ultra-long baseline RTK

Abstract

This provides a real-time kinematic (RTK) solution for mobile devices with multi-constellation, multi-frequency (MCMF) capabilities, where a single base station may have a baseline much farther than that of a traditional base station. To achieve this, the embodiment addresses atmospheric effect differences between the rover and the base station when the GNSS positioning of the mobile device (rover) is fixed, thereby allowing the determination of individual tropospheric delay errors at the base station. The embodiment can utilize additional satellite measurements that are not available without RTK correction, and can also use orbital clock correction for these additional satellite measurements.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to real-time dynamic (RTK) correction in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning. Background Technology

[0002] High-precision positioning offers significant value for a wide range of modern applications for mobile devices. For example, in autonomous driving applications, not only meter-level positioning helps determine the vehicle's lane, but sub-meter-level positioning helps determine its position within the lane. Consumer-grade Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers now offer quality carrier phase measurements with multi-constellation, multi-frequency (MCMF) capabilities. When used in conjunction with real-time dynamic (RTK) correction, these receivers can provide this type of high-precision positioning. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The techniques described herein utilize MCMF functionality to provide an ultra-long baseline RTK solution, where a single base station can cover a much greater radius (or baseline) (1000 miles or more) than conventional methods. To achieve this, when the GNSS positioning of the mobile device (rover) is fixed, the embodiments can account for differences in atmospheric effects between the rover and the base station, thereby allowing the determination of individual tropospheric delay errors at the base station. The embodiments can utilize additional satellite measurements that are not available without RTK correction, and can also use orbital clock correction for these additional satellite measurements.

[0004] According to this specification, an exemplary method for performing RTK correction in GNSS positioning at a rover station includes: obtaining base station GNSS measurement information of one or more satellites from a base station; determining rover GNSS measurement information of one or more satellites at the rover station; and determining one or more corrections at the rover station based on the base station GNSS measurement information. The method further includes: obtaining tropospheric differences at the rover station based on the base station GNSS measurement information and the rover station GNSS measurement information; and determining the rover station's location at the rover station based on the rover station GNSS measurement information, one or more corrections, and the tropospheric differences.

[0005] According to this specification, an exemplary device includes a memory and one or more processing units communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to: obtain base station GNSS measurement information of one or more satellites from a base station; determine rover GNSS measurement information of the one or more satellites; and determine one or more corrections based on the base station GNSS measurement information. The one or more processing units are further configured to: obtain tropospheric differences based on the base station GNSS measurement information and the rover GNSS measurement information; and determine the location of the rover based on the rover GNSS measurement information, one or more corrections, and the tropospheric differences.

[0006] According to this specification, another exemplary device includes: components for obtaining base station GNSS measurement information of one or more satellites from a base station; components for determining rover GNSS measurement information of one or more satellites at a rover station; and components for determining one or more corrections at the rover station based on the base station GNSS measurement information. The device further includes: components for obtaining tropospheric differences at the rover station based on the base station GNSS measurement information and the rover GNSS measurement information; and components for determining the location of the rover station at the rover station based on the rover GNSS measurement information, one or more corrections, and the tropospheric differences.

[0007] According to this specification, an exemplary non-transitory computer-readable medium stores instructions for performing four real-time dynamic (RTK) corrections in GNSS positioning of a rover. When executed by one or more processing units, the instructions cause the one or more processing units to: obtain base station GNSS measurement information for one or more satellites from a base station; determine rover GNSS measurement information for one or more satellites; and determine one or more corrections based on the base station GNSS measurement information. When executed by one or more processing units, the instructions also cause the one or more processing units to: obtain tropospheric differences based on the base station GNSS measurement information and the rover GNSS measurement information; and determine the rover's position based on the rover GNSS measurement information, one or more corrections, and the tropospheric differences. Attached Figure Description

[0008] Figure 1 This is a simplified diagram of an RTK system 100 according to an embodiment.

[0009] Figure 2 This is a map illustrating the possible baseline coverage of a single base station according to an embodiment.

[0010] Figure 3 This is a sky map illustration of the example, showing the SV position of the spacecraft (SV) detected by the rover.

[0011] Figure 4 This is a swimlane diagram of an embodiment of an enhanced GNSS positioning method for a rover, in which RTK and other corrections as described herein can be applied.

[0012] Figure 5 and Figure 6 This is a graph illustrating the position error results according to an embodiment of the technology described herein.

[0013] Figure 7 This is a simplified diagram of various components in an embodiment, wherein the connecting device provides RTK calibration information to the rover 110.

[0014] Figure 8This is a swimlane diagram illustrating how the base station, the connecting device, and the rover communicate in an embodiment where the connecting device is used to provide GNSS measurement information for the base station.

[0015] Figure 9 This is a flowchart of an RTK correction method in GNSS positioning of a rover according to an embodiment.

[0016] Figure 10 This is a block diagram of an embodiment of the mobile station.

[0017] Figure 11 A schematic diagram of one embodiment of a computer system capable of performing the methods provided in various other embodiments is provided.

[0018] According to certain exemplary embodiments, similar reference numerals in the various figures indicate similar elements. Furthermore, multiple instances of an element can be indicated by a first digit followed by a letter or hyphen and a second digit. For example, multiple instances of element 110 can be represented as 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, etc., or 110a, 110b, 110c, etc. When only the first digit is used to refer to such an element, it should be understood that any instance of the element (e.g., element 110 in the previous example would refer to elements 110-1, 110-2, and 110-3, or elements 110a, 110b, and 110c) Detailed Implementation

[0019] Several illustrative embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are also part of the embodiments. Although specific embodiments that can implement one or more aspects of this disclosure are described below, other embodiments and various modifications may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure or the spirit of the appended claims.

[0020] As mentioned above, consumer-grade GNSS receivers now offer quality carrier phase measurements with MCMF capabilities for high-precision positioning. That said, current solutions for providing sub-meter accuracy have their drawbacks. For example, Precise Point Positioning (PPP) uses a global network of base stations to determine GNSS satellite orbits and clock corrections and transmits this information to "rover stations" (e.g., mobile devices). However, developing and maintaining such networks can be very expensive. Therefore, PPP providers typically charge for these corrections. Furthermore, PPP has several limitations, such as the rigorous modeling of all errors, which can require considerable complexity, maintenance, and control. Additionally, adding a new constellation to PPP can be slow and costly. PPP performance is highly dependent on the accuracy of the determined orbits and clock corrections, and the accuracy of these corrections typically decreases during events such as satellite orbit eclipses, which can cause performance issues for PPP.

[0021] RTK is an alternative to PPP. RTK correction is a GNSS-based positioning technique that uses carrier-based ranging by determining the number of carrier cycles between the satellite and the rover. Assuming the observations have virtually the same error, various errors (e.g., satellite clock and orbit, ionospheric and tropospheric delays, phase entanglement, and station displacement including solid Earth tides, ocean loads, and polar tides) can be ignored if differential observations are made using "base stations" (stations with known locations). However, the current range is limited because the difference in atmospheric errors between the base station and the rover (primarily tropospheric effects) increases with distance between them. Therefore, providing RTK correction across the entire United States would require a large and expensive network of base stations.

[0022] The embodiments provided herein address these and other issues by explaining the differences in atmospheric effects between the rover and base stations when determining the rover's GNSS positioning (also referred to herein as "position determination"). Specifically, the embodiments allow for the determination of individual tropospheric delay errors at base stations, significantly increasing the range of RTK data that can be used from base stations. In contrast to traditional RTK solutions, the embodiments allow for the creation of network RTK with significantly fewer base stations. Moreover, unlike PPP, the embodiments can rapidly add new constellations as they become available and immediately utilize all currently available dual-frequency combinations.

[0023] Figure 1 This is a simplified diagram of an RTK system 100 according to an embodiment. Generally, the RTK system 100 uses a rover 110 and a GNSS receiver at a base station 120 to achieve high-precision GNSS positioning of the rover 110. The GNSS receiver receives RF signals 130 from a satellite vehicle (SV) 140 from one or more GNSS constellations (e.g., Global Positioning System (GPS), Galileo (GAL), etc.). The type of rover 110 used can vary depending on the application. For example, in some embodiments, the rover 110 may include consumer electronics or devices such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, wearable devices, vehicles, etc. In some embodiments, the rover 110 may include industrial equipment, such as surveying equipment.

[0024] It can also be noted that, although Figure 1 The embodiments shown and the additional embodiments described herein demonstrate the use of only a single base station 120, but alternative embodiments may employ more than one base station 120. That is, according to some embodiments, the mobile station 110 may individually and / or collectively employ RTK correction information from multiple base stations 120. Thus, it will be understood that in the description of the embodiments herein, the reference to "base station" may refer to one of the multiple base stations.

[0025] To perform conventional GNSS positioning fixation, rover 110 can use code-based positioning to determine the distance of each SV 140 based on a deterministic delay in a generated pseudo-random binary sequence received in RF signal 130. Rover 110 can further refine the calculation of the position of each SV 140 at a specific time using ephemeris (or navigation) data about the SV 140. Using the distance and position information of the SV 140, rover 110 can then determine a positioning fixation of its position. This positioning fixation can be determined, for example, by an independent positioning engine (SPE) executed by one or more processors of rover 110. However, the accuracy of the positioning fixation result of rover 110 is affected by errors caused by SV 140 orbits and clocks, ionospheric and tropospheric delays, and other phenomena. While this can provide meter-level accuracy, this accuracy may be insufficient for many applications.

[0026] As described above, conventional RTK can provide enhanced accuracy (e.g., on the order of centimeters or decimeters) by using carrier-based ranging based on the RF signal 130 and by using base station 120 to help reduce errors from various error sources. Base station 120 includes a fixed GNSS receiver that uses carrier-based ranging and a known position to obtain measurements of SV 140, which can be transmitted to rover 110 via, for example, a data communication network 150. Rover 110 can then use these base station GNSS measurements (referred herein to as “RTK correction information” or “base station GNSS measurement information”) by comparing these measurements with its own measurements of SV 140 to reduce errors as described above (e.g., orbit and clock errors, ionospheric and tropospheric delays, etc.) and provide positioning fixation. This positioning fixation can be determined, for example, by a Precise Positioning Engine (PPE) executed by one or more processors of rover 110. More specifically, in addition to the information provided to the SPE, the PPE can use base station GNSS measurement information and additional correction information, such as tropospheric and ionospheric data, to provide high-precision carrier-based positioning. Several GNSS technologies can be employed in the PPE, such as differential GNSS (DGNSS), real-time kinematic (RTK), and PPP.

[0027] However, RTK correction information is only valid within a threshold distance of 160. That is, based on the fact that rover 110 is within a threshold distance of 160 or "baseline" from base station 120, the RTK correction information assumes that there are similar errors (e.g., atmospheric errors) between base station 120 and rover 110. However, because the spatial decorrelation of the error increases with distance 160 (e.g., because the RF signal 130 travels through different parts of the atmosphere when traveling to base station 120 and then to rover 110), this distance 160 is finite for conventional RTK. For a conventional RTK system with a single base station, this distance 160 is 10-20 km. For network RTK with multiple base stations (and multiple data points), this distance 160 can extend to 40-50 km. Beyond this distance, integer ambiguity of the carrier phase may be indistinguishable for rover 110. Therefore, RTK correction information at such distances may have limited or no use in positioning and fixing rover 110.

[0028] According to the embodiments provided herein, by utilizing the MCMF function of the GNSS receiver at rover 110 and compensating for atmospheric differences between rover 110 and base station 120, the distance 160 for a given RTK system 100 can be significantly extended (e.g., up to 1000 miles or more). Figure 2 As shown, for example, a single base station 120 located at base station location 210 can provide a baseline coverage area 220 that can provide accurate RTK correction information for mobile stations located across most of the United States. Several base stations 120 can provide coverage across North America. Thus, this can provide significant savings in establishing a network of base stations 120 to provide RTK correction information compared to conventional network RTK methods.

[0029] Refer again Figure 1 To significantly extend the distance by 160, the embodiments can provide error correction for the SV orbit and clock, as well as ionospheric and tropospheric delays. According to the embodiments, conventional RTK techniques used to interpret SV orbit and clock errors can be utilized.

[0030] Furthermore, the ionospheric cancellation function of the MCMF GNSS receiver at rover 110 can be used to reduce ionospheric errors. To this end, the MCMF GNSS receiver can receive RF signals 130 transmitted at different frequencies (e.g., GPS L1 and L5 frequencies, GAL E1 and E5A frequencies, etc.) and utilize existing solutions to interpret the ionospheric delay differences between base station 120 and rover 110.

[0031] The spatial decorrelation error arising from the tropospheric delay between measurements at base station 120 and rover 110 can be explained by determining the difference in tropospheric delay at base station 120 and rover 110 (which is usually negligible when the distance is short).

[0032] Finally, for a given SV(j), the error correction can be provided for the carrier phase difference between rover 110 and base station 120, as shown in the following formula:

[0033]

[0034] This can be further reduced as follows:

[0035]

[0036] Here, the annotations b, r, and j refer to base station 120, roaming station 110, and the given SV(j), respectively. The variables in the equations are defined as follows:

[0037] -Carrier phase difference between the base station and rover station of satellite j (single-difference (SD) carrier phase)

[0038] -SD Geometry

[0039] -SD receiver clock

[0040] -SD Track Error

[0041] -SD Tropospheric Error

[0042] Map - Tropospheric mapping function

[0043] dWZ - Tropospheric wet zenith delay residual

[0044] -SD blur

[0045] -SD noise and multipath

[0046] Equations (1)-(3) above explain errors from non-tropospheric sources, such as geometry (orbit), clock, etc. (As mentioned earlier, since MCMF GNSS receivers can eliminate ionospheric errors, it may not be necessary to explain such errors in these equations.) These equations also provide special treatment for tropospheric errors. In particular, the terms of equation (3) Explained due to mobile station 110 ( ) and base station 120 ( The delay difference is caused by the tropospheric error at point 120 (rather than the single tropospheric error at base station 120).

[0047] The Map variables used to determine tropospheric errors can be based on any of a variety of tropospheric models. These tropospheric models are used to determine tropospheric delay (to determine the corresponding tropospheric delay at rover 110 or base station 120) based on the line-of-sight path of the signal between a given satellite and rover 110 or base station 120. More specifically, given the time of year and the time of day, the models are used to determine how the wet and dry components of the troposphere travel along the line-of-sight path. Any of a variety of tropospheric models can be used, including Hopfield, the Radio Technical Committee for Aeronautics (RTCA), Saastamoinen, etc., depending on the desired functionality. Of particular note in Equation (3) is the interpretation of the difference between the tropospheric wet zenith delay residual at base station 120 and the tropospheric wet zenith delay residual at rover 110. (Without interpretation, this difference would result in a significant error in the accuracy of the fixed GNSS positioning of rover 110 at distances exceeding conventional RTK (e.g., 10-20 km).)

[0048] The line-of-sight path between a given satellite and rover 110 or base station can be determined based on the current location of the respective entity. The current location of the given satellite can be determined, for example, using the satellite's timing and orbital / geometry information. The location of base station 120 is fixed and can be stored in the memory of rover 110 and / or transmitted from base station 120 to rover 110 along with base station GNSS measurement information. The approximate location of rover 110 can be determined in any of a variety of ways, including based on previous location determination (and possibly motion information from sensors, i.e., dead reckoning), code-based GNSS positioning, network-based positioning (e.g., Enhanced Cell Identification (ECID), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA)), etc.

[0049] Ultimately, for each SV 140 from which both base station 120 and rover 110 detect RF signal 130, interpreting the tropospheric error in this manner can significantly improve the accuracy of RTK-enhanced GNSS positioning fixation for rover 110, thereby enabling additional applications. While failure to interpret the tropospheric error in this manner may result in positioning fixation errors on the order of tens of centimeters to one meter, interpreting it in this manner may result in positioning fixation errors on the order of 10 centimeters or less. Additional details regarding preliminary results of embodiments using this method are provided in... Figure 5 and Figure 6 As shown in the diagram, this will be described in more detail below.

[0050] Because the baseline distance 160 provided by the embodiments described herein may be significantly longer than that of conventional RTK solutions, the rover 110 may observe a large number of SVs 140 that are not observed by the base station 120 (e.g., detect RF signals 130 from a large number of SVs). Thus, RTK correction information may not be applicable to such SVs 140. However, according to some embodiments, some corrections can be made to the RF signals 130 received from these SVs 140.

[0051] As an example, Figure 3 This is a view of the SkyPlot 300, showing the SV position 310 (azimuth and elevation) of each SV 140 detected by the rover 110. (To avoid confusion, only a few SV positions 310 are marked.) SV positions 310 marked "RTK Correction" (solid black circles) correspond to SV 140 detected by the base station 120. Therefore, for such SV 140, the rover 110 can receive RTK correction information and apply the RTK correction (e.g., as shown in the equation above) to the measurement of the RF signal 130 received from such SV 140. On the other hand, SV positions 310 marked "No RTK Correction" (white circles with black outlines) correspond to SV 140 not detected by the base station 120. Even so, if available, a Space-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) or equivalent correction can still be used to correct the orbital clock error associated with the RF signal 130 received from these SV 140. This can further improve the accuracy of the GNSS positioning fixation of the rover 110.

[0052] For example, in Figure 3 In the example shown, RTK correction can be applied to improve measurements on five of the nine visible SV 140s to enhance the accuracy of GNSS positioning fixation for rover 110. This accuracy can be further improved by applying corrections from a correction service (e.g., SBAS or Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)) to the measurements on the remaining four SV 140s. While SBAS is currently limited to GPS L1, similar correction data may be available on different frequencies and / or different GNSS constellations.

[0053] Figure 4 This is a swimlane diagram of an embodiment of the enhanced GNSS position determination method for rover 110, wherein RTK and corrections (or similar correction services) from SBAS, as described above, can be applied. As with other appendices provided herein... Figure 1 Like this, provide Figure 4 This is done as a non-limiting example. Thus, it will be understood that certain changes can be made to the method shown in alternative embodiments. Such changes may include performing the actions in a different order. Figure 4The functions described in the various boxes shown, the addition and / or removal of certain functions, and similar. Furthermore, although various functions are attributed to roaming station 110 or base station 120, it will be understood that some functions may be performed by one or more separate devices (e.g., computers) located locally or remotely from base station 120 and / or roaming station 110.

[0054] In block 405, base station 120 observes one or more SVs 140. As previously described, this observation may include carrier-based RTK distance measurement using the carrier of the RF signal 130 of each observed SV 140 in the manner described above. In block 415, this GNSS measurement information may be provided to rover 110 for RTK correction. Because the distance 160 between rover 110 and base station 120 may be large (e.g., tens, hundreds, or even thousands of kilometers), base station 120 may transmit this information to rover 110 via data communication network 150 instead of via direct wireless means. Thus, data communication network 150 may include a wide area network (WAN), which may include one or more public and / or private data communication networks (including the Internet) and may utilize various wired and / or wireless communication technologies. In some embodiments, RTK correction information may be provided in response to a request for such information sent from rover 110. Figure 4 (not shown in the document), and therefore may include RTK correction information for the SV identified in the request.

[0055] The rover 110 also includes the ability to observe SV in block 420. Again, the rover 110 may include an MCMF GNSS receiver capable of providing carrier-based ranging and thus utilizing correction data provided in the carrier phase difference information (e.g., as provided in equations (1)-(3)). Furthermore, this MCMF GNSS receiver can also provide ionospheric-free measurements using multiple frequencies, thereby compensating for errors caused by ionospheric delay.

[0056] In block 425, rover 110 can then determine whether base station 120 has also observed the corresponding SV for each observed SV. (Therefore, rover 110 can receive a prior indication (not shown) of the SV observed in block 405 from base station 120.) If it is determined that a particular SV is jointly observed by both base station 120 and rover 110, rover 110 can then proceed to block 427, where rover 110 receives base station GNSS measurement information for that SV. In this case, rover 110 can then determine RTK correction information in block 430 as described above. Then, in block 435, rover 110 can apply the RTK correction information.

[0057] To further explain the tropospheric delay difference between base station 120 and rover 110, the rover can further obtain tropospheric delay information for both base station 120 and rover 110 in blocks 440 and 445, respectively. As described above, this tropospheric delay information can be estimated based on the line-of-sight signal received from the corresponding SV 140 at base station 120 or rover 110, using any of various tropospheric delay models to determine the tropospheric delay information.

[0058] Returning to box 425, if base station 120 does not observe the satellites observed by rover 110 in box 420, rover 110 can receive SBAS correction information in box 450 and apply the SBAS correction information in box 455. In an alternative embodiment, additional or alternative correction information from correction services other than SBAS can be used. In this case, the tropospheric delay at rover 110 can still be obtained, as shown in box 445.

[0059] According to some embodiments, the function in block 450 can be implemented in which the deviation between the receiver clock and the signal is estimated. This can help simplify the mixed use of RTK correction and SBAS correction SV information compared to the selection of a reference SV (as used in conventional RTK correction).

[0060] According to conventional RTK correction techniques, rover 110 can select a reference SV (typically the SV140 with the highest elevation angle) and perform double difference (DD) calculations based on this reference SV to compensate for clock skew. However, this not only requires observing multiple SVs, but also complicates the use of information from SVs for which no RTK correction information is available (e.g., applying SBAS correction to the SV in block 455).

[0061] In contrast, the estimation of receiver clock and signal offset in block 450 allows the embodiment to circumvent these complexities. In RTK, when no reference satellite is selected, i.e., no inter-satellite differential is applied to the measurement, the receiver clock and signal offset become observable and can be estimated via a navigation filter. Signal offset can be caused by clock skew between different GNSS constellations (e.g., GPS and GAL), different group delays between different frequencies (e.g., GPS frequencies L1 and L5), and / or path delays in the GNSS receiver from the antenna to correlators at different frequencies.

[0062] In box 455, the location of rover 110 can be determined. This can be done, for example, by the PPE (or equivalent) of rover 110. Depending on whether RTK information is provided, the tropospheric delay of a given SV can be interpreted differently by the PPE. That is, for an SV for which the tropospheric delay is determined for base station 120 in box 440, the difference in tropospheric delay at base station 120 and rover 110 can be interpreted (obtained in box 445) (e.g., using equation (3) above). Alternatively, in the absence of RTK information, the tropospheric delay information of rover 110 can be interpreted (obtained in box 445). For the observed SV(s), a correction can then be applied to the carrier-based ranging measurement of the signal from the SV obtained at rover 110, and the location of rover 110 can be determined based on the ranging in the manner previously described for RTK.

[0063] Figure 5-6 Is it related to the above? Figure 1-4 The description uses RTK information to simulate GNSS location determination, and includes related graphs. For example... Figure 5 As shown, the simulation results are from a simulation in which the base station is located in PieTown, New Mexico, and the rover is located in Santa Clara, California. (The distance between the base station and the rover is approximately 1294 km.)

[0064] Figure 5 This is a graph showing the change in position error (in meters) over time (in seconds) in the ENU (Northeast-Upper) coordinate system. Specifically, the North (latitude) error 510, East (longitude) error 520, and Upper (vertical) error 530 are plotted. In this simulation, seven GPS satellites and seven GAL satellites are visible from both the rover and the base station. The plotted position errors were calculated using actual measurement values. As shown, after approximately 10 minutes (600 seconds), the total horizontal error (East error 520 and North error 510) decreases and remains below 20 cm. The horizontal error is additionally plotted after 10 minutes of simulation (from 600 seconds to 2500 seconds). Figure 6 As shown in the figure. In contrast, standalone GPS has a horizontal error of approximately 4m, which can be reduced to 2m using SBAS correction. Therefore, the embodiment of RTK correction provided in this paper can provide significantly higher accuracy over long distances.

[0065] In some embodiments, the connecting device may be positioned between the base station 120 and the rover 110. This allows the connecting device 710 to handle some of the processing requirements for determining RTK correction and / or to communicate with multiple rover 110s. Therefore, this can reduce the processing and / or conductivity requirements of the rover 110 for RTK correction and / or the bandwidth requirements for transmitting measurements from the base station 120. The functionality of this exemplary embodiment of the connecting device is... Figure 7 and Figure 8 As shown in the image.

[0066] Figure 7 This is a simplified diagram of various components in an embodiment, wherein the connection device 710 provides RTK correction information to the rover 110. It can be noted that although the connection device 710 is shown as a streetlight connected to the data communication network 150, the connection device 710 can include any of various types of devices and / or be incorporated into any of various types of devices. According to some embodiments, the connection device 710 can include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, cellular base stations (e.g., next-generation Node B (gNB), evolved Node B (eNB), etc.), etc. As shown, the connection device 710 can communicate with multiple nearby rover stations 110.

[0067] Here, the connection device 710 can communicate with the rover 110 directly and / or indirectly. For example, the connection device 710 can communicate with the rover directly using wireless signals 720. These wireless signals may include radio frequency (RF), infrared, or other wireless technologies, which can utilize any kind of different wireless standards (e.g., Wi-Fi, etc.). (etc.). (In this case, because the connection device 710 can directly transmit RTK information to the rover 110, the rover 110 may not need to communicate with the data communication network 150 to receive RTK correction information.) Indirect communication between the connection device 710 and the rover 110 may include communication via the data communication network 150. The connection device 710 (and the rover 110) may communicate with the data communication network 150 via any of a variety of wireless and / or wired methods.

[0068] Figure 8 In an embodiment of the connection device 710 used to provide base station GNSS measurement information (such as, Figure 7 The swimlane diagram in the embodiment illustrates how base station 120, connectivity device 710, and rover 110 communicate. As those skilled in the art will understand, alternative embodiments may use connectivity device 710 in different ways to utilize information from base station 120 to provide an RTK solution to rover 110. (It can be further noted that, as described above, and...) Figure 1 and Figure 4As shown, in some embodiments, the connection device 710 may not be used.

[0069] Base station 120 can perform the functions of blocks 800 and 810, which are similar to... Figure 4 Boxes 405 and 415 in the diagram include obtaining location information from one or more SVs and providing base station GNSS measurement information about each of these SVs to the connection device 710, which obtains the base station GNSS measurement information in box 820.

[0070] Depending on the desired function, the connection device 710 can obtain base station GNSS measurement information through any of a variety of methods. For example, in some embodiments, the base station 120 may store the base station GNSS measurement information in a unique location on a server or database accessible via the Internet (e.g., via a Uniform Resource Locator (URL)). The connection device 710 can then retrieve the base station GNSS measurement information by connecting to the server or database. Alternatively or additionally, the base station 120 may send the base station GNSS measurement information directly to the connection device 710. In some embodiments, the connection device 710 may retrieve the base station GNSS measurement information periodically (e.g., every second), on a schedule, or as needed.

[0071] like Figure 8 As shown in optional blocks 830 and 840, this on-demand basis may include rover 110 requesting base station GNSS measurement information from connection device 710 (in block 830), with connection device 710 receiving the request in block 840. In this case, connection device 710 may retrieve the base station GNSS measurement information and provide it to the requesting rover 110, as described below. Additionally or alternatively, connection device 710 may provide the base station GNSS measurement information to rover 110 via periodic updates, broadcasts, and / or other means.

[0072] Once the connection device 710 has base station GNSS measurement information, it can provide the base station GNSS measurement information to the rover 110 (in block 850), and the rover 110 obtains the base station GNSS measurement information in block 860. As shown in block 870, the rover 110 can also obtain tropospheric delay and precise orbital clock, and determine the location of the rover in block 880, as described in detail in the embodiments provided above.

[0073] As described above, the connectivity device 710 may optionally provide tropospheric delay and / or a precise orbital clock, which can result in reduced processing and / or power requirements at the rover 110. That is, at block 890, the connectivity device 710 may determine the tropospheric delay (e.g., in the manner described in the embodiments previously described in detail) and / or the precise orbital clock. At block 895, the connectivity device 710 may also provide the tropospheric delay and / or the precise orbital clock to the rover 110. In some embodiments, this information may be provided to the rover 110 separately from base station GNSS measurement information. However, in some embodiments, this information may be included in the base station GNSS measurement information. Furthermore, similar to the base station GNSS measurement information, some embodiments of the connectivity device 710 may provide the tropospheric delay and / or the precise orbital clock in response to a request received from the rover 110.

[0074] although Figure 8 Not shown, but in some embodiments, the connection device 710 itself can determine the location of the rover 110. That is, the connection device 710 can obtain GNSS measurement data from the rover 110 and apply RTK correction (which can account for differences in tropospheric delay between the base station 120 and the rover 110) to determine the location of the rover 110. The connection device 710 can then provide the determined location to the rover 110 and / or other entities requesting the rover's location. This can further reduce the processing and power requirements of the rover 110.

[0075] When the connection device 710 calculates the tropospheric delay, the calculation can be performed in any of a variety of ways depending on the desired function. For example, information about the location of the rover 110 can be collected, and the difference in tropospheric delay between the base station 120 and the rover 110 can be calculated based on the location of the rover 110 (e.g., using a tropospheric model, as described herein). Alternatively, according to some embodiments, the connection device 710 can assume that the rover 110 is nearby (e.g., within 10-20 km of the connection device 710), and thus determine the tropospheric delay between the base station 120 and the connection device 710, and provide this delay to the rover 110. (In this case, the connection device 710 does not need to know the location of the rover 110.) When the connection device 710 is connected via a wireless signal (e.g., as... Figure 7 In an embodiment where the wireless signal 720 shown communicates directly with the mobile station 110, the connecting device 710 may assume that the mobile station 110 is nearby.

[0076] Figure 9 This is a flowchart of a method 900 for RTK correction in GNSS positioning of a rover according to an embodiment. Alternative embodiments may be modified by combining, separating, or otherwise altering them. Figure 9Use the functions described in the boxes shown to change the functionality. Figure 9 The functions of one or more blocks shown can be performed by mobile station 110 and / or connection device 710, as indicated in the previously described embodiments. Thus, for performing Figure 9 The functional components of one or more boxes shown may include Figure 10 and / or the hardware and / or software components shown in 11, Figure 10 Components of mobile station 110 and connection device 710 are shown in 11 and / or 11 respectively, and will be discussed in more detail below.

[0077] In block 910, base station GNSS measurement information for one or more satellites is obtained from the base station. As described in the above embodiments, the base station GNSS measurement information can be obtained by a connection device and / or a rover via a data communication network. According to some embodiments, base station GNSS measurement information can be obtained as a result of a request sent by the connection device or rover to the base station. As previously mentioned, some embodiments can utilize base station GNSS measurement information from multiple base stations. Therefore, the base station can be one of multiple base stations from which the base station GNSS information is obtained.

[0078] Components for performing functions in block 910 may include one or more software and / or hardware components of rover 110, such as bus 1005, processing unit(s) 1010, memory 1060, wireless communication interface 1030, and / or Figure 10 Other software and / or hardware components of the mobile station 110, shown and described in more detail below.

[0079] Additionally or alternatively, the components for performing functions in block 910 may include one or more software and / or hardware components of the connecting device 710, such as bus 1105, processing unit(s) 1110, working memory 1135, communication subsystem 1130, and / or Figure 11 Other software and / or hardware components of the computer system 1100 shown, which are described in more detail below, may be included in the connection device 710.

[0080] In block 920, the function includes determining rover GNSS measurement information for one or more satellites at the rover station. Furthermore, in block 930, the function includes determining one or more corrections at the rover station based on base station GNSS measurement information. (As in...) Figure 4 As mentioned in the process shown and explained in the previously described embodiments, RTK correction can be obtained from the differences in GNSS measurement information between the base station and the rover, allowing for the mitigation or elimination of various errors.

[0081] Components for performing functions in blocks 920 and 930 may include one or more software and / or hardware components of the rover 110, such as bus 1005, processing unit(s) 1010, memory 1060, wireless communication interface 1030, and / or Figure 10 Other software and / or hardware components of the mobile station 110, shown and described in more detail below.

[0082] Additionally or alternatively, components for performing functions in blocks 920 and 930 may include one or more software and / or hardware components of the connecting device 710, such as bus 1105, processing unit(s) 1110, working memory 1135, communication subsystem 1130, and / or Figure 11 Other software and / or hardware components of the computer system 1100 shown and described in more detail below.

[0083] The function at box 940 includes obtaining tropospheric differences at the rover station based on base station GNSS measurement information and rover station GNSS measurements. This tropospheric difference can be determined based on delays in the GNSS measurements. More specifically, as previously stated, determining the tropospheric difference can include applying a tropospheric model to the line-of-sight path of RF signals from one or more satellites to the base station to determine a first tropospheric delay, further applying the tropospheric model to the line-of-sight path of RF signals from the satellites to the rover station to determine a second tropospheric delay, and determining the difference between the first and second tropospheric delays. As previously stated, depending on the desired function, any of a variety of tropospheric models can be used to determine the tropospheric delay, including Hopfield, RTCA, Saastamoinen, etc. As shown in equation (3) above, depending on the desired function, tropospheric differences and other error corrections can be included. Additionally or alternatively, such as Figure 4 and 8 As shown, tropospheric differences can be determined and / or used separately from other error corrections (e.g., RTK corrections).

[0084] like Figure 8 As shown, some embodiments may include determining tropospheric differences on a connection device, which may then provide the tropospheric differences to the rover.

[0085] Components for performing functions in block 940 may include one or more software and / or hardware components of the mobile station 110, such as bus 1005, processing unit(s) 1010, memory 1060, and / or Figure 10 Other software and / or hardware components of the mobile station 110, shown and described in more detail below.

[0086] Additionally or alternatively, the components used to perform functions in block 910 may include one or more software and / or hardware components of the connecting device 710, such as bus 1105, processing unit(s) 1110, working memory 1135, and / or Figure 11 Other software and / or hardware components of the computer system 1100 shown and described in more detail below.

[0087] In block 950, the function includes determining the location of the rover at the rover station based on rover station GNSS measurement information, one or more corrections, and tropospheric differences. More specifically, the high-precision location of the rover station can be determined by applying one or more corrections and tropospheric differences to the rover station GNSS measurement information (e.g., as shown in equation (3)).

[0088] Components for performing functions in block 950 may include one or more software and / or hardware components of the mobile station 110, such as bus 1005, processing unit(s) 1010, memory 1060, and / or Figure 10 Other software and / or hardware components of the mobile station 110, shown and described in more detail below.

[0089] Additionally or alternatively, the components used to perform functions in block 950 may include one or more software and / or hardware components of the connecting device 710, such as bus 1105, processing unit(s) 1110, working memory 1135, and / or Figure 11 Other software and / or hardware components of the computer system 1100 shown and described in more detail below.

[0090] As shown in the foregoing embodiments, depending on the desired functionality, method 900 may include any of a variety of additional features. For example, as per the description of... Figure 3-4The discussed embodiments may also utilize correction services (e.g., SBAS and / or WAAS) to provide correction for satellite information if no RTK correction information is available (e.g., satellites are observed by the rover but not by the base station). Therefore, alternative embodiments of method 900 may further include: receiving additional rover GNSS measurement information at the rover station from one or more additional satellites, where base station GNSS measurement information for the one or more additional satellites is not available; and correcting the additional rover GNSS measurement information by performing orbit clock correction on the additional RF signals using information from the correction service. In such embodiments, determining the rover's location is also based on the corrected additional rover GNSS measurement information, which may be used in conjunction with RTK-corrected rover GNSS measurement information to determine the rover's final location. According to some embodiments, tropospheric delay may also be applied to the corrected additional rover GNSS measurement information. Therefore, alternative embodiments of method 900 may further include determining the tropospheric delay of the additional rover GNSS measurement information by applying a tropospheric model to the line-of-sight path of the additional RF signals from one or more additional satellites to the rover, wherein determining the rover's location is also based on the tropospheric delay of the RF signals.

[0091] Furthermore, as described in the foregoing embodiments, the embodiments can determine the correction by estimating the offset between the receiver clock and the signal. This can further allow the embodiments to avoid the need to perform DD calculations using a reference satellite. Thus, according to some embodiments, determining the position of rover 110 may also include estimating the offset between the receiver clock and the signal, wherein determining the position of rover 110 is also based on the estimated offset between the receiver clock and the signal, and the determination of the rover's position is performed without calculating the DD between the satellite-related value and the corresponding value related to the reference satellite.

[0092] Because aspects of method 900 can be performed by the connecting device 710, alternative embodiments of method 900 may include functionality specific to the connecting device. That is, according to some embodiments, method 900 may also include, using the connecting device 710, which includes devices communicatively connected to the data communication network 150, performing the following functions: receiving base station GNSS measurement information from base station 120 via the data communication network 150; determining tropospheric differences; and providing the base station GNSS measurement information and tropospheric differences to rover 110. As described above, in some embodiments, the connecting device 710 may provide rover 110 with rover GNSS measurement information, tropospheric differences, or both, via a wireless signal (e.g., via a direct wireless communication link). In some embodiments, in response to a request from rover 110, the connecting device 710 may also provide base station GNSS measurement information, tropospheric differences, or both. Figure 8As further shown, in some embodiments, the connection device 710 may also provide precise orbital clock information to the rover 110. According to some embodiments, determining the tropospheric difference includes determining the difference between the tropospheric wet zenith delay residual in the base station GNSS measurement information and the tropospheric wet zenith delay residual in the rover GNSS measurement information.

[0093] Figure 10 This is a block diagram of various hardware and software components of a mobile station 110 according to one embodiment. These components can be used, as described above (e.g., with...). Figure 1-9 (Related). For example, mobile station 110 can perform... Figure 4 and Figure 8 The operation of the mobile station 110 shown, and / or Figure 9 The method 900 shown has one or more functions. It should be noted that... Figure 10 This description is intended to provide only a general overview of the various components; any or all of these components may be used as appropriate. As previously stated, the form and function of rover 110 can be varied and may ultimately include any GNSS-enabled equipment, including vehicles, commercial and consumer electronics, surveying equipment, etc. Therefore, in some cases, Figure 10 The components shown can be limited to a single physical device and / or distributed across various networked devices that can be located in different physical locations (e.g., different locations within a vehicle).

[0094] The mobile station 110 is shown to include hardware elements that can be electrically coupled (or communicated, as appropriate) via bus 1005. The hardware elements may include (multiple) processing units 1010, which may include, but are not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (such as digital signal processing (DSP) chips, graphics acceleration units (GPUs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and / or similar) and / or other processing structures or components. Figure 10 As shown, depending on the desired functionality, some embodiments may have a separate digital signal processor (DSP) 1020. Location determination and / or other wireless communication-based determination may be provided in the processing unit(s) 1010 and / or the wireless communication interface 1030 (discussed below). The rover 110 may also include one or more input devices 1070, which may include, but are not limited to, a keyboard, touchscreen, touchpad, microphone, (multiple) buttons, (multiple) dial pads, (multiple) switches, and / or the like; and one or more output devices 1015, which may include, but are not limited to, a display, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), speakers, and / or the like. It should be understood that the types of input devices 1070 and output devices 1015 may depend on the type of rover 110 to which the input devices 1070 and output devices 1015 are integrated.

[0095] Mobile station 110 may also include a wireless communication interface 1030, which may include, but is not limited to, a modem, network card, infrared communication device, wireless communication device and / or chipset (such as... Devices, IEEE 802.11 devices, IEEE 802.15.4 devices, Wi-Fi devices, WiMAX TM Equipment, WAN equipment and / or various cellular equipment, etc.) and / or similar, which enables the mobile station 110 to access the above-mentioned... Figure 1 The network described herein is used for communication. The wireless communication interface 1030 allows data and signaling to communicate with the network (e.g., transmission and reception), for example, via a WAN access point, cellular base station and / or other access node types, and / or other network components, computer systems, and / or any other electronic device described herein. Communication can be performed via one or more wireless communication antennas 1032 that transmit and / or receive wireless signals 1034.

[0096] Depending on the desired functionality, the wireless communication interface 1030 may include a separate transceiver for communicating with base stations and other ground transceivers (e.g., wireless devices and access points). The rover 110 can communicate with various data networks, including those of various network types. For example, the wireless wide area network (WWAN) may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) network, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) network, a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) network, or a WiMAX network. TM (IEEE 802.16) networks, etc. CDMA networks can implement one or more Radio Access Technologies (RATs), such as... Broadband CDMA (WCDMA), etc. CDMA2000 includes IS-95, IS-2000, and / or IS-856 standards. TDMA networks can implement GSM, Digital Advanced Mobile Telephone Systems (D-AMPS), or some other RAT. OFDMA networks can use LTE. TM Advanced LTE TM 5G NR, etc. From the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) TM The document describes 5G NR and Long Term Evolution (LTE). TM (This includes) advanced LTE, GSM, and WCDMA. It is described in a document from an alliance called "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). 3GPP TMThe 3GPP2 documentation is publicly available. Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) can also be IEEE 802.11x networks, and Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) can be... This can be a network, IEEE 802.15x, or some other type of network. The techniques described herein can also be used for any combination of WWAN, WLAN, and / or WPAN.

[0097] The rover 110 may also include multiple sensors 1040. The sensors 1040 may include, but are not limited to, one or more inertial sensors and / or other sensors (e.g., multiple accelerometers, multiple gyroscopes, multiple cameras, multiple magnetometers, multiple altimeters, multiple microphones, multiple proximity sensors, multiple light sensors, multiple barometers, and the like), some of which may be used to supplement and / or facilitate the position determination described herein.

[0098] Embodiments of rover 110 may further include a GNSS receiver 1080 capable of receiving signals 1084 from one or more GNSS satellites (e.g., SV 140) using antenna 1082 (which may be identical to antenna 1032), as described herein. The GNSS receiver 1080 may use conventional techniques to receive signals 1084 from GNSS SVs of a GNSS system (e.g., SV 140). Figure 1 The location of rover 110 is extracted from SV 140 (such as GPS, GAL, GLONASS, Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) over Japan, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) over India, BeiDou over China, and / or similar). Furthermore, the GNSS receiver 1080 can be used with various augmentation systems (e.g., SBAS) that can be associated with or otherwise enabled for one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems, such as WAAS, European Geosynchronous Navigation Coverage Service (EGNOS), Multifunctional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), and Geographic Augmentation Navigation System (GAGAN), and / or similar.

[0099] The mobile station 110 may also include a memory 1060 and / or communicate with the memory 1060. The memory 1060 may include machine- or computer-readable media, which may include, but are not limited to, local and / or network-accessible memory, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices (e.g., random access memory (RAM) and / or read-only memory (ROM)), which may be programmable, flash-updatable, and / or similar. Such a storage device may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including but not limited to various file systems, database structures, and / or similar.

[0100] The memory 1060 of the mobile station 110 may also include software elements ( Figure 10 (Not shown in the text), including operating systems, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code, such as one or more applications, which may include computer programs provided by various embodiments, and / or may be designed to implement methods and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. By way of example only, one or more processes described with respect to the methods(s) discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions in memory 1060 executable by rover 110 (and / or the processing units(s) 1010 or DSP 1020) within rover 110. Then, in one aspect, such code and / or instructions may be used to configure and / or adjust a general-purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations according to the described methods.

[0101] Figure 11 An embodiment of computer system 1100 is shown, which can be used and / or includes a base station 120, a connection device 710 and / or other devices described herein. Figure 11 A schematic diagram of one embodiment of a computer system 1100 is provided, which can perform methods provided by various other embodiments, such as, regarding Figure 1-9 The method described. It should be noted that... Figure 11 This is intended to provide only a general overview of the various components; any or all of them may be used as appropriate. Therefore, Figure 11 This provides a general overview of how individual system components can be implemented in a relatively discrete or relatively more integrated manner. Furthermore, with... Figure 10 The components are the same, Figure 11 The components shown can be limited to a single device and / or distributed across a variety of networked devices that can be located in different physical or geographical locations.

[0102] Computer system 1100 is shown as including hardware elements that can be electrically coupled (or communicated, as appropriate) via bus 1105. The hardware elements may include (a plurality of) processing units 1110, which may include, but are not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (e.g., DSPs, ASICs, GPUs, and / or similar), and / or other processing architectures. The processing units may be configured to perform one or more methods described herein, including those related to... Figure 9The method described. The computer system 1100 may also include one or more input devices 1115, which may include, but are not limited to, a mouse, keyboard, camera, microphone, and / or similar; and one or more output devices 1120, which may include, but are not limited to, a display device, printer, and / or similar. Similarly, the types of input devices 1115 and output devices 1120 may depend on the type of computer system 1100 to which input devices 1070 and output devices 1015 are integrated.

[0103] Computer system 1100 may also include (and communicate with) one or more non-transitory storage devices 1125, which may include, but are not limited to, local and / or network-accessible memory, and / or may include, but are not limited to, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices, such as RAM and / or ROM, which may be programmable, flash-updatable, and / or similar. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including but not limited to various file systems, database structures, and / or similar.

[0104] Computer system 1100 may also include a communication subsystem 1130, which may include support for wired communication technologies and / or wireless communication technologies (in some embodiments) managed and controlled by wireless communication interface 1133. Communication subsystem 1130 may include a modem, network interface card (wireless or wired), infrared communication device, wireless communication device and / or chipset and / or similar. Communication subsystem 1130 may include one or more input and / or output communication interfaces, such as wireless communication interface 1133, to allow the exchange of data and signaling with networks, mobile devices, other computer systems and / or any other electronic devices described herein. Specifically, where computer system 1100 includes connection device 710, wireless communication interface 1133 may allow connection device 710 to communicate with one or more mobile stations 110 via wireless signal 720 (e.g., Figure 7 (As shown).

[0105] In several embodiments, the computer system 1100 also includes working memory 1135, which may include RAM and / or ROM devices. Software elements shown as residing within working memory 1135 may include operating system 1140, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code, such as multiple applications 1145, which may include computer programs provided by various embodiments and / or may be designed to implement methods and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. Figure 9The described method) describes one or more processes that can be implemented as code and / or instructions stored (e.g., temporarily) in working memory 1135 and executable by a computer (and / or a processing unit within the computer, such as, multiple processing units 1110); then, in one aspect, such code and / or instructions can be used to configure and / or adjust a general-purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations according to the described method.

[0106] These sets of instructions and / or code may be stored on non-transitory computer-readable storage media (such as the aforementioned storage devices(1125)). In some cases, the storage media may be included within a computer system (such as computer system 1100). In other embodiments, the storage media may be separate from the computer system (e.g., a removable medium such as an optical disc) and / or provided in an installation package, such that the storage media can be used to program, configure, and / or adapt to a general-purpose computer on which the instructions / code are stored. These instructions may take the form of executable code that can be executed by computer system 1100, and / or may take the form of source code and / or installable code, which, when compiled and / or installed on computer system 1100 (e.g., using any of a variety of generally available compilers, installers, compression / decompression utilities, etc.), then take the form of executable code.

[0107] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantial modifications can be made to suit specific requirements. For example, custom hardware may be used, and / or specific elements may be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software such as applets), or both. Furthermore, connectivity with other computing devices (e.g., network input / output devices) may be employed.

[0108] Referring to the accompanying drawings, components that may include memory may include non-transitory machine-readable media. As used herein, the terms "machine-readable media" and "computer-readable media" refer to any storage medium that participates in providing data that enables a machine to operate in a particular manner. In the embodiments provided above, various machine-readable media may be involved in providing instructions / code to a processing unit and / or other devices(s) for execution. Additionally or alternatively, machine-readable media may be used to store and / or carry such instructions / code. In many embodiments, computer-readable media are physical and / or tangible storage media. Such media can take many forms, including but not limited to non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, magnetic and / or optical media, any other physical media with a hole pattern, RAM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, the carrier wave described below, or any other medium from which a computer can read instructions and / or code.

[0109] The methods, systems, and devices discussed herein are examples. Various processes or components may be appropriately omitted, substituted, or added in various embodiments. For example, features described with respect to certain embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. Different aspects and elements of embodiments may be combined in a similar manner. Various components of the accompanying drawings provided herein may be embodied in hardware and / or software. Furthermore, technology is constantly evolving, and therefore many elements are examples that do not limit the scope of this disclosure to these specific examples.

[0110] It has been shown that it is sometimes convenient to refer to such signals as bits, information, values, elements, symbols, characters, variables, items, numbers, digits, or similar terms, primarily for general reasons. However, it should be understood that all such terms must be associated with appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient notations. Unless otherwise specifically stated, as is evident from the above discussion, it should be understood that throughout the discussion of this specification, the use of terms such as “processing,” “calculating,” “operating,” “determining,” “identifying,” “ascertaining,” “associating,” “measuring,” and “executing” refers to the actions or processes of a specific device such as a dedicated computer or similar dedicated electronic computing device. Therefore, in the context of this specification, a dedicated computer or similar dedicated electronic computing device or system capable of manipulating or converting signals is generally referred to as a physical electronic, electrical, or magnetic quantity within the memory, registers, or other information storage devices, transmission devices, or display devices of the dedicated computer or similar dedicated electronic computing device or system.

[0111] The terms “and” and “or” as used herein can have a variety of meanings and are expected to depend at least in part on the context in which such terms are used. Generally, “or” when used to relate a list, such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C (in the sense of inclusion) and A, B, or C (in the sense of exclusivity). Additionally, the term “one or more” as used herein can be used to describe any feature, structure, or property in the singular, or can be used to describe some combination of features, structures, or properties. However, it should be noted that this is merely an illustrative example, and the subject matter claimed is not limited to this example. Furthermore, the term “at least one” when used to relate a list, such as A, B, or C, can be interpreted as meaning any combination of A, B, and / or C, such as A, AB, AA, AAB, AABBCCC, etc.

[0112] Several embodiments have been described, and various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of this disclosure. For example, the above-described elements may simply be components of a larger system, wherein other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the various embodiments. Furthermore, multiple steps may be taken before, during, or after considering the above-described elements. Therefore, the above description does not limit the scope of this disclosure.

[0113] In light of this description, embodiments may include different combinations of features. Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0114] Clause 1. A method for real-time dynamic (RTK) correction in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning of a rover station or a connecting device, the method comprising: obtaining base station GNSS measurement information of one or more satellites from a base station; determining rover GNSS measurement information of one or more satellites at the rover station; determining one or more corrections at the rover station based on the base station GNSS measurement information; obtaining tropospheric differences at the rover station based on the base station GNSS measurement information and the rover GNSS measurement information; and determining the position of the rover station at the rover station based on the rover GNSS measurement information, the one or more corrections, and the tropospheric differences.

[0115] Clause 2. The method according to Clause 1, wherein determining the tropospheric difference based on GNSS measurement information and rover GNSS measurement information comprises: applying a tropospheric model to the line-of-sight path of radio frequency (RF) signals from one or more satellites to the base station to determine a first tropospheric delay in the base station GNSS measurement information; and applying the tropospheric model to the line-of-sight path of RF signals from the satellites to the rover to determine a second tropospheric delay in the rover GNSS measurement information.

[0116] Clause 3. The method according to any one of Clauses 1-2 further comprises: at the rover station, receiving additional rover station GNSS measurement information from one or more additional satellites, wherein base station GNSS measurement information from one or more additional satellites is not obtained; and correcting the additional rover station GNSS measurement information by performing orbit clock correction on the additional rover station GNSS measurement information using information from a correction service; and wherein determining the location of the rover station is also based on the corrected additional rover station GNSS measurement information.

[0117] Clause 4. The method according to Clause 3 further includes determining the tropospheric delay of the additional rover GNSS measurement information by applying a tropospheric model to the line-of-sight path of the RF signal from one or more additional satellites to the rover; and wherein determining the location of the rover is also based on the tropospheric delay of the RF signal.

[0118] Clause 5. The method according to any one of Clauses 1-4, wherein determining the location of the rover further comprises estimating the receiver clock and signal offset, wherein: the determination of the location of the rover is also based on the estimated receiver clock and signal offset; and the determination of the location of the rover is performed without calculating the double difference (DD) between the satellite-related value and the corresponding value related to the reference satellite.

[0119] Clause 6. The method according to any one of Clauses 1-5, wherein the connecting device includes a device communicatively connected to a data communication network: receiving base station GNSS measurement information from a base station via the data communication network; determining tropospheric differences; and providing the base station GNSS measurement information and tropospheric differences to the rover.

[0120] Clause 7. The method described in Clause 6, wherein the connecting device provides the rover with base station GNSS measurement information, tropospheric differences, or both, via a wireless signal or via a data communication network.

[0121] Clause 8. The method according to Clause 6 or 7, wherein the connecting device, in response to a request received from the rover via a wireless signal or via a data communication network, provides base station GNSS measurement information, tropospheric differences, or both.

[0122] Clause 9. The method according to any one of Clauses 6-7, wherein the connecting device further provides precise orbital clock information to the rover via a wireless signal or via a data communication network.

[0123] Clause 10. The method according to any one of Clauses 1-9, wherein determining the tropospheric difference includes determining the difference between the tropospheric wet zenith delay residual in the base station GNSS measurement information and the tropospheric wet zenith delay residual in the rover GNSS measurement information.

[0124] Clause 11. A mobile station comprising: a transceiver; a memory; and one or more processing units communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to perform a method according to any one of Clauses 1-10.

[0125] Clause 12. An apparatus for providing real-time dynamic (RTK) correction in GNSS positioning of a rover, the apparatus comprising components for performing the method according to any one of Clauses 1-10.

[0126] Clause 13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for performing four real-time dynamic (RTK) corrections in GNSS positioning of a rover, wherein, when executed by one or more processing units, the instructions cause one or more processing units to perform the method according to any one of Clauses 1-10.

Claims

1. A method for real-time dynamic RTK correction of a rover's GNSS positioning by a rover or connecting device, the method comprising: Obtain base station GNSS measurement information from one or more satellites from the base station; At the rover station, rover station GNSS measurement information of the one or more satellites is determined, wherein ionospheric errors in the rover station GNSS measurement information of the one or more satellites are reduced based on measurements of radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted by the one or more satellites at different frequencies. At the rover station, one or more corrections are determined based on the GNSS measurement information from the base station; At the rover, tropospheric differences are obtained based on the GNSS measurement information from the base station and the GNSS measurement information from the rover. At the rover station, additional rover station GNSS measurement information from one or more additional satellites is received, while base station GNSS measurement information from the one or more additional satellites is not obtained; The tropospheric delay of the additional rover's GNSS measurement information is determined by applying a tropospheric model to the line-of-sight path of the RF signal from the one or more additional satellites to the rover. as well as At the rover, the position of the rover is determined based on the rover's GNSS measurement information, the one or more corrections, the tropospheric difference, the additional rover GNSS measurement information, and the tropospheric delay.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, Determining the tropospheric differences based on the base station GNSS measurement information and the rover GNSS measurement information includes: The tropospheric model is applied to the line-of-sight path of the RF signal from the one or more satellites to the base station to determine the first tropospheric delay in the GNSS measurement information of the base station; and The tropospheric model is applied to the line-of-sight path of the RF signal from the satellite to the rover to determine the second tropospheric delay in the rover's GNSS measurement information.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The additional rover GNSS measurement information is corrected by performing orbit clock correction on the additional rover GNSS measurement information using information from the correction service. The determination of the rover's location is based on the corrected additional rover GNSS measurement information.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein, Determining the location of the rover also includes estimating the clock and signal offset of the receiver, wherein: The determination of the rover's location is also based on the estimated receiver clock and signal offset; and The determination of the location of the rover is performed without calculating the double difference (DD) between the satellite-related value and the corresponding value related to the reference satellite.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The connection device includes a device that is communicatively connected to a data communication network to perform the following operations: Receive GNSS measurement information from the base station via the data communication network; Determine the tropospheric differences; and The base station GNSS measurement information and the tropospheric differences are provided to the rover.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein, The connection device provides the rover with the base station GNSS measurement information, the tropospheric difference, or both, via wireless signals or via the data communication network.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein, The connection device, in response to a request received from the rover via a wireless signal or via the data communication network, provides the base station GNSS measurement information, the tropospheric difference, or both.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein, The connection device also provides precise orbital clock information to the rover via wireless signals or via the data communication network.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein, Determining the tropospheric difference includes determining the difference between the tropospheric wet zenith delay residual in the base station GNSS measurement information and the tropospheric wet zenith delay residual in the rover GNSS measurement information.

10. A mobile station, comprising: transceiver; Memory; as well as One or more processing units, said one or more processing units being communicatively coupled to the memory, and configured to: The transceiver obtains GNSS measurement information of one or more satellites from the base station. Determine the rover GNSS measurement information of the one or more satellites, wherein ionospheric errors in the rover GNSS measurement information of the one or more satellites are reduced based on measurements of radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted by the one or more satellites at different frequencies; One or more real-time dynamic RTK corrections are determined based on the GNSS measurement information from the base station; The tropospheric differences are obtained based on the GNSS measurement information from the base station and the GNSS measurement information from the rover. Receive additional rover GNSS measurement information from one or more additional satellites, where base station GNSS measurement information from the one or more additional satellites has not been obtained; The tropospheric delay of the additional rover's GNSS measurement information is determined by applying a tropospheric model to the line-of-sight path of the RF signal from the one or more additional satellites to the rover. as well as The location of the rover is determined based on the rover's GNSS measurement information, the one or more RTK corrections, the tropospheric difference, the additional rover GNSS measurement information, and the tropospheric delay.

11. The mobile station according to claim 10, wherein, In order to determine the tropospheric difference based on the base station GNSS measurement information and the rover GNSS measurement information, the one or more processing units are configured to: The tropospheric model is applied to the line-of-sight path of the RF signal from the one or more satellites to the base station to determine the first tropospheric delay in the GNSS measurement information of the base station; as well as The tropospheric model is applied to the line-of-sight path of the RF signal from the one or more satellites to the rover to determine the second tropospheric delay in the rover's GNSS measurement information.

12. The rover according to claim 10, further comprising a GNSS receiver, wherein, The one or more processing units are configured to receive the additional rover GNSS measurement information via the GNSS receiver, and the one or more processing units are configured to: The additional rover GNSS measurement information is corrected by performing orbit clock correction on the additional rover GNSS measurement information using information from the correction service. The one or more processing units are configured to determine the location of the rover based on the corrected additional rover GNSS measurement information.

13. The mobile station according to claim 10, wherein, To determine the location of the rover, the one or more processing units are further configured to estimate the offset between the receiver clock and the signal, wherein: The one or more processing units are configured to further determine the location of the rover based on the estimated receiver clock and signal offset; and The one or more processing units are configured to perform the determination of the rover's location without calculating the double difference (DD) between the satellite-related value and the corresponding value related to the reference satellite.

14. The mobile station according to claim 10, wherein, The one or more processing units are further configured to: The base station GNSS measurement information and the tropospheric differences are obtained from the connection device.

15. The mobile station according to claim 14, further comprising a wireless communication interface, wherein, The one or more processing units are also configured to obtain the base station GNSS measurement information, the tropospheric difference, or both via the wireless communication interface.

16. The mobile station according to claim 14, wherein, The one or more processing units are also configured to, in response to a request from the rover, obtain the base station GNSS measurement information, the tropospheric difference, or both, via a wireless signal transmitted by the connection device or via a data communication network.

17. The mobile station according to claim 14, wherein, The one or more processing units are also configured to obtain precise orbital clock information from the connecting device via a wireless signal transmitted by the connecting device or via a data communication network.

18. An apparatus for providing real-time dynamic RTK correction in GNSS positioning of a rover, the apparatus comprising: Components used to obtain base station GNSS measurement information from one or more satellites from a base station; Components for determining rover GNSS measurement information of the one or more satellites at the rover station, wherein ionospheric errors in the rover GNSS measurement information of the one or more satellites are reduced based on measurements of radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted by the one or more satellites at different frequencies; Components for determining one or more corrections at the rover station based on the GNSS measurement information from the base station; A component for obtaining tropospheric differences at the rover station based on the base station GNSS measurement information and the rover station GNSS measurement information; Components for receiving additional rover GNSS measurement information from one or more additional satellites, where base station GNSS measurement information from the one or more additional satellites has not been obtained; A component for determining the tropospheric delay of GNSS measurement information of the additional rover by applying a tropospheric model to the line-of-sight path of the RF signal from the one or more additional satellites to the rover; as well as A component for determining the location of the rover at the rover station based on the rover station GNSS measurement information, the one or more corrections, the tropospheric difference, the additional rover station GNSS measurement information, and the tropospheric delay.

19. The device according to claim 18, wherein, The components used to determine the tropospheric differences based on the base station GNSS measurement information and the rover GNSS measurement information include: Components for applying a tropospheric model to the line-of-sight path of RF signals from the one or more satellites to the base station to determine a first tropospheric delay in the GNSS measurement information of the base station; and A component for applying the tropospheric model to the line-of-sight path of the RF signal from the satellite to the rover to determine a second tropospheric delay in the rover's GNSS measurement information.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising: A component for correcting the additional rover GNSS measurement information by performing orbit clock correction on the additional rover GNSS measurement information using information from the correction service. The component used to determine the location of the rover is configured to determine the location of the rover based on corrected additional rover GNSS measurement information.

21. The device according to claim 18, wherein, The component for determining the location of the rover also includes a component for estimating the offset between the receiver clock and the signal, wherein the component for determining the location of the rover is configured to: The location of the rover is also determined based on the estimated offset between the receiver clock and the signal; and The determination of the location of the rover is performed without calculating the double difference (DD) between the satellite-related value and the corresponding value related to the reference satellite.

22. The device according to claim 18, further comprising: A component used to obtain the base station GNSS measurement information and the tropospheric differences from the connection device.

23. The device of claim 22, further comprising components for obtaining the base station GNSS measurement information, the tropospheric difference, or both, via a wireless signal transmitted by the connecting device or via a data communication network.

24. The device of claim 22, further comprising a component for obtaining accurate orbital clock information from the connecting device via a wireless signal transmitted by the connecting device or via a data communication network.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for performing four real-time dynamic RTK corrections during GNSS positioning at a rover station, wherein... When executed by one or more processing units, the instructions cause the one or more processing units to: Obtain base station GNSS measurement information from one or more satellites from the base station; Determine the rover GNSS measurement information of the one or more satellites, wherein ionospheric errors in the rover GNSS measurement information of the one or more satellites are reduced based on measurements of radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted by the one or more satellites at different frequencies; One or more corrections are determined based on the GNSS measurement information from the base station; The tropospheric differences are obtained based on the GNSS measurement information from the base station and the GNSS measurement information from the rover. At the rover station, additional rover station GNSS measurement information from one or more additional satellites is received, while base station GNSS measurement information from the one or more additional satellites is not obtained; as well as The tropospheric delay of the additional rover's GNSS measurement information is determined by applying a tropospheric model to the line-of-sight path of the RF signal from the one or more additional satellites to the rover. as well as The location of the rover is determined based on the rover's GNSS measurement information, the one or more corrections, the tropospheric difference, the additional rover GNSS measurement information, and the tropospheric delay.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 25, wherein, In order to determine the tropospheric difference based on the base station GNSS measurement information and the rover GNSS measurement information, when executed by one or more processing units, the instruction causes the one or more processing units to: The tropospheric model is applied to the line-of-sight path of the RF signal from the one or more satellites to the base station to determine the first tropospheric delay in the GNSS measurement information of the base station; as well as The tropospheric model is applied to the line-of-sight path of the RF signal from the satellite to the rover to determine the second tropospheric delay in the rover's GNSS measurement information.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 25, wherein, When executed by one or more processing units, the instructions cause the one or more processing units to: The additional rover GNSS measurement information is corrected by performing orbit clock correction on the additional rover GNSS measurement information using information from the correction service. The instructions are configured to cause the one or more processing units to determine the location of the rover based on the corrected additional rover GNSS measurement information.

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