A parametric model of multipath delay errors in complex reflective environments

Abstract

In complex navigation and positioning environments such as urban areas, urban canyons, it is challenging to distinguish whether a received signal corresponds to a severely delayed multipath component or to a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) signal. To address this issue, this paper proposes a mathematical hypothesis model of ranging errors induced by multipath or NLOS propagation that is applicable to complex environments such as urban, canyon, and mountainous scenarios. The proposed model employs a simple correlation peak function to equivalently characterize the impact of code multipath or NLOS errors on the receiver correlator output, thereby avoiding the difficulties associated with explicit signal type discrimination. The results provide an important reference for analyzing GNSS signal propagation characteristics in complex navigation and positioning environments and have practical significance for the development of high-precision GNSS-based navigation and positioning systems in such challenging scenario.