Improvement of the GNSS Solution for Advanced RPAS Applications Utilizing PPP, RTK or Sensor Integration

Navigation parameters like position, velocity and attitude are essential for many RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft System) applications. However, the requirements for the navigation sensors are very high. They have to be cheap, small, and light-weighted. The actual RPAS laws in several European countries even raise the requirements regarding accuracy and reliability of the navigation solution to improve the safety of RPAS applications. Nevertheless, the standard solution for the position determination of RPAS is the so-called GNSS SPP (Single Point Positioning) method which enables a limited accuracy of a few metres only and cannot provide attitude parameters.
For many advanced RPAS applications, more accurate and reliable navigation parameters are
needed. This paper shows quite simple ways to improve the accuracy of the SPP solution for
real-time applications utilizing GNSS receivers which are capable of providing single-frequency raw-data. Furthermore, the potential of sensor integration to improve the reliability of the solution on the one hand and to enable the estimation of attitude parameters on the other hand is shown. The sensor integration is realised by combining a GNSS sensor with inertial sensors and a three-axis magnetometer.