Intercomparison of multi-GNSS signals characteristics acquired by a low-cost receiver connected to various low-cost antennas

Abstract With the increasing number of low-cost GNSS antennas available on the market, there is a lack of comprehensive analysis and intercomparison of their performance. Moreover, multi-GNSS observation noises are not well recognized for low-cost receivers. This study characterizes the quality of GNSS signals acquired by low-cost GNSS receivers equipped with eight types of antennas in terms of signal acquisition, multipath error and receiver noise. The differences between various types of low-cost antennas are non-negligible, with helical antennas underperforming in every respect. Compared with a geodetic-grade station, GPS and Galileo signals acquired by low-cost receivers are typically weaker by 3–9 dB-Hz. While the L1, E1 and E5b signals are well-tracked, only 72% and 86% of L2 signals are acquired for GPS and GLONASS, respectively. The signal noise for pseudoranges varies from 0.12 m for Galileo E5b to over 0.30 m for GLONASS L1 and L2, whereas for carrier-phase observations it oscillates around 1 mm for both GPS and Galileo frequencies, but exceeds 3 mm for both GLONASS frequencies. Antenna phase center offsets (PCOs) vary significantly between frequencies and constellations, and do not agree between two antennas of the same type by up to 25 mm in the vertical component. After a field calibration a of low-cost antenna and consistent application of PCOs, the horizontal and vertical accuracy is improved to a few millimeter and a few centimeter level for the multi-GNSS processing with double-differenced and undifferenced approach, respectively. Last but not least, we demonstrate that PPP-AR is possible also with low-cost GNSS receivers and antennas, and improves the precision and convergence time. The results prove that selection of low-cost antenna for a low-cost GNSS receiver is of great importance in precise positioning applications.