Enhancing Positioning Accuracy of Low-Cost GNSS Receivers in Complex Urban Environments via Context-Awareness

Zhiqiang Yao, Xiaoyu Tao, Sheng Liu, Kangwei Wang, Chenxiang Gao, Menggang Sheng

Abstract:	With the rise of location-based services (LBS), intelligent logistics and smart cities, the navigation environment requirement has been gradually shifting from isolated scenarios to complex and dynamic ones. This transition necessitates low-cost receivers (e.g., smartphones and ublox) to dynamically adapt to environmental changes for obtaining satisfactory positioning accuracy. Different types of environments cause GNSS signals to exhibit distinct spatial geometric distributions. For example, in semi-outdoor environments, satellites with strong carrier-to-noise density ratios (C/N0) are primarily concentrated on the side without buildings, with a distinct bisector dividing the sky-plot into two regions; In viaduct-under environments, GNSS signals mainly originate from low elevation angles on both sides, leading to a relatively symmetric signal distribution. However, these spatial characteristics have rarely been systematically studied or effectively utilized in existing research. Therefore, we developed a context-aware approach to fully exploit the characteristics of signal distribution, thereby enhancing the positioning accuracy of low-cost receivers in complex urban environments. Experimental results demonstrate that using different weighting factors across various navigation environments significantly enhances positioning accuracy for low-cost receivers. This model is of significant importance for the positioning accuracy, availability, and integrity of low-cost receivers in complex urban environments.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 38th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2025) September 8 - 12, 2025 Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor Baltimore, Maryland
Pages:	1939 - 1948
Cite this article:	Yao, Zhiqiang, Tao, Xiaoyu, Liu, Sheng, Wang, Kangwei, Gao, Chenxiang, Sheng, Menggang, "Enhancing Positioning Accuracy of Low-Cost GNSS Receivers in Complex Urban Environments via Context-Awareness," Proceedings of the 38th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2025), Baltimore, Maryland, September 2025, pp. 1939-1948. https://doi.org/10.33012/2025.20426
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