In-Receiver Multiple Reference Station RTK Solution

Several methods based on the use of GPS reference networks for real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning have been proposed and tested in recent years. The use of such methods is advantageous to overcome some of the limitations of the standard single reference station differential carrier phase positioning method. Accuracies at the sub-decimeter level are possible under ideal conditions. These methods are typically discussed and implemented as regional services, whereby the network corrected data is sent to the roving receiver from a network control center. This paper discusses an alternative to this design. The in-receiver approach integrates single baseline RTK positioning and network processing into a tightly coupled filtering algorithm that can be implemented at the rover. The effectiveness of this approach is shown using a medium scale network in Southern Alberta, Canada. The 3D position RMS is reduced by 30 and 42 percent relative to the single reference station approach and 16 and 13 percent relative to the correction-based multiple reference station approach.