The enhanced search procedure in a coordinate domain for precise satellite positioning

Abstract

Recently, there has been an increase in the availability of GNSS satellites for observation, which poses new challenges in the computational process of precise satellite positioning. Ambiguity resolution is a crucial step in achieving accurate relative positioning. In this regard, an improved version of a searching procedure in a three-dimensional coordinate domain has been proposed and tested. The method starts with a float solution, similar to classic methods like the LAMBDA. However, the subsequent step, the search procedure, is conducted in the coordinate space instead of the ambiguity space. This shift to a three-dimensional coordinate space leads to reduced computation time. A computational experiment was performed to validate the proposed method, which demonstrated a significant reduction in processing time. The advantages of this method are particularly prominent when dealing with a large number of satellites.

Keywords:

• Carrier phase measurement
• GNSS data processing
• Ambiguity function
• Integer least-squares
• Voronoi cells
• Precise satellite positioning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by grant number 2018/31/B/ST10/00262 from the National Science Centre, Poland. The publication was written as a result of the author's internship at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, co-financed by the European Union under the European Social Fund (Operational Programme Knowledge Education Development), carried out in the project Development Programme at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn [POWR.03.05. 00-00-Z310/17].

Notes on contributors

Slawomir Cellmer

Slawomir Cellmer received the Ph.D. degree in geodesy in 2002 from the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland. In 2013 he received habilitation (postdoctoral degree). He is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Geoengineering at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (UWM), Poland. His research interests cover computational methods and GNSS data processing.

Krzysztof Nowel

Krzysztof Nowel is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Geoengineering at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (UWM), Poland, where he earned his Ph.D. in Geodesy in 2015. His research interests include deformation measurement analysis and GNSS integer ambiguity resolution.

Artur Fischer

Artur Fischer is a Ph.D. candidate at the Faculty of Geoengineering at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (UWM), Poland. His research interests contain computational methods in GNSS and engineering surveys.