Patent ID: 8547276

Claim:
A positioning method including the steps of: (i) calculating inertial positioning data based upon measurements of an Inertial Navigation System; (ii) generating virtual satellite ranging data based upon the inertial positioning data, including the steps of: (a) identifying one or more obstructed satellites forming part of the GNSS wherein satellite ranging data from the one or more obstructed satellites is not received; (b) translating the inertial positioning data to form the virtual satellite ranging data such that the virtual satellite ranging data is identical in form to satellite ranging data from the one or more obstructed satellites; (iii) combining received satellite ranging data from one or more satellites forming part of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) with the virtual satellite ranging data; and (iv) calculating a GNSS positioning solution based upon the combined received satellite ranging data and the virtual satellite ranging data.