GNSS SATELLITE VISIBILITY ANALYSIS BASED ON 3D SPATIAL INFORMATION IN URBAN AREAS

Abstract. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is a matured modern technique for spatial data acquisition. Its performance has a great correlation with GNSS receiver position. However, high-density building in urban areas causes signal obstructions and thus hinders GNSS’s serviceability. Consequently, GNSS positioning is weakened in urban areas, so deriving proper improvement resolutions is a necessity. Because topographic effects are considered the main factor that directly block signal transmission between satellites and receivers, this study integrated aerial borne LiDAR point clouds and a 2D building boundary map to provide reliable 3D spatial information to analyze topographic effects. Using such vector data not only reflected high-quality GNSS satellite visibility calculations, but also significantly reduced data amount and processing time. A signal obstruction analysis technique and optimized computational algorithm were also introduced. In conclusion, this paper proposes using superimposed column method to analyze GNSS receivers’ surrounding environments and thus improve GNSS satellite visibility predictions in an efficient and reliable manner.