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The Global Positioning System (GPS) is the most popular positioning system among some operational Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). However, GNSS suffer from accuracy deterioration and interruption of services in dense urban areas and are almost unavailable indoors. Although high-sensitivity receivers improve signal acquisition indoors, multipath is still be a challenging problem that affects accuracy especially indoors where a direct line of sight between transmitter and receiver almost never exist. Moreover, the wireless signal features are significantly jeopardized by obstacles and constructions indoors. To address these challenges, this research came in the context of proposing an alternative positioning system that is designed for GPS-denied environment and especially for indoors. Cramer-Rao Lower-Bound (CRLB) analysis was used to estimate the lower bound accuracy of different positioning methods indoors. Based on CRLB analysis, this research approached the wireless positioning problem indoors utilizing received signal strength (RSS) to achieve the following: 1) Developing new estimation methods to model the wireless RSS patterns in indoors. 2) Designing adaptive RSS-based wireless positioning methods for indoors. 3) Establishing a consistent framework for indoor wireless positioning systems. 4) Developing new methods to integrate inertial/odometer-based navigation systems with the developed wireless positioning methods for further improvements. The theoretical basis of the work was built on nonlinear stochastic estimation techniques including Particle Filtering, Gaussian Process Regression, Fast Orthogonal Search, Least-Squares, and Radial Basis Functions Neural Networks. All the proposed wireless positioning methods were developed and physically realized on Android-based smart-phones using the IEEE 802.11 WLANs (WiFi). In addition, successful integration with inertial/odometer sensors of mobile robots has been performed on embedded systems. Both theoretical analysis and experimental results showed significant improvements in modeling RSS indoors dynamically without offline training achieving a positioning accuracy of 1-3 meters. Sub-meter accuracy was achieved via integration with inertial/odometer sensors. / Thesis (Ph.D, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-03-25 16:11:59.518

Bibliography: p. 297-304. Uses a widely accepted stochastic model of scintillation activity to investigate the effects of scintillations on GPS receivers and systems.

Continuously-operating networks of GPS receivers (CGPS) are not capable of determining the characteristics of crustal deformation at the fine temporal or spatial scales required. Four ???temporal densification schemes??? and two 'spatial densification schemes' to augment the CGPS networks have been developed and tested. The four ???temporal densification schemes??? are based on the high rate Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS technique, GPS multipath effects, Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR). The 'serial scheme' based on using GPS as a seismometer has been proposed. Simulated seismic signals have been extracted from the very noisy high rate RTK-GPS results using an adaptive filter based on the least-mean-square algorithm. They are in very good agreement with those of the collocated seismometers. This scheme can improve the CGPS temporal resolution to 0.1 second. The 'retro-active scheme' takes advantage of the fact that the GPS multipath disturbance is repeated between consecutive days. It can therefore provide a means of correcting multipath errors in the observation data themselves. A reduction of the standard deviations of the pseudo-range and carrier phase multipath time series to about one fourth and one half the original values respectively, has been demonstrated. The 'all-GPS parallel scheme' uses the multipath effects as a signal to monitor the antenna environment. Models relating the changes of multipath and antenna environment have been derived. The 'cross-technique parallel scheme' integrates the collocated CGPS, VLBI and SLR results, taking advantage of the decorrelation among their biases and errors. Crustal displacement signature has been extracted as a common-mode signal using data from two stations: Matera in Italy and Wettzell in Germany. Two 'spatial densification schemes' which can verify with each other have been developed and tested. The 'soft' scheme integrates CGPS with radar interferometry (InSAR). The Double Interpolation and Double Prediction (DIDP) approach combines the strengths of the high temporal resolution of CGPS and the high spatial resolution possible with the InSAR technique. This scheme can improve the spatial resolution to about 25m. The 'hard' scheme requires the deployment of single-frequency receivers to in-fill the present CGPS arrays. Alternatively some receivers may be installed at some geophysically strategic sites outside existing CGPS arrays. The former has been tested within Japan's GEONET, while the latter has been tested using a five-station array.

Since its introduction in the early 1980????s, the Global Positioning System (GPS) has become an important tool for high-precision surveying and geodetic applications. Carrier phase measurements are the key to achieving high accuracy positioning results. This research addresses one of the most challenging aspects in the GPS data processing algorithm, especially for precise GPS static positioning, namely the definition of a realistic stochastic model. Major contributions of this research are: (a) A comparison of the two data quality indicators, which are widely used to assist in the definition of the stochastic model for GPS observations, has been carried out. Based on the results obtained from a series of tests, both the satellite elevation angle and the signal-to-noise ratio information do not always reflect the reality. (b) A simplified MINQUE procedure for the estimation of the variance-covariance components of GPS observations has been proposed. The proposed procedure has been shown to produce similar results to those from the standard MINQUE procedure. However, the computational load and time are significantly reduced, and in addition the effect of a changing number of satellites on the computations is effectively dealt with. (c) An iterative stochastic modelling procedure has been developed in which all error features in the GPS observations are taken into account. Experimental results show that by applying the proposed procedure, both the certainty and the accuracy of the positioning results are improved. In addition, the quality of ambiguity resolution can be more realistically evaluated. (d) A segmented stochastic modelling procedure has been developed to effectively deal with long observation period data sets, and to reduce the computational load. This procedure will also take into account the temporal correlations in the GPS measurements. Test results obtained from both simulated and real data sets indicate that the proposed procedure can improve the accuracy of the positioning results to the millimetre level. (e) A novel approach to GPS analysis based on a combination of the wavelet decomposition technique and the simplified MINQUE procedure has been proposed. With this new approach, the certainty of ambiguity resolution and the accuracy of the positioning results are improved.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rhode Island, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 273-285).

This thesis describes the hardware design of a positioning system which locates a vehicle relative to a digital map of an underground mine. The mines of interest are potash mines of Saskatchewan, and they are at a depth of approximately 1000 meters and they cover an area larger than 10 kilometers by 10 kilometers. An important application of an in-mine positioning system is tracking a ground penetrating radar system. Ground penetrating radar is used to determine the current condition of the mine ceiling and to evaluate its risk of delamination. A ground penetrating radar system is driven along a mine tunnel and measurements are logged. It is necessary to record position information along with the radar signal and this can be done with the aid of a positioning system. The design and evaluation of the hardware system that supports a positioning system, which can locate a vehicle inside a mine tunnel with reasonable accuracy and cost is described in this thesis. The hardware system includes a dead reckoning system (DRS), which is built using MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) accelerometer and gyroscope sensors and ultrasonic distance sensors, along with a data acquisition system.

This thesis describes the hardware design of a positioning system which locates a vehicle relative to a digital map of an underground mine. The mines of interest are potash mines of Saskatchewan, and they are at a depth of approximately 1000 meters and they cover an area larger than 10 kilometers by 10 kilometers. An important application of an in-mine positioning system is tracking a ground penetrating radar system. Ground penetrating radar is used to determine the current condition of the mine ceiling and to evaluate its risk of delamination. A ground penetrating radar system is driven along a mine tunnel and measurements are logged. It is necessary to record position information along with the radar signal and this can be done with the aid of a positioning system. The design and evaluation of the hardware system that supports a positioning system, which can locate a vehicle inside a mine tunnel with reasonable accuracy and cost is described in this thesis. The hardware system includes a dead reckoning system (DRS), which is built using MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) accelerometer and gyroscope sensors and ultrasonic distance sensors, along with a data acquisition system.

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