GNSS RTK Performance Improvements using Galileo Satellite Signal

Abstract

Two factors of the existing GNSS Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning are as follows: Distance-dependence and unreliable ambiguity resolution under bad observation conditions in cities or forests. Use of multi-frequency GNSS signals and systems could possibly redefine RTK services in LatPos, regionally and globally, and more redundant measurements from multiple satellite systems, such as NAVSTAR, Galileo, Glonass and BeiDou, can improve the performance of RTK measurement results in terms of accuracy, availability, reliability and time to fix. The benefits of multiple systems of GNSS services are as follows: 1) savings in the reference station infrastructure costs, and 2) improvement on RTK preciseness and reliability for the professional users. The paper aims at studying how the RTK system, using multiple satellite constellations, performs, adding Galileo signal measurements. Galileo measurements are observed using a field receiver and corrections received from LatPos base station network. Numerical analysis is performed using real-time corrections in field receivers, and results from collected RINEX data are compared by various computing schemes, such as L1/L2 and wide lane signals, NAVSTAR and NAVSTAR with Galileo measurements. The results have preliminary demonstrated the significant improvement using both GNSS satellite signals. Further improvements on the LatPos system have been introduced and the planned improvements shown.