Research Status and Trends of Indoor Positioning and Navigation Technology in China

As an essential component of future comprehensive Positioning,Navigation,and Timing(PNT)system,indoor positioning technology has extensive application demands,making it a focal point of attention in both academia and industry.This article comprehensively reviews the research status of indoor positioning technology in China,with a focus on highlighting representative achievements and application validations from major research institutions in recent years.It addresses the challenges and issues faced in promotion and application of large-scale,high-precision indoor positioning.Furthermore,a universal and seamless indoor-outdoor positioning system architecture is proposed,along with a technical roadmap and key technologies to achieve this architecture.Finally,an analysis and outlook on future technological trends are presented.

Performance analysis of the tight combination of GPS, BDS, GALILEO, and QzsS mixed frequencies signals

With the gradual development and modernization of satellite navigation systems,using observation information from multi-GNss has become one of the hot-spot issues in recent years.Multi-system loose combinations form double-difference observation equations within their respective systems,and the positioning effect is improved.However,the interchangeability and compatible interoperability between global navigation satellite systems(GNSS)cannot be truly realized.At the same time,when the number of visible satellites decreases abruptly,the positioning performance deteriorates sharply.This paper focuses on the GNsS multi-system tight combination relative positioning technique,gives a mathe-matical model of multi-system tight combination relative positioning considering differential inter-system bias(DISB),and analyzes the time-varying characteristics of DISB at overlapping and non-overlapping frequencies among GPS/Galileo,GPS/BDS,and GPS/QZSS in terms of receiver brand,tem-perature,and receiver restart.The GNsS tight combination relative positioning performance is verified by static data from Curtin University and dynamic data measured at Taiyuan University of Technology.The results show that compared with loose combination,the ambiguity-fixed rate increases from 62.18%to 97.60%for static data and from 74.97%to 99.53%for dynamic data when the elevation mask angle is 50°,resulting in a significant improvement in positioning performance.

Quality monitoring and biases estimation of BOC navigation signals

Many safety-critical applications that utilize the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) demand highly accurate positioning information, as well as highly integrity and reliability. Due to GNSS signals are easily distorted by the interferences or disturbances, the signal quality monitoring (SQM) is necessary to detect the presence of dangerous signal distortions. In this paper, we developed an SQM software for binary offset carrier (BOC) modulated navigation signals. Firstly, the models of BOC signal with ideal and distortion are presented respectively. Then the architecture of SQM software is proposed. Moreover, the effect of the white gaussian noise (WGN) and the front-end filter on the correlation peak of the receiver is analyzed. Finally, the biases induced by the signal distortion are evaluated. The experiments simulate the relationships between the code phase shift and the normalized correlation value in the case of the signal digital distortion and the analog distortion. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed SQM method can effectively monitor the signal distortion and accurately estimate the correlation peak deviation caused by the distortion.

Impacts of space-time-frequency synchronization errors onwide-band target echo characteristics of bistatic/multistatic radar

Bistatic/multistatic radar has great potential advantages over its monostatic counterpart. However, the separation of a transmitter and a receiver leads to difficulties in locating the target position accurately and guaranteeing space-timefrequency synchronization of the transmitter and the receiver.The error model of space-time-frequency synchronization in a motion platform of bistatic/multistatic radar is studied. The relationship between the space synchronization error and the transmitter platform position, receiver platform position, moving state, and beam pointing error, is analyzed. The effect of space synchronization error on target echo power is studied. The target scattering characteristics are restructured by many separate scattering centers of the target in high frequency regions. Based on the scattering centers model of the radar target, this radar target echo model and the simulation method are discussed. The algorithm of bistatic/multistatic radar target echo accurately reflects the scattering characteristics of the radar target, pulse modulation speciality of radar transmitting signals, and spacetime-frequency synchronization error characteristics between the transmitter station and the receiver station. The simulation of bistatic radar is completed in computer, and the results of the simulation validate the feasibility of the method.

Study on Forced Straight-Line Guidance for the Final Translation Phase of Spacecraft Rendezvous

Aimed at the problem of final translation of space rendezvous for the applications such as docking,inspection and tracking,optimal straight-line guidance algorithm based on pulse/continuous low-thrust in the context of Clohessy-Wiltshire dynamics is proposed.Two modes of guidance strategy:varying-speed and fixed-speed approaching scheme for V-bar and R-bar approach by using constant/finite low-thrust propulsion respectively are studied,and the corresponding fuel-optimal conditions are obtained.Numerical simulation is conducted to verify and test the proposed algorithms.The results show that there is generally no different between the fuel consumptions by using the two different approaching modes for V-bar case.However,the conclusion for Rbar case is different that the using of continuous low-thrust cost more fuel and transfer time.

Cooperative Angles-Only Relative Navigation Algorithm for Multi-Spacecraft Formation in Close-Range

As to solve the collaborative relative navigation problem for near-circular orbiting small satellites in close-range under GNSS denied environment,a novel consensus constrained relative navigation algorithm based on the lever arm effect of the sensor offset from the spacecraft center of mass is proposed.Firstly,the orbital propagation model for the relative motion of multi-spacecraft is established based on Hill-Clohessy-Wiltshire dynamics and the line-of-sight measurement under sensor offset condition is modeled in Local Vertical Local Horizontal frame.Secondly,the consensus constraint model for the relative orbit state is constructed by introducing the geometry constraint between the spacecraft,based on which the consensus unscented Kalman filter is designed.Thirdly,the observability analysis is done and the necessary conditions of the sensor offset to make the state observable are obtained.Lastly,digital simulations are conducted to verify the proposed algorithm,where the comparison to the unconstrained case is also done.The results show that the estimated error of the relative position converges very quickly,the location error is smaller than 10m under the condition of 10−3 rad level camera and 5m offset.

Reducing loss of significance in the computation of Earth-based two-way Doppler observables for small body missions

Two-way Doppler measurement is a typical Earth-based radiometric technique for interplanetary spacecraft navigation and gravity science investigation.The most widely used model for the computation of two-way Doppler observables is Moyer’s differenced-range Doppler(DRD) formula,which is based on a Schwarzschild approximation of the Solar-System space-time.However,the computation of range difference in DRD formula is sensitive to round-off errors due to approximate numbers defined by the norm IEEE754 in all PCs.This paper presented two updated models and their corresponding detailed instructions for the computation of the two-way Doppler observables so as to impair the effects of this type of numerical error.These two models were validated by two case studies related to the Rosetta mission—asteroid Lutetia flyby and comet 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko orbiting case.In these two cases,the numerical noise from the updated models can be reduced by two orders-of-magnitude in the computed two-way Doppler observables.The results showed an accuracy from better than 6 × 10^(-3) mm s^(-1) at 1 s counting time interval to better than 3 × 10^(-5) mm s^(-1) at 60 s counting time interval.

In-flight performance analysis of the navigation augmentation payload on LEO communication satellite:a preliminary study on WT01 mission

With the development of the Low Earth Orbit(LEO)communication constellations,it has become a hot area of research to provide additional navigation augmentation services.Limited by volume,weight,power consumption,and running time,the in-flight performance of navigation augmentation payload remains to be investigated.In this paper,we analyze the data quality of on-board GNSS observation and evaluate the precision of short-arc dynamic Precise Orbit Determination(POD)performance based on the WangTong-01(WT01)mission.Furthermore,the downlink navigation measurement data of WT01 satellites are analyzed and compared with the GNSS observations.The results show that the average multipath errors of the WT01 on-board GPS L1,L2 and BeiDou Satellite Navigation System(BDS)B1,B2 code observation are 0.54,0.74,0.65,and 0.58 m,respectively.The short-arc dynamic POD three-dimensional(3D)overlapping accuracy is 7.1 cm.The average multipath errors of downlink navigation signal Z1 and Z2 are 0.81 and 0.80 m,respectively,which at the same order of magnitude as GNSS signals.The maximum Carrier-to-Noise Ratio(C/N0)value of WT01 downlink measurement data can reach 60 dB Hz,which is much stronger than GNSS and indicates the navigation signals of LEO satellites can meet the basic requirement of navigation augmentation.

Design and performance evaluation of a novel ranging signal based on an LEO satellite communication constellation

Driven by improvements in satellite internet and Low Earth Orbit(LEO)navigation augmenta-tion,the integration of communication and navigation has become increasingly common,and further improving navigation capabilities based on communication constellations has become a significant challenge.In the context of the existing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing(OFDM)communication systems,this paper proposes a new ranging signal design method based on an LEO satellite communication constellation.The LEO Satellite Communication Constellation Block-type Pilot(LSCC-BPR)signal is superimposed on the com-munication signal in a block-type form and occupies some of the subcarriers of the OFDM signal for transmission,thus ensuring the continuity of the ranging pilot signal in the time and frequency domains.Joint estimation in the time and frequency domains is performed to obtain the relevant distance value,and the ranging accuracy and communication resource utilization rate are determined.To characterize the ranging performance,the Root Mean Square Error(RMSE)is selected as an evaluation criterion.Simulations show that when the number of pilots is 2048 and the Signal-to-Noise Ratio(SNR)is 0 dB,the ranging accuracy can reach 0.8 m,and the pilot occupies only 50%of the communication subcarriers,thus improving the utilization of communication resources and meeting the public demand for communication and location services.

Geo-location for Ground Target with Multiple Observations Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

In order to improve the target location accuracy of unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV),a novel target location method using multiple observations is proposed.Firstly,the camera intrinsic parameters are calibrated.Then,the weighted least squares estimation is used to improve the localization precision because the traditional crossover method is vulnerable to noise and has low precision.By repeatedly measuring the same target point,a nonlinear observation equation is established and then covered to linear equations using Taylor expansion.The weighted matrix is obtained according to the height of the measurement point and the camera optic axis pointing angle,and then the weighted least squares estimation is used to calculate the target position iteratively.Finally,the effectiveness and robustness of this method is verified by numerical simulation and flight test.The results show that this method can effectively improve the precision of target location.

PPP-RTK functional models formulated with undiferenced and uncombined GNSS observations

Technique PPP-RTK combines the advantages of both the Precise Point Positioning(PPP)and the Real-Time Kinematic(RTK)positioning.With the emergence of multi-frequency Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)observations,it is preferable to formulate PPP-RTK functional models based on original(undiferenced and uncombined)observations.While there exist many variants of the undiferenced and uncombined PPP–RTK models,a unifed theoretical framework needs developing to link these variants.In this contribution,we formulate a class of undiferenced and uncombined PPP-RTK functional models in a systematic way and cast them in a unifed framework.This framework classifes the models into a code-plus-phase category and a phase-only category.Each category covers a variety of measurement scenarios on the network side,ranging from small-,medium-to large-scale networks.For each scenario,special care has been taken of the distinct ionospheric constraints and the diference between Code Division Multiple Access(CDMA)and Frequency Division Multiple Access(FDMA)signals.The key to systematically formulating these models lies in how to deal with the rank defciency problems encountered.We opt for the Singularity-basis(S-basis)theory,giving rise to the full-rank observation equations in which the estimable parameters turn out to be the functions of original parameters and those selected as the S-basis.In the sequel,it becomes straightforward to derive for each scenario the user model as it,more or less,amounts to the single-receiver network model.Benefting from the presented theoretical framework,the relationships and diferences between various undiferenced and uncombined PPP-RTK models become clear,which can lead to the better use of these models in a specifc situation.

An improved GNSS ambiguity best integer equivariant estimation method with Laplacian distribution for urban low-cost RTK positioning

The integer least squares(ILS)estimation is commonly used for carrier phase ambiguity resolution(AR).More recently,the best integer equivariant(BIE)estimation has also attracted an attention for complex application scenarios,which exhibits higher reliability by a weighted fusion of integer candidates.However,traditional BIE estimation with Gaussian distribution(GBIE)faces challenges in fully utilizing the advantages of BIE for urban low-cost positioning,mainly due to the presence of outliers and unmodeled errors.To this end,an improved BIE estimation method with Laplacian distribution(LBIE)is proposed,and several key issues are discussed,including the weight function of LBIE,determination of the candidates included based on the OIA test,and derivation of the variance of LBIE solutions for reliability evaluation.The results show that the proposed LBIE method has the positioning accuracy similar to the BIE using multivariate t-distribution(TBIE),and significantly outperforms the ILS-PAR and GBIE methods.In an urban expressway test with a Huawei Mate40 smartphone,the LBIE method has positioning errors of less than 0.5 m in three directions and obtains over 50%improvements compared to the ILS-PAR and GBIE methods.In an urban canyon test with a low-cost receiver STA8100 produced by STMicroelectronics,the positioning accuracy of LBIE in three directions is 0.112 m,0.107 m,and 0.252 m,respectively,with improvements of 17.6%,27.2%,and 26.1%compared to GBIE,and 23.3%,28.2%,and 30.6%compared to ILS-PAR.Moreover,its computational time increases by 30–40%compared to ILS-PAR and is approximately half of that using TBIE.

Supplementary open dataset for WiFi indoor localization based on received signal strength

Several Wireless Fidelity(WiFi)fingerprint datasets based on Received Signal Strength(RSS)have been shared for indoor localization.However,they can’t meet all the demands of WiFi RSS-based localization.A supplementary open dataset for WiFi indoor localization based on RSS,called as SODIndoorLoc,covering three buildings with multiple floors,is presented in this work.The dataset includes dense and uniformly distributed Reference Points(RPs)with the average distance between two adjacent RPs smaller than 1.2 m.Besides,the locations and channel information of pre-installed Access Points(APs)are summarized in the SODIndoorLoc.In addition,computer-aided design drawings of each floor are provided.The SODIndoorLoc supplies nine training and five testing sheets.Four standard machine learning algorithms and their variants(eight in total)are explored to evaluate positioning accuracy,and the best average positioning accuracy is about 2.3 m.Therefore,the SODIndoorLoc can be treated as a supplement to UJIIndoorLoc with a consistent format.The dataset can be used for clustering,classification,and regression to compare the performance of different indoor positioning applications based on WiFi RSS values,e.g.,high-precision positioning,building,floor recognition,fine-grained scene identification,range model simulation,and rapid dataset construction.