Single-frequency single-site VTEC retrieval using the NeQuick2 ray tracer for obliquity factor determination

A single-frequency single-site GPS/Galileo algorithm for retrieval of absolute total electron content is implemented. A single-layer approximation of the ionosphere is used for data modeling. In addition to a standard mapping function, the NeQuick model (version 2) of the ionosphere is now applied to derive improved mapping functions. This model is very attractive for this purpose, because it implements a ray tracer. We compare the new algorithm with the old one using an effective global height of the ionosphere of 450 km. Combined IGS IONEX gridded data sets serve as reference data. On global average, we find a small improvement of 1 % in precision (standard deviation) of the NeQuick2 mapping method versus the conventional approach on global average. A site-by-site comparison indicates an improvement in the precision for 34 % of the 44 sites under investigation. The level of improvement for these stations is 0.5 TECU on average. No improvement was observed for 41 % of the sites. Further comparisons of the single (code ranges and carrier phases) versus dual-frequency (carrier phases only) single site algorithm show that dual-frequency VTEC estimation is more accurate for the majority of the stations, but only in the range of 0.3 TECU (2.6 %) in average.