Evaluation and analysis on positioning performance of BDS/QZSS satellite navigation systems in Asian-Pacific region

Abstract By using the observation data and products of precise obit and clock offset from Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) of the International GNSS Service (IGS) and GNSS Research Centre, Curtin University in this paper, the positioning performance of BDS/QZSS satellite navigation system has been analyzed and evaluated in aspects of the quantity of visible satellites, DOP value, multipath effect, signal-to-noise ratio, static PPP and kinematic PPP. The analysis results show that compared to BDS single system when the cutoff angle are 30°and 40°, the DOP value of BDS/QZSS combined system has decreased above 20%, and the quantity of visible satellites increased about 16–30% respectively, because of the improved spatial geometric configuration. The magnitude of satellite multipath effect of BDS system shows the trend of MEO > IGSO > GEO, which is consistent with that of QZSS satellite system, as the constellation structure of the two systems is similar. The variation tendencies of signal-to-noise ratio with respect to elevation angle of the two systems are almost the same at all frequencies, showing that at the same elevation angle the signal-to-noise ratio of MEO satellites is higher than that of IGSO satellites, as the higher obit is the lower transmitting power is obtained. For having a specially designed obit, the variation of signal-to-noise ratio of BDS system is more stable. However, the magnitude of signal-to-noise ratio of QZSS system appears the trend of frequency 3 > frequency 2 > frequency 1. The static PPP performance of the BDS/QZSS combination system has been improved more significantly than the BDS single system in E, N and U directions. When the cutoff angle are at 7°, 15° and 30°, the PPP accuracy is increased about 25–34% in U direction, 10–13% and 23–34% in E and N directions respectively. When the elevation angle is large (40°), compared to BDS single system at lower elevation angles (7° and 15°) the PPP accuracy of the BDS/QZSS combination system is improved above 30% in U direction. In kinematic PPP performance, compared to BDS single system, the accuracy, availability and reliability of the BDS/QZSS combination system has been improved too, especially at large elevation angles (30° and 40°), the kinematic PPP accuracy in E and U directions has been improved about 10–50%, and above 50% in U direction. It can be concluded that the combination with QZSS system can improve the positioning accuracy, reliability and stability of BDS system. In the future, with the improvement of the satellite construction of Japan’s QZSS system and the global networking of China’s BDS satellites, the QZSS satellites will contribute greatly to improve the positioning accuracy, reliability, availability and stability of GNSS systems in areas such as cities, mountains, densely-packed buildings and severely covered areas in Asian-Pacific region.