High-Accuracy Absolute-Position-Aided Code Phase Tracking Based on RTK/INS Deep Integration in Challenging Static Scenarios

TL;DR

This paper introduces a deep integration of low-cost INS and high-accuracy GNSS positioning using an extended Kalman filter and NCO to improve static positioning accuracy in challenging environments.

Contribution

It presents a novel integration method combining INS and RTK GNSS with code phase prediction and NCO for enhanced static positioning accuracy.

Findings

Improved TOA estimation accuracy in static scenarios.

Enhanced positioning accuracy demonstrated in real-world tests.

Effective integration of INS and GNSS for challenging static environments.

Abstract

Many multi-sensor navigation systems urgently demand accurate positioning initialization from global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) in challenging static scenarios. However, ground blockages against line-of-sight (LOS) signal reception make it difficult for GNSS users. Steering local codes in GNSS basebands is a desiring way to correct instantaneous signal phase misalignment, efficiently gathering useful signal power and increasing positioning accuracy. Besides, inertial navigation systems (INSs) have been used as a well-complementary dead reckoning (DR) sensor for GNSS receivers in kinematic scenarios resisting various interferences since early. But little work focuses on the case of whether the INS can improve GNSS receivers in static scenarios. Thus, this paper proposes an enhanced navigation system deeply integrated with low-cost INS solutions and GNSS high-accuracy carrier-based positioning. First, an absolute code phase is predicted from base station information, and integrated solution of the INS DR and real-time kinematic (RTK) results through an extended Kalman filter (EKF). Then, a numerically controlled oscillator (NCO) leverages the predicted code phase to improve the alignment between instantaneous local code phases and received ones. The proposed algorithm is realized in a vector-tracking GNSS software-defined radio (SDR). Real-world experiments demonstrate the proposed SDR regarding estimating time-of-arrival (TOA) and positioning accuracy.