Fusion of 5G-NR and GNSS Positioning Systems for High Accuracy Localization

The integration of 5G-new radio (NR) and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) represents a promising approach to achieving high-accuracy and robust positioning in applications such as autonomous driving (AD), uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), industrial automation, and internet of things (IoT). While standalone localization systems can provide high accuracy, they often lack availability and robustness in challenging environments. This thesis explores the hybridization of 5G-NR and GNSS to provide an enhanced positioning solution in terms of accuracy, continuity and availability. The proposed framework processes distance measurements from both technologies, leveraging their complementary characteristics to improve localization performance. By integrating the two systems in a tightly coupled multilateration technique, the framework provides a unified position estimate, overcoming limitations associated with standalone positioning systems. The study evaluates the proposed approach through simulations and realworld experiments, demonstrating its potential to enhance localization accuracy in different environments (e.g. urban, suburban and rural).