Zhang Zhiteng, Li Bofeng, Nie Liangwei, Wei Chunxiao, Jia Song, Jiang Shiqi
China has recently established the primary constellation of BeiDou-3 global navigation satellite system (BDS-3). It is necessary to conduct a comprehensive assessment about its performance. The signal quality, ambiguity resolution efficiency and real-time kinematic (RTK) performance are assessed based on the datasets collected with two Trimble Alloy receivers that can track all open signals of BDS-3. Then, the precise point positioning (PPP) using combined BDS-2 and BDS-3 measurements is compared with the PPP using BDS-2 only, where the precise satellite orbits and clocks are determined using 116 globally distributed monitor stations. The results show that the signal quality of BDS-3 is generally better than that of BDS-2. Also, the ambiguity resolution efficiency of RTK is improved by incorporating the BDS-3 measurements with success rate improving from 88.5 to 91.4%. Regarding PPP, the convergence time is shortened from about an hour to less than half an hour, while the positioning accuracy is also improved significantly.