Low-Cost Single-Frequency DGNSS/DBA Combined Positioning Research and Performance Evaluation

In recent years, low-cost single-frequency GNSS receivers have been widely used in many fields such as mass navigation and deformation monitoring; however, due to the poor signal quality of low-cost patch antennae, it is difficult for carrier phase real-time kinematic (RTK) technology to fix the integer ambiguity. Differential GNSS (DGNSS) positioning with pseudorange can effectively meet the high robustness and reliability requirements for the submeter to the meter level positioning accuracy of UVA/vehicle/aerospace users. To improve the DGNSS positioning accuracy and reliability of low-cost single-frequency GNSS receivers in complex environments, we propose a differential barometric altimetry (DBA)-assisted DGNSS positioning algorithm, which solves the DGNSS observation equations jointly and rigorously with the Earth ellipsoidal constraint equations constructed by the DBA altitude. The DBA altitude accuracy at different baseline lengths was evaluated in detail, and the DGNSS positioning performance of the single-frequency low-cost u-blox receiver NEO-M8T with a patch antenna and DGNSS/DBA combined positioning performance with the BMP280 barometer was analyzed by several sets of static and dynamic experiments under different environments. The results show that the single-frequency NEO-M8T receiver with patch antenna DGNSS positioning accuracy is submeter level in the static environment and drops to meter level in the dynamic environment. GPS+BDS dual system has higher positioning accuracy than single GPS or single BDS. DGNSS/DBA combination has higher positioning accuracy than DGNSS, especially the root mean square error (RMSE) can be improved by 30% to 80% in the U direction and slightly improved in the N and E directions. This study can provide an effective solution reference for various applications of low-cost sensor fusion positioning in the mass consumer market.