Patent ID: 9599721
Date: 2017-03-21
CPC Classifications: G01S

Claim:
1. A method for estimating the position of an object or vehicle by a location-determining receiver associated with the object or vehicle, the method comprising: measuring, by a primary phase measurement device of the receiver, a first carrier phase of each first carrier signal of a plurality of first carrier signals and a second carrier phase of each second carrier signal of a plurality of second carrier signals received by the location-determining receiver, each first carrier signal of the plurality of first carrier signals received at substantially the same frequency as others of the first carrier signals from two or more primary satellites, each second carrier signal of the plurality of second carrier signals received at substantially the same frequency as others of the second carrier signals from two or more primary satellites; measuring, by a secondary phase measurement device of the receiver, a third carrier phase of each third carrier signal of a plurality of third carrier signals and a fourth carrier phase of each fourth carrier signal of a plurality of fourth carrier signals received by the location-determining receiver, each third carrier signal of the plurality of third carrier signals being transmitted at different frequencies from others of the plurality of third carrier signals from two or more secondary satellites, each fourth carrier signal of the plurality of fourth carrier signals being transmitted at different frequencies from others of the plurality of fourth carrier signals from two or more secondary satellites; each third carrier signal of the plurality of third carrier signals received at different frequencies from two or more secondary satellites and each fourth carrier signal of the plurality of fourth carrier signals received at different frequencies from two or more secondary satellites that results in an inter-channel bias between carrier signals from different ones of the secondary satellites observable at the location-determining receiver; estimating a first integer ambiguity set associated with the measured first carrier phases, and a second integer ambiguity set associated with the measured second carrier phases; estimating a third integer ambiguity set associated with the measured third carrier phases and a fourth integer ambiguity set associated with the measured fourth carrier phases; establishing initial bias data for the inter-channel bias in accordance with a bias initialization procedure that operates in a first mode or a second mode, where in the first mode stored bias data is accessed or retrieved from a look-up table stored in a data storage device associated with the location-determining receiver to populate a real time kinematic engine, where in the second mode stored bias data provides coarse initial data comprising a pre-programmed default bias associated with corresponding hardware of the location-determining receiver; after the bias initialization procedure, compensating for the inter-channel bias by estimating a compensation factor based on a double difference determination associated with the measured third carrier phase and the fourth carrier phase, where the compensation factor for inter-channel bias in the double difference ambiguity sets is estimated; and determining, by an estimator of the receiver, a position of the object or the vehicle based on the measured first carrier phases, the measured second carrier phases, the estimated first integer ambiguity set, the estimated second integer ambiguity set, and at least one of the measured third carrier phase and the measured fourth carrier phase, and at least one of the compensated third integer ambiguity set and the compensated fourth integer ambiguity set that are compensated for the inter-channel bias.