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• Provide a simplified joint orbit determination (JOD) method that employs kinematic approach to determine the LEO satellites orbit. • The comparative analysis between proposed method and traditional method is analyzed based on the real data from LEO onboard GNSS receiver. • Simplified JOD method demonstrates a significant decrease in computation time and is nearly unaffected by orbital maneuvers of LEO satellites. • The proposed method is prospective to be an efficient JOD mode for future LEO navigation enhancement system. Joint orbit determination (JOD) of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) satellites and low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites has been substantiated as an efficacious approach to compensate for the ground station geometry. In the traditional JOD, the precise orbit determination (POD) of LEO satellite is mainly processed by the reduced-dynamic approach, however, this approach involves complex calculations and the credibility of the determined positions diminishes when LEO satellites undergo orbital maneuvers. Therefore, a simplified JOD method is designed that employs kinematic approach to determine the LEO satellites orbit. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, the orbit of GPS satellites and LEO satellites are jointly estimated utilizing the regional and global networks. 8 LEO satellites, including GRACE-C/D, SWARM-A/B/C, SENTINEL-3A/B, and JASON-3, are chosen for JOD. The comparative analysis between the proposed method and traditional method are achieved in terms of GPS orbit accuracy, LEO orbit accuracy, computation time and the JOD performance during LEO maneuvers. Under regional station scenario, the GPS orbit accuracy determined using the proposed method and the traditional method is 3.64 cm and 2.52 cm, respectively. In the case of global station scenario, the accuracies are 1.71 cm and 1.64 cm. Additionally, the traditional method yields superior enhancement and higher accuracy of the LEO orbits. However, it exhibits a noticeable increase in computation time compared to the proposed method and the performance of JOD declines significantly when LEO satellites undergo orbital maneuvers. Alternatively, although the accuracy of the LEO orbits using the proposed method is comparatively lower, it offers a substantial reduction in the overall network computation time compared to traditional method. Moreover, the proposed method based on LEO kinematic precise orbit determination (KPOD) is nearly unaffected by orbital maneuvers of LEO satellites, presenting unique advantages in practical data processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel integer ambiguity resolution method for GNSS deformation monitoring. • Utilized baseline prediction construct the mixed integer least-squares criterion. • A validation procedure using real-time dynamic baseline vector predictions. • Achieved substantial performance enhancements in challenging scenarios. Accurate integer ambiguity resolution (IAR) is pivotal for high-precision and high-reliability Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) positioning. However, traditional IAR methodologies, encompassing integer estimation and validation, often face significant challenges in harsh landslide environments. This paper proposes a new IAR method based on baseline vector predictions. Initially, the real-time baseline vectors predictions are used to substitute the true values of baseline vectors in the mixed integer least-squares (MILS) estimation equation, and the MILS estimation criterion is constructed which contains the quadratic form of baseline vectors. Subsequently, a novel baseline vector validation procedure, built on real-time dynamic predictions, is established. Experiments were carried out at two GNSS landslide monitoring area using GPS + BDS dual-frequency measurement data. These stations underwent both stable deformation stages within complex measurement environments and accelerated deformation stages in open environments. Results indicate that the proposed method overcomes the limitations associated with conventional ambiguity validation methods based on hypothesis testing, addressing the errors of "abandoning trueness" and "accepting mistake" simultaneously. Notably, the ambiguity fixed rate improved by 80.7 % for single-frequency experiments and 39.8 % for dual-frequency experiments at one monitoring station located in a complex environment. This work provides valuable IAR approach for GNSS deformation monitoring applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The on-orbit characteristics and service performance of Galileo navigation system (Galileo) has been drawn attentions since Galileo is the only one global navigation system which is normally equipped with large-scale, high precision and performance hydrogen atomic clocks. Based on a period of 1000 days' Galileo satellite clock offset products, this article analyzed the performance changes of Galileo satellite clocks when the working clock is switched to the backup clock. The onboard clock phases, frequencies, frequency drifts, the polynomial fitting residuals and the stabilities have been obtained. Results show that the frequency drifts of Galileo satellite clocks can reach up to a magnitude of 10−19 and the fitting precisions are superior to 0.3 ns, while the stabilities in the time length of ten thousand seconds can achieve 10−14. These mainly can be due to the onboard high performance and precision hydrogen atomic clocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Transmission link disturbances and device failure cause global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers to miss observations, leading to poor accuracy in real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning. Previously described solutions for this problem are influenced by the length of the prediction period, or are unable to account for changes in receiver state because they use information from previous epochs to make predictions. We propose an algorithm for predicting double difference (DD) observations of obstructed BeiDou navigation system (BDS) GEO satellites. Our approach adopts the first-degree polynomial function for predicting missing observations. We introduce a Douglas-Peucker algorithm to judge the state of the rover receiver to reduce the impact of predictive biases. Static and kinematic experiments were carried out on BDS observations to evaluate the proposed algorithm. The results of our navigation experiment demonstrate that RTK positioning accuracy is improved from meter to decimeter level with fixed ambiguity (horizontal < 2 cm, vertical < 18 cm). Horizontal accuracy is improved by over 50%, and the vertical accuracies of the results of the static and kinematic experiments are increased by 47% and 27% respectively, compared with the results produced by the classical approach. Though as the baseline becomes longer, the accuracy is weakened, our predictive algorithm is an improvement over existing approaches to overcome the issue of missing data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The information of the satellite clock switching and performance variations on-orbit of Chinese BeiDou-2 Navigation System (BDS) is not available for the public. In order to detect the BDS satellite clock switching and performances variation, we analyzed the precise clock offset products with a total duration of 5 years every BDS satellite equipped four atomic clocks from four different manufactures from January 2013 to October 2017. Three important contributions are concluded as follows. (1) It is found that the average time of on-orbit operation for BDS satellite clocks is about 1–2 years. There have been 22 times of clock switching for BDS satellites, of which the C05 and C08 satellites have been switched to the fourth (last) atomic clock. (2) There are frequent phase adjustments for BDS on-orbit satellite clocks, and the frequency series is relatively stable. Furthermore, there are semi-annual sinusoid cycles in the frequency drift series of C06 and C09 satellites. (3) The performances of MEO satellite clocks perform better than the IGSO and GEO satellite clocks. The average ten-thousand frequency stability of BDS satellite clocks is about 1E-13, which is worse than that of GPS and Galileo but better than that of GLONASS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Eight new-generation BeiDou satellites (BeiDou-3) have been launched into Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), allowing for global coverage since March 2018, and they are equipped with new hydrogen atomic clocks and updated rubidium clocks. Firstly, we analyzed the signals for the carrier-to-noise-density ratio (C/N0) and pseudorange multipath (MP) by using international GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Monitoring and Assessment System (iGMAS) station data, and found that B1C has a lower C/N0, and B2a has the same level of C/N0 as the B1I and B3I signals. For pseudorange multipath, compared with the BeiDou-2 satellites, the obvious systematic variation of MP scatters related to the elevation angle is greatly improved for the BeiDou-3 and BeiDou-3e satellites signals. For the signals of the BeiDou-3 satellites, the order of the Root Mean Square (RMS) values of multipath and noise is B3I < B1I < B2a < B1C. Then, the comparison of the precise orbit determination and clock offset determination for the BeiDou-2, BeiDou-3, and BeiDou-3 experimental (BeiDou-3e) satellites was done by using 10 stations from iGMAS. The 3D precision of the 24 h orbit overlap is 24.55, 25.61, and 23.35 cm for the BeiDou-3, BeiDou-3e, and BeiDou-2 satellites, respectively. BeiDou-3 satellite has a comparable precision to that of the BeiDou-2 satellite. For the precision of clock offset estimation, the Standard Deviation (STD) of the BeiDou-3 MEO satellite is 0.350 ns, which is an improvement of 0.042 ns over that of the BeiDou-2 MEO satellite. The stabilities of the BeiDou-3 and BeiDou-3e onboard clocks are better than those of BeiDou-2 by factors of 2.84 and 1.61 at an averaging time of 1000 and 10,000 s, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Adaptive noise model based on GNSS and accelerometer sensors were proposed for Kalman filtering. • A quantitative inflated factor function based on STD was introduced to match the time-varying noise of accelerometers in real-time. • Deformation experiments in different states (static and dynamic, whether GNSS signal interference) were conducted to fully validate the contribution of the new algorithm. The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and accelerometer integrated system can obtain more stable and reliable deformation displacement with the full use of the complementary technical characteristics of these two types of sensors. The Kalman Filter (KF) method is often applied to integrate GNSS three-dimensional (3D) coordinates and high-rate accelerometer measurements. The key to obtaining accurate solutions is the reasonable setting of measurement noise and process noise of KF. However, in some complex deformation monitoring scenarios such as landslides, both GNSS and accelerometers are susceptible to interference from factors like vegetation cover and external dynamic disturbance. Traditional adaptive filtering methods is hard to simultaneously and appropriately adjust the two types of noise matrices. To address this problem, an adaptive noise model based on sensors is proposed. The adaptive measurement noise is constructed using the posterior coordinate covariance derived from GNSS-RTK process. The random walk coefficient corresponding to the process noise is estimated online via the standard deviation (STD) of acceleration time-varying information. A series of numerical experiments about simulated three-dimensional (3D) deformation displacement are carried out to validate the proposed algorithm. The results show that: (1) When the GNSS signal is disturbed by complex environment, the adaptive measurement noise model effectively contributes to the accuracy improvement, from decimeter level to centimeter level. (2) In the presence of unstable deformable bodies, the adaptive process noise algorithm significantly suppresses the divergent deformation time series caused by external accelerometer disturbances. (3) Even if suffering the overlying effects of electromagnetic interference and external disturbance, the centimeter-level deformation monitoring accuracy can be achieved by using the joint adaptive measurement and process noise model. The improvement effect is particularly significant in the main deformation direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new evaluation method considering periodic errors for GNSS atomic clocks on board is proposed. • The correlation relationship between the sun elevation and orbit radial error, fitting precision, frequency stability, amplitude is revealed. • The evaluation results of GPS satellite clocks in orbit that more approach to the real performance are obtained. The performance of the atomic clock in orbit is of terrific significance for the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). With the rapid development of satellite navigation and atomic clock technology, the periodic error of satellite clocks caused by the environment is more prominent. This paper focuses on the analysis and quantification of the systematic periodic error in the clock offset and proposes a more accurate evaluation method for GPS satellite clocks. The fact that the J2 relativistic effect and orbit radial error are the main sources of the systematic periodic term has been revealed. Then, the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is employed using the sliding window to investigate the periodic influence caused by satellite orbit and the J2 relativistic effect on clock offset through six GPS satellites with different orbital planes, these satellites also cover all four types of GPS satellite blocks. The results show that there is an obvious relationship between the sun elevation and orbit radial error, clock offset fitting precision, frequency stability and amplitude. The different geometric configurations of the satellite and the varying environment make this relationship different. Based on the clock offset provided by European Space Agency (ESA), the period of clock offset is extracted and quantized, with the period of 24 h, 12 h, 8 h, 6 h, 4 h, and 3 h. According to the daily extraction results of the time-varying periodic terms, the two most noticeable terms correction on satellite clock offset has been proven to be effective in eliminating periodic errors. Compared to those without periodic correction, the fitting precision and frequency stability can improve by 48.5% and 42.6%, respectively. In addition, all GPS satellite clocks in orbit are evaluated by this periodic correction method, and the results are more approach to the actual performance of the satellite clock. Furthermore, this method can also be adapted to evaluate satellite clocks of other GNSS systems. Therefore, when we evaluate the high-precision atomic clock flying on board GNSS satellites and compare them with the manufacturers' specifications, the periodic error cannot be neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 1. A quality control method for estimating multi-GNSS real-time satellite clock offset is proposed. • 2. The satellite clock offset accuracy of GPS, Galileo, BDS-3 and Galileo is improved. • 3.The precise point positioning accuracy can be improved by using the clock offset. Real-time satellite clock offset plays a prominent role in the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) community. However, the GNSS raw observations are impacted by outliers, resulting in the quality of observations becomes poorer, which will dramatically affect the performance of estimated multi-GNSS satellite clock offset in real-time. In this contribution, an improved Inter Quartile Range (IQR) method is proposed to improve the quality of multi-GNSS satellite clock offset estimation in real-time, in which the improvements include two aspects. Firstly, the empirical threshold C 1 is determined to adapt multi-GNSS satellite clock offset estimation, if one residual is not between (Q 1 - C 1 ∗ I Q R , Q 3 + C 1 ∗ I Q R) , the observation is deleted. More importantly, to guarantee the clock offset of each satellite can be estimated at each epoch, if one satellite corresponding to all observation of stations is deleted, the IQR is conducted again at the current epoch for these observations. Three schemes are designed: 50 stations are used to perform multi-GNSS satellite clock offset estimation in real-time, which are without quality control (S1), with the proposed quality control method in this contribution(S2), and with quality control method using 8.5 medians of residuals (S3). Compared to S1, the satellite clock offset accuracy of GPS, Galileo, BDS-3, and GLONASS for S2 can be significantly improved from 0.082 to 0.055 ns, 0.106 to 0.072 ns, 0.178 to 0.083 ns, and 0.146 to 0.100 ns, respectively. The improvement is 32.93%, 32.07%, 53.37%, and 31.51%, respectively. The clock offset performance of S2 is better than that of S3 in terms of stability and reliability for GPS, BDS-3, and GLONASS. Another 52 stations are applied to perform multi-GNSS kinematic real-time precise point positioning (RT-PPP). For the convergence time and positioning accuracy, the RT-PPP employing the satellite clock offset generated from S2 shows the best performance. The experiment shows that the proposed quality control method can obtain real-time, stable, high-precision, and reliable multi-GNSS real-time satellite clock offset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The long-term performance of GLONASS satellite clocks were revealed for the first time. • The periodic terms existed in the clock are detected. • The comparison between GLONASS and other GNSS satellite clock is conducted. The cesium atomic clock installed on the GLObal NAvigation Satellite System (GLONASS) is a key piece of equipment. However, its performance is easily affected by the external environment and its physical characteristics. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate the long-term performance of the clock. In this study, using eight years of continuous GLONASS precise satellite clock offset products, the long-term performance of GLONASS satellite clocks is revealed for the first time. The results showed that the mean number of phase and frequency jumps for one satellite clock in one year were 0.29 and 0.19, respectively. The fitting precision, which is the standard deviation of the fitting residuals, was 0.88 nanoseconds (ns). Except for the R06 satellite clock, the first or second period was 11.24 h in the clock offset. In terms of clock stability, the short-term clock offset prediction accuracy was 0.52 ns, the frequency stability at 1000 and 10000 s was 4.03 × 10-13 and 1.01 × 10-13, respectively. Both the short-term clock offset prediction accuracy and frequency stability were inferior to those of the rubidium atomic clock of the Global Positioning System (GPS) Block IIF satellites, the second-generation BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS-2), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), and Galileo Passive Hydrogen Maser (PHM). The mean switching number for each GLONASS satellite clock was 0.27 per year. Furthermore, the R15 satellite clock, maybe owing to its hardware noise, delivered the poorest performance among those of all the GLONASS satellite clocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sepsis-induced acute kidney injury (SI-AKI) is the fifth most common cause of hospital-acquired acute kidney injury. Pannexin1 (Panx1) triggers inflammation and apoptosis which act as crucial factors in the pathogenesis of SI-AKI. We aimed to investigate the expression of Panx1 and its role on the inflammation and apoptosis in SI-AKI. SI-AKI model was established by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection in mice and LPS-treated HK-2 cells in vitro. Panx1 was inhibited by pretreating with carbenoxolone (CBX) or small interfering RNA in vivo and vitro, respectively. The expression of Panx1 was determined by qPCR, western blot and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Kidney damage was evaluated by kidney function, histopathological examination and AKI biomarkers. Inflammatory cytokines were detected by qPCR and ELISA. Apoptosis was detected by TUNEL staining and the expression of apoptosis-related proteins. The activation of nucleotide-binding domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome was measured by western blot. Panx1 increased in LPS-induced SI-AKI mice and HK-2 cells, as well as in SI-AKI patients. CBX alleviated the renal function and pathological damage, as well as decreased the mRNA of kidney injury molecule (KIM-1) and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL). Inhibiting Panx1 decreased the production of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α, as well as tubular cell apoptosis in SI-AKI. Inhibiting Panx1 suppressed inflammatory cytokines and apoptosis via inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation and regulating apoptotic protein Bax and Bcl2 expression, respectively. These observations suggest that pharmacological inhibition of Panx1 might be a potential approach in the clinical therapy of SI-AKI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The present fractal interpolation prediction method is very novel for navigation system time offsets prediction. • There is a clear linear positive correlation between prediction error and attractor biases. • Designed the complete prediction algorithm, which significantly improves the forecast accuracy compared with other methods. • The proposed prediction method is not only applicable for system time, but also for satellite clock and its data recovery. System time offsets between Global Navigation Satellite Systems is a key issue in multi-system positioning. A high-precision time offsets prediction model is required in actual navigation applications. In this study, the fractal characteristics of time offsets in American and Russian navigation systems are directly confirmed through fractal dimension calculations. Then, the influence of the vertical scaling factor on the prediction accuracy of the fractal interpolation prediction model is confirmed. It is found that perturbation on the estimated vertical scaling factor causes a minimal attractor bias, which is positively correlated with the prediction error. After proving the existence of the estimated vertical scaling factor of the minimal attractor biases, an optimization method of the fractal interpolation prediction model is proposed, and the related algorithms are given. The numerical results show that the time offsets prediction errors using the new model are less than 1 ns for the American navigation system and close to 2 ns for the Russian navigation system. The prediction accuracy of this model has an improvement of at least 60% over the commonly used quadratic and grey models, and an improvement of more than 13% over the standard fractal interpolation prediction model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterococcus has been considered one of the most important nosocomial pathogens for human infections, and the hospital environment is an important reservoir for vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) that leads to antimicrobial therapeutic failure. However, infant foods and their production environments could pose risks for the immature population, while this question remains unaddressed. This study conducted an extensive and thorough Enterococcus isolation, VRE risk assessment of the Chinese infant food production chains and additional online-marketing infant foods, including powdered infant formula (PIF) and infant complementary food (ICF). To investigate the prevalence of Enterococcus along infant food chains and commodities, a total of 482 strains of Enterococcus , including E. faecium (n = 363), E. faecalis (n = 84), E. casseliflavus (n = 13), E. mundtii (n = 12), E. gallinarum (n = 4), E. hirae (n = 4), and E. durans (n = 2) were recovered from 459 samples collected from infant food production chains (71/254) and food commodities (67/205). A decreasing trend for Enterococcus detection rate was found in the PIF production chain (PIF-PC), particularly during the preparation of the PIF base powder (From 100 % in raw milk to 8.70 % in end products), while an increasing trend was observed in the ICF production chain (ICF-PC) mainly during the initial processing of farm crops and the further processing of the product (20 % at farm crops increasing to 76.92 % at end products). The result indicated that the PIF-PC process effectively reduced Enterococcus contamination, while the ICF-PC showed the opposite trend. Importantly, eleven VRE isolates were recovered from the infant food production chain, including seven E. casseliflavus isolates carrying vanC2/C3 and four E. gallinarum isolates carrying vanC1. Ten VRE isolates were from food production environments. Collectively, our study demonstrated that infant food production environments represent potential reservoirs for VRE non-nosocomial infections in vulnerable populations. [Display omitted] • Powdered infant formula production chain has higher Enterococcus contamination, particularly in production/food-processing environment. • The Enterococcus contamination rate of domestic PIF (45.37%) is relatively higher than that of imported PIF (25.37%). • Among 11 vancomycin-resistant isolates, 10 were from infant food production environments. • Antimicrobial and virulent genes were detected in vancomycin-resistant enterococci. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The racking station distribution structure plays an important role in GNSS satellite orbit determination. Due to the current satellite distribution of the BeiDou satellite navigation system (BDS), the problem how to construct a reasonable distribution of tracking stations to obtain BDS satellite orbits with high precision has become a highly imperative issue. Based on the theory of dynamic orbit determination, two different station distributions were analyzed to study their impact on BDS precise and real-time orbit determination. Subsequently, the impact of Satellite Position Dilution of Precision (SPDOP) values on orbit determination was analyzed. Finally, an improved scheme for the tracking station distribution was designed based on the original scheme. The numerical results show that the SPDOP value can be used to evaluate the contribution of the tracking stations distribution on the BDS IGSO and MEO satellites orbit determination. In addition, the tracking stations which focus on the Asia-Pacific region play a key role in current BDS orbit determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study proposes a GNSS network RTK algorithm called virtual atmosphere constraint (VAC) for high-precision landslide monitoring. • The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm was validated compared to traditional virtual reference station (VRS) technology. • The VAC method exhibited better accuracy, stability, and ambiguity fixing rates than the VRS method, and noise reduction further reduced the error. • After noise reduction, the RMS values of the VAC method at the stable and the other corrupted monitoring point were both reduced to a mm-level accuracy. GNSS technology is an effective all-weather, continuous and real-time method of detecting three-dimensional landslide displacement. However, current positioning methods such as the network real-time kinematic (RTK) technique based on virtual reference station (VRS) technology have some limitations, particularly a sensitivity to atmospheric modeling error. In this study, taking advantage of existing GNSS continuously operating reference stations (CORS), we propose a network RTK algorithm (virtual atmosphere constraint (VAC)) for high-precision landslide monitoring. Network modeling atmosphere delays were used as virtual observations for the terminal position solution, by which their accuracy information can be considered. Additionally, a noise reduction method that combines complementary ensemble empirical mode decomposition and median filtering was proposed to reduce GNSS signal residual errors in the original RTK coordinate time series. To validate the effectiveness of the algorithm, we processed one week of data from two monitoring receivers on the Heifangtai landslide and four surrounding CORS using the VAC and VRS methods. Results show that the original displacement time series processed with VRS was prone to jitter, whereas the VAC method exhibited better accuracy, stability, and ambiguity fixing rates. Horizontal and vertical RMS errors at a stable monitoring point were 1.7 cm and 3.9 cm for VRS-RTK and 0.9 cm and 2.3 cm for VAC-RTK; thus, VAC reduced the error by 40.1% and 20.5%, respectively. After noise reduction, the RMS values of the VAC method at the stable and the other collapsed monitoring point were both reduced to an mm-level accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The real-time precise satellite clock product is one of key prerequisites for real-time Precise Point Positioning (PPP). The accuracy of the 24-hour predicted satellite clock product with 15 min sampling interval and an update of 6 h provided by the International GNSS Service (IGS) is only 3 ns, which could not meet the needs of all real-time PPP applications. The real-time estimation of high-rate satellite clock offsets is an efficient method for improving the accuracy. In this paper, the sequential least squares method to estimate real-time satellite clock offsets with high sample rate is proposed to improve the computational speed by applying an optimized sparse matrix operation to compute the normal equation and using special measures to take full advantage of modern computer power. The method is first applied to BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) and provides real-time estimation with a 1 s sample rate. The results show that the amount of time taken to process a single epoch is about 0.12 s using 28 stations. The Standard Deviation (STD) and Root Mean Square (RMS) of the real-time estimated BDS satellite clock offsets are 0.17 ns and 0.44 ns respectively when compared to German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) final clock products. The positioning performance of the real-time estimated satellite clock offsets is evaluated. The RMSs of the real-time BDS kinematic PPP in east, north, and vertical components are 7.6 cm, 6.4 cm and 19.6 cm respectively. The method is also applied to Global Positioning System (GPS) with a 10 s sample rate and the computational time of most epochs is less than 1.5 s with 75 stations. The STD and RMS of the real-time estimated GPS satellite clocks are 0.11 ns and 0.27 ns, respectively. The accuracies of 5.6 cm, 2.6 cm and 7.9 cm in east, north, and vertical components are achieved for the real-time GPS kinematic PPP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complementary nature of GPS and seismic sensors for station ground motion estimation is well recognized and many studies have proposed the integrated processing of the two datasets for obtaining more accurate and reliable seismic waves (displacement, velocity and acceleration). There are two critical issues in the integrated processing; one is the precise correction of the strong-motion’s baseline shifts which are caused by tilting and/or rotation of the seismic sensors, the other is the suitable constraint of the high resolution accelerations to get more reliable seismic waves. In this contribution, we present an improved approach for the integration estimation in two steps. First, proper introduction of the baseline-corrected acceleration into the Precise Point Positioning (PPP)’s state equation and treatment of the baseline shifts as unknown parameters to be estimated for each epoch. Second, after correction of these baseline shifts, use of the high resolution acceleration for constraint of the GPS solution and ambiguity resolution. The efficiency of the improved approach was validated using an experimental dataset which was recorded by a pair of collocated GPS antenna and an accelerometer, and it shows that the advantages of each sensor are complementary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper proposes a method of real-time monitoring and modeling the ionospheric Total Electron Content (TEC) by Precise Point Positioning (PPP). Firstly, the ionospheric TEC and receiver’s Differential Code Biases (DCB) are estimated with the undifferenced raw observation in real-time, then the ionospheric TEC model is established based on the Single Layer Model (SLM) assumption and the recovered ionospheric TEC. In this study, phase observations with high precision are directly used instead of phase smoothed code observations. In addition, the DCB estimation is separated from the establishment of the ionospheric model which will limit the impacts of the SLM assumption impacts. The ionospheric model is established at every epoch for real time application. The method is validated with three different GNSS networks on a local, regional, and global basis. The results show that the method is feasible and effective, the real-time ionosphere and DCB results are very consistent with the IGS final products, with a bias of 1–2 TECU and 0.4ns respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In order to speed up Precise Point Positioning (PPP)’s convergence, a combined PPP method with GPS and GLONASS which is based on using raw observations is proposed, and the positioning results and convergence time have been compared with that of single system. The ionospheric delays and receiver’s Differential Code Bias (DCB) corrections are estimated as unknown parameters in this method. The numerical results show that the combined PPP has not caused significant impacts on the final solutions, but it greatly improved Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP) and convergence speed and enhanced the reliability of the solution. Meanwhile, the convergence speed is greatly influenced by the receiver’s DCB, positioning results in horizontal which are better than 10cm can be realized within 10min. In addition, the ionosphere and DCB products can be provided with high precision. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]