New Strategy for Improving the Accuracy of Aircraft Positioning Based on GPS SPP Solution

Area of Science:

• Aerospace Engineering
• Geomatics Engineering
• Navigation Systems

Background:

• Accurate aircraft positioning is critical for air navigation safety and efficiency.
• Global Positioning System (GPS) Single Point Positioning (SPP) is a widely used but can be subject to accuracy limitations.
• Improving the precision of GPS SPP is essential for advanced aviation applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and present a novel calculation strategy for determining aircraft resultant position.
• To enhance the accuracy and quality of GPS SPP positioning using a weighted average model.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method in improving aircraft coordinate determination.

Main Methods:

• A weighted average model incorporating measurement weights was developed.
• Measurement weights were determined as a function of tracked GPS satellites and Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP).
• Navigation data from two independent GPS receivers (Thales Mobile Mapper, Topcon HiPerPro) were utilized for calculations.

Main Results:

• The weighted average method demonstrated improved Root Mean Square (RMS) accuracy for XYZ geocentric coordinates compared to single GPS SPP solutions.
• Accuracy improvements ranged from 1.2% to 33.7% using the proposed weighted average approach.
• The study validates the practical application of the developed strategy.

Conclusions:

• The proposed weighted average model effectively enhances the accuracy of aircraft positioning via GPS SPP.
• The method offers a practical solution for improving air navigation precision.
• This research contributes to the advancement of reliable and accurate aircraft navigation systems.