Position determination using carrier phase measurements of satellite signals
First Claim
1. A method for determining relative positions of a mobile unit, wherein said mobile unit moves from an initial location to a plurality of successive positions, said method comprising the steps of:
- receiving a plurality of signals from a corresponding plurality of navigation satellites and tracking carrier phases of said signals during movement;
calculating carrier phase increments for each of said signals for each of a plurality of time epochs;
determining which of said carrier phase increments are anomalous and eliminating them from further calculations;
calculating coordinate increments for each of said plurality of time epochs using non-eliminated carrier phase increments; and
summing said coordinate increments over a plurality of time epochs to determine a position of said mobile unit relative to said initial location.
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Abstract
Disclosed is a method and apparatus for determining the relative position of a mobile unit that moves from an initial location to a plurality of successive positions. The mobile unit receives signals from a plurality of navigation satellites and tracks the carrier phases of the signals during movement. For each of the received signals, carrier phase increments are calculated over a plurality of epochs. Anomalous carrier phase increments are determined and eliminated from further calculations. The non-eliminated carrier phase increments are then used to calculate coordinate increments for each of the time epochs. If, after elimination, the remaining number of carrier-phase increments is less than a threshold for a particular epoch, then coordinate increments for the particular epoch may be extrapolated using data from prior epochs. In various embodiments, least squares method and Kalman filtering may be used to calculate the coordinate increments. The coordinate increments may then be summed over a plurality of time epochs in order to determine a position of the mobile unit relative to its initial position.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. A method for determining relative positions of a mobile unit, wherein said mobile unit moves from an initial location to a plurality of successive positions, said method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a plurality of signals from a corresponding plurality of navigation satellites and tracking carrier phases of said signals during movement; calculating carrier phase increments for each of said signals for each of a plurality of time epochs; determining which of said carrier phase increments are anomalous and eliminating them from further calculations; calculating coordinate increments for each of said plurality of time epochs using non-eliminated carrier phase increments; and summing said coordinate increments over a plurality of time epochs to determine a position of said mobile unit relative to said initial location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A mobile unit comprising:
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means for receiving a plurality of signals from a corresponding plurality of navigation satellites and tracking carrier phases of said signals during movement; means for calculating carrier phase increments for each of said signals for each of a plurality of time epochs; means for determining which of said carrier phase increments are anomalous and eliminating them from further calculations; means for calculating coordinate increments for each of said plurality of time epochs using non-eliminated carrier phase increments; and means for summing said coordinate increments over a plurality of time epochs to determine a position of said mobile unit relative to said initial location. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification