Feasibility Study of Using Mobile Laser Scanning Point Cloud Data for GNSS Line of Sight Analysis

Abstract

The positioning accuracy with good GNSS observation can easily reach centimetre level, supported by advanced GNSS technologies. However, it is still a challenge to offer a robust GNSS based positioning solution in a GNSS degraded area. The concept of GNSS shadow matching has been proposed to enhance the GNSS based position accuracy in city canyons, where the nearby high buildings block parts of the GNSS radio frequency (RF) signals. However, the results rely on the accuracy of the utilized ready-made 3D city model. In this paper, we investigate a solution to generate a GNSS shadow mask with mobile laser scanning (MLS) cloud data. The solution includes removal of noise points, determining the object which only attenuated the RF signal and extraction of the highest obstruction point, and eventually angle calculation for the GNSS shadow mask generation. By analysing the data with the proposed methodology, it is concluded that the MLS point cloud data can be used to extract the GNSS shadow mask after several steps of processing to filter out the hanging objects and the plantings without generating the accurate 3D model, which depicts the boundary of GNSS signal coverage more precisely in city canyon environments compared to traditional 3D models.