A centering correction method for GNSS antenna diversity theory and implementation using a software receiver

GPS is performing well in open sky situation. However, severe attenuation or blockage of signals by high buildings may leads to an insufficient number of received satellites. Antenna diversity scheme is viewed as a method to alleviate signal attenuation and enhance the performance of GNSS positioning in the harsh environments. This paper introduces an antenna diversity system, composed of two spatially separated antennas. If relative geometry of two antennas is known, the carrier phase measurement outputs from these two antennas can be combined with Centering Correction Method (CCM). Even each antenna may not able to acquire more than four satellites this antenna diversity system can still precisely estimate each antenna’s location with centimeter-level accuracy, as long as the sum of the captured satellites by two separate antennas is no less than four.