high update rates to improve the performance of the integrated system. Since the time-differenced GPS carrier phases are only relative measurements, when integrated with INS, the position error of the integrated system will accumulate over time. Therefore, the GPS pseudoranges are also incorporated into the integrated system using a Kalman Filter with a low update rate to control the accumulation of system errors. Experimental tests have shown that this design, compared to a conventional design using a single Kalman Filter, reduces the coasting error by two-thirds for a medium coasting time of 30?s, and the position, velocity, and attitude errors by at least one-half for a 45-min field navigation experiment.     

A new approach for airborne vector gravimetry using GPS/INS

A new method for airborne vector gravimetry using GPS/INS has been developed and the results are presented. The new algorithm uses kinematic accelerations as updates instead of positions or velocities, and all calculations are performed in the inertial frame. Therefore, it is conceptually simpler, easier, more straightforward and computationally less expensive compared to the traditional approach in which the complex navigation equations should be integrated. Moreover, it is a unified approach for determining all three vector components, and no stochastic gravity modeling is required. This approach is based on analyzing the residuals from the Kalman filter of sensor errors, and further processing with wavenumber coefficient filterings is applied in case closely parallel tracks of data are available. An application to actual test-flight data is performed to test the validity of the new algorithm. The results yield an accuracy in the down component of about 3–4 mGal. Also, comparable results are obtained for the horizontal components with accuracies of about 6 mGal. The gravity modeling issue is discussed and alternative methods are presented, none of which improves on the original approach. Received: 18 April 2000 / Accepted: 14 August 2000     

GPS/MEMS INS integrated system for navigation in urban areas

This paper evaluates the performance of a tightly coupled GPS/INS integrated system based on low cost MEMS IMUs in dense urban areas, and investigates two different methods to improve its performance. The first method used is to derive observations from two different constraint equations reflecting the behavior of a typical land vehicle. The first constraint equation is derived assuming that the vehicle does not slip and always remains in contact with the ground. If these assumptions are true the velocity of the vehicle in the plane perpendicular to the forward direction should be zero. The second constraint equation is derived from the fact that the height does not change much in a short time interval in a land vehicular environment. Thus, when a GPS outage occurs (partial/complete), the integrated system combines the INS and constraints-derived virtual measurements to keep the position and velocity errors bounded. This method is suitable for use in real-time applications. The second method is specifically suitable for a post-mission application and involves the use of Rauch-Tung-Striebel (RTS) smoother. The designed system performance is evaluated using two data sets collected in dense urban areas. The obtained results demonstrate the effectiveness of different algorithms considered, in controlling the INS error growth, and indicates the potential of MEMS IMUs for use in land vehicle navigation applications.     

Impact of GPS radio occultation data assimilation on regional weather predictions

The impact of GPS radio occultation (RO) data assimilation on severe weather predictions in East Asia is introduced and reviewed. Both the local observation operator that assimilates the retrieved refractivity as local point measurement, and the nonlocal observation operator that assimilates the integrated retrieved refractivity along a straight raypath have been utilized in WRF 3DVAR to improve the initial analysis of the model. A general evaluation of the impact of these approaches on Asian regional analysis and daily prediction is provided in this paper. In general, the GPS RO data assimilation may improve prediction of severe weather such as typhoons and Mei-yu systems when COSMIC data were available, ranging from several points in 2006 to a maximum of about 60 in 2007 and 2008 in this region. Based on a number of experiments, regional model predictions at 5 km resolution were not significantly influenced by different observation operators, although the nonlocal observation operator sometimes results in slightly better track forecast. These positive impacts are seen not only in typhoon track prediction but also in prediction of local heavy rainfall associated with severe weather over Taiwan. The impact of 56 GPS RO soundings on track prediction of Cyclone Gonu (2007) over the Indian Ocean is also appealing when compared to other tracks assimilated with different observations. From a successive evaluation of skill scores for real-time forecasts on Mei-yu frontal systems operationally conducted over a longer period and predictions of six typhoons in 2008, assimilation of GPS RO data appears to have some positive impact on regional weather predictions, on top of existent assimilation with all other observations.     

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%.     

Design of a low-cost attitude determination GPS/INS integrated navigation system

Due to their complementary features of GPS and INS, the GPS/INS integrated navigation system is increasingly being used for a variety of commercial and military applications. An attitude determination GPS (ADGPS) receiver, with multiple antennas, can be more effectively integrated with a low-cost IMU since the receiver gives not only position and velocity data but also attitude data. This paper proposes a low-cost attitude determination GPS/INS integrated navigation system. The proposed navigation system comprises an ADGPS receiver, a navigation computer unit (NCU), and a low-cost commercial MEMS IMU. The navigation software includes a fault detection and isolation (FDI) algorithm for integrity. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed navigation system, two flight tests have been performed using a small aircraft. The first flight test confirmed the fundamental operation of the proposed navigation system and the effectiveness of the FDI algorithm. The second flight test evaluated the performance of the proposed navigation system and demonstrated the benefit of GPS attitude information in a high dynamic environment. The flight test results show that the proposed ADGPS/INS integrated navigation unit gives reliable navigation performance even when anomalous GPS data is provided and gives better navigation performance than a conventional GPS/INS unit.     

Evaluating the effect of the global ionospheric map on aiding retrieval of radio occultation electron density profiles

Radio occultation (RO) has been proven to be a powerful technique for ionospheric electron density profile (EDP) retrieval. The Abel inversion currently used in RO EDP retrieval has degraded performance in regions with large horizontal gradients because of an assumption of spherical symmetry as indicated by many studies. Some alternative methods have been proposed in the past; the global ionospheric map (GIM)-aided Abel inversion is most frequently studied. Since the number of RO observations will likely increase rapidly in the near future, it is worthwhile to continue to improve retrieval method. In this study, both the simulations and the real data test have been done to evaluate the GIM-aided Abel inversion method. It is found that the GIM-aided Abel inversion can significantly improve upon the standard Abel inversion in either the F or the E region if an accurate GIM is available. However, the current IGS GIM does not appear accurate enough to improve retrieval results significantly, because of the spherical symmetry assumption and sparse global navigation satellite system (GNSS) stations used in its creation. Generating accurate GIM based on dense GNSS network to aid the Abel inversion might be an alternative method.     

GPS radio occultation measurements on ionospheric electron density from low Earth orbit

Since the proof-of-concept GPS/Meteorology (GPS/MET) experiment successfully demonstrated active limb sounding of the Earth’s neutral atmosphere and ionosphere via GPS radio occultation (RO) from low Earth orbit, the developments of electron density (n _e) retrieval techniques and powerful processing systems have made a significant progress in recent years. In this study, the researches of n _e profiling from space-based GPS RO observations are briefly reviewed. Applying to the Formosat-3/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (FS3/COSMIC) data, we also present a compensatory Abel inversion technique including the effects of large-scale horizontal gradients and/or inhomogeneous ionospheric n _e obtained from an improved near real-time phenomenological model of the TaiWan Ionospheric Model. The results were evaluated by the ionosonde foF2 and foE data and showed improvements of rms foF2 difference from 29.2 to 16.5% in relative percentage and rms foE difference from 54.2 to 32.7% over the standard Abel inversion.     

GPS/INS紧耦合系统提高GPS失锁后解算精度的方法

在GPS/INS辅助航空摄影测量作业过程中,如果GPS失锁时间过长将会影响到整个机载POS数据后处理精度,从而影响制图效果。文章旨在研究解决传统基于位置、速度组合的松耦合导航系统在GPS失锁情况下后处理精度不高的问题,提出基于伪距、伪距率的紧耦合导航系统:在保证外符合精度前提下,后处理后的位置内符合精度达到0.05m、航向角内符合精度约为0.005deg,各项指标均满足国外GPS/INS辅助航空摄影测量系统解算精度要求。研究结果可以为解决相关问题提供参考。     

GPS/INS组合制导技术在现代战争中的应用及发展趋势

现代战争大量使用精确制导武器,广泛应用先进的GPS／INS组合制导技术。分析了GPS／INS组合制导技术的优势,结合其在军事领域的应用,展望了GPS／INS关键技术的发展趋势。     

卫星对GNSS/INS组合导航精度的影响分析

针对车载移动测量系统在获取城市基础地理信息数据时受噪声点、GPS信号差、建筑物密集等因素的影响,造成定位精度差的问题。该文对实测数据进行分析,采用GPS单系统的1～15s采样间隔和GPS+BDS组合的1～15s采样间隔以及GPS/BDS/GLONASS三系统组合模式,分析松组合、紧组合及动态PPP组合对定位精度的影响。结果表明,利用GPS/GLONASS单系统处理时,当车速大于30km/h或者建筑物密集时,卫星的可视效果较差,得到的定位误差可达到分米甚至米级。当采用GPS+BDS/GPS+BDS+GLONASS组合处理时,可视卫星得到保证,定位精度能一直保持在厘米级。同时,单系统下不同采样间隔对定位精度影响很大,多系统组合可以在较大的采样间隔下,保持较高的定位精度。通过对不同卫星组合,不同采样间隔下的定位精度分析,能够为车载移动测量系统在不同环境下选择何种方法定位精度最高提供依据。     

Global morphology of ionospheric F-layer scintillations using FS3/COSMIC GPS radio occultation data

We report on the FormoSat-3/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (FS3/COSMIC) limb-viewing observations of GPS L-band scintillations since mid-2006 and propose to study global F-layer irregularity morphology. The FS3/COSMIC has generally performed more than 1000 ionospheric radio occultation (RO) observations per day. We reprocess 1-Hz amplitude data and obtain complete limb-viewing profiles of the undersampling (sampling frequency lower than Fresnel frequency) S4 scintillation index from about 80% of the RO observations. There are a few percent of FS3/COSMIC RO observations having greater than 0.09 undersampling S4max values on average. However, seven identified areas, Central Pacific Area (?20° to 20° dip latitude, 160°E–130°W), South American Area (?20° to 20° dip latitude, 100°W–30°W), African Area (?20° to 20° dip latitude, 30°W–50°E), European Area (30°–55°N, 0°–55°E), Japan Sea Area (35°–55°N, 120°–150°E), Arctic Area (>65° dip latitude), and Antarctic Area (<?65° dip latitude), have been designated to have a much higher percentage of strong limb-viewing L-band scintillations. During the years in most of the last sunspot cycle from mid-2006 to the end 2014, the scintillation climatology, namely, its variations with each identified area, season, local time, magnetic activity, and solar activity, have been documented.     

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.     

GPS/DR/MM组合导航中的车辆定位精度研究

本文介绍了GPS/DR/MM的工作模式和地图匹配的原则和方法,探讨了将车辆位置匹配到路段上的两种方法,即利用地图数据库或GPS点直接向路段投影。本文从理论角度提出提高车辆路段定位精度的方法,并利用公式进行了推导证明。推导结果表明,利用上述两种方法对车辆位置进行最佳估计,所获得的车辆位置的不确定性大大降低,为组合导航提供了理论依据。     

GPS广播星历误差及对单点定位的影响

利用国际GPS地球动力学服务(International GPS service(IGS)for geodynamics)提供的广播星历和精密星历数据,分析GPS广播星历的轨道精度及变化规律。广播星历的轨道精度一般在5 m左右,且明显表现出周期性变化规律。另外,从单点定位的原理出发分析了GPS广播星历误差对单点定位精度的影响。     

Global morphology of ionospheric sporadic E layer from the FormoSat-3/COSMIC GPS radio occultation experiment

Ionospheric sporadic-E (Es) activity and global morphology were studied using the 50 Hz signal-to-noise ratio amplitude and excess phase measurements from the FormoSat-3/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (FS3/COSMIC) GPS radio occultation (RO) observations. The results are presented for data collected during the last sunspot cycle from mid-2006 to the end of 2017. The FS3/COSMIC generally performed more than 1000 complete E-region GPS RO observations per day, which were used to retrieve normalized L1-band amplitude standard deviation (SDL1) and relative electron density (N_e) profiles successfully. More or less 31% of those observations were identified as Es events based on SDL1 and peak SDL1 altitude criteria. We found that the peak Es-event i values are approximately proportional to the logarithms of the corresponding peak N_e differences. Five major geographical zones were identified, in which the seasonal and diurnal Es occurrence patterns are markedly different. These five zones include the geomagnetic equatorial zone (??5°?<?magnetic latitude (ML)?<?5°), two extended geomagnetic mid-latitude zones (15°?<?ML?<?55°, and ??55°?<?ML < ??15°), and two auroral zones (70°?<?ML, and ML < ??70°). The Es climatology, namely its variations with each identified zone, altitude, season, and local time has been documented.