A study on the dependency of GNSS pseudorange biases on correlator spacing

Abstract

We provide a comprehensive overview of pseudorange biases and their dependency on receiver front-end bandwidth and correlator design. Differences in the chip shape distortions among GNSS satellites are the cause of individual pseudorange biases. The different biases must be corrected for in a number of applications, such as positioning with mixed signals or PPP with ambiguity resolution. Current state-of-the-art is to split the pseudorange bias into a receiver- and a satellite-dependent part. As soon as different receivers with different front-end bandwidths or correlator designs are involved, the satellite biases differ between the receivers and this separation is no longer practicable. A test with a special receiver firmware, which allows tracking a satellite with a range of different correlator spacings, has been conducted with live signals as well as a signal simulator. In addition, the variability of satellite biases is assessed through zero-baseline tests with different GNSS receivers using live satellite signals. The receivers are operated with different settings for multipath mitigation, and the changes in the satellite-dependent biases depending on the receivers’ configuration are observed.