Assessment of a dual-frequency multi-GNSS smartphone for surveying applications

Abstract

This study assesses the application of a smartphone with dual-frequency multi-constellation GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) receiver in surveying. Measurements are made with the Pixel 5 from the manufacturer Google LLC. The recorded satellite data is evaluated in post-processing with positioning methods based on code and phase observations. The focus here is led on the achievable positioning accuracies and resulting deviations of the different estimated solutions from reference points serving as ground truth. It could be shown that the Pixel 5, although it enables the recording of satellite data on two frequency bands, can only be used to a limited extent in practical surveying tasks because it does not met the accuracy requirements in the centimetre range in our experiments. The low quality of the measurement data is problematic, which is why solutions over two frequency bands and based on phase observations are only possible to a limited extent. Nevertheless, with long observation times, results with a positioning accuracy of less than half a metre can be achieved with the smartphone. Thus, the Pixel 5 can be used for applications with lower accuracy requirements such as data acquisition for Geographic Information Systems (GIS).