A Relative Field Antenna Calibration Method Designed for Low-Cost GNSS Antennas by Exploiting Triple-Differenced Measurements
Performing the high-precision Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) applications with low-cost antennas is an up-and-coming research field. However, the antenna-induced phase biases, i.e., phase center corrections (PCCs), of the low-cost antennas can be up to centimeters and need to be calibrate...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/15/3917 |
| _version_ | 1797586033923063808 |
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| author | Wenxin Jin Wenfei Gong Tianwei Hou Xin Sun Hao Ma |
| author_facet | Wenxin Jin Wenfei Gong Tianwei Hou Xin Sun Hao Ma |
| author_sort | Wenxin Jin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Performing the high-precision Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) applications with low-cost antennas is an up-and-coming research field. However, the antenna-induced phase biases, i.e., phase center corrections (PCCs), of the low-cost antennas can be up to centimeters and need to be calibrated in advance. The relative field antenna calibration method is easy to conduct, but the classical procedure entails integer ambiguity resolution, which may face the problem of low success rate under the centimeter-level PCCs. In this contribution, we designed a relative field calibration method suitable for the low-cost GNSS antennas. The triple-differencing operations were utilized to eliminate the carrier-phase ambiguities and then construct PCC measurements; the time-differencing interval was set to a relatively long time span, such as one hour, and the reference satellite was selected according to the angular distance it passed over during a time-differencing interval. To reduce the effect of significant triple-differencing noise, a weight setting method based on the area of a spherical quadrilateral was proposed for the spherical harmonics fitting process. The duration of the data collection with respect to GPS and BDS was discussed. The performance of the proposed method was assessed with real GPS and BDS observations and a variety of simulated phase patterns, showing that calibration results could be obtained with millimeter-level accuracy. The impact of cycle slip and elevation mask angle on the calibration results was also analyzed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:17:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7eb77f409bbc4e659912176edcc46f9d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:17:32Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-7eb77f409bbc4e659912176edcc46f9d2023-11-18T23:32:36ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922023-08-011515391710.3390/rs15153917A Relative Field Antenna Calibration Method Designed for Low-Cost GNSS Antennas by Exploiting Triple-Differenced MeasurementsWenxin Jin0Wenfei Gong1Tianwei Hou2Xin Sun3Hao Ma4School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, ChinaSchool of Electronic and Information Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, ChinaSchool of Electronic and Information Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, ChinaSchool of Electronic and Information Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, ChinaSchool of Electronic and Information Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, ChinaPerforming the high-precision Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) applications with low-cost antennas is an up-and-coming research field. However, the antenna-induced phase biases, i.e., phase center corrections (PCCs), of the low-cost antennas can be up to centimeters and need to be calibrated in advance. The relative field antenna calibration method is easy to conduct, but the classical procedure entails integer ambiguity resolution, which may face the problem of low success rate under the centimeter-level PCCs. In this contribution, we designed a relative field calibration method suitable for the low-cost GNSS antennas. The triple-differencing operations were utilized to eliminate the carrier-phase ambiguities and then construct PCC measurements; the time-differencing interval was set to a relatively long time span, such as one hour, and the reference satellite was selected according to the angular distance it passed over during a time-differencing interval. To reduce the effect of significant triple-differencing noise, a weight setting method based on the area of a spherical quadrilateral was proposed for the spherical harmonics fitting process. The duration of the data collection with respect to GPS and BDS was discussed. The performance of the proposed method was assessed with real GPS and BDS observations and a variety of simulated phase patterns, showing that calibration results could be obtained with millimeter-level accuracy. The impact of cycle slip and elevation mask angle on the calibration results was also analyzed.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/15/3917GNSSlow-cost antennaantenna calibrationrelative field calibrationtriple-differenced measurement |
| spellingShingle | Wenxin Jin Wenfei Gong Tianwei Hou Xin Sun Hao Ma A Relative Field Antenna Calibration Method Designed for Low-Cost GNSS Antennas by Exploiting Triple-Differenced Measurements Remote Sensing GNSS low-cost antenna antenna calibration relative field calibration triple-differenced measurement |
| title | A Relative Field Antenna Calibration Method Designed for Low-Cost GNSS Antennas by Exploiting Triple-Differenced Measurements |
| title_full | A Relative Field Antenna Calibration Method Designed for Low-Cost GNSS Antennas by Exploiting Triple-Differenced Measurements |
| title_fullStr | A Relative Field Antenna Calibration Method Designed for Low-Cost GNSS Antennas by Exploiting Triple-Differenced Measurements |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Relative Field Antenna Calibration Method Designed for Low-Cost GNSS Antennas by Exploiting Triple-Differenced Measurements |
| title_short | A Relative Field Antenna Calibration Method Designed for Low-Cost GNSS Antennas by Exploiting Triple-Differenced Measurements |
| title_sort | relative field antenna calibration method designed for low cost gnss antennas by exploiting triple differenced measurements |
| topic | GNSS low-cost antenna antenna calibration relative field calibration triple-differenced measurement |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/15/3917 |
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