Improved Between-Satellite Single-Difference Precise Point Positioning Model Using Triple GNSS Constellations: GPS, Galileo, and BeiDou

Abstract

This paper introduces a new dual-frequency precise point positioning (PPP) model, which combines the observations of three different GNSS constellations, namely GPS, Galileo, and BeiDou. Our model is based on between-satellite single-difference (BSSD) linear combination, which cancels out some receiver-related biases, including receiver clock error and non-zero initial phase bias of the receiver oscillator. The reference satellite can be selected from any satellite system GPS, Galileo, and BeiDou when forming BSSD linear combinations. Natural Resources Canada’s GPS Pace PPP software is modified to enable a combined GPS, Galileo, and BeiDou PPP solution and to handle the newly introduced biases. A total of four data sets at four IGS stations are processed to verify the developed PPP model. Precise satellite orbit and clock products from the IGS-MGEX network are used to correct both of the GPS and Galileo measurements. It is shown that using the BSSD linear combinations improves the precision of the estimated parameters by about 25% compared with the GPS-only PPP solution. Additionally, the solution convergence time is reduced to 10 minutes for both BSSD scenarios, which represent about 50% improvement in comparison with the GPS-only PPP solution.