GREAT-UPD: An open-source software for uncalibrated phase delay estimation based on multi-GNSS and multi-frequency observations

Abstract

To meet the demands of precise orbit and clock determination, high-precision positioning, and navigation applications, a software called GREAT (GNSS + Research, Application and Teaching) was designed and developed at Wuhan University. As one important module in the GREAT software, GREAT-UPD was developed for multi-GNSS and multi-frequency uncalibrated phase delay (UPD) estimation. It can provide extra-wide-lane (EWL), wide-lane (WL), and narrow-lane (NL) UPDs for GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BDS (GREC) satellites for precise point positioning (PPP) ambiguity resolution (AR) in a multi-GNSS and multi-frequency environment. The open-source GREAT-UPD software is written in C + + 11 language following object-oriented principles and can be compiled and run on several popular operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, and Macintosh. Observations from 222 stations spanning days from DOY 091 to 120 were used to conduct multi-GNSS and multi-frequency UPD estimation and PPP AR. Results indicate that GREAT-UPD can generate stable and reliable UPD products with multi-GNSS and multi-frequency observations. After applying the UPD corrections, the multi-frequency GREC PPP AR was achieved with the averaged time to first fix of 9.0 min. The software package can be obtained at https://geodesy.noaa.gov/gps-toolbox , including the source code, user manual, batch processing scripts, example data, and some auxiliary tools.