Performance analysis of ambiguity resolution on PPP and relative positioning techniques: consideration of satellite geometry

Ambiguity resolution plays an important role in surveying using Precise Point Positioning (PPP) and relative positioning techniques that require high accuracy. In this study, ambiguity resolution performance of PPP and relative positioning under the unobstructed (with 7 degrees cut-off angle) and constrained environment (with 25 degrees cut-off angle, such as nearby buildings and street-canyons) using final/ultra-rapid orbit and clock products are investigated for different observation time. Seventeen globally distributed stations and six baselines of lengths from 270 km to 2100 km are chosen for conducting PPP and relative positioning, respectively. A 31-day period in January 2018 is chosen for processing using 24-, 12-, 6-, 4-, 2- and 1-h observations. The results indicate that sub-mm to cm levels of improvement in horizontal and vertical coordinate components are generally observed with ambiguity resolution for PPP and relative positioning techniques compared to the float counterparts. Moreover, accuracy degradation of ambiguity resolution compared to float solution is observed generally in the vertical component using the 25 degrees elevation cut-off angle for both techniques. As the observation time increases, the accuracy improvements from ambiguity resolution decrease for each technique. In addition, fixing to the wrong integer ambiguities are generally seen with a short observation time and a 25 degrees elevation cut-off angle for both techniques due to the poor satellite geometry. As far as baseline length in relative technique is concerned, the testing results show that there is no direct relation between baseline length and the accuracy improvement from ambiguity resolution compared to the float solution. The results also reveal that the coordinates obtained from ambiguity resolution does not significantly change in the relative technique using final or ultra-rapid orbit/clock products, whereas the changes in PPP are significant for most of the stations.