A Method for Rapidly Determining the Optimal Distribution Locations of GNSS Stations for Orbit and ERP Measurement Based on Map Grid Zooming and Genetic Algorithm

Designing the optimal distribution of Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)ground stations is crucial for determining the satellite orbit,satellite clock and Earth Rotation Parameters(ERP)at a desired precision using a limited number of stations.In this work,a new criterion for the optimal GNSS station distribution for orbit and ERP determination is proposed,named the minimum Orbit and ERP Dilution of Precision Factor(OEDOP)criterion.To quickly identify the specific station locations for the optimal station distribution on a map,a method for the rapid determination of the selected station locations is developed,which is based on the map grid zooming and heuristic technique.Using the minimum OEDOP criterion and the proposed method for the rapid determination of optimal station locations,an optimal or near-optimal station distribution scheme for 17 newly built BeiDou Navigation Satellite System(BDS)global tracking stations is suggested.To verify the proposed criterion and method,real GNSS data are processed.The results show that the minimum OEDOP criterion is valid,as the smaller the value of OEDOP,the better the precision of the satellite orbit and ERP determination.Relative to the exhaustive method,the proposed method significantly improves the computational efficiency of the optimal station location determination.In the case of 3 newly built stations,the computational efficiency of the proposed method is 35 times greater than that of the exhaustive method.As the number of stations increases,the improvement in the computational efficiency becomes increasingly obvious.

Modeling and Prediction of Inter-System Bias for GPS/BDS-2/BDS-3 Combined Precision Point Positioning

The combination of Precision Point Positioning(PPP)with Multi-Global Navigation Satellite System(MultiGNSS),called MGPPP,can improve the positioning precision and shorten the convergence time more effectively than the combination of PPP with only the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System(BDS).However,the Inter-System Bias(ISB)measurement of Multi-GNSS,including the time system offset,the coordinate system difference,and the inter-system hardware delay bias,must be considered for Multi-GNSS data fusion processing.The detected ISB can be well modeled and predicted by using a quadratic model(QM),an autoregressive integrated moving average model(ARIMA),as well as the sliding window strategy(SW).In this study,the experimental results indicate that there is no apparent difference in the ISB between BDS-2 and BDS-3 observations if B1I/B3I signals are used.However,an obvious difference in ISB can be found between BDS-2 and BDS-3 observations if B1I/B3I and B1C/B2a signals are used.Meanwhile,the precision of the Predicted ISB(PISB)on the next day of all stations is about 0.1−0.6 ns.Besides,to effectively utilize the PISB,a new strategy for predicting the PISB for MGPPP is proposed.In the proposed strategy,the PISB is used by adding two virtual observation equations,and an adaptive factor is adopted to balance the contribution of the Observed ISB(OISB)and the PISB to the final estimations of ISB.To validate the effectiveness of the proposed method,some experimental schemes are designed and tested under different satellite availability conditions.The results indicate that in open sky environment,the selective utilization of the PISB achieves almost the same positioning precision of MGPPP as the direct utilization of the PISB,but the convergence time of MGPPP is reduced by 7.1%at most in the north(N),east(E),and up(U)components.In the blocked sky environment,the selective utilization of the PISB contributes to more significant improvement of the positioning precision and convergence time than that in the open sky environment.Compared with the direct utilization of the PISB,the selective utilization of the PISB improves the positioning precision and convergence time by 6.7%and 12.7%at most in the N,E,and U components,respectively.

Introduction for the Special Issue on Beyond the Hypes of Geospatial Big Data: Theories, Methods, Analytics, and Applications

We live in the era of‘Big Data’.In particular,Geospatial data,whether captured through remote sensors(e.g.,satellite imagery)or generated from large-scale simulations(e.g.,climate change models)have always been significantly large in size.Over the last decade however,advances in instrumentation and computation has seen the volume,variety,velocity,and veracity of this data increase exponentially.Of the 2.5 quintillion(1018)bytes of data that are generated on a daily basis across the globe,a large portion(arguably as much as 80%)is found to be geo-referenced.Therefore,this special issue is dedicated to the innovative theories,methods,analytics,and applications of geospatial big data.

Inter-satellite link augmented BeiDou-3 orbit determination for precise point positioning

Precise Point Positioning(PPP) requires precise products, including high-accuracy satellite orbit and clock parameters. It is impossible to obtain an orbit solution that is sufficiently accurate for PPP services with a regional tracking network;therefore, satellite orbits are usually estimated by a global tracking network with a large number of ground stations. However, it is expensive to build globally distributed stations. Fortunately, BeiDou-3 satellites carry an InterSatellite Link(ISL) payload, which can track the whole arc of the BeiDou-3 satellites and enhance the orbit determination accuracy with regional ground stations. In this contribution, a novel orbit determination strategy for BeiDou-3 PPP is proposed, in which the BeiDou-3 satellite orbits are enhanced by the ISL. First, the generation of precise satellite products is demonstrated in detail.In addition, the products are assessed by Satellite Laser Ranging(SLR) residuals and overlap comparisons. Moreover, the products are used for receivers in China's Mainland to carry out the static and kinematic modes to research the PPP performance of Bei Dou-3’s 3IGSO/24MEO constellation.The SLR validations of the satellite orbits demonstrate an accuracy better than 0.1 m in the radial component, and the orbit overlap comparisons show accuracies of 0.016 m in the radial component,0.088 m in the along-track component and 0.087 m in the cross-track component. The Standard Deviation(STD) in the differences in overlapping arcs for the estimated satellite clocks is approximately 0.10 ns. The static PPP results demonstrate that the error in both the horizontal and vertical components is smaller than 10 cm after 30 minutes of convergence. After 24 hours of convergence,the errors are 0.70 cm, 0.63 cm and 1.99 cm for the north, east and up components, respectively.The kinematic PPP experiment illustrates that the Root Mean Square(RMS) position errors in the north, east and up components are approximately 3.23 cm, 5.27 cm and 8.64 cm, respectively,after convergence. The obtainable positioning and convergence performances are comparable to those using products generated by global tracking networks.

Modeling and assessment of fve-frequency BDS precise point positioning

Since its full operation in 2020,BeiDou Satellite Navigation System(BDS)has provided global services with highly precise Positioning,Navigation,and Timing(PNT)as well as unique short-message communication.More and more academics focus on multi-frequency Precise Point Positioning(PPP)models,but few on BDS fve-frequency PPP models.Therefore,this study using the uncombined and Ionospheric-Free(IF)observations develops fve BDS fve-frequency PPP models and compares them with the traditional dual-frequency model,known as Dual-frequency IF(DF)model.Some biases such as Inter-Frequency Biases(IFB)and Diferential Code Bias(DCB)are also addressed.With the data collected from 20 stations,the BDS dual-and fve-frequency PPP models are comprehensively evaluated in terms of the static and simulated kinematic positioning performances.Besides,the study also analyzes some by-product estimated parameters in fve-frequency PPP models such as Zenith Troposphere Delay(ZTD).The results of experiment show that fve-frequency PPP models have diferent levels of improvement compared with the DF model.In the static mode,the one single Five-Frequency IF combination(FF5)model has the best positioning consequent,especially in the up direction,and in the simulated kinematic mode,the Three Dual-frequency IF combinations(FF3)model has the largest improvement in convergence time.