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Satellite antenna phase center errors: magnified threat to multi-frequency PPP ambiguity resolution

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Abstract

The dearth of frequency-specific satellite antenna phase centers (APCs), such as GPS Block IIF L5 phase center offsets (PCOs) and BeiDou System (BDS) phase variations (PVs), inconveniences multi-frequency precise point positioning (PPP). We find that the GNSS observation biases caused by incorrect frequency-specific APCs are both spatially incoherent and time variable. This spatiotemporal incoherency will be magnified by over a hundred times in the case of multi-frequency PPP wide-lane ambiguity resolution (PPP-WAR) and is likely to defer PPP convergences. We hence first impose deliberate errors on the Galileo frequency-specific APCs to mimic the common faulty operations of equating the GPS L5 with the L1/L2 ionosphere-free PCOs and ignoring the BDS PVs in typical high-precision GNSS. We then investigate how such APC errors can harm multi-frequency PPP using one month of E1/E5a/E5b data from 43 globally distributed stations. Although the APC errors tested in this study have minimal impact on dual-frequency PPP, a 5-mm horizontal PCO error does prolong multi-frequency PPP convergences by 15%; a 200-mm vertical PCO error or a PV error of up to 10 mm can even grow the convergence times by 60%. The vertical positioning precision of single-epoch PPP-WAR is deteriorated on average by 15 cm under a 200-mm vertical PCO error. Therefore, accurate frequency-specific GPS/BDS satellite APCs should be determined for multi-frequency PPP to maximize its convergence advantages over dual-frequency PPP.

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Data availability

All raw data in this article are publicly accessible. The Galileo data and products can be obtained at https://cddis.nasa.gov/archive/ and ftp://ftp.ga.gov.au.

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Acknowledgements

This work is funded by National Science Foundation of China (42025401). We thank IGS and ARGN for the Galileo data and the high-quality satellite products. We are grateful to Paul Rebischung and Florian Dilssner for the discussion on this study. All computations were carried out on the high-performance computing facility of Wuhan University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GNSS Research Center, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

    Jianghui Geng, Jiang Guo, Chen Wang & Qiyuan Zhang

Authors
  1. Jianghui Geng
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  2. Jiang Guo
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  3. Chen Wang
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  4. Qiyuan Zhang
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Contributions

JHG devised the project and the main conceptual ideas. JHG and JG worked out all technical details. JG, CW and QZ performed the computation tasks. JHG wrote the paper. All authors approved of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jianghui Geng.

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Geng, J., Guo, J., Wang, C. et al. Satellite antenna phase center errors: magnified threat to multi-frequency PPP ambiguity resolution. J Geod 95, 72 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-021-01526-4

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