LOW-COST MULTI-FREQUENCY GNSS RECEIVERS: PERFORMANCE EVALUATION FOR POSITIONING AND NAVIGATION

Abstract. In recent years, the possibility of using interoperable global constellations, the growing number of Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) and the technological progress of instrumentation, computing algorithms and GNSS products are significantly marking the evolution of the various satellite survey techniques and the diffusion of mass-market technologies contributing to innovation transfers in different sectors including smart cities, smart mobility, connected automated driving, precision farming and others (Egea-Roca et al., 2022).
Currently, the study of low-cost GNSS systems for navigation and precision positioning especially utilised in monitoring applications is the focus of numerous research activities (Joubert et al., 2020; Raza et al., 2022; Bellone et al., 2016; Hamza et al., 2020).
The aim of this work is to test the performance of some of the latest generation multi-constellation and multi-frequency GNSS medium and low-cost sensors, evaluating their possible application in the mentioned fields. Differential and undifferential techniques were compared (Dardanelli et al., 2021; Ocalan et al.,2016); Precise Point Positioning (PPP) has become a valid alternative to differential methods allowing to obtain comparable accuracy offering greater flexibility (Lin, 2021). The multi-constellation permanent stations network GPS-Umbria was utilised for differential mode tests (Radicioni and Stoppini, 2019).
The tests were carried out in different modes (static and kinematic) and operating conditions; various intermediate and low-cost sensors were employed, while the data of a high precision geodetic receiver were used as reference for the comparison of the different solutions.