An analytical study on the carrier-phase linear combinations for triple-frequency GNSS

Abstract

The linear combinations of multi-frequency carrier-phase measurements for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) are greatly beneficial to improving the performance of ambiguity resolution (AR), cycle slip correction as well as precise positioning. In this contribution, the existing definitions of the carrier-phase linear combination are reviewed and the integer property of the resulting ambiguity of the phase linear combinations is examined. The general analytical method for solving the optimal integer linear combinations for all triple-frequency GNSS is presented. Three refined triple-frequency integer combinations solely determined by the frequency values are introduced, which are the ionosphere-free (IF) combination that the Sum of its integer coefficients equal to 0 (IFS0), the geometry-free (GF) combination that the Sum of its integer coefficients equal to 0 (GFS0) and the geometry-free and ionosphere-free (GFIF) combination. Besides, the optimal GF, IF, extra-wide lane and ionosphere-reduced integer combinations for GPS and BDS are solved exhaustively by the presented method. Their potential applications in cycle slip detection, AR as well as precise positioning are discussed. At last, a more straightforward GF and IF AR scheme than the existing method is presented based on the GFIF integer combination.