Estimations of GNSS receiver internal delay using precise point positioning algorithm

Abstract

Random and systematic errors affect navigation satellite observations on both pseudo-range and carrier phase. These errors are originated at satellites, propagation path and receivers. This study focuses on the GNSS receiver internal delay determination resulting from the receiver’s electronics circuit. The characterisation of the delay in the GNSS geodetic receivers is essential to enhance the accuracy for the time transfer and time comparisons as part of GNSS integrity chain determinations. The purpose of GNSS receiver internal delay at the National Institute of Metrology (Thailand), NIMT, is to estimate the characteristics and performances of the GNSS geodetic receiver used for international time comparisons. The experiments are simultaneously observed GNSS satellites by a GPS and a GNSS receivers and two separate antennas with short baseline (around 6 metres), where both receivers are connected to the identical external caesium frequency standard maintained as time and frequency standard of Thailand. The GPS receiver is well-defined for its receiver internal delay on the pseudo-range observation of C1, through comparisons using an internationally recognised method, while the geodetic GNSS receiver is to be defined on its receiver internal delay. These experiment observations started from 26 December 2017 to 17 January 2018 at NIMT, Pathumthani, Thailand. The determined unknowns are receiver position, receiver clock offset, tropospheric delay through the geodetic technique of static Precise Point Positioning observations with Bernese GNSS software version 5.2. Later the receiver internal delay of NIMT is computed and analysed. The receiver internal delay on GPS C1 code is successfully characterised, resulted as 346.0 nanoseconds as of this experiment.