GPS Carrier Phase Measurements Research Articles

Analysis of differential code biases for GPS receivers over the Indian region

Abstract The GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system provides the navigational services for single-frequency GNSS user via broadcasting the differential corrections with GEO stationary satellites. The significant differential correction contribution comes from ionospheric time delays and is necessary to be determined precisely. Dual-frequency GPS receivers measure the ionospheric time delays using GPS code and carrier phase measurements. The determination of absolute ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) requires the calibration of GPS satellites and receiver hardware biases due to different frequency-dependent signals (L1 and L2) due to environmental changes (Temperature and Humidity). In this paper, A receiver-based Differential Code Biases (DCB) algorithm is implemented to derive a joint estimation of TEC and RDCB parameters using the weighted Least Square (WLS) method. The daily averaged DCBs data for 26 GPS receivers are obtained for 3 years (2014–2016) from 26 GPS reeivers over Indian region. The receiver DCB algorithmis validated with the Fitted Receiver Biases (FRB) method. The correlation (R) between VTEC and RDCB is conducted to investigate the RDCB stability. The results would be useful for the accurate determination of ionospheric differential corrections to GAGAN users.

Precise Relative Positioning via Tight-Coupling of GPS Carrier Phase and Multiple UWBs

Precise relative positioning has numerous applications in collision avoidance, and lane-keeping/lane-changing maneuvers. For such applications, we need sensors that can precisely estimate the relative position. GPS carrier phase measurements can provide high accuracy if unknown cycle ambiguities (integers) are resolved correctly from among an integer search space of potential candidates. However, resolving these integers becomes challenging in urban areas where tall buildings and tree canopy can lead to poor satellite visibility and degraded measurement quality. To aid with integer fixing, multiple UWBs can be utilized, which provide noisy inter-ranging measurements at a high sampling frequency. We propose a precise relative positioning framework for a two-car setup via tight coupling of GPS carrier-phase and inter-ranging measurements from multiple UWBs. With these range measurements, we form an a priori estimate of the relative position that adaptively constrains the position search space, and subsequently reduces the induced integer search space. Adaptively constraining the integer search space improves integer fixing rate, enabling precise relative positioning. We demonstrate our algorithm’s performance on a real-world dataset collected with two cars in Stanford University. Our algorithm achieves improved accuracy over baseline methods, even in challenging urban settings.

Improved Automatic Detection of GPS Satellite Oscillator Anomaly using a Machine Learning Algorithm

<h3>Abstract</h3> This paper presents a random forest-based machine learning algorithm to automatically detect satellite oscillator anomalies using dual- or triple-frequency GPS carrier phase measurements. The algorithm can distinguish satellite oscillator anomalies from other GPS carrier phase disturbances including ionospheric scintillation and receiver oscillator anomalies. Carrier phase power spectral density and carrier phase ratios between carriers are extracted from measurements and applied as input features to the random forest algorithm. The method is trained using data collected at seven GNSS monitoring stations located in Alaska, Ascension Island, Greenland, Hong Kong, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Singapore. The overall detection accuracies of 98.4% and 99.0% are achieved for dual- and triple-frequency signals, respectively. The method outperforms other machine learning algorithms. The preliminary detection results demonstrate that the method presented can be employed on a global satellite oscillator anomaly monitoring system.

ESTIMATION OF GPS DISPERSIVE AND NON-DISPERSIVE NETWORK CORRECTION FOR ISKANDARnet NETWORK-BASED REAL-TIME KINEMATIC (N-RTK) POSITIONING SYSTEM

The concept of N-RTK positioning has been extensively developed in order to better model the distance-dependent errors of GPS carrier-phase measurements. These errors can be separated into a frequency-dependent or dispersive component (i.e., the ionospheric delay) and a non-dispersive component (i.e., the tropospheric delay and orbit biases) to express the network correction in order to attain better modelling of GPS distance dependent errors. However, the N-RTK performance may degrades due to severe atmospheric irregularities that would seriously affect the modelling of the GPS distance-dependent errors, thus affecting the quality of network correction generation. The development of integrity monitoring for network correction would be great idea to identify the quality and reliability of network correction data dissemination. Therefore, this paper aims to estimates the trend of GPS dispersive and non-dispersive network correction to supports future development of integrity monitoring for network correction of ISKANDARnet N-RTK positioning system. The first part of this paper is to extract the GPS dispersive and non-dispersive network residual components. This part includes the double-differencing technique, ambiguity resolution and carrier-phased linear combination in the process. The LIM then are applied for user network coefficient value computation purpose in the second part. Finally, the GPS dispersive and non-dispersive network correction can be generated with GF and IF network correction algorithm respectively. The trend of GPS dispersive and non-dispersive network correction is expected to aid the estimation and realization of threshold limit value for development of integrity monitoring for network correction of ISKANDARnet N-RTK positioning system.

Modeling the Slant Wet Delays From One GPS Receiver as a Series Expansion With Respect to Time and Space: Theory and an Example of Application for the Tahiti Island

Traditionally, the modeling of the water vapor contents of the atmosphere is done through the estimation of precipitable water (PW)—the integrated value of the mass of water vapor over a vertical column expressed in millimeter equivalent height. This modeling method is justified by the fact that, to a high degree of approximation, the atmosphere can be seen as the stacking of horizontal layers, including water vapor, over distances larger than the height of the tropopause. Nevertheless, the cycle of the water vapor, the most prevalent of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, has a highly turbulent regime both in time and in space that the variations in PW cannot fully embrace. In this article, we explore the modeling method, as a series expansion in time and space, of the slant wet delays (SWDs) from one GPS receiver, as an extension of the usual modeling in zenith wet delays (ZWDs) and then PW values. In the first part, we assess, from a metrological point of view, the derivation of the SWDs computed from GPS carrier phase measurements, in the case of a very humid location, the tropical island of Tahiti, for a typical sample over the wet and dry seasons. In the second part, we introduce the series expansion of the SWDs, as seen from one GPS receiver, in terms of trigonometric functions of time and spherical harmonics of elevation and azimuth. This allows us to infer time and space correlations for the SWDs that are unreachable through the modeling of ZWD values alones. In a third part, to show that our approach also includes the zenith case, we make a comparison between the modeled SWDs in the zenith direction with wind velocities from a ground weather station and radiosonde soundings (RSs). The three main conclusions from our data case are: first, the SWDs are correlated in time by about four days, and in space, with an angular correlation distance of about 20°, both for the dry and wet seasons; second, the postfit residuals are almost uncorrelated with the SWDs from a temporal and spatial point of view, but with a diurnal component; third, there is a weak correlation between the SWDs and wind velocity, the pattern depends on the season.

Simultaneous Rocket and Scintillation Observations of Plasma Irregularities Associated With a Reversed Flow Event in the Cusp Ionosphere

AbstractWe present an overview of the ionospheric conditions during the launch of the Investigation of Cusp Irregularities 3 (ICI‐3) sounding rocket. ICI‐3 was launched from Ny‐Ålesund, Svalbard, at 7:21.31 UT on 3 December 2011. The objective of ICI‐3 was to intersect the reversed flow event (RFE), which is thought to be an important source for the rapid development of ionospheric irregularities in the cusp ionosphere. The interplanetary magnetic field was characterized by strongly negative Bz and weakly negative By. The EISCAT Svalbard radar (ESR) 32‐m beam was operating in a fast azimuth sweep mode between 180° (south) and 300° (northwest) at an elevation angle of 30°. The ESR observed a series of RFEs as westward flow channels that were opposed to the large‐scale eastward plasma flow in the prenoon sector. ICI‐3 intersected the first RFE in the ESR field of view and observed flow structures that were consistent with the ESR observations. Furthermore, ICI‐3 revealed finer‐scale flow structures inside the RFE. The high‐resolution electron density data show intense fluctuations at all scales throughout the RFE. The ionospheric pierce point of the GPS satellite PRN30, which was tracked at Hornsund, intersected the RFE at the same time. The GPS scintillation data show moderate phase scintillations and weak amplitude scintillations. A comparison of the power spectra reveals a good match between the ground‐based GPS carrier phase measurements and the spectral slope of the in situ electron density data in the lower frequency range. It demonstrates the possibility of modelling GPS scintillations from high‐resolution in situ electron density data.

Nonlinear Asymptotic Attitude Estimation Using Double GPS Receivers and Gyro

We present an asymptotically convergent nonlinear attitude estimator using a rate gyro and GPS. Double-difference (DD) carrier phase measurements are provided by at least two GPS antennas. The unknown integer ambiguity factor related to GPS carrier phase measurement is estimated along with the attitude. An observability condition is derived to guarantee the convergence of the estimator when a single baseline vector is available with more than four satellites in view. A systematic procedure for tuning observer parameters is also presented. Finally, the experimental test from a light fixed-wing aircraft illustrates the performance of the proposed observer.

Comparison of precise orbit determination methods of zero-difference kinematic, dynamic and reduced-dynamic of GRACE-A satellite using SHORDE software

Abstract Zero-difference kinematic, dynamic and reduced-dynamic precise orbit determination (POD) are three methods to obtain the precise orbits of Low Earth Orbit satellites (LEOs) by using the on-board GPS observations. Comparing the differences between those methods have great significance to establish the mathematical model and is usefull for us to select a suitable method to determine the orbit of the satellite. Based on the zero-difference GPS carrier-phase measurements, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) has improved the early version of SHORDE and then developed it as an integrated software system, which can perform the POD of LEOs by using the above three methods. In order to introduce the function of the software, we take the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) on-board GPS observations in January 2008 as example, then we compute the corresponding orbits of GRACE by using the SHORDE software. In order to evaluate the accuracy, we compare the orbits with the precise orbits provided by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The results show that: (1) If we use the dynamic POD method, and the force models are used to represent the non-conservative forces, the average accuracy of the GRACE orbit is 2.40cm, 3.91cm, 2.34cm and 5.17cm in radial (R), along-track (T), cross-track (N) and 3D directions respectively; If we use the accelerometer observation instead of non-conservative perturbation model, the average accuracy of the orbit is 1.82cm, 2.51cm, 3.48cm and 4.68cm in R, T, N and 3D directions respectively. The result shows that if we use accelerometer observation instead of the non-conservative perturbation model, the accuracy of orbit is better. (2) When we use the reduced-dynamic POD method to get the orbits, the average accuracy of the orbit is 0.80cm, 1.36cm, 2.38cm and 2.87cm in R, T, N and 3D directions respectively. This method is carried out by setting up the pseudo-stochastic pulses to absorb the errors of atmospheric drag and other perturbations. (3) If we use the kinematic POD method, the accuracy of the GRACE orbit is 2.92cm, 2.48cm, 2.76cm and 4.75cm in R, T, N and 3D directions respectively. In conclusion, it can be seen that the POD of GRACE satellite is practicable by using different strategies and methods. The orbit solution is well and stable, they all can obtain the GRACE orbits with centimeter-level precision.

Earth\u2019s gravity field modelling based on satellite accelerations derived from onboard GPS phase measurements

GPS data collected by satellite gravity missions can be used for extracting the long-wavelength part of the Earth’s gravity field. We propose a new data processing method which makes use of the ‘average acceleration’ approach to gravity field modelling. In this method, satellite accelerations are directly derived from GPS carrier phase measurements with an epoch-differenced scheme. As a result, no ambiguity solutions are needed and the systematic errors that do not change much from epoch to epoch are largely eliminated. The GPS data collected by the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite mission are used to demonstrate the added value of the proposed method. An analysis of the residual accelerations shows that accelerations derived in this way are more precise, with noise being reduced by about 20 and 5% at the cross-track component and the other two components, respectively, as compared to those based on kinematic orbits. The accelerations obtained in this way allow the recovery of the gravity field to a slightly higher maximum degree compared to the solution based on kinematic orbits. Furthermore, the gravity field solution has an overall better performance. Errors in spherical harmonic coefficients are smaller, especially at low degrees. The cumulative geoid height error is reduced by about 15 and 5% up to degree 50 and 150, respectively. An analysis in the spatial domain shows that large errors along the geomagnetic equator, which are caused by a high electron density coupled with large short-term variations, are substantially reduced. Finally, the new method allows for a better observation of mass transport signals. In particular, sufficiently realistic signatures of regional mass anomalies in North America and south-west Africa are obtained.

Estimating maneuvers for precise relative orbit determination using GPS

Precise relative orbit determination is an essential element for the generation of science products from distributed instrumentation of formation flying satellites in low Earth orbit. According to the mission profile, the required formation is typically maintained and/or controlled by executing maneuvers. In order to generate consistent and precise orbit products, a strategy for maneuver handling is mandatory in order to avoid discontinuities or precision degradation before, after and during maneuver execution. Precise orbit determination offers the possibility of maneuver estimation in an adjustment of single-satellite trajectories using GPS measurements. However, a consistent formulation of a precise relative orbit determination scheme requires the implementation of a maneuver estimation strategy which can be used, in addition, to improve the precision of maneuver estimates by drawing upon the use of differential GPS measurements. The present study introduces a method for precise relative orbit determination based on a reduced-dynamic batch processing of differential GPS pseudorange and carrier phase measurements, which includes maneuver estimation as part of the relative orbit adjustment. The proposed method has been validated using flight data from space missions with different rates of maneuvering activity, including the GRACE, TanDEM-X and PRISMA missions. The results show the feasibility of obtaining precise relative orbits without degradation in the vicinity of maneuvers as well as improved maneuver estimates that can be used for better maneuver planning in flight dynamics operations.

Threshold Determination of The GPS Carrier Acceleration, Ramp, and Step on the Normal Condition

ABSTRACT In this study, the carrier acceleration-ramp-step test was applied to GPS carrier phase measurements, and the results were compared and analyzed. In the carrier acceleration-ramp-step test, the acceleration, ramp, and measurements are estimated using 10 consecutive carrier phase measurements for satellites observed at the same time based on the least square method. As for the characteristic of this test, if failure occurs in the measurement, the value jumps significantly compared to the previous result; but it judges that failure has occurred in all the satellites although failure has occurred in one satellite. Therefore, in this study, a method that eliminates a satellite with failure was suggested, and thresholds of the carrier acceleration, ramp, and step were suggested. The evaluation of the failure detection performance of carrier phase measurement using the suggested thresholds showed that failure could be detected when the carrier phase measurement changed abruptly by more than about 0.1 cycles.

Robust and precise baseline determination of distributed spacecraft in LEO

Recent experience with prominent formation flying missions in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), such as GRACE and TanDEM-X, has shown the feasibility of precise relative navigation at millimeter and sub-millimeter levels using GPS carrier phase measurements with fixed integer ambiguities. However, the robustness and availability of the solutions provided by current algorithms may be highly dependent on the mission profile. The main challenges faced in the LEO scenario are the resulting short continuous carrier phase tracking arcs along with the observed rapidly changing ionospheric conditions, which in the particular situation of long baselines increase the difficulty of correct integer ambiguity resolution. To reduce the impact of these factors, the present study proposes a strategy based on a reduced-dynamics filtering of dual-frequency GPS measurements for precise baseline determination along with a dedicated scheme for integer ambiguity resolution, consisting of a hybrid sequential/batch algorithm based on the maximum a posteriori and integer aperture estimators. The algorithms have been tested using flight data from the GRACE, TanDEM-X and Swarm missions in order to assess their robustness to different formation and baseline configurations. Results with the GRACE mission show an average 0.7mm consistency with the K/Ka-band ranging measurements over a period of more than two years in a baseline configuration of 220km. Results with TanDEM-X data show an average of 3.8mm consistency of kinematic and reduced-dynamic solutions in the along-track component over a period of 40days in baseline configurations of 500m and 75km. Data from Swarm A and Swarm C spacecraft are largely affected by atmospheric scintillation and contain half cycle ambiguities. The results obtained under such conditions show an overall consistency between kinematic and reduced-dynamic solutions of 1.7cm in the along-track component over a period of 30days in a variable baseline of approximately 60–175km. An analysis of one orbital period excluding a region where errors due to atmospheric scintillation occur, shows a consistency between kinematic and reduced-dynamic solutions of 3mm in the along-track direction.

STUDY ON THE CORRECT TILT OF THE NAVIGATION OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY BASED ON GPS

In recent years, the development of GPS navigation technology is very fast, has been applied to almost everywhere in life, especially in the field of agricultural production in recent years is more important. In foreign countries, GPS navigation application in agricultural production development has been very mature, but in China, the application of GPS in agricultural machinery navigation is still in the stage of research and development, application in agricultural machinery navigation, the GPS navigation technology to achieve accurate positioning: the most important thing is to tilt, lateral posture correction, pure line operation and a series of work based on path tracking. The GPS carrier phase measurement technology, static positioning can not only realize agricultural accurate and real-time dynamic positioning; but also can achieve high-precision attitude measurement based on observation of carrier phase receiver. Through the vector in the process of operation because of the navigation error of surface height fluctuation generated by the tilt correction algorithm, can be derived on the agricultural machinery navigation correction, because in the process of agricultural navigation operation, positioning error vector produced by the inclination will directly affect the pure path tracking algorithm based on the trajectory of the straight line thus, effects of mechanization and efficiency of intelligent agricultural production, so the research of calibration for the error caused by the tilt is of great significance. Considering the difficulty of the experiment, our research is a double side antenna attitude, so in the original location of the next step is to collect model cars some simulation of agricultural operations process data, and then use MATLAB to carry out simulation on the PC machine, according to before and after correction for the navigation of agricultural machinery industry to observe the trajectory correction effect. .

The performance of bds relative positioning usage with real observation data

With the first phase of COMPASS/BeiDou-2 (BDS) completed, the assessment of positioning performance and the characterization of its system are analyzed and presented. Pseudo-range and carrier phase measurements modulated on B1 and B2 have been collected in Shanghai, from 00:00 to 24:00 on 28 December, 2012. Compared with GPS, visibility and measurement quality of BDS's GEO, IGSO and MEO satellites are analyzed. DOP during the whole orbital period is also analyzed the results demonstrate that BDS's HDOP is better than GPS's one, but VDOP opposite. Furthermore, the result of positioning is also presented and analyzed. Short baselines are estimated by standalone BDS and GPS's carrier phase measurement, respectively, using 48 segmentations of observations during a whole day (24 hours, each segmentation, is about 30 minutes observation). The analysis of static relative positioning demonstrates that BDS could achieve to millimeter level, corresponding to GPS. Kinematic result is produced by double differenced carrier phase observations with the ambiguities fixed under the constraint of precise short baseline.The result shows that the centimeter accuracy could be achieved. When comparing the results of kinematic baseline solutions, performance of BDS is worse than GPS on North and Up components, but oppositely on the component of East in the kinematic baseline processing.

Locata-based precise point positioning for kinematic maritime applications

The GPS-precise point positioning (PPP) is still not as popular as network-based real-time kinematic (N-RTK) for engineering kinematic applications based on differential positioning principles for several reasons. One is the fact that the accuracy of kinematic GPS-PPP is lower than N-RTK solutions. The second reason is that GPS-PPP requires a comparatively long initialization period. In order to overcome such shortcomings, a new PPP approach augmented by a ground-based positioning system such as "Locata" is proposed in this paper. The new approach is referred to as Locata/GPS-PPP. Locata's ground-based technology has rapid geometry change for kinematic applications; thus, the proposed approach is able to provide high-accuracy solutions with faster initialization. In the proposed Locata/GPS-PPP approach, the Locata and GPS carrier phase measurements are processed simultaneously in a tightly combined mode and the carrier phase ambiguities are resolved as floating-point values on an epoch-by-epoch basis in order to avoid the need for cycle-slip repair. In order to evaluate the system performance, a kinematic field trial was conducted on Sydney Harbor. A Locata transmitter network was setup on the fringes of Sydney's CBD. The experiment demonstrated that the initial convergence time of the integrated Locata/GPS-PPP filter is only 10 s, which is significantly faster than the conventional GPS-PPP method. Comparison of the proposed method with the GPS-PPP and Locata-single point positioning (SPP) approaches was conducted. The results confirm that the Locata/GPS-PPP approach can achieve centimeter-level accuracy for horizontal positioning which improves 36.4 and 68.8 % over Locata-SPP and GPS-PPP. The results validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach for high-accuracy maritime applications.

An Instantaneous Integer Ambiguity Resolution for GPS Real-Time Structure Monitoring

GPS 반송파를 사용하여 센티미터 수준 정확도의 동적 측위를 위해서는 반송파 관측데이터에 포함하고 있는 미지정수를 결정하여 정밀한 기하거리로 환산하는 것이 필수적이다. 본 논문에서는 GPS에 의한 실시간 구조물 모니터링에 효율적으로 적용가능한 반송파 관측데이터 순간미지정수 결정 성능향상을 위한 알고리즘을 연구하였다. 이를 위하여 구조물에 설치한 GPS 수신기 이동 범위와 그 네트워크를 수학적으로 모형화하고 '정수제약 최소제곱법'을 통해 정확한 위치를 추정하는 절차를 제안하였다. 이 절차에는 추정해의 신뢰성 향상을 위해 실수해의 과대오차 최소화에 필요한 품질제어와 기하적 구속조건을 이용한 미지정수 타당성 검정을 포함하고 있다. 제안된 순간미지정수 결정절차를 과학기술용 계산용 소프트웨어인 MATLAB에 의해 실시간 적용 가능하도록 구현하고 장대교량에 해당하는 사장교 현장 관측데이터를 처리하여, 그 성능을 미지정수결정 성공률, 통계모형의 영향 그리고 연산시간에 대해 분석하고 결과를 요약하였다. In order to deliver a centimeter-level kinematic positioning solution with GPS carrier-phase measurements, it is prerequisite to use correctly resolved integer ambiguities. Based on the mathematical modeling of GPS network with application of its geometrical constraints, this research has investigated an instantaneous ambiguity resolution procedure for the so-called 'integer constrained least-squares' technique which can be effectively implemented in real-time structure monitoring. In this process, algorithms of quality control for the float solutions and hypothesis tests using the constrained baseline for the ambiguity validation are included to enhance reliability of the solutions. The proposed procedure has been implemented by MATLAB, the language of technical computing, and processed field trial data obtained at a cable-stayed bridge to access its real-world applicability. The results are summarized in terms of ambiguity successful rates, impact of the stochastical models, and computation time to demonstrate performance of the instantaneous ambiguity resolution proposed.

Integrating GPS and GLONASS to accelerate convergence and initialization times of precise point positioning

The main challenge of dual-frequency precise point positioning (PPP) is that it requires about 30 min to obtain centimeter-level accuracy or to succeed in the first ambiguity-fixing. Currently, PPP is generally conducted with GPS only using the ionosphere-free combination. We adopt a single-differenced (SD) between-satellite PPP model to combine the GPS and GLONASS raw dual-frequency carrier phase measurements, in which the GPS satellite with the highest elevation is selected as the reference satellite to form the SD between-satellite measurements. We use a 7-day data set from 178 IGS stations to investigate the contribution of GLONASS observations to both ambiguity-float and ambiguity-fixed SD PPP solutions, in both kinematic and static modes. In ambiguity-fixed PPP, we only attempt to fix GPS integer ambiguities, leaving GLONASS ambiguities as float values. Numerous experimental results show that PPP with GLONASS and GPS requires much less convergence time than that of PPP with GPS alone. For ambiguity-float PPP, the average convergence time can be reduced by 45.9 % from 22.9 to 12.4 min in static mode and by 57.9 % from 40.6 to 17.7 min in kinematic mode, respectively. For ambiguity-fixed PPP, the average time to the first-fixed solution can be reduced by 27.4 % from 21.6 to 15.7 min in static mode and by 42.0 % from 34.4 to 20.0 min in kinematic mode, respectively. Experimental results also show that the less the GPS satellites are used in float PPP, the more significant is the reduction in convergence time when adding GLONASS observations. In addition, on average, more than 4 GLONASS satellites can be observed for most 2-h observation sessions. Nearly, the same improvement in convergence time reduction is achieved for those observations.

GPS 반송파 위상을 사용한 편대비행위성 상대위치결정 연구

The present paper deals with precise relative positioning of formation satellites with long baseline in low Earth orbit making use of L1/L2 dual frequency GPS carrier phase measurements. Kinematic approach means to describe the motion of objects without taking its mass/dynamics model into consideration. The advantage of the kinematic approach is that information about dynamics of the system is not applied, which gives more flexibility and could improve the scientific interest of the observations made by the mission. The ionosphere terms, which are not canceled by double differenced measurement equation in the case of the long baseline, are explicitly estimated as unknown parameters by extended Kalman filter. The estimated float ambiguities by EKF are solved by existing efficient integer vector search strategy under integer least square condition. For the integer vector search, we employ well known MLAMBDA. Finally, The feasibility and accuracy of processing scheme are demonstrated using the GPS measurements for two satellites in low Earth orbit separated by baselines of 100 km.

An Approach for GPS Clock Jump Detection Using Carrier Phase Measurements in Real-Time

In this study, a real-time architecture for the detection of clock jumps in the GPS clock behavior is proposed. GPS satellite atomic clocks have characteristics of a second order polynomial in the long term showing sudden jumps occasionally. As satellite clock anomalies influence on GPS measurements which could deliver wrong position information to users as a result, it is required to develop a real time technique for the detection of the clock anomalies especially on the real-time GPS applications such as aviation. The proposed strategy is based on Teager Energy operator, which can be immediately detect any changes in the satellite clock bias estimated from GPS carrier phase measurements. The verification results under numerous cases in the presence of clock jumps are demonstrated.

Comparison of GPS-based autonomous vehicle following using global and relative positioning

Differential GPS methods are developed for use in automated vehicle convoy positioning. The GPS pseudo-range and carrier phase measurements are used to compute relative position vectors between two vehicles with sub-meter errors. The carrier phase measurement makes this level of accuracy attainable, but carrier phase ambiguity must be resolved prior to the relative position estimation. An algorithm, referred to as the Dynamic base Real Time Kinematic (DRTK) algorithm, is described to estimate carrier phase ambiguity and the relative position vector between two GPS receivers. A comparative study of the performance of the algorithm using either single or dual frequency measurements is presented. The use of relative positioning to autonomously follow a human-driven lead vehicle is presented. Time Difference Carrier Phase (TDCP) measurements are used to estimate the change in the position of the following vehicle between measurement epochs. The TDCP algorithm is combined with the DRTK algorithm to estimate the position of the following vehicle relative to a virtual lead vehicle position. Analysis of the accuracy of the TDCP algorithm at individual measurement epochs and over varying time intervals is presented. The DRTK/TDCP following method (using relative positioning information) is compared to a GPS waypoint following method (using global positioning information) using an all-terrain vehicle which is automated to follow a human-driven lead vehicle.