Ambiguity resolution in precise point positioning with hourly data

Precise Point Positioning (PPP) has become a recognized and powerful tool for scientific analysis of Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements. Until recently, ambiguity resolution at a single station has been considered difficult, due to the non-integer uncalibrated hardware delays (UHD) originating in receivers and satellites. Fortunately, recent studies show that if these UHD can be determined precisely with a network in advance, then ambiguity resolution at a single station is possible. In this study, the method proposed by Ge et al (2007) is adopted with a refinement in which the fractional parts of single-difference narrow-lane UHD for a satellite pair are determined within each full pass over a regional network. This study uses the European Reference Frame Permanent Network (EPN) to determine these UHD from Day 245 to 251 in 2007, and 27 IGS stations inside and outside the EPN are used to conduct ambiguity resolution in hourly PPP. It is found that the total hourly position accuracy is improved from 3.8 cm, 1.5 cm and 2.8 cm to 0.5 cm, 0.5 cm and 1.4 cm in East, North and Up, respectively, for the stations inside the EPN. For the stations outside the EPN, some of which are even over 2000 km away from the EPN, their total hourly East, North and Up position accuracies still achieve 0.6 cm, 0.6 cm and 2.0 cm, respectively, when the EPN-based UHD are applied to the ambiguity resolution at these stations. Therefore, it is feasible and beneficial for the operators of GPS networks, such as the providers of PPP-based online services, to provide these UHD estimates as an additional product to allow users to conduct ambiguity resolution in PPP.