Effect of WHU/GFZ/CODE satellite attitude quaternion products on the GNSS kinematic PPP during the eclipse season

Abstract

To ensure high-precision Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) applications, many analysis centers (ACs) have begun to provide satellite attitude products, which affect the modeling of phase variations and phase wind-up. Despite several studies having demonstrated the importance of providing attitude products, particularly eclipsing products, the performance of satellite attitude models for different ACs has not been further investigated. This study compared the satellite attitude models provided by Wuhan university (WHU), German Research Centre of Geosciences (GFZ), and Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE), and investigated the impact of satellite attitude products on high-rate GNSS data processing (i.e., 1HZ). The satellite attitudes of most satellite blocks were consistent well with each other, except for the BDS-2 inclined geostationary orbit (IGSO), BDS-3 medium earth orbit (MEO), GPS IIIA, and GLONASS-M satellites. The differences in the yaw angle between the different ACs ranged as 10–180°. Compared to the good consistency of the wum and com products, gbm exhibited significant differences from the former for most constellations. Following the application of the satellite attitude products, the average 3D RMS value of the single-kinematic PPP was improved by 11% and 10% for the 30-s and 1-s sampling rate observations, respectively. Thus, these eclipsing satellites with inaccurate attitude models can be deleted while integrating more satellites into the GNSS data processing.