Patent ID: 8427365

Claim:
A method for estimating one or more integer ambiguity sets related to estimating the position of an object by a location-determining receiver associated with the object, the method comprising: measuring a first carrier phase of a first carrier signal and a second carrier phase of a second carrier signal received by the location-determining receiver; estimating a primary integer ambiguity set associated with at least one of the measured first carrier phase and the measured second carrier phase by a primary real time kinematic (RTK) engine; determining if the primary integer ambiguity set is resolved correctly to a predefined reliability rate during an earlier evaluation period based one or more reliability tests applied to a quadratic form of carrier phase residuals; estimating a secondary integer ambiguity set associated with at least one of the measured first carrier phase and the measured second carrier phase by a secondary real time kinematic (RTK) engine during a later period following the earlier evaluation period; establishing a time offset between respective start-up times of the primary RTK engine and the secondary RTK engine to support enhanced reliability by avoiding or reducing corruption from imprecise measurements; determining if the secondary RTK engine is searching for a solution of the estimated secondary integer ambiguity for longer than a maximum threshold time during the later evaluation period; resetting the secondary RTK engine if the secondary RTK engine is searching for the estimated secondary integer ambiguity for longer than a maximum threshold time; and using the primary RTK engine during the resetting process.