Patent ID: 7633437

Claim:
A method for generating an ambiguity-resolved, refraction-corrected, and minimum-noise carrier-phase measurement, comprising: forming a first composite carrier-phase measurement using primary carrier-phase measurements on three carrier frequencies, wherein the first composite carrier-phase measurement is a wide-lane ambiguity-resolved, refraction-corrected composite carrier-phase measurement; forming a second composite carrier-phase measurement using the primary carrier-phase measurements on the three carrier frequencies, wherein the second composite carrier-phase measurement is a minimum-noise, refraction-corrected composite carrier-phase measurement, and wherein the second composite carrier-phase measurement includes an unresolved whole-cycle ambiguity; and smoothing the first composite carrier-phase measurement with the second composite carrier-phase measurement; wherein the unresolved whole-cycle ambiguity is resolved by: estimating a refraction-corrected wavelength for the second composite carrier-phase measurement; determining a smoothed offset value between the first and second composite carrier-phase measurements; dividing the smoothed offset value by the refraction-corrected wavelength; and rounding the dividing result to a nearest integer to produce a resolved value of the whole-cycle ambiguity of the second composite carrier-phase measurement.