Method for real-time self-calibrating GLONASS code inter-frequency bias and improvements on single point positioning

Utilization of frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) leads to GLONASS pseudorange and carrier phase observations suffering from variable levels inter-frequency bias (IFB). The bias related with carrier phase can be absorbed by ambiguities. However, the unequal code inter-frequency bias (cIFB) will degrade the accuracy of pseudorange observations, which will affect positioning accuracy and convergence of precise point positioning (PPP) when including GLONASS satellites. Based on observations made on un-differenced (UD) ionospheric-free combinations, GLONASS cIFB parameters are estimated as a constant to achieve GLONASS cIFB real-time self-calibration on a single station. A total of 23 stations, with different manufacturing backgrounds, are used to analyze the characteristics of GLONASS cIFB and its relationship with variable receiver hardware. The results show that there is an obvious common trend in cIFBs estimated using broadcast ephemeris for all of the different manufacturers, and there are unequal GLONASS inter-satellite cIFB that match brand manufacture. In addition, a particularly good consistency is found between self-calibrated receiver-dependent GLONASS cIFB and the IFB products of the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). Via a comparative experiment, it is also found that the algorithm of cIFB real-time self-calibration not only corrects receiver-dependent cIFB, but can moreover eliminate satellite-dependent cIFB, providing more stable results and further improving global navigation satellite system (GNSS) point positioning accuracy. The root mean square (RMS) improvements of single GLONASS standard point positioning (SPP) reach up to 54.18 and 53.80% in horizontal and vertical direction, respectively. The study’s GLONASS cIFB self-estimation can realize good self-consistency between cIFB and stations, working to further promote convergence efficiency relative to GPS + GLONASS PPP. An average improvement percentage of 19.03% is observed, realizing a near-consistent accuracy with GPS + GLONASS fusion PPP.