Portable reference station for local differential GPS corrections

• US 7,400,294 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2005
• Issued: 07/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hemisphere GNSS(USA) Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Hemisphere GNSS(USA) Incorporated
• Inventors: McClure, John, Whitehead, Michael L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Issing; Gregory C
• Application Number:
  US11/250,762
• Publication Number:
  US 20070085734A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,005 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.08
• US Class Current: 342/357.24
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/071 DGPS corrections
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/072 Ionosphere corrections

Abstract

A method and system for local computation of information to improve accuracy in a differential Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The method comprising: determining a current location of a reference receiver; comparing the current location with at least one stored location; if a resultant of the comparing is less than a selected threshold, identifying as a reference location the at least one stored location, which is closest to the current location; otherwise establishing the current location as the reference location and storing the current location. The method also includes computing the information from signals from one or more GNSS satellites the based on the reference location; and transmitting the information for reception by one or more remote receivers.

Claims

1. A method for differentially computing remote unit locations in a differential Global Navigation Satellite Systems System (GNSS) comprising:

providing a reference station with a reference GNSS antenna, a reference GNSS receiver coupled to the reference GNSS antenna and a reference communication system including a reference transmitter;

providing a remote unit with a remote GNSS antenna, a remote GNSS receiver coupled to the remote GNSS antenna and a remote communication system including a remote receiver;

saving in said reference station multiple GNSS reference locations;

saving in said reference station a predetermined threshold minimum distance between a GNSS location of said reference receiver and the saved GNSS reference locations;

determining a current GNSS location of said reference receiver;

comparing said current GNSS reference receiver location with multiple said saved GNSS reference locations to retrieve a closest saved GNSS reference location;

if a resultant distance between said current GNSS reference receiver location and the closest saved GNSS reference location, as determined by said comparing step, is less than said threshold minimum distance, identifying as the reference location the saved GNSS reference location which is closest to said current GNSS reference receiver location;

otherwise identifying said current GNSS reference receiver location as the reference location and saving in said reference station said current GNSS reference receiver location;

computing differential correction information from signals from one or more GNSS satellites based on the identified reference location;

transmitting via said reference communication system transmitter the computed differential correction information to the remote unit;

receiving with said remote GNSS receiver position information from satellites and the differential correction information; and

computing with said remote unit GNSS receiver a remote unit GNSS current position using differential correction information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the information includes at least one of:

raw satellite information, range observations, a pseudorange, positioning information, the reference location, phase data, or a plurality of differential correctors.

3. The method of claim 1 where both code and carrier phase correctors derived from code and carrier phase are used for the purpose of correcting a remote unit.