Accuracy analysis of UAV coordinates using EGNOS and SDCM augmentation systems

SBAS systems are applied in precise positioning of UAV. The paper presents the results of studies on the improvement of UAV positioning with the use of the EGNOS+SDCM solutions. In particular, the article focuses on the application of the model of totaling the SBAS positioning accuracy to improve the accuracy of determining the coordinates of UAVs during the realisation of a test flight. The developed algorithm takes into account the position errors determined from the EGNOS and SDCM solutions. as well as the linear coefficients that are used in the linear combination model. The research was based on data from GPS observations and SBAS corrections from the AsteRx-m2 UAS receiver installed on a Tailsitter platform. The tests were conducted in September 2020 in northern Poland. The application of the proposed algorithm that sums up the positioning accuracy of EGNOS and SDCM allowed for the improvement of the accuracy of determining the position of the UAV by 82-87% in comparison to the application of either only EGNOS or SDCM. Apart from that, another important result of the application of the proposed algorithm was the reduction of outlier positioning errors that reduced the accuracy of the positioning of UAV when a single SBAS solution (EGNOS or SDCM) was used. The study also presents the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in terms of calculating the accuracy of EGNOS+SDCM positioning for the weighted average model. The developed algorithm may be used in research conducted on other SBAS supporting systems.