Satellite Navigation for Digital Earth

Abstract

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) have been widely used in navigation, positioning, and timing. China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) would reach full operational capability with 24 Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), 3 Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit (GEO) and 3 Inclined Geosynchronous Satel- lite Orbit (IGSO) satellites by 2020 and would be an important technology for the construction of Digital Earth. This chapter overviews the system structure, signals and service performance of BDS, Global Positioning System (GPS), Navigatsion- naya Sputnikovaya Sistema (GLONASS) and Galileo Navigation Satellite System (Galileo) system. Using a single GNSS, positions with an error of ~ 10 m can be obtained. To enhance the positioning accuracy, various differential techniques have been developed, and GNSS augmentation systems have been established. The typical augmentation systems, e.g., the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the global dif- ferential GPS (GDGPS) system, are introduced in detail. The applications of GNSS technology and augmentation systems for space-time geodetic datum, high-precision positioning and location-based services (LBS) are summarized, providing a reference for GNSS engineers and users.