Single-Frequency Kinematic Performance Comparison between Galileo, GPS, and GLONASS Satellite Positioning Systems Using an MMS-Generated Trajectory as a Reference: Preliminary Results

Eufemia Tarantino,Antonio Novelli,Raffaela Cefalo,Agostino Tommasi,Tatiana Sluga

doi:10.3390/ijgi7030122

Abstract

The initial Galileo satellite positioning services, started on December 15, 2016, became available with a formal announcement by the European Commission. This first step toward the Galileo system Full Operational Capability (FOC) has allowed many researchers to test the new system. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the results and the conclusions of a kinematic test involving a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) multi-constellation receiver able to acquire the Galileo Open Service (OS) signal. The produced outputs were compared to a reference trajectory obtained from a Mobile Mapping System (MMS) implementing integrated high-performance GPS/INS measurements. By exploiting the CUI (command user interface) of the open source library RTKLIB, a reduced operative status was simulated for GPS and GLONASS. Specifically, all the possible operative combinations were tested and, when possible, statistically assessed. This was necessary to offer a fair comparison among the tested constellations. The results, referred to the reference trajectory, show that the new European system is characterized by a better planimetric performance with respect to the other systems, whereas, from an altimetric point of view, the GPS and GLONASS systems perform better.

Highlights

The Galileo navigation satellite system is a global positioning European program designed to be completely interoperable with the analogues GPS and GLONASS positioning systems produced by the United States of America (USA) and the Russian Federation
A big computational effort was produced to analyze 1 Hz multi-constellation kinematic data acquired during a one-hour field survey, planned to maximize Galileo satellites availability
The acquired data included a contemporary acquisition through an Mobile Mapping System (MMS) equipped with a POS/LV produced by the Applanix corporation

Summary

Introduction

The Galileo navigation satellite system is a global positioning European program designed to be completely interoperable with the analogues GPS and GLONASS positioning systems produced by the United States of America (USA) and the Russian Federation. The Galileo system robustness was tested during the IOV by means of two satellites (GIOVE-A and GIOVE-B) and, subsequently, with a reduced constellation of only four satellites (and the related ground infrastructure) with the aim to synchronize the satellites' onboard atomic clocks and to perform a precise orbit tracking. Once the FOC phase is concluded, the constellation will rely on 24 satellites (and two backup satellites for each orbital plane). In this phase, each satellite will take 14 h to complete its orbit at the altitude of 23,222 km [8]. Further details related to the preliminary analysis of the FOC phase can be found in the novel work of Zaminpardaz S. and Teunissen P.J.G. [10], while a detailed review of the project status (up to 5 July 2016) can be found in [11]

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