Publication
Uncertainty quantification of first fix in a time-differenced carrier phase observation model
Journal Article (2025)
Abstract
This paper presents an uncertainty quantification analysis of the first fix in a time-differenced carrier phase (TDCP) observation model. TDCP is a widely used method in GNSS-based odometry for precise positioning and displacement estimation. A key point in the TDCP modeling is the assumption that the GNSS receiver’s initial position is perfectly known, which is never exactly the case in real-world applications. This study assesses the impact of initial position errors on estimated displacement by formulating a correct TDCP model and a misspecified one, where the first position is not correct. Theoretical derivations provide a generic framework of estimation under the misspecified model and its associated mean squared error (MSE), as well as estimation performance bounds through the misspecified Cramer Rao bound (MCRB) for the considered case. These theoretical considerations are then used to build an estimator of the receiver’s displacement, with comparisons to the MCRB for performance evaluation. Extensive simulations using realistic GNSS geometry assess the influence of a first-fix error under various conditions, including different time intervals, first-fix error norms, and first-fix error direction. As an example, it is shown that for the considered geometry, if a TDCP of
Categories
mobile robots.
Author keywords
GNSS; TDCP; uncertainty quantification; odometry; positioning error; navigation
Scientific reference
H. Cherfi, J. Lesouple, J. Solà and P. Thevenon. Uncertainty quantification of first fix in a time-differenced carrier phase observation model. Sensors, 25(11): 3480, 2025.
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