Reliable Integer Ambiguity Resolution: Multi-Frequency Code Carrier Linear Combinations and Statistical A Priori Knowledge of Attitude

Abstract

This paper provides two methods to improve the reliability of carrier phase integer ambiguity resolution: The first one is a group of multi-frequency linear combinations that include both code and carrier phase measurements, and allow an arbitrary scaling of the geometry, an arbitrary scaling of the ionospheric delay, and any preferred wavelength. The maximization of the ambiguity discrimination results in combinations with a wavelength of several meters and a noise level of a few centimeters. These combinations could be beneficial for both Real-Time Kinematics (RTK) and Precise Point Positioning (PPP). The second method incorporates some statistical a priori knowledge of attitude into the actual fixing. The a priori knowledge includes the length and direction of the baseline between two receivers and is given either as a uniform or Gaussian distribution. It enables a substantial reduction of the search space volume but also ensures a large robustness over errors in the a priori information. Both methods improve the accuracy of the float solution, which motivates a simple rounding for ambiguity fixing. A method is described, which enables an efficient computation of its success rate with a few integral transformations. Copyright © 2012 Institute of Navigation.