Multi-constellation single-frequency ionospheric-free precise point positioning with low-cost receivers

Abstract

We analyze the observation quality, assess the performance and identify the constraints of quadruple-constellation single-frequency ionospheric-free precise point positioning (SF-IF PPP) with low-cost receivers. It is revealed that low-cost receivers with patch antennas exhibit lower C/N0 records and a weaker elevation dependence of C/N0 than the high-grade equipment. The results demonstrate that low-cost receivers can offer code measurements with similar noise compared to high-grade receivers providing that the multipath effect is eliminated. Regarding positioning performance, it is shown how SF-IF PPP for the high-grade receiver converges approximately two times faster than for the low-cost receiver with a patch antenna. It is confirmed that an application of a survey-grade antenna instead of the patch one noticeably enhances the performance of low-cost receiver SF-IF PPP. The study also reveals that the multipath effect is a dominant factor that constrains the performance of SF-IF PPP with low-cost receivers.