Why Insignificant Improvement on the Height Component by PPP Ambiguity Resolution?

J. Shi and Y. Gao

Abstract:	PPP integer ambiguity resolution is able to improve the positioning accuracy and reduce the convergence time. Several PPP integer ambiguity resolution methods have been developed which include the single-difference between satellites method, the integer phase clock model and the decoupled clock model. Although the ambiguity-resolved horizontal positioning accuracy was found significantly improved, the height coordinate improvement was always less significant than the horizontal counterparts. How to improve the accuracy of the ambiguity-resolved height solution requires further investigation. In this paper, the effects of the troposphere delay on the ambiguity-resolved height solution are studied. Unlike the regular troposphere estimation approach using meteorological data to calculate the troposphere delay, a troposphere constraint approach using the precise troposphere corrections is proposed to improve the ambiguity-resolved height solution. Numerical analysis is based on the decoupled clock model and hourly GPS data sets from a Canadian PPP-inferred troposphere precipitable water vapor system. The results indicate that by constraining the troposphere delay, the ambiguity-resolved height solution can be improved by 27.44% when compared to that using the regular troposphere estimation approach. Therefore, in order to improve the ambiguity-resolved height solution, the troposphere delay product is highly desired in addition to the current PPP integer ambiguity resolution correction products.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 25th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2012) September 17 - 21, 2012 Nashville Convention Center, Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, TN
Pages:	3113 - 3121
Cite this article:	Shi, J., Gao, Y., "Why Insignificant Improvement on the Height Component by PPP Ambiguity Resolution?," Proceedings of the 25th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2012), Nashville, TN, September 2012, pp. 3113-3121.
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