GPS and GLONASS Static and Kinematic PPP Results

Precise point positioning (PPP) involves observations from a single global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver and benefits of satellite orbit and clock products obtained from the global infrastructure of permanent stations. PPP avoids the expense and logistic difficulties of deploying a network of GNSS receivers around survey areas in isolated places, such as the arctic or less populated areas. Potential accuracies are at the centimeter level for static applications and at the subdecimeter level for kinematic applications. Static and kinematic PPP based on the processing of global positioning system (GPS) observations is limited by the number of visible satellites, which is often insufficient for urban or mountain applications, or it can be partially obstructed or present multipath effects. Even if a number of GPS satellites are available, the accuracy and reliability can still be affected by poor satellite geometry. One possible way of increasing satellite signal availability and positioning reliability is to integrate GPS and GLONASS observations. This case study deals with the possibilities of combining GPS and GLONASS dual-frequency measurements on the static and kinematic PPP solution to reduce the convergence time and improve the accuracy of the solution. The results show that the addition of the GLONASS constellation does not always improve the convergence of static PPP; the kinematic results (car and walk trajectories) present better accuracy from the GPS1GLONASS solution rather than the GPS-only solution. The MagicGNSS software was used in processing of all observations
This research is supported by Spanish Science and Innovation Directorate Project No. AYA2010-18706. The authors greatly appreciate the efforts of the IGS, Analysis and Data Centers, and tracking station managers for generating high-quality data and products and for making them available to the GNSS community in a timely and reliable way. The authors would like to thank Alvaro Mozo and Ricardo Piriz from GMV Aerospace for the free use of the online software MagicGNSS and their valuable comments on how MagicGNSS works. The three anonymous reviewers are kindly acknowledged for their contribution to the improvement of the paper with their valuable comments and suggestions.