GPS Observability and Availability for Various Antenna Locations on the Human Body

J.B. Bancroft, G. Lachapelle, T. Williams, J. Garrett

Abstract:	This paper quantifies the effects of placing GPS antennas on the body and seeks to understand the effect in four environments: open skies, under tree canopies, urban canyons and indoor. GPS antennas are placed on the top of the head, right shoulder, chest pocket, left and right front pant pockets, right forefoot and left heel. For the right pant pocket antenna, the antenna was reversed, so the sensing element was between the ground plane and the skin. A reference trajectory for each data collection test was obtained using ultra-tightly coupled postprocessed GPS/INS. The subject wore a small backpack to carry the GPS receivers, laptops, batteries and reference solution system. Tracking performance is discussed using six metrics: (1) percentage of observations available, (2) HDOP, (3) C/No, (4) absolute position, (5) residuals and (6) fault detection with exclusion (FDE). Several conclusions are made about the ability of receivers to provide different levels of performance.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2010) September 21 - 24, 2010 Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Oregon Portland, OR
Pages:	2941 - 2951
Cite this article:	Bancroft, J.B., Lachapelle, G., Williams, T., Garrett, J., "GPS Observability and Availability for Various Antenna Locations on the Human Body," Proceedings of the 23rd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2010), Portland, OR, September 2010, pp. 2941-2951.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In