A deep understanding of multipath characteristics is essential to design signal simulators and receivers in global navigation satellite system applications. As a new constellation is deployed and more applications occur in the urban environment, the statistical multipath models of navigation signal need further study. In this paper, we present statistical distribution models of multipath time delay, multipath power attenuation, and multipath fading frequency based on the experimental data in the urban canyon environment. The raw data of multipath characteristics are obtained by processing real navigation signal to study the statistical distribution. By fitting the statistical data, it shows that the probability distribution of time delay follows a gamma distribution which is related to the waiting time of Poisson distributed events. The fading frequency follows an exponential distribution, and the mean of multipath power attenuation decreases linearly with an increasing time delay. In addition, the detailed statistical characteristics for different elevations and orbits satellites is studied, and the parameters of each distribution are quite different. The research results give useful guidance for navigation simulator and receiver designers.

Consistent state estimation is a vital requirement in numerous real life applications from localization to multi-source information fusion. The Kalman filter and its variants have been successfully used for solving state estimation problems. Kalman filtering-based estimators are dependent upon system model assumptions. A deviation from defined assumptions may lead to divergence or failure of the system. In this work, we propose a Kalman filtering-based robust state estimation model using statistical estimation theory. Its primary intention is for multiple source information fusion, although it is applicable to most non-linear systems. First, we propose a robust state prediction model to maintain state constancy over time. Secondly, we derive an error covariance estimation model to accept deviations in the system error assumptions. Afterward, an optimal state is attained in an iterative process using system observations. A modified robust MM estimation model is executed within every iteration to minimize the impact of outlying observation and approximation errors by reducing their weights. For systems having a large number of observations, a subsampling process is introduced to intensify the optimized solution redundancy. Performance is evaluated for numerical simulation and real multi sensor data. Results show high precision and robustness of proposed scheme in state estimation.

Statistical characteristics of signal reception conditions vary greatly in different types of environments. Hence, Global National Satellite System (GNSS) receivers must recognize surroundings for choosing the most suitable positioning methods in real time. Targeting vehicular positioning applications in a city, a novel environment recognition algorithm based only on the GNSS signal characteristics is proposed to distinguish between six distinct settings. To characterize different environmental interferences, a signal feature vector is built to represent the signal attenuation, blockage, and multipath. By training the classification model with labeled feature vectors, the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm is used to predict the scene type. A temporal filtering method is proposed to improve the accuracy. With advanced training of the model, this recognition method can work for the receiver in real time. To prove the extensive applicability of the proposed algorithm, the prediction data set and the training data set are collected in different cities. The testing results show overall recognition accuracy of 89.3% across different environments.

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is the most reliable navigation system for location-based applications where accuracy and consistency is an essential requirement. The LSE (least squares estimator) has been used since the start of GNSS for position estimation. However; LSE is affected by outliers and errors in GNSS measurements and results in wrong user position. In this paper; we proposed a novel three-phase estimator for enhancing GNSS positioning accuracy in the presence of outliers and errors; relying upon the robust MM estimation theory. In the first phase; a subsampling process is proposed on available observations. IRWLS (iterative reweighted LS) is applied to all subsamples up to a predefined number of observations to obtain a positioning estimate and a scale factor. Secondly; IRWLS is applied up to the convergence point on a set of selected subsamples. The third phase involves the selection of optimum positioning solution having minimum scale factor. An outlier detection and exclusion process is applied on a probabilistic set of outlying observations to maintain the integrity and reliability of the position. Multiple simulated and real scenarios are tested. Results show high accuracy and reliability of the proposed algorithm in challenging environments.

Precise pedestrian positioning based on smartphone-grade sensors has been a research hotspot for several years. Due to the poor performance of the mass-market Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Magnetic, Angular Rate, and Gravity (MARG) sensors, the standalone pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) module cannot avoid long-time heading drift, which leads to the failure of the entire positioning system. In outdoor scenes, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is one of the most popular positioning systems, and smartphone users can use it to acquire absolute coordinates. However, the smartphone’s ultra-low-cost GNSS module is limited by some components such as the antenna, and so it is susceptible to serious interference from the multipath effect, which is a main error source of smartphone-based GNSS positioning. In this paper, we propose a multi-phase GNSS/PDR fusion framework to overcome the limitations of standalone modules. The first phase is to build a pseudorange double-difference based on smartphone and reference stations, the second phase proposes a novel multipath mitigation method based on multipath partial parameters estimation (MPPE) and a Double-Difference Code-Minus-Carrier (DDCMC) filter, and the third phase is to propose the joint stride lengths and heading estimations of the two standalone modules, to reduce the long-time drift and noise. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed multipath error estimation can effectively suppress the double-difference multipath error exceeding 4 m, and compared to other methods, our fusion method achieves a minimum error RMSE of 1.63 m in positioning accuracy, and a minimum error RMSE of 4.71 m in long-time robustness for 20 min of continuous walking.