Journal of Coastal Zone Management

Abstract

Modelling and characterization of GNSS multipath effects via a novel approach

Marios Smyrnaios

In the last decades many advances have been made in modeling the different error sources that are biasing GNSS signals and reduce the positioning accuracy. One of the last remaining non-modeled error source in GNSS, in terms of a standard correction model, is multipath. Multipath related biases occur when apart from the direct signal, indirect signal components reach also the receiving antenna. The major contribution of this work is the formulation of closed-form expressions for the characterization of multipath effects present in the GNSS data. A dedicated algorithm is developed which evaluates the before mentioned expressions and is further used in a simulation analysis. Key parameters of the process are simulated and their impact on the resulting error magnitude is characterized. For the validation of the theoretical developments as well as of the developed algorithm a controlled experiment is performed and results will be presented together with a comparison between real and simulated data.  Thus, it will be demonstrated that multipath signatures present in the data can be replicated for complete satellite arcs with this new approach. The concept can be used for quantifying and characterize multipath effects either for positioning or for GNSS remote sensing applications.

Published Date: 2020-08-31; Received Date: 2020-08-31