JP3469939B2 - Satellite positioning apparatus and fault recovery determination method for the satellite - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a satellite positioning device for measuring (positioning) a user's position or the like based on a pseudo-range and a satellite position of a positioning satellite, and in particular, satellite failure recovery executed by the satellite positioning device. Regarding the determination method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a system for positioning a moving body such as a vehicle or a moving human, a GPS (Global Positioning S
ystem), GLONASS (Global Orbiting Navigati)
on Satellite System) and other GNSS (Global Navigat)
ion satellite system) is developed and operated.

In this type of system, signals transmitted from a plurality of positioning satellites on a satellite orbit that orbits the earth are received by a receiver held (mounted, carried, etc.) by a user. The signal transmitted from the positioning satellite carries the orbital data and clock data of the positioning satellite,
The receiver demodulates these data. The receiver determines the position of the positioning satellite (hereinafter simply referred to as satellite position) based on these data.

The receiver also obtains the signal propagation time based on the demodulated clock data and the synchronization information to the signal from the satellite, and the distance of the positioning satellite concerned based on this. This distance is called a pseudorange because it includes an error component caused by an error of the receiver clock with respect to the clock of the positioning satellite, that is, a clock bias, and an error component caused by other causes.

A predetermined number of receivers are selected from positioning satellites (hereinafter referred to as visible satellites) that are currently in a state of being able to receive signals (at least four in two-dimensional positioning in the case of three-dimensional positioning because the pseudorange includes an error component). In the case of positioning, at least 3) is selected, positioning calculation is performed based on the pseudo-range and satellite position obtained for each selected positioning satellite, and the position of the user is calculated / determined. The position thus obtained is used for supporting the operation of the moving body.

A problem with positioning based on such a principle is a malfunction of the positioning satellite. That is, if a failure occurs in the positioning satellite used for positioning calculation, the content of the signal transmitted from the positioning satellite becomes incorrect,
The position of the user obtained by the positioning calculation becomes incorrect. When such a situation occurs, the user is notified that the position of the user as the positioning result includes an error,
Alternatively, it is necessary to take measures such as excluding a failed positioning satellite (hereinafter referred to as a failed satellite) from the basis of positioning calculation. In order to meet such a need, various types of positioning satellite failure detection methods and failure satellite identification methods have been proposed.

As a failure detection method and a failure satellite identification method, the least squares residual method is known. This method detects the occurrence of a positioning satellite failure by monitoring the root mean square of the pseudo-range error, and based on multiple types of positioning results obtained by cyclically changing the combination of positioning satellites used for positioning calculation. This is a method of identifying the failed satellite.

That is, in detecting a failure, first,
The pseudo range error ΔRi shown in FIG. 3 is obtained for each of the positioning satellites used for the positioning calculation (i = 1 to 3 in the case of two-dimensional positioning). In this figure, the subscript i represents the i-th positioning satellite. The pseudorange error ΔRi is the pseudorange P of the positioning satellite i centered on the satellite position of the positioning satellite i.
The position of the user (hereinafter referred to as the measurement position) obtained by the positioning calculation from the surface (for three-dimensional positioning) or line (for two-dimensional positioning) of the position drawn with the above-mentioned clock bias removed from i as the radius. It is the distance to call). Next, when the pseudo range error ΔRi is calculated for all the positioning satellites used for the positioning calculation, the root mean square value of the calculated pseudo range errors ΔRi is calculated.

If no failure has occurred in any of the positioning satellites used for positioning calculation, 2
As shown by the solid line in FIG. 4 for the case of three-dimensional positioning, the pseudo-range errors ΔR1 to ΔR3 of the positioning satellites 1 to 3
(ΔR1n to ΔR in the figure for distinction from the failure described later.
3n) is relatively small. On the other hand, when one of the positioning satellites used for positioning calculation, for example, the positioning satellite 1 fails, the pseudorange of the positioning satellite 1 cannot be obtained correctly, and the line (or plane) of that position is displayed, for example, in FIG. Along with the change to the position indicated by the middle broken line, the measurement position as the positioning result changes. Then, the pseudo range errors ΔR1 to ΔR3 of the positioning satellites 1 to 3 are the pseudo range errors ΔR1n in the normal state.
.DELTA.R1f to .DELTA.R3f, which are larger than .DELTA.R3n. Therefore, if the positioning satellite fails, the pseudorange error ΔR1
This can be detected by detecting that the root mean square value of ΔR3 has increased above a predetermined level. At this point, it is unknown which positioning satellite has failed.

Therefore, in order to deal with the failure, it is necessary to identify the failed satellite according to the failure detection. In specifying the failed satellite, first, one positioning satellite is selected from all visible satellites, and the positioning satellites other than this are used for positioning calculation. Further, using the result of this positioning calculation, the root mean square value of the pseudo distance error is obtained as in the case of detecting the failure. Next, the positioning satellites to be excluded are changed and the positioning calculation is performed to obtain the root mean square value of the pseudo range errors. Repeating such processing, if the number of visible satellites is n, n
The root mean square value is obtained.

If the excluded positioning satellite is not a faulty satellite, the movement of the line (or plane) of the position of the faulty satellite has an influence on the measurement position which is the basis for obtaining the pseudorange error. The average value becomes a relatively large value. On the other hand, if the excluded positioning satellite is a malfunctioning satellite,
Since this influence does not occur, the value of the root mean square value is relatively small. Since it is extremely unlikely that a plurality of positioning satellites will fail at the same time, the positioning satellites excluded from the combination that minimizes the root mean square value of the pseudorange errors can be regarded as a failed satellite.

After the faulty satellite is specified in this way, the occurrence of the faulty satellite and information for specifying the satellite are output to the user. Further, the subsequent positioning calculation is performed by selecting and using the required number of positioning satellites from the positioning satellites excluding the faulty satellite.

Further, when the failed satellite recovers from the failure, it is preferable to make the failed satellite available for positioning calculation. To do so, it is necessary to detect that the failed satellite has recovered from the failure. Recovery from a failure can be obtained by monitoring the root mean square of the pseudorange errors. That is, in parallel with the positioning calculation for providing the position to the user, the positioning calculation and the root mean square calculation similar to those at the time of failure detection are performed, and it is considered that the failure is recovered when the root mean square value becomes sufficiently small.

[0014]

When the failure recovery judgment is executed in this way, the positioning calculation for providing the position to the user and the positioning calculation and the root mean square calculation for the recovery judgment (at the time of failure detection, (Similar positioning calculation and root mean square calculation)
Need to be executed in parallel. Therefore, conventionally, the calculation load of the device becomes heavy, and the positioning time interval must be lengthened.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and the calculation load of the failure recovery judgment is simplified to reduce the calculation load and the positioning time interval is lengthened. The purpose is to eliminate the need to sacrifice the performance of.

[0016]

In order to achieve such an object, the satellite failure recovery determination method of the present invention uses the pseudorange error of each positioning satellite used for positioning calculation to determine the positioning satellite A step of detecting that a failure has occurred in any of the plurality of positioning satellites used for the positioning calculation, based on the calibration amount whose value changes with the occurrence of the failure;
Any one of the positioning satellites used for the above positioning calculation
Obtaining the above-mentioned calibration amount while alternatingly excluding each number, and identifying the positioning satellite in which a failure has occurred as a failed satellite by comparing the obtained multiple tested amounts, and monitoring the pseudo-range error of the failed satellite Determining that the failed satellite has recovered from the failure when the distance error is below a predetermined level.

Further, the satellite positioning device of the present invention is a normal positioning means for calculating the position of the user by performing positioning calculation based on the pseudo-range and satellite positions of a predetermined number of positioning satellites selected from a plurality of visible positioning satellites. And the position of the user and the clock bias component of the pseudorange of the failed satellite are calculated by performing the positioning calculation based on the pseudorange and the satellite position of the predetermined number of positioning satellites selected from the plurality of visible positioning satellites excluding the failed satellite. In the normal positioning means, the auxiliary positioning means to be sought and the satellite position and pseudo-range used in the positioning calculation in the normal positioning means and the verification amount are obtained based on the position of the user obtained by the normal positioning means and the change is monitored. A means for detecting that a failure has occurred in any of the plurality of positioning satellites used for positioning calculation, and a positioning calculation for the ordinary positioning means. Among the positioning satellites used, any one of them is alternately excluded to obtain the above-mentioned test amount, and the positioning satellite in which a failure has occurred is identified as a failed satellite by comparing the obtained plurality of test amounts. A means for shifting from the positioning calculation by the normal positioning means to the positioning calculation by the auxiliary positioning means when specified, and the position of the user obtained by the auxiliary positioning means, the pseudo range of the failed satellite, and the clock bias component of the pseudo range. Based on the means for determining the pseudo-range error of the failed satellite based on the normal positioning means, it is determined that the failure satellite has recovered from the failure when the pseudo-range error of the failed satellite falls below a predetermined level. Means for shifting to positioning calculation.

[0018]

In the satellite failure recovery determination method of the present invention,
First, it is detected that a failure has occurred in any of the plurality of positioning satellites used for the positioning calculation based on the test amount obtained by using the pseudo range error of each positioning satellite used for the positioning calculation. That is, if one of the positioning satellites used for positioning calculation fails, the position of the user obtained by the positioning calculation changes significantly, and thus the test amount (for example, the root mean square value) changes greatly. Faults can be detected based on quantity. Further, the verification amount is obtained while alternatingly excluding any one of the positioning satellites used for the positioning calculation. Of the multiple calibrated values obtained as a result, the calibrated quantity that is not related to the failed satellite is of a different nature from the other calibrated quantities (when the above-mentioned root mean square is used as the calibrated quantity, it is smaller than the other calibrated quantity Therefore, the positioning satellite in which the failure has occurred can be specified as the failed satellite by comparing these plural test quantities. Then, in the present invention, the pseudorange error of the faulty satellite is monitored, and when the pseudorange error falls below a predetermined level, it is determined that the faulty satellite has recovered from the fault. Therefore, in the present invention, it is not necessary to perform the positioning calculation and the calibration amount calculation in the failure recovery determination, and the calculation of the pseudorange error of the failed satellite is sufficient. Therefore, the failure occurs in parallel with the positioning calculation for providing the position to the user. It is not necessary to perform the positioning calculation and the root mean square calculation for the recovery determination, and the calculation load of the device is reduced, and the performance is improved.

Further, in the satellite positioning device of the present invention,
In the condition that no failure has occurred in any positioning satellite,
A predetermined number of positioning satellites are selected from a plurality of visible positioning satellites, and the normal positioning means performs positioning calculation based on the pseudo range and satellite position of the selected positioning satellites. The position of the user obtained as a result is provided for display, for example. When a failure occurs in the positioning satellite, a predetermined number of positioning satellites are selected from the plurality of visible positioning satellites excluding the failed satellite, and the auxiliary positioning means is based on the pseudo-range and satellite position of the selected positioning satellite. Positioning calculation is performed by. Failure occurrence detection, failure satellite identification and failure recovery judgment
This is performed according to the failure recovery determination method of the present invention. That is,
The positioning calculation by the normal positioning means shifts to the positioning calculation by the auxiliary positioning means in response to the failure detection and the failure satellite identification, and the positioning calculation by the auxiliary positioning means shifts to the positioning calculation by the normal positioning means in response to the failure recovery. When the pseudorange error of the failed satellite is obtained, the position of the user obtained by the auxiliary positioning means, the pseudorange of the failed satellite, and the clock bias component of the pseudorange of the failed satellite obtained by the auxiliary positioning means are used. Therefore, in the satellite positioning device of the present invention, it is possible to return to the normal positioning in accordance with the failure recovery determination that does not involve a large calculation load.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The same components as those of the conventional example shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a satellite positioning device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The device shown in this figure is configured to be used as a receiver in GNSS such as GPS and GLONASS. However, in this figure, a circuit for receiving a signal from a positioning satellite and amplifying / demodulating it, and a means for obtaining the satellite position P, the pseudorange R, etc. based on the demodulated signal are not shown, but these are the same as the conventional ones. Can be used.

The device shown in FIG.
0, satellite failure detection unit 12, failed satellite identification unit 14, auxiliary positioning unit 16, pseudorange error calculation unit 18, and positioning recovery unit 20.
It consists of The normal positioning unit 10 performs positioning calculation at predetermined time intervals based on the pseudo range R and satellite position P of each positioning satellite to obtain the position of the user (measurement position P1 in the figure). The obtained measurement position P1 is output to a display circuit (not shown) or the like, and is also supplied to the satellite failure detection unit 12.
According to the method shown in FIG. 4, the satellite failure detection unit 12 determines whether or not any of the plurality of positioning satellites used for the positioning calculation in the normal positioning unit 10 has a failure, and fails. When the position is not generated, the control signal C1 is given and the positioning calculation by the normal positioning unit 10 is continued. On the contrary, when the normal positioning unit 10 determines that one of the plurality of positioning satellites used for positioning calculation has a failure, the normal satellite positioning unit 14 gives the control signal C2 to the normal positioning unit. The unit 10 identifies which of the plurality of positioning satellites used for positioning calculation has failed. In addition,
The verification amount S calculated in the satellite failure detection unit 12 to detect the presence or absence of a failure is, for example, an amount calculated by the following formula, and the satellite failure detection unit 12 determines that the verification amount S exceeds a predetermined threshold. If it is, it is determined that a failure has occurred.

[0023]

[Equation 1] When the satellite failure detection unit 12 receives the control signal C2, the failed satellite identification unit 14 executes positioning calculation by a combination of all the failed satellites excluding one positioning satellite,
Similar to the case of satellite failure detection, the root mean square value of the pseudo range error ΔRi is obtained. The failed satellite specifying unit 14 alternately calculates the positioning satellites to be excluded from the positioning calculation, and calculates the root mean square value. Therefore, when the number of visible satellites is n, n root mean square values can be obtained. The failed satellite identification unit 14 extracts the smallest one of the n root mean square values thus obtained. Since the probability that multiple positioning satellites will fail at the same time is extremely low, the number of failed satellites can be considered to be 1. Therefore, the positioning satellites excluded from the combination of positioning satellites whose root mean square value is the minimum value are the failed satellites. Can be considered to be The failed satellite identifying unit 14 uses the satellite number indicating the failed satellite as the failed satellite number, and the auxiliary positioning unit 16
Supply to. The auxiliary positioning unit 16 uses the positioning satellites other than the failed satellite specified by the failed satellite number supplied from the failed satellite specifying unit 14 to perform positioning calculation. That is, a predetermined number of positioning satellites other than the failed satellite are combined, and positioning calculation is performed using the pseudo range R and the satellite position P of these positioning satellites. The measurement value P2 obtained by the positioning calculation is output to a display circuit (not shown) or the like instead of the output of the normal positioning unit 10, and is also supplied to the pseudo distance error calculation unit 18. Further, the auxiliary positioning unit 16 supplies the error of its own clock with respect to the GNSS system clock (clock transmitted from the positioning satellite) to the pseudo range error calculation unit 18 as a clock bias.

The pseudo-range error calculation unit 18 includes an auxiliary positioning unit 1
6, the difference between the satellite positions of the satellites and the measurement position P2, that is, the pseudoranges of all the satellites that can be used for the normal positioning calculation including the failed satellite, that is, the pseudorange error ΔRi. Is calculated and output to the positioning recovery unit 20. The positioning recovery unit 20 determines whether or not the failed satellite has recovered from the failure based on the pseudo-range error ΔRi calculated by the pseudo-range error calculation unit 18, and if not recovered, the auxiliary positioning unit 16 is controlled. The signal C3 is given to continue the positioning calculation by the auxiliary positioning unit 16, and when recovered, the control signal C4 is given to the normal positioning unit 10 to restart the positioning calculation by the normal positioning unit 10. Whether or not the failed satellite has recovered from the failure is determined by comparing the pseudorange error ΔRi of the failed satellite obtained by the pseudorange error calculation unit 18 with the pseudorange error ΔRi of the positioning satellite that has not failed. realizable. That is, if the ratio of the pseudo-range error of the failed satellite to the pseudo-range error of the positioning satellite that has not failed is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold, it can be considered that the failure state is continuing and is below the threshold. When it becomes, it can be considered to have recovered from the failure.

FIG. 2 shows the overall flow of the operation of the apparatus of this embodiment.

When the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is turned on, the operation shown in FIG. 2 starts (100). After the operation is started, the positioning calculation is normally performed by the positioning unit 10 (110), and the measurement position P1 and the clock bias are calculated using the pseudo range and the satellite position of the selected positioning satellite. After the positioning calculation by the normal positioning section 10 is performed, first, the satellite failure detection section 12 detects a failure (120). If no failure occurs, the control signal C1 is issued and the normal positioning section 10 is detected. The positioning calculation by is continued. On the contrary, when the failure is detected, the control signal C2 is given from the satellite failure detecting section 12 to the failed satellite specifying section 14, and the failed satellite specifying section 14 specifies the failed satellite (130). When the failed satellite is specified by the failed satellite specifying unit 14, the failed satellite specifying unit 14 gives the failed satellite number to the auxiliary positioning unit 16, and the auxiliary positioning unit 16 performs positioning calculation (140). When the measurement position P2 is obtained by the positioning calculation of the auxiliary positioning unit 16, the pseudo distance error calculation unit 18 performs the above-described pseudo distance error calculation (150), and the positioning restoration unit 20 is based on the result.
Makes a determination regarding failure recovery (160). As a result, the positioning calculation by the auxiliary positioning unit 16 is continuously performed when it is determined that there is a failure, and the positioning calculation by the normal positioning unit 10 is performed when it is determined that the recovery is made.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the determination as to whether or not the failed satellite has recovered from the failure is made without performing the same positioning calculation and calibration amount calculation as at the time of detecting the failure, that is, the calculation load is relatively light. Since it can be realized by pseudo distance error calculation, the calculation load of the device can be reduced. Therefore, it is not necessary to sacrifice the performance such as lengthening the time interval for positioning. In addition, even if the basic clock for arithmetic processing is slowed down to reduce power consumption, there is no possibility that the prescribed positioning time interval cannot be satisfied due to the increase in computing speed, and the prescribed positioning time interval can be ensured. Can be met. Furthermore, since the calculation time for failure recovery determination is shortened as compared with the conventional method, it is possible to perform more additional processing operations such as navigation calculation and information display as compared with the conventional method.

In the above description, the operation of the apparatus has been described by taking the two-dimensional positioning as an example, but in the case of the three-dimensional positioning, FIG.
And the position line in FIG. 4 need only be the position surface.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The pseudo-range error of the faulty satellite was monitored, and when the pseudo-range error fell below a predetermined level, it was determined that the faulty satellite had recovered from the failure. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform the positioning calculation for failure recovery determination and the root mean square calculation in parallel with the positioning calculation for providing the position to the user, which reduces the calculation load of the device and thus improves the performance. realizable.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between a pseudo range, a clock bias, and a pseudo range error.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a failure detection method.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Normal positioning unit 12 Satellite failure detector 14 Failure satellite identification unit 16 Auxiliary positioning unit 18 Pseudo distance error calculator 20 Position recovery unit

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-3-108609 (JP, A) JP-A-4-12287 (JP, A) JP-A-6-18646 (JP, A) JP-A-6- 50766 (JP, A) JP-A-6-66913 (JP, A) JP-A-6-66911 (JP, A) JP-A-7-43446 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01S 5/00-5/14

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of positioning satellites used for the positioning calculation based on a test amount obtained by using a pseudorange error of each positioning satellite used for the positioning calculation and the value of which changes when a failure of the positioning satellite occurs. Any one of the steps of detecting that a failure has occurred and one of the positioning satellites used for the above positioning calculation
Obtaining the above-mentioned calibration amount while alternatingly excluding each number, and identifying the positioning satellite in which a failure has occurred as a failed satellite by comparing the obtained multiple calibration amounts, and monitoring the pseudo-range error of the failed satellite A satellite failure recovery determination method comprising the step of determining that the failed satellite has recovered from a failure when the distance error is below a predetermined level. 2. A normal positioning means for determining a user's position by performing positioning calculation based on a pseudo-range and a satellite position of a predetermined number of positioning satellites selected from a plurality of visible positioning satellites, and a plurality of visible positioning means. Auxiliary positioning means for calculating the position of the user and the clock bias component of the pseudo-range of the failed satellite by performing positioning calculation based on the pseudo-range and satellite positions of the predetermined number of positioning satellites selected excluding the failed satellite from the positioning satellite, and normal positioning A plurality of satellites used in the positioning calculation in the normal positioning means are obtained by obtaining a test amount based on the satellite position and pseudorange used in the positioning calculation in the means and the position of the user obtained by the normal positioning means and monitoring the change. From the means used to detect the occurrence of a failure in one of the positioning satellites and the positioning satellites used for positioning calculation in the normal positioning means, The above-mentioned calibration amount is obtained by excluding any one of them alternately, and the positioning satellite in which a failure has occurred is identified as a failed satellite by comparing the obtained multiple tested amounts, and normal positioning is performed when the failed satellite is identified. Means for shifting from the positioning calculation by the means to the positioning calculation by the auxiliary positioning means, and the pseudo range error of the failed satellite based on the position of the user obtained by the auxiliary positioning means, the pseudo range of the failed satellite, and the clock bias component of the pseudo range. And a means for determining that the faulty satellite has recovered from the fault when the pseudorange error of the faulty satellite falls below a predetermined level, and shifting from the positioning calculation by the auxiliary positioning means to the positioning calculation by the normal positioning means. A satellite positioning device comprising: