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The orbital maneuvers of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Constellations will decrease the performance and accuracy of positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT). Because satellites in the Chinese BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) are in Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO), maneuvers occur more frequently. Also, the precise start moment of the BDS satellites' orbit maneuvering cannot be obtained by common users. This paper presented an improved real-time detecting method for BDS satellites' orbit maneuvering and anomalies with higher timeliness and higher accuracy. The main contributions to this improvement are as follows: (1) instead of the previous two-steps method, a new one-step method with higher accuracy is proposed to determine the start moment and the pseudo random noise code (PRN) of the satellite orbit maneuvering in that time; (2) BDS Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) orbital maneuvers are firstly detected according to the proposed selection strategy for the stations; and (3) the classified non-maneuvering anomalies are detected by a new median robust method using the weak anomaly detection factor and the strong anomaly detection factor. The data from the Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) in 2017 was used for experimental analysis. The experimental results and analysis showed that the start moment of orbital maneuvers and the period of non-maneuver anomalies can be determined more accurately in real-time. When orbital maneuvers and anomalies occur, the proposed method improved the data utilization for 91 and 95 min in 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning technique of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) has been widely used for deformation monitoring in the past several decades. The RTK technique can provide relative displacements in a local reference frame defined by a highly stable reference station. However, the traditional RTK solution does not account for reference stations that experience displacement. This presents a challenge for establishing a near real-time GNSS monitoring system, as since the displacement of a reference station can be easily misinterpreted as a sign of rapid movement at the monitoring station. In this study, based on the reference observations in different time domains, asynchronous and synchronous RTK are proposed and applied together to address this issue, providing more reliable displacement information. Using the asynchronously generated time difference of a reference frame, the proposed approach can detect whether a measured displacement has occurred in the reference or the monitoring station in the current epoch. This allows for the separation of reference station movements from monitoring station movements. The results based on both simulated and landslide monitoring data demonstrate that the proposed method can provide reliable displacement determinations, which are critical in deformation monitoring applications, such as the early warning of landslides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) community, the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) is an augmentation system for users in the Asia-Pacific region. However, the characteristics and performance of four QZSS satellite clocks in a long-term scale are unknown at present. However, it is crucial to the positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services of users, especially in Asia-Pacific region. In this study, the characteristics and performance variation of four QZSS satellite clocks, which including the phase, frequency, frequency drift, fitting residuals, frequency accuracy, periodic terms, frequency stability and short-term clock prediction, are revealed in detail for the first time based on the precise satellite clock offset products of nearly 1000 days. The important contributions are as follows: (1) It is detected that the times of phase and frequency jump are 2.25 and 1.5 for every QZSS satellite clock in one year. The magnitude of the frequency drift is about 10−18. The periodic oscillation of frequency drift of J01 and J02 satellite clocks is found. The clock offset model precision of QZSS is 0.33 ns. (2) The two main periods of QZSS satellite clock are 24 and 12 hours, which is the influence of the satellite orbit; (3) The frequency stability of 100, 1000 and 10,000 s are 1.98 × 10−13, 6.59 × 10−14 and 5.39 × 10−14 for QZSS satellite clock, respectively. The visible "bump" is found at about 400 s for J02 and J03 satellite clocks. The short-term clock prediction accuracy of is 0.12 ns. This study provides a reference for the state monitoring and performance variation of the QZSS satellite clock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unscented Kalman filter (UKF) can effectively reduce the linearized model error and the dependence on initial coordinate values for indoor pseudolite (PL) positioning unlike the extended Kalman filter (EKF). However, PL observations are prone to various abnormalities because the indoor environment is usually complex. Standard UKF (SUKF) lacks resistance to frequent abnormal observations. This inadequacy brings difficulty in guaranteeing the accuracy and reliability of indoor PL positioning, especially for phase-based high-precision positioning. In this type of positioning, the ambiguity resolution (AR) will be difficult to achieve in the presence of abnormal observations. In this study, a robust UKF (RUKF) and partial AR (PAR) algorithm are introduced and applied in indoor PL positioning. First, the UKF is used for parameter estimation. Then, the anomaly recognition statistics and optimal ambiguity subset of PAR are constructed on the basis of the posterior residuals. The IGGIII scheme is adopted to weaken the influence of abnormal observation, and the PAR strategy is conducted in case of failure of the conventional PL-AR. The superiority of our proposed algorithm is validated using the measured indoor PL data for code-based differential PL (DPL) and phase-based real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning modes. Numerical results indicate that the positioning accuracy of RUKF-based indoor DPL is higher with a decimeter-level improvement compared that of the SUKF, especially in the presence of large gross errors. In terms of high-precision RTK positioning, RUKF can correctly identify centimeter-level anomalous observations and obtain a corresponding positioning accuracy improvement compared with the SUKF. When relatively large gross errors exist, the conventional method cannot easily realize PL-AR. By contrast, the combination of RUKF and the PAR algorithm can achieve PL-AR for the selected ambiguity subset successfully and can improve the positioning accuracy and reliability significantly. In summary, our proposed algorithm has certain resistance ability for abnormal observations. The indoor PL positioning of this algorithm outperforms that of the conventional method. Thus, the algorithm has some practical application value, especially for kinematic positioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning is a satellite navigation technique that is widely used to enhance the precision of position data obtained from global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). This technique can reduce or eliminate significant correlation errors via the enhancement of the base station observation data. However, observations received by the base station are often interrupted, delayed, and/or discontinuous, and in the absence of base station observation data the corresponding positioning accuracy of a rover declines rapidly. With the strategies proposed till date, the positioning accuracy can only be maintained at the centimeter-level for a short span of time, no more than three min. To address this, a novel asynchronous RTK method (that addresses asynchronous errors) that can bridge significant gaps in the observations at the base station is proposed. First, satellite clock and orbital errors are eliminated using the products of the final precise ephemeris during post-processing or the ultra-rapid precise ephemeris during real-time processing. Then the tropospheric error is corrected using the Saastamoinen model and the asynchronous ionospheric delay is corrected using the carrier phase measurements from the rover receiver. Finally, a straightforward first-degree polynomial function is used to predict the residual asynchronous error. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach can achieve centimeter-level accuracy for as long as 15 min during interruptions in both real-time and post-processing scenarios, and that the accuracy of the real-time scheme can be maintained for 15 min even when a large systematic error is projected in the U direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because there are different types of BeiDou constellations with participating geostationary orbit (GEO) and inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO) satellites, the maneuvering frequency of BeiDou satellites is higher than that of other navigation systems. The satellite orbital maneuvers lead to orbital parameter failure for several hours from broadcast ephemeris. Due to the missing initial orbit, the maneuvering thrust, and the period of orbital maneuvering, the orbit products of maneuvering satellites cannot be provided by the International Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Service (IGS) and International GNSS Monitoring and Assessment System (iGMAS). In addition, the period of unhealthy status and the orbital parameters of maneuvering satellites in broadcast ephemeris are unreliable, making the detection of orbital maneuver periods more difficult. Here, we develop a method to detect orbital maneuver periods involving two key steps. The first step is orbit prediction of maneuvering satellites based on precise orbit products. The second step is time period detection of orbit maneuvering. The start time detection factor is calculated by backward prediction orbit and pseudo-range observations, and the end time detection factor is calculated by forward prediction orbit and pseudo-range observations. Data of stations from the Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) and iGMAS were analyzed. The results show that the period of orbit maneuvering could be detected accurately for BeiDou GEO and IGSO satellites. In addition, the orbital maneuver period of other GNSS medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites could also be determined by this method. The results of period detection for orbit maneuvering provide important reference information for precision orbit and clock offset determination during satellite maneuvers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) have provided an excellent way to monitor micro-deformation in real-time. However, at local sites where landslides frequently occur, the environment can include complex surroundings with mountains, dense vegetation, and human settlements, which can severely degrade the accuracy of positioning with the GNSS technique. In this study, we propose an azimuth-dependent elevation weight (ADEW) model using an azimuth-dependent elevation mask (ADEM) to reduce the effects of multipath errors and improve the accuracy of real-time deformation monitoring in such environments. We developed an adaptive fixed-elevation mask to serve as the outlier of low precision observations at lower elevations for the ADEM, and then, we applied the weighted phase observations into the mitigation process for the effects of multipath errors. The real numerical results indicate that the ADEM model performs better than the conventional model, and the average improvements were 18.91% and 34.93% in the horizontal and vertical direction, respectively. The ADEW model further improved upon the ADEM model results by an additional 21.9% and 29.8% in the horizontal and vertical direction, respectively. Therefore, we propose that the ADEW model can significantly mitigate the effects of multipath errors and improve the accuracy of micro-deformation monitoring via GNSS receivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]