Flight-Test Evaluation of Kinematic Precise Point Positioning of Small UAVs

An experimental analysis of Global Positioning System (GPS) flight data collected onboard a Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (SUAV) is conducted in order to demonstrate that postprocessed kinematic Precise Point Positioning (PPP) solutions with precisions approximately 6 cm 3D Residual Sum of Squares (...

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Main Authors: Jason N. Gross, Ryan M. Watson, Stéphane D’Urso, Yu Gu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2016-01-01
Series:International Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/1259893
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author Jason N. Gross
Ryan M. Watson
Stéphane D’Urso
Yu Gu
author_facet Jason N. Gross
Ryan M. Watson
Stéphane D’Urso
Yu Gu
author_sort Jason N. Gross
collection DOAJ
description An experimental analysis of Global Positioning System (GPS) flight data collected onboard a Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (SUAV) is conducted in order to demonstrate that postprocessed kinematic Precise Point Positioning (PPP) solutions with precisions approximately 6 cm 3D Residual Sum of Squares (RSOS) can be obtained on SUAVs that have short duration flights with limited observational periods (i.e., only ~≤5 minutes of data). This is a significant result for the UAV flight testing community because an important and relevant benefit of the PPP technique over traditional Differential GPS (DGPS) techniques, such as Real-Time Kinematic (RTK), is that there is no requirement for maintaining a short baseline separation to a differential GNSS reference station. Because SUAVs are an attractive platform for applications such as aerial surveying, precision agriculture, and remote sensing, this paper offers an experimental evaluation of kinematic PPP estimation strategies using SUAV platform data. In particular, an analysis is presented in which the position solutions that are obtained from postprocessing recorded UAV flight data with various PPP software and strategies are compared to solutions that were obtained using traditional double-differenced ambiguity fixed carrier-phase Differential GPS (CP-DGPS). This offers valuable insight to assist designers of SUAV navigation systems whose applications require precise positioning.
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spelling doaj-art-1fef4ef79e3f41bc8786e4821671b1802025-02-03T01:12:01ZengWileyInternational Journal of Aerospace Engineering1687-59661687-59742016-01-01201610.1155/2016/12598931259893Flight-Test Evaluation of Kinematic Precise Point Positioning of Small UAVsJason N. Gross0Ryan M. Watson1Stéphane D’Urso2Yu Gu3Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USADepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USADepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USADepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USAAn experimental analysis of Global Positioning System (GPS) flight data collected onboard a Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (SUAV) is conducted in order to demonstrate that postprocessed kinematic Precise Point Positioning (PPP) solutions with precisions approximately 6 cm 3D Residual Sum of Squares (RSOS) can be obtained on SUAVs that have short duration flights with limited observational periods (i.e., only ~≤5 minutes of data). This is a significant result for the UAV flight testing community because an important and relevant benefit of the PPP technique over traditional Differential GPS (DGPS) techniques, such as Real-Time Kinematic (RTK), is that there is no requirement for maintaining a short baseline separation to a differential GNSS reference station. Because SUAVs are an attractive platform for applications such as aerial surveying, precision agriculture, and remote sensing, this paper offers an experimental evaluation of kinematic PPP estimation strategies using SUAV platform data. In particular, an analysis is presented in which the position solutions that are obtained from postprocessing recorded UAV flight data with various PPP software and strategies are compared to solutions that were obtained using traditional double-differenced ambiguity fixed carrier-phase Differential GPS (CP-DGPS). This offers valuable insight to assist designers of SUAV navigation systems whose applications require precise positioning.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/1259893
spellingShingle Jason N. Gross
Ryan M. Watson
Stéphane D’Urso
Yu Gu
Flight-Test Evaluation of Kinematic Precise Point Positioning of Small UAVs
International Journal of Aerospace Engineering
title Flight-Test Evaluation of Kinematic Precise Point Positioning of Small UAVs
title_full Flight-Test Evaluation of Kinematic Precise Point Positioning of Small UAVs
title_fullStr Flight-Test Evaluation of Kinematic Precise Point Positioning of Small UAVs
title_full_unstemmed Flight-Test Evaluation of Kinematic Precise Point Positioning of Small UAVs
title_short Flight-Test Evaluation of Kinematic Precise Point Positioning of Small UAVs
title_sort flight test evaluation of kinematic precise point positioning of small uavs
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/1259893
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AT stephanedurso flighttestevaluationofkinematicprecisepointpositioningofsmalluavs
AT yugu flighttestevaluationofkinematicprecisepointpositioningofsmalluavs