A Controlled-Environment Quality Assessment of Android GNSS Raw Measurements

Abstract

Raw Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements have been available since 2016 in select Android smartphones. The availability of such observations allows smartphones users, in principle, to significantly improve the quality of GNSS-based positioning by applying customized and advanced positioning algorithms. However, the quality of such measurements is poor, mainly because of the low quality of smartphone hardware components and the nonideal environment in which phones are typically used. To overcome this problem and to separate the contribution of the hardware components and signal quality, dedicated test campaigns were carried out in a real environment and in a controlled-environment anechoic chamber using several different Android models. In addition, signal-processing techniques aimed at increasing the accuracy and precision of the solution were employed. Results show that the quality of the data captured in the anechoic chamber was significantly better than in real conditions. Furthermore, such analysis allows to underline certain phenomena in smartphones, such as the duty cycle, and to test the validity of anechoic environments for Android raw measurements.