Study on GNSS Constellation Combination to Improve the Current and Future Multi-GNSS Navigation Performance

Abstract

In the case of satellite navigation positioning, the shielding of satellite signals is determined by the environment of the region at which a user is located, and the navigation performance is determined accordingly. The accuracy of user position determination varies depending on the dilution of precision (DOP) which is a measuring index for the geometric characteristics of visible satellites; and if the minimum visible satellites are not secured, position determination is impossible. Currently, the GLObal NAvigation Satellite system (GLONASS) of Russia is used to supplement the navigation performance of the Global Positioning System (GPS) in regions where GPS cannot be used. In addition, the European Satellite Navigation System (Galileo) of the European Union, the Chinese Satellite Navigation System (BeiDou) of China, the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) of Japan, and the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) of India are aimed to achieve the full operational capability (FOC) operation of the navigation system. Thus, the number of satellites available for navigation would rapidly increase, particularly in the Asian region; and when integrated navigation is performed, the improvement of navigation performance is expected to be much larger than that in other regions. To secure a stable and prompt position solution, GPSGLONASS integrated navigation is generally performed at present. However, as available satellite navigation systems have been diversified, finding the minimum satellite constellation combination to obtain the best navigation performance has recently become an issue. For this purpose, it is necessary to examine and predict the navigation performance that could be obtained by the addition of the third satellite navigation system in addition to GPS-GLONASS. In this study, the current status of the integrated navigation performance for various satellite constellation combinations was analyzed based on 2014, and the navigation performance in 2020 was predicted based on the FOC plan of the satellite navigation system for each country. For this prediction, the orbital elements and nominal almanac data of satellite navigation systems that can be observed in the Korean Peninsula were organized, and the minimum elevation angle expecting signal shielding was established based on Matlab and the performance was predicted in terms of DOP. In the case of integrated navigation, a time offset determination algorithm needs to be considered in order to estimate the clock error between navigation systems, and it was analyzed using two kinds of methods: a satellite navigation message based estimation method and a receiver based method where a user directly performs estimation. This simulation is expected to be used as an index for the establishment of the minimum satellite constellation for obtaining the best navigation performance.