Abstract
GPS compasses equipped with short baselines can provide precise heading and elevation information for land vehicles. Most recent research in this area has focused on developing single-frequency, single-epoch ambiguity resolution, as the ambiguity resolution in a single epoch can guarantee total independence from carrier phase slips and lock losses. The reliability of single-frequency, single-epoch ambiguity resolution, however, are often insufficient for actual applications due to the weak baseline model. For land vehicle applications, baseline elevation can also be measured by inclinometer, which provides an important constraint that can be exploited to directly assist the ambiguity resolution process. In this study, we developed an innovative method that fully integrates MEMS-based inclinometer measurements into single-difference GPS observation equations and obtains the fixed baseline solution via weighted constrained integer least squares. We then explored the performance and effectiveness of the proposed method by building an integrated GPS/inclinometer compass system (IGICS) with low-cost GPS receivers (U-Blox LEA-6T) and a MEMS-based inclinometer (SCA-100T). Both actual static and dynamic experiments demonstrated that our method is capable of successfully fixing the set of integer ambiguities to the correct value for land vehicles equipped with very short baselines. The proposed method is also more easily implemented than the traditional augmenting scheme with rate gyros and IMU, as evidenced by a comparative experiment conducted using three approaches: (1) the new method; (2) horizontal constraint without inclinometer measurements; and (3) exploiting inclinometer measurements without imposing horizontal constraints.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Buist PJ (2013) Multi-platform integrated positioning and attitude determination using GNSS. Ph.D. Thesis, Delft University of Technology
Buist P J (2007) The baseline constrained LAMBDA method for single epoch, single frequency attitude determination applications. In: Proceedings of ION GPS, Fort Worth, TX, USA, pp 2962–2973
Chen W, Qin H (2012) New method for single epoch, single frequency land vehicle attitude determination using low-end GPS receiver. GPS Solut 16(3):329–338
Chen W, Qin H, Zhang Y, Jin T (2012) Accuracy assessment of single and double difference models for the single epoch GPS compass. Adv Space Res 49(4):725–738
Cohen CE (1992) Attitude determination using GPS. Ph.D. thesis, Stanford Univeristy, Palo Alto, CA
Eling C, Zeimetz P, Kuhlmann H (2013) Development of an instantaneous GPS/MEMS attitude determination system. GPS Solut 17(1):129–138
Gao Z, Wang W, Ji S, Wang Z (2015) Kinematic cycle slip detection and correction for carrier phase based navigation applications in urban environment in case of ultra high rate GNSS observations. Surv Rev 47(344):371–378
Gebre-Egziabher D, Hayward RC, Powell JD (1998) A low-cost GPS/inertial attitude heading reference system (AHRS) for general aviation application. In: Proceedings of IEEE position location and navigation symposium, pp 518–525
Giorgi G, Teunissen PJG, Verhagen S, Buist PJ (2010) Testing a new multivariate GNSS carrier phase attitude determination method for remote sensing platforms. Adv Space Res 46(2):118–129
Giorgi G, Teunissen PJG, Verhagen S, Buist PJ (2012) Instantaneous ambiguity resolution in GNSS-based attitude determination applications: the MC-LAMBDA method. J Guid Control Dyn 35(1):51–67
Hide C, Pinchin J, Park D (2007) Development of a low cost multiple GPS antenna attitude system. Proc ION GNSS 2007:88–95
Karaim M, Karamat T, Noureldin A, Tamazin M, Atia M (2013) Real-time cycle-slip detection and correction for land vehicle navigation using inertial aiding. In: Proceedings of international technical meeting of the satellite division of the institute of navigation, pp 1290–1298
Kim D, Langley RB (2002) Instantaneous real-time cycle-slip correction for quality control of GPS carrier-phase measurements. Navigation 49(4):205–222
King AD (1998) Inertial navigation—forty years of evolution. GEC Rev 13(3):140–149
Leick A (2004) GPS satellite surveying, 3rd edn. Wiley, Hoboken, pp 179–181
Li Y, Dempster AG, Li B, Wang J, Rizos C (2006) A low-cost attitude heading reference system by combination of GPS and magnetometers and MEMS inertial sensors for mobile applications. J Glob Position Syst 5(1–2):88–95
Li Y, Efatmaneshnik M, Dempster AG (2012) Attitude determination by integration of MEMS inertial sensors and GPS for autonomous agriculture applications. GPS Solut 16(1):41–52
Park C, Teunissen PJG (2009) Integer least squares with quadratic equality constraints and its application to GNSS attitude determination systems. Int J Control Autom 7(4):566–576
Park C, Kim I, Jee G, Lee JG (1997) An error analysis of GPS compass. In: Proceedings of the 36th SICE annual conference, pp 1037–1042
Qin H, Chen W (2013) Application of the constrained moving horizon estimation method for the ultra-short baseline attitude determination. Acta Geodaetica et Geophysica Hungarica 48(1):27–36
Roth J, Kaschwich C, Trommer GF (2012) Improving GNSS attitude determination using inertial and magnetic field sensors. Inside GNSS 7(1):54–62
Shirazian M, Sjoberg LE, Horemuz M (2011) A remark on the GNSS differenced phase ambiguity parameters. Acta Geod Geoph Hung 46(4):431–440
Teunissen PJG (2007) The LAMBDA method for the GNSS compass. Artif Satell 41(3):89–103
Teunissen PJG (2010) Integer least squares theory for the GNSS compass. J Geodesy 84:433–447
Teunissen PJG, Odijk D (1997) Ambiguity dilution of precision: definition, properties and application. In: Proceedings of the 10th ION-ITM, Kansas City, MO, USA, pp 891–899
Teunissen PJG, Giorgi G, Buist PJ (2011a) Testing of a new single-frequency GNSS carrier-phase compass method: land, ship and aircraft experiments. GPS Solut 15(1):15–28
Teunissen PJG, Nadarajah N, Giorgi G, Buist PJ (2011b) Low-complexity instantaneous GNSS attitude determination with multiple low-cost antennas. In: Proceeding of ION GNSS, The Institute of navigation, Portland, Sept 19–23, 2011, pp 3874–3880
Tu CH, Tu KY, Chang FR, Wang LS (1997) GPS compass: novel navigation equipment. IEEE Trans Aerosp Electron Syst 33(3):1063–1068
Zhu J, Li T, Wang J, Hu X, Wu M (2013) Rate-Gyro-Integral constraint for ambiguity resolution in GNSS attitude determination applications. Sensors 13:7979–7999
Zhu J, Hu X, Zhang J, Li T, Wang J, Wu M (2014) The inertial attitude augmentation for ambiguity resolution in SF/SE-GPS attitude determination. Sensors 14:11395–11415
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61401468, 61471363) and the Scientific Research Fund of Civil Aviation University of China (Grant No. 2013QD27X) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Program No. 3122014D004).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, W., Hu, K. & Li, E. Low-cost land vehicle attitude determination using single-epoch GPS data, MEMS-based inclinometer measurements. Acta Geod Geophys 52, 111–129 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40328-016-0164-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40328-016-0164-6