A Novel Rapid GNSS Network Solution in Mountainous Region Monitoring considering the Tropospheric Delay at Ground Points

• Main Authors: Guangwei Jiang, Panlong Wang, Bin Wang, Chuanlu Cheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2021-01-01
• Series: Journal of Sensors
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5599025

Due to the short peak observation time of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), the accuracy of the tropospheric delay estimation and the positioning are poor. In this study, a rapid GNSS network solution for mountainous regions is presented. The high-precision tropospheric delay at ground points is obtained from long-term ground observation data and used as a priori constraint in the double-difference equation of short-time synchronous peak observations to realize rapid and high-precision positioning. Chinese mountain survey networks with large elevation gradient (1000~2000 m) were selected for the experimental verification of the proposed method. The results show that the rapid peak positioning method weakened the effect of the residual tropospheric delay caused by the elevation difference, significantly improving the accuracy and reliability of the results. The positioning accuracy of the peak in upward direction was better than 1.1 cm, which meets the requirements of rapid short-span (~1 h) high-precision monitoring and achieves 24 h positioning accuracy. Compared with the traditional solution strategy, the precision of the method with respect to the north (N), east (E), upward (U), and zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) significantly improved. The accuracy of U improved by more than 47%. Therefore, based on the high accuracy and reliability, information of ground stations can be fully utilized to significantly reduce the peak observation time and the operation costs of surveys in mountain regions.