Sturdy positioning with high sensitivity GPS sensors under adverse conditions

Area of Science:

• Geomatics Engineering
• Satellite Navigation Systems
• Signal Processing

Background:

• High sensitivity Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers enable navigation in previously unsuitable environments.
• Adverse conditions such as signal attenuation and multipath effects degrade satellite signal reception.
• Standard autonomous and differential GNSS methods struggle under these challenging conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate custom procedures for autonomous and differential GNSS positioning in adverse environments.
• To enhance the accuracy and robustness of positioning using high-sensitivity receivers.
• To mitigate errors caused by multipath effects and signal attenuation.

Main Methods:

• Development of custom autonomous Global Positioning System (GPS) positioning procedures utilizing code and Doppler observations.
• Implementation of robust estimation methods to minimize gross observation errors.
• Design of a conditional differential GNSS (DGPS) approach using only strong signal data.

Main Results:

• The custom autonomous GPS procedure significantly improved positioning performance.
• Robust estimation methods effectively reduced positioning errors from gross observations.
• Conditional DGPS demonstrated superior performance over standard DGPS in adverse conditions.
• Tested procedures showed improved results in both static and kinematic scenarios compared to receiver-processed data.

Conclusions:

• Custom-developed processing techniques enhance the reliability and accuracy of high-sensitivity GNSS receivers in challenging environments.
• Conditional DGPS offers a viable solution for improving positioning accuracy when standard differential methods fail.
• The developed methods provide a robust approach to autonomous and differential positioning, addressing multipath and signal attenuation issues.