Bs. Pervan et Bw. Parkinson, CYCLE AMBIGUITY ESTIMATION FOR AIRCRAFT PRECISION LANDING USING THE GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM, Journal of guidance, control, and dynamics, 20(4), 1997, pp. 681-689
Measurements of the Global Positioning System carrier phase can provid
e the basis for the highest level of satellite-based navigation perfor
mance. In particular, the potential exists to exceed even the stringen
t navigation requirements for aircraft precision approach and landing.
The principal difficulty in this use of carrier phase, however lies i
n the real-time, high-integrity resolution of the unknown integer cycl
e ambiguities. A new methodology is introduced, using carrier phase me
asurements from ground-based pseudolites, for explicit estimation of t
he cycle ambiguities. The mathematical basis of the new approach is de
tailed, and high-speed nonlinear information smoothing algorithms suit
able for real-time airborne execution are derived. Extensive flight-te
st data, including the results of automatic landings of a Boeing 737 a
ircraft, are presented as experimental validation of algorithm perform
ance.