Measurement Capability of Moving-Receiver Radio Interferometry

Steven J. Brzezowski, Robert C. Merenyi, Warren G. Heller

Abstract:	Very high accuracies have been demonstrated repeatedly during the measurement of fixed inter-receiver distances using radio interferometry to the Global Positioning System (GPS). This paper quantifies the navigation accuracies which can be anticipated from applications of this method in moving-receiver scenarios. The position, velocity, and acceleration measurement capability of moving-receiver radio interferometry was assessed using covariance analysis techniques based on optimal Kalman smoothing with appropriate models for environmental and mechanical error sources. In addition, we studied the sensitivity of measurement accuracy to important operational parameters such as vehicle speed, the ·placement of atmospheric refractivity sensors, and the quality of those sensors. Our investigation indicates that the application of Doppler-shift and interferometric phase analysis to GPS data collected in a moving-receiver scenario will yield positioning accuracies of a few parts per million (ppm) for automotive-type speeds and tens of ppm for aircraft type speeds. In addition, vehicle acceleration can be measured to sub-milligal accuracy for speeds less than 100 km/hr. Several types of atmospheric refractivity monitors, including prototype radiometers, were evaluated in terms of their appropriateness to support moving-receiver radio interferometry. Models for the residual compensation error associated with these sensors were included in simulations which replicated atmospheric monitoring at either the fixed or both the fixed and moving-receiver locations. Analyses demonstrate that for certain survey applications (e.g., surveys where an atmospheric sensor can be positioned at a convenient nearby site), careful modeling of the tropospheric refractivity variations between receivers may be preferable to monitoring at each receiver location. Thus, radio interferometry employing a mobile GPS receiver promises to be an especially significant new approach for providing very accurate navigation and geodetic information.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1986) June 24 - 26, 1986 Seattle, Washington
Pages:	92 - 98
Cite this article:	Brzezowski, Steven J., Merenyi, Robert C., Heller, Warren G., "Measurement Capability of Moving-Receiver Radio Interferometry," Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1986), Seattle, Washington, June 1986, pp. 92-98.
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