A MEMS-IMU assisted BDS triple-frequency ambiguity resolution method in complex environments

Abstract

Emerging technologies such as smart cities and unmanned vehicles all need Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) to provide high-precision positioning and navigation services. Fast and reliable carrier phase ambiguity resolution (AR) is a prerequisite for high-precision positioning. The poor satellite geometry and severe multipath effect caused by Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) signal occlusion and reflection in complex environments will degrade the AR performance. In this contribution, a fast triple-frequency AR method combining Microelectromechanical System-Inertial Measurement Unit (MEMS-IMU) and BDS is proposed. First, the Extra-Wide Lane (EWL) ambiguity is fixed with the positioning parameters of MEMS-IMU instead of the pseudorange. Then, the phase noise variance of Narrow Lane (NL) observation is obtained from ambiguity-fixed EWL observation to reduce the total noise level of NL observation, and the NL ambiguity can be reliably fixed, and the BDS positioning result is obtained. Finally, the BDS positioning result is used as the posterior measurement of the extended Kalman filter to update the MEMS-IMU positioning parameters to form the coupling loop of MEMS-IMU and BDS. The data of urban road vehicle experiments were collected to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Results show that MEMS-IMU can speed up AR, and reduction of total noise level can significantly improve the reliability of AR.