Least-Squares Variance Component Estimation: Theory and GPS Applications

Data processing in geodetic applications often relies on the least-squares method, for which one needs a proper stochastic model of the observables. Such a realistic covariance matrix allows one first to obtain the best (minimum variance) linear unbiased estimator of the unknown parameters; second, to determine a realistic precision description of the unknowns; and, third, along with the distribution of the data, to correctly perform hypothesis testing and assess quality control measures such as reliability. In many practical applications the covariance matrix is only partly known. The covariance matrix is then usually written as an unknown linear combination of known cofactor matrices. The estimation of the unknown (co)variance components is generally referred to as variance component estimation (VCE). In this thesis we study the method of least-squares variance component estimation (LSVCE) and elaborate on theoretical and practical aspects of the method. We show that LS-VCE is a simple, flexible, and attractive VCE-method. The LS-VCE method is simple because it is based on the well-known principle of least-squares. With this method the estimation of the (co)variance components is based on a linear model of observation equations. The method is flexible since it works with a user-defined weight matrix. Different weight matrix classes can be defined which all automatically lead to unbiased estimators of (co)variance components. LS-VCE is attractive since it allows one to apply the existing body of knowledge of least-squares theory to the problem of (co)variance component estimation. With this method, one can 1) obtain measures of discrepancies in the stochastic model, 2) determine the covariance matrix of the (co)variance components, 3) obtain the minimum variance estimator of (co)variance components by choosing the weight matrix as the inverse of the covariance matrix, 4) take the a-priori information on the (co)variance component into account, 5) solve for a nonlinear (co)variance component model, 6) apply the idea of robust estimation to (co)variance components, 7) evaluate the estimability of the (co)variance components, and 8) avoid the problem of obtaining negative variance components. LS-VCE is capable of unifying many of the existing VCE-methods such as MINQUE, BIQUE, and REML, which can be recovered by making appropriate choices for the weight matrix. An important feature of the LS-VCE method is the capability of applying hypothesis testing to the stochastic model, for which we rely on the w-test, v-test, and overall model test. We aim to find an appropriate structure for the stochastic model which includes the relevant noise components into the covariance matrix. The w-test statistic is introduced to see whether or not a certain noise component is likely to be present in the observations, which consequently can be included in the stochastic model. Based on the normal distribution of the original observables we determine the mean and the variance of the w-test statistic, which are zero and one, respectively. The distribution is a linear combination of mutually independent central chi-square distributions each with one degree