Improving Smartphone GNSS Positioning Accuracy Using Inequality Constraints

Abstract

To improve smartphone GNSS positioning performance using extra inequality information, an inequality constraint method was introduced and verified in this study. Firstly, the positioning model was reviewed and three constraint applications were derived from it, namely, vertical velocity, direction, and distance constraints. Secondly, we introduced an estimator based on the density function truncation method to solve the inequality constraint problem. Finally, the performance of the method was investigated using datasets from three smartphones, including a Huawei P30, a Huawei P40, and a Xiaomi MI8. The results indicate that the position and velocity accuracy can be improved in the up component using a vertical velocity constraint. The horizontal positioning accuracy was increased using a heading direction constraint with dynamic datasets. Numerically, the root mean square error (RMSE) improvement percentages were 16.77%, 14.57%, and 31.09% for HP40, HP30, and XMI8, respectively. Using an inter-smartphone distance constraint could enhance the horizontal positioning of all participating smartphones, with improvement percentages of 34.27%, 75.58%, and 23.66% for HP40, HP30, and XMI8, respectively, in the static dataset. Additionally, the improvement percentages were 15.90%, 5.55%, and 0.17% in dynamic datasets. In summary, this study demonstrates that utilizing inequality constraints can significantly improve smartphone GNSS positioning.