A bagging tree-based pseudorange correction algorithm for global navigation satellite system positioning in foliage canyons

Abstract

Global navigation satellite system is indispensable to provide positioning, navigation, and timing information for pedestrians and vehicles in location-based services. However, tree canopies, although considered as valuable city infrastructures in urban areas, adversely degrade the accuracy of global navigation satellite system positioning as they attenuate the satellite signals. This article proposes a bagging tree-based global navigation satellite system pseudorange error prediction algorithm, by considering two variables, including carrier to noise C/ N0 and elevation angle θe to improve the global navigation satellite system positioning accuracy in the foliage area. The positioning accuracy improvement is then obtained by applying the predicted pseudorange error corrections. The experimental results shows that as the stationary character of the geostationary orbit satellites, the improvement of the prediction accuracy of the BeiDou navigation satellite system solution (85.42% in light foliage and 83.99% in heavy foliage) is much higher than that of the global positioning system solution (70.77% in light foliage and 73.61% in heavy foliage). The positioning error values in east, north, and up coordinates are improved by the proposed algorithm, especially a significant decrease in up direction. Moreover, the improvement rate of the three-dimensional root mean square error of positioning accuracy in light foliage area test is 86% for BeiDou navigation satellite system/global positioning system combination solutions, while the corresponding improvement rate is 82% for the heavy foliage area test.