A maximum likelihood-based unscented Kalman filter for multipath mitigation in a multi-correlator based GNSS receiver

In complex environments, the presence or absence of multipath signals not only depends on the relative motion between the GNSS receiver and navigation satellites, but also on the environment where the receiver is located. Thus it is difficult to use a specific propagation model to accurately capture the dynamics of multipath signal parameters when the GNSS receiver is moving in urban canyons or other severe obstructions. This paper introduces a statistical model for the line-of-sight and multipath signals received by a GNSS receiver. A multi-correlator based GNSS receiver is also exploited with the advantage to fully characterizing the impact of multipath signals on the correlation function by providing samples of the whole correlation function. Finally, a maximum likelihood-based unscented Kalman filter is investigated to estimate the line-of-sight and multipath signal parameters. Numerical simulations clearly validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.