Array-Aided GNSS for Precise Determination of Ionospheric and Tropospheric Delays With Integer Ambiguity Resolution

Abstract

Ground-based global navigation satellite system (GNSS) observations are essential for acquiring high-precision ionospheric and tropospheric information due to their temporal and spatial resolution. However, widely used single-station precise point positioning faces accuracy challenges because of the large number of parameters and float ambiguities. This article presents an array-aided precise atmospheric delay determination (A-PADD) method incorporating integer ambiguity resolution (IAR). Building on the PPP framework, it develops a full-rank model permitting simultaneous estimation of ionospheric and tropospheric parameters while using a short baseline for rapid IAR. Canonical decomposition theory demonstrates that IAR does not enhance ionospheric delay estimation but improves determination of tropospheric delays. Experiments show that A-PADD surpasses traditional PPP in atmospheric delay accuracy and stability: redundant observations accelerate initialization of ionospheric delay determination, and tropospheric delay extraction accuracy improves by 23% compared with traditional PPP.

Xingyu Chen

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research interests include GNSS atmospheric delay modeling, precise positioning, and time and frequency transfer.