Exploitation of 3D City Maps for Hybrid 5G RTT and GNSS Positioning Simulations

Abstract

The combination of fifth generation (5G) cellular technologies and Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) is envisaged to pave the way of fulfilling high-accuracy positioning requirements in future use cases. However, these positioning technologies are typically evaluated with independent simulations of statistical channel models for satellite and terrestrial links, which limit the applicability of the performance results. To circumvent this limitation, the proposed simulation method is based on using three-dimensional (3D) city maps to coherently determine the line-of-sight (LoS) conditions of the available satellite and cellular links. These consistent LoS measurements are then considered to assess a hybrid 5G round-trip time (RTT) and multi-constellation GNSS solution in a deep urban canyon. The combination of only one 5G RTT measurement with the GNSS observables significantly improves stand-alone GNSS solutions in terms of horizontal positioning accuracy and availability, achieving below 10 m in 80% of cases over deep urban conditions.