Intersystem Bias in GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BDS-3, and BDS-2 Integrated SPP: Characteristics and Performance Enhancement as a Priori Constraints

Abstract

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) have been booming in recent years, and the space segment of all four of the GNSSs, including BDS (BDS-3/BDS-2), Galileo, GPS, and GLONASS, has almost been fully deployed at present. The single point positioning (SPP) technology, which is widely used in satellite navigation and low-accuracy positioning, can benefit from the multi-GNSS integration, but the additional intersystem bias (ISB) parameters should be introduced to ensure the compatibility among different GNSSs. In this study, the ISB estimates derived from four-system integrated SPP are carefully characterized, and the performance enhancement attributed to a priori ISB constraints by prediction for position solutions under open sky and constrained visibility environments is rigorously evaluated. The results indicate that the ISB between BDS-3 and BDS-2 cannot be ignored. The daily ISBs show step changes when encountering the replacement of receiver types, while it is not the case for the receiver firmware versions. The daily ISBs are roughly consistent for the stations equipped with the same type of receivers. The short-term stability of epochwise ISBs for GLONASS, Galileo, BDS-2, and BDS-3 with respect to GPS can be 2.335, 1.262, 1.741, and 1.532 ns, respectively, whereas the corresponding long-term stability for daily ISBs can be 1.258, 1.288, 2.713, and 2.566 ns, respectively. The single-day prediction accuracy of daily ISBs for GLONASS, Galileo, BDS-2, and BDS-3 with respect to GPS can be 1.055, 0.640, 1.242, and 0.849 ns, respectively. The improvements on positioning accuracy after introducing a priori ISB constraints can be over 20% at an elevation mask of 40° and 50° with a time span of ISB prediction of a day. As to the availability, it is only 64.0% for traditional four-system SPP under a cutoff elevation of 50°, while the corresponding availability is increased to approximately 90.0% after considering a priori ISB constraints. For completeness, the characteristics of ISBs estimated with the low-cost u-blox M8T receiver and the Xiaomi Mi8 smartphone as well as the contribution of a priori ISB constraints to the multisystem SPP solutions with these devices are also investigated.