Fast Phase-Only Positioning with Triple-Frequency GPS

Journal Article (2018)
Author(s)

Kan Wang (Curtin University)

Pei Chen (Beihang University, Curtin University)

Peter J G Teunissen (Curtin University, TU Delft - Mathematical Geodesy and Positioning)

Research Group
Mathematical Geodesy and Positioning
Copyright
© 2018 Kan Wang, Pei Chen, P.J.G. Teunissen
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.3390/s18113922
More Info
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Publication Year
2018
Language
English
Copyright
© 2018 Kan Wang, Pei Chen, P.J.G. Teunissen
Research Group
Mathematical Geodesy and Positioning
Issue number
11
Volume number
18
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Abstract

In this contribution, we study the phase-only ambiguity resolution and positioning performance of GPS for short baselines. It is well known that instantaneous (single-epoch) ambiguity resolution is possible when both phase and code (pseudorange) data are used. This requires, however, a benign multipath environment due to the severe effects multipath has on the code measurements. With phase-only processing, one would be free from such severe effects, be it that phase-only processing requires a change in receiver-satellite geometry, as a consequence of which it cannot be done instantaneously. It is thus of interest to know how much change in the relative receiver-satellite geometry is needed to achieve successful phase-only ambiguity resolution with correspondingly high precision baseline solutions. In this contribution, we study the two-epoch phase-only performance of single-, dual-, and triple-frequency GPS for varying time spans from 60 s down to 1 s. We demonstrate, empirically as well as formally, that fast phase-only very-precise positioning is indeed possible, and we explain the circumstances that make this possible. The formal analyses are also performed for a large area including Australia, a part of Asia, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. We remark that in this contribution "phase-only" refers to phase-only measurements in the observation model, while the code data are thus only used to compute the approximate values needed for linearizing the observation equations.