Improved Medium Baseline RTK Positioning Performance Based on BDS/Galileo/GPS Triple-Frequency-Only Observations

Abstract

With the global service of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), the Galileo Navigation Satellite System (Galileo), and the modernization of the Global Positioning System (GPS), achieving high-precision positioning through triple-frequency-only observations in medium baseline real-time kinematics (RTK) is anticipated. This study investigates the impacts of double-difference (DD) troposphere delay and ionosphere delay on ambiguity resolution (AR) based on six medium baselines at a latitude of 30°. Additionally, it evaluates positioning accuracy, fixing rate, convergence time, and computational time using triple-frequency-only (B1I/B2a/B3I, E1/E5a/E5b, L1/L2/L5) data, comparing these results to those obtained from dual-frequency (B1I/B2a, E1/E5a, L1/L2) and combined dual-frequency and triple-frequency data. The experimental findings suggest that, for geometry-based wide-lane (WL) AR, the DD troposphere delay and ionosphere delay can be disregarded. However, they cannot be overlooked when aiming to resolve the raw ambiguity. Triple-frequency-only RTK exhibits comparable positioning accuracy to dual-frequency RTK, with its primary advantage lying in faster convergence. The probability of achieving convergence within 180 s is approximately 8.0% higher for triple-frequency-only RTK compared to dual-frequency RTK. In terms of computational time, the use of triple-frequency-only data reduces the required time by 8.26 s compared to the approach that simultaneously employs both dual-frequency and triple-frequency data, resulting in a computational time reduction of approximately 20%. Therefore, when conducting medium baseline RTK positioning, it is recommended to adopt the ambiguity resolution method proposed in this paper based on triple-frequency-only observations.