Accuracy Assessment of Aircraft Positioning Using the Dual-Frequency GPS Code Observations in Aviation

Abstract

This study publishes results of tests with regard to determination of the aircraft positioning accuracy by means of the GPS navigation in aviation. The research exploits the mathematical model of the linear combination "IonosphereFree" in order to designate the coordinates of an aircraft. The research uses the actual GPS code observations, recorded by a satellite receiver mounted in the Cessna 172, at the time of the experiment for the EPDE military aerodrome in Dęblin. The computations of the position of the Cessna 172 aircraft for the linear combination "Ionosphere-Free" were made in the APS Toolbox v.1.0.0. programme. Within evaluation of accuracy of the GPS positioning in aviation, the determined coordinates of the aircraft Cessna 172 from the APS programme were compared to an accurate reference position from the solution derived by the PPP measurement technique. In the research, the authors obtained an average positioning accuracy of approximately 5 m in the geocentric XYZ coordinates and approximately 4 m in the ellipsoidal BLh coordinates. In addition, the 3D-error parameter is lower than 7 m for the XYZ geocentric coordinates.