scholarly journals Integrity Monitoring for Horizontal RTK Positioning: New Weighting Model and Overbounding CDF in Open-Sky and Suburban Scenarios

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kan Wang ◽  
Ahmed El-Mowafy ◽  
Chris Rizos ◽  
Jinling Wang

Integrity monitoring is an essential task for ensuring the safety of positioning services. Under a selected probability of hazardous misleading information, the protection levels (PLs) are computed according to a considered threat model to bound the positioning errors. A warning message is sent to users when the PL exceeds a pre-set alert limit (AL). In the short-baseline real-time relative kinematic positioning, the spatially correlated errors, such as the the orbital errors and the atmospheric delays are significantly reduced. However, the remaining atmospheric residuals and the multipath that are not considered in the observation model could directly bias the positioning results. In this contribution, these biases are analysed with the focus put on the multipath effects in different measurement environments. A new observation weighting model considering both the elevation angle and the signal-to-noise ratios is developed and their impacts on the positional results are investigated. The coefficients of the proposed weighting model are determined for the open-sky and the suburban scenarios with the positional benefits maximised. Next, the overbounding excess-mass cumulative distribution functions (EMCs) are searched on the between-receiver level for the weighted phase and code observations in these two scenarios. Based on the mean and standard deviations of these EMCs, horizontal protection levels (HPLs) are computed for the ambiguity-fixed solutions of real experiments. The HPLs are compared with the horizontal positioning errors (HPEs) and the horizontal ALs (HALs). Using the sequential exclusion algorithm developed for the ambiguity resolution in this contribution, the full ambiguity resolution can be achieved in around 100% and 95% of the time for the open-sky and the suburban scenarios, respectively. The corresponding HPLs of the ambiguity-fixed solutions are at the sub-dm to dm-level for both scenarios, and all the valid ambiguity-fixed HPLs are below a HAL of 0.5 m. For the suburban scenario with more complicated multipath environments, the HPLs increase by considering extra biases to account for multipath under a certain elevation threshold. In complicated multipath environments, when this elevation threshold is set to 30 degrees, the availability of the ambiguity-fixed solutions could decrease to below 50% for applications requiring HAL as low as 0.1 m.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kan Wang ◽  
Ahmed El-Mowafy

<p>Australia and New Zealand has initiated a two-year test-bed in 2017 for the new generation of Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS). In addition to the legacy L1 service, the test-bed broadcasts SBAS messages through L5 to support the dual-frequency multi-constellation (DFMC) service for GPS and Galileo. Furthermore, PPP corrections were also sent via L1 and L5 to support the PPP service for dual-frequency GPS users and GPS/Galileo users, respectively.</p><p>The positioning and integrity monitoring process are currently defined for the aeronautical DFMC SBAS service in [1]. For land applications in road transport, users may encounter problems in complicated measurement environments like urban areas, e.g., more complicated multipath effects and frequent filter initializations of the carrier-smoothed code observations. In this study, a new weighting model related to the elevation angles, the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and the filter smoothing time is developed. The weighting coefficients adjusting the impacts of these factors are studied for the open-sky, the suburban and the urban scenarios. Applying the corresponding weighting models, the overbounding cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) of the weighted noise/biases are searched and proposed for these scenarios.</p><p>Using real data collected under different measurement scenarios mentioned above, the DFMC SBAS positioning errors and protection levels are computed in the horizontal direction based on the proposed weighting models and the proposed overbounding CDFs. The results are compared with the case applying only the traditional elevation-dependent weighting model. While the positioning accuracy and protection levels did not change much for the open-sky scenario, the RMS of the positioning errors and the average protection levels are found to be reduced in both the suburban and urban scenarios. </p><p>[1] EUROCAE (2019) Minimum operational performance standard for Galileo/global positioning system/satellite-based augmentation system airborne equipment. The European Organisation for civil aviation equipment, ED-259, February 2019</p>


2001 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel Penna ◽  
Alan Dodson ◽  
Wu Chen

Within the implementation of the European Geo-stationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS), a significant residual error in positioning is due to tropospheric delay effects. The EGNOS guidelines recommend that tropospheric delay is modelled using an empirical correction algorithm based on a receiver's height and estimates of meteorological parameters developed from average and seasonal variation data. However, such a simple average and seasonal variation model is unlikely to emulate temporal weather changes exactly. The potential errors involved in the application of the recommended algorithm and the consequent effects on the positioning errors, under typical UK weather conditions, are detailed in this paper. This was achieved by comparing tropospheric delays produced by the EGNOS model, with tropospheric delays estimated from high precision carrier phase GPS, over a one-year period for five UK stations. The RMS EGNOS model zenith tropospheric delay errors ranged from 4·0 to 4·7 cm, with maximum errors ranging from 13·2 to 17·8 cm. The errors were also shown to be spatially correlated. The subsequent effect on position error is shown to be dependent on the satellite elevation cut-off angle adopted and on whether or not the observations are weighted according to the satellite elevation angle.


2020 ◽  
Vol 501 (1) ◽  
pp. 994-1001
Author(s):  
Suman Sarkar ◽  
Biswajit Pandey ◽  
Snehasish Bhattacharjee

ABSTRACT We use an information theoretic framework to analyse data from the Galaxy Zoo 2 project and study if there are any statistically significant correlations between the presence of bars in spiral galaxies and their environment. We measure the mutual information between the barredness of galaxies and their environments in a volume limited sample (Mr ≤ −21) and compare it with the same in data sets where (i) the bar/unbar classifications are randomized and (ii) the spatial distribution of galaxies are shuffled on different length scales. We assess the statistical significance of the differences in the mutual information using a t-test and find that both randomization of morphological classifications and shuffling of spatial distribution do not alter the mutual information in a statistically significant way. The non-zero mutual information between the barredness and environment arises due to the finite and discrete nature of the data set that can be entirely explained by mock Poisson distributions. We also separately compare the cumulative distribution functions of the barred and unbarred galaxies as a function of their local density. Using a Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, we find that the null hypothesis cannot be rejected even at $75{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ confidence level. Our analysis indicates that environments do not play a significant role in the formation of a bar, which is largely determined by the internal processes of the host galaxy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanke Liu ◽  
Mingkui Wu ◽  
Xiaohong Zhang ◽  
Wang Wang ◽  
Wei Ke ◽  
...  

AbstractThe BeiDou global navigation satellite system (BDS-3) constellation deployment has been completed on June 23, 2020, with a full constellation comprising 30 satellites. In this study, we present the performance assessment of single-epoch Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning with tightly combined BeiDou regional navigation satellite system (BDS-2) and BDS-3. We first investigate whether code and phase Differential Inter-System Biases (DISBs) exist between the legacy B1I/B3I signals of BDS-3/BDS-2. It is discovered that the DISBs are in fact about zero for the baselines with the same or different receiver types at their endpoints. These results imply that BDS-3 and BDS-2 are fully interoperable and can be regarded as one constellation without additional DISBs when the legacy B1I/B3I signals are used for precise relative positioning. Then we preliminarily evaluate the single-epoch short baseline RTK performance of tightly combined BDS-2 and the newly completed BDS-3. The performance is evaluated through ambiguity resolution success rate, ambiguity dilution of precision, as well as positioning accuracy in kinematic and static modes using the datasets collected in Wuhan. Experimental results demonstrate that the current BDS-3 only solutions can deliver comparable ambiguity resolution performance and much better positioning accuracy with respect to BDS-2 only solutions. Moreover, the RTK performance is much improved with tightly combined BDS-3/BDS-2, particularly in challenging or harsh conditions. The single-frequency single-epoch tightly combined BDS-3/BDS-2 solution could deliver an ambiguity resolution success rate of 96.9% even with an elevation cut-off angle of 40°, indicating that the tightly combined BDS-3/BDS-2 could achieve superior RTK positioning performance in the Asia–Pacific region. Meanwhile, the three-dimensional (East/North/Up) positioning accuracy of BDS-3 only solution (0.52 cm/0.39 cm/2.14 cm) in the kinematic test is significantly better than that of the BDS-2 only solution (0.85 cm/1.02 cm/3.01 cm) due to the better geometry of the current BDS-3 constellation. The tightly combined BDS-3/BDS-2 solution can provide the positioning accuracy of 0.52 cm, 0.22 cm, and 1.80 cm, respectively.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1096
Author(s):  
Soi Ahn ◽  
Sung-Rae Chung ◽  
Hyun-Jong Oh ◽  
Chu-Yong Chung

This study aimed to generate a near real time composite of aerosol optical depth (AOD) to improve predictive model ability and provide current conditions of aerosol spatial distribution and transportation across Northeast Asia. AOD, a proxy for aerosol loading, is estimated remotely by various spaceborne imaging sensors capturing visible and infrared spectra. Nevertheless, differences in satellite-based retrieval algorithms, spatiotemporal resolution, sampling, radiometric calibration, and cloud-screening procedures create significant variability among AOD products. Satellite products, however, can be complementary in terms of their accuracy and spatiotemporal comprehensiveness. Thus, composite AOD products were derived for Northeast Asia based on data from four sensors: Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI), Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI), Moderate Infrared Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). Cumulative distribution functions were employed to estimate error statistics using measurements from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). In order to apply the AERONET point-specific error, coefficients of each satellite were calculated using inverse distance weighting. Finally, the root mean square error (RMSE) for each satellite AOD product was calculated based on the inverse composite weighting (ICW). Hourly AOD composites were generated (00:00–09:00 UTC, 2017) using the regression equation derived from the comparison of the composite AOD error statistics to AERONET measurements, and the results showed that the correlation coefficient and RMSE values of composite were close to those of the low earth orbit satellite products (MODIS and VIIRS). The methodology and the resulting dataset derived here are relevant for the demonstrated successful merging of multi-sensor retrievals to produce long-term satellite-based climate data records.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 304
Author(s):  
Chao Liu ◽  
Yuan Tao ◽  
Haiqiang Xin ◽  
Xingwang Zhao ◽  
Chunyang Liu ◽  
...  

The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) features a heterogeneous constellation so that it is difficult to mitigate the multipath in the coordinate-domain. Therefore, mitigating the multipath in the observation-domain becomes more important. Sidereal filtering is commonly used for multipath mitigation, which needs to calculate the orbit repeat time of each satellite. However, that poses a computational challenge and damages the integrity at the end of the multipath model. Therefore, this paper proposes a single-difference model based on the multipath hemispherical map (SD-MHM) to mitigate the BDS-2/BDS-3 multipath in a short baseline. The proposed method is converted from double-difference residuals to single-difference residuals, which is not restricted by the pivot satellite transformation. Moreover, it takes the elevation and the azimuth angles of the satellite as the independent variables of the multipath model. The SD-MHM overcomes the unequal observation time of some satellites and does not require specific hardware. The experimental results show that the SD-MHM reduces the root mean square of the positioning errors by 56.4%, 63.9%, and 67.4% in the east, north, and vertical directions; moreover, it contributes to an increase in the baseline accuracy from 1.97 to 0.84 mm. The proposed SD-MHM has significant advantages in multipath mitigation compared with the advanced sidereal filtering method. Besides, the SD-MHM also features an excellent multipath correction capability for observation data with a period of more than seven days. Therefore, the SD-MHM provides a universal strategy for BDS multipath mitigation.


Author(s):  
Rama Subba Reddy Gorla

Heat transfer from a nuclear fuel rod bumper support was computationally simulated by a finite element method and probabilistically evaluated in view of the several uncertainties in the performance parameters. Cumulative distribution functions and sensitivity factors were computed for overall heat transfer rates due to the thermodynamic random variables. These results can be used to identify quickly the most critical design variables in order to optimize the design and to make it cost effective. The analysis leads to the selection of the appropriate measurements to be used in heat transfer and to the identification of both the most critical measurements and the parameters.


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