Ionospheric tomography using GNSS: multiplicative algebraic reconstruction technique applied to the area of Brazil

Experimental analysis was performed using multiplicative algebraic reconstruction technique (MART) to map the ionosphere over Brazil. Code and phase observations from the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) together with the international reference ionosphere (IRI) enabled the estimation of ionospheric profiles and total electron content (TEC) over the entire region. Twenty-four days of data collected from existing ground-based GNSS receivers during the recent solar maximum period were used to analyze the performance of the MART algorithm. The results were compared with four ionosondes. It was demonstrated that MART estimated the electron density peak with the same degree of accuracy as the IRI model in regions with appropriate geometrical coverage by GNSS receivers for tomographic reconstruction. In addition, the slant TEC, as estimated with MART, presented lower root-mean-square error than the TEC calculated by ionospheric maps available from the International GNSS Service (IGS). Furthermore, the daily variations of the ionosphere were better represented with the algebraic techniques, compared to the IRI model and IGS maps, enabling a correlation of the elevation of the ionosphere at higher altitudes with the equatorial ionization anomaly intensification. The tomographic representations also enabled the detection of high vertical gradients at the same instants in which ionospheric irregularities were evident.     

电离层闪烁对全球导航卫星系统（GNSS）的定位影响分析

电离层闪烁是影响卫星导航系统定位性能的重要因素之一,中国南方区域是全球电离层闪烁多发区之一,开展电离层闪烁对卫星导航系统性能的影响研究具有重要意义。利用中国区域的电离层闪烁数据和GPS测量数据,对电离层闪烁情况下的用户定位性能进行了比较分析,发现电离层闪烁将引起用户定位误差的普遍增大,严重时可能出现定位异常,电离层闪烁对不同的定位应用方式具有不同程度的影响,电离层闪烁对卫星导航系统的多种影响是卫星导航系统的重要威胁之一。     

GNSS电离层TEC和闪烁接收机监测

GAMIT／GLOBK是全球应用最广泛的高精度GPS数据处理软件之一,不仅在高精度定位方面得到应用,而且在全球地壳板块运动监测、电离层监测和GPS气象学等领域也得到广泛应用。本文介绍了在Windows7系统下实现Ubunru Kylin16.04桌面版系统的安装,并在Ubuntu Kylin系统平台下安装、更新最新版GAMIT／GLOBK10.60,并利用中国及其周边IGS站观测数据进行基线解算和网平差,验证了软件安装的正确性。      

电离层闪烁对卫星导航系统性能影响的仿真分析

电离层闪烁是影响卫星导航系统定位性能的重要因素之一。通过仿真方法对中国区域用户定位性能受电离层闪烁影响的情况进行分析研究。结合电离层闪烁模型、卫星导航接收机模型和用户定位算法,仿真了中国区域内卫星导航系统用户在电离层闪烁存在情况下的定位精度性能。仿真结果表明：电离层闪烁将引起用户接收机测量误差的增大,在受电离层闪烁影响严重的中国低纬地区,用户定位误差将有明显增大,严重时可能出现定位异常。     

Performance of the L2C civil GPS signal under various ionospheric scintillation effects

As GPS is modernizing, there are currently fourteen satellites transmitting L2C civil code and seven satellites transmitting L5 signal. While the GPS observables are subject to several sources of errors, the ionosphere is one of the largest error sources affecting GPS signals. Small irregularities in the electrons density along the GPS radio signal propagation path cause ionospheric scintillation that is characterized by rapid fluctuations in the signal amplitude and phase. The ionospheric scintillation effects are stronger in equatorial and high-latitude geomagnetic latitude regions and occur mainly due to equatorial anomaly and solar storms. Several researchers have analyzed the L2C signal quality since becoming available in December, 2005. We analyze the performance of L2C using GPS data from stations in the equatorial region of Brazil, which is subject of weak, moderate and strong ionospheric scintillation conditions. The GPS data were collected by Septentrio PolaRxS–PRO receivers as part of the CIGALA/CALIBRA network. The analysis was performed as a function of scintillations indexes S4 and Phi60, lock time (time interval in seconds that the carrier phase is tracked continuously without cycle slips), multipath RMS and position variation of precise point positioning solutions. The analysis shows that L2C code solutions are less affected by multipath effects than that of P2 when data are collected under weak ionospheric scintillation effects. In terms of analysis of positions, the kinematic PPP results using L2C instead P2 codes show accuracy improvements up to 33 % in periods of weak or strong ionospheric scintillation. When combining phase and code collected under weak scintillation effects, the results by applying L2C against P2 provide improvement in accuracy up to 59 %. However, for data under strong scintillation effects, the use of L2C for PPP with code and phase does not provide improvements in the positioning accuracy.     

The ionosphere: effects,GPS modeling and the benefits for space geodetic techniques

The main goal of this paper is to provide a summary of our current knowledge of the ionosphere as it relates to space geodetic techniques, especially the most informative technology, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), specifically the fully deployed and operational global positioning system (GPS). As such, the main relevant modeling points are discussed, and the corresponding results of ionospheric monitoring are related, which were mostly computed using GPS data and based on the direct experience of the authors. We address various phenomena such as horizontal and vertical ionospheric morphology in quiet conditions, traveling ionospheric disturbances, solar flares, ionospheric storms and scintillation. Finally, we also tackle the question of how improved knowledge of ionospheric conditions, especially in terms of an accurate understanding of the distribution of free electrons, can improve space geodetic techniques at different levels, such as higher-order ionospheric effects, precise GNSS navigation, single-antenna GNSS orientation and real-time GNSS meteorology.     

卫星导航可用性监测技术

随着全球卫星导航系统（GNSS）的不断完善和在各领域的不断推广运用,导航系统的重要性日益增大,导航系统是否可用,直接影响到用户的体验甚至用户的安全.本文论述了卫星导航系统可用性监测相关技术,主要从卫星系统完好性监测、电离层闪烁监测技术和电磁环境监测三个方面分别进行论述.      

电离层闪烁对接收机的影响

导航信号经过电子密度不均匀的电离层时,信号的幅度和相位会产生快速随机起伏,即为电离层闪烁。电离层闪烁对接收机信号捕获跟踪以及解调定位都有一定的影响,本文采用理论和仿真的方法分析了电离层闪烁对I,Q支路以及跟踪环路的影响。结果表明:相位闪烁对信号I,Q支路均有影响,幅度闪烁对I支路的影响比较大,在相位闪烁比较强或者幅度闪烁比较强的区域,信号更难跟踪处理。弱闪烁时锁相环(PLL)的跟踪门限约29 dBHz,延迟锁定环路(DLL)的跟踪门限约为20.2 dBHz,强闪烁时PLL跟踪门限约为32 dBHz,DLL的跟踪门限约为22 dBHz。相比而言,载波跟踪环路更加脆弱。同时得到,闪烁越强,载波发生周跳的概率越大,载噪比越高,抗闪烁能力越强。      

Robust multiple update-rate Kalman filter for new generation navigation signals carrier tracking

GPS Solutions - The study of ionospheric scintillation has played a critical role in ionospheric research and also in satellite positioning. This is due to the growing influence of GNSS in...     

Climatological study of ionospheric irregularities over the European mid-latitude sector with GPS

High-frequency variability of the ionosphere, or irregularities, constitutes the main threat for real-time precise positioning techniques based on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) measurements. Indeed, during periods of enhanced ionospheric variability, GNSS users in the field—who cannot verify the integrity of their measurements—will experience positioning errors that can reach several decimeters, while the nominal accuracy of the technique is cm-level. In the frame of this paper, a climatological analysis of irregularities over the European mid-latitude region is presented. Based on a 10 years GPS dataset over Belgium, the work analyzes the occurrence rate (as a function of the solar cycle, season and local time) as well as the amplitude of ionospheric irregularities observed at a single GPS station. The study covers irregularities either due to space weather events (solar origin) or of terrestrial origin. If space weather irregularities are responsible for the largest effects in terms of ionospheric error, their occurrence rate highly depends on solar activity. Indeed, the occurrence rate of ionospheric irregularities is about 9 % during solar maximum, whereas it drops to about 0 % during medium or low solar activity periods. Medium-scale ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) occurring during daytime in autumn/winter are the most recurrent pattern of the time series, with yearly proportions slightly varying with the solar cycle and an amplitude of about 10 % of the TEC background. Another recurrent irregularity type, though less frequent than MSTIDs, is the noise-like variability in TEC observed during summer nighttime, under quiet geomagnetic conditions. These summer nighttime irregularities exhibit amplitudes ranging between 8 and 15 % of the TEC background.     

Ionospheric effects on relative positioning within a dense GPS network

Local variability in total electron content can seriously affect the accuracy of GNSS real-time applications. We have developed software to compute the positioning error due to the ionosphere for all baselines of the Belgian GPS network, called the Active Geodetic Network (AGN). In a first step, a reference day has been chosen to validate the methodology by comparing results with the nominal accuracy of relative positioning at centimeter level. Then, the effects of two types of ionospheric disturbances on the positioning error have been analyzed: (1) Traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) and (2) noise-like variability due to geomagnetic storms. The influence of baseline length on positioning error has been analyzed for these three cases. The analysis shows that geomagnetic storms induce the largest positioning error (more than 2 m for a 20 km baseline) and that the positioning error depends on the baseline orientation. Baselines oriented parallel to the propagation direction of the ionospheric disturbances are more affected than others. The positioning error due to ionospheric small-scale structures can be so identified by our method, which is not always the case with the modern ionosphere mitigation techniques. In the future, this ionospheric impact formulation could be considered in the development of an integrity monitoring service for GNSS relative positioning users.     

GNSS电离层监测研究进展与展望

电离层作为近地空间环境的重要组成部分,对电波通信、卫星导航定位等都有重要影响。监测电离层形态结构有助于对电离层时空演化特征的理解及其建模和预测。随着全球导航卫星系统(global navigation satellite system,GNSS)的快速发展,GNSS电离层监测已成为重要的研究和应用方向。系统介绍了GNSS多维电离层监测及其应用的研究现状和进展,主要包括空基/地基GNSS联合反演电离层特征参数、层析技术反演电离层三维结构、电离层延迟建模、电离层异常扰动监测及机理认知等内容。     

Application of SWACI products as ionospheric correction for single-point positioning: a comparative study

In Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) using L-band frequencies, the ionosphere causes signal delays that correspond with link related range errors of up to 100 m. In a first order approximation the range error is proportional to the total electron content (TEC) of the ionosphere. Whereas this first order range error can be corrected in dual-frequency measurements by a linear combination of carrier phase- or code-ranges of both frequencies, single-frequency users need additional information to mitigate the ionospheric error. This information can be provided by TEC maps deduced from corresponding GNSS measurements or by ionospheric models. In this paper we discuss and compare different ionospheric correction methods for single-frequency users. The focus is on the comparison of the positioning quality using dual-frequency measurements, the Klobuchar model, the NeQuick model, the IGS TEC maps, the Neustrelitz TEC Model (NTCM-GL) and the reconstructed NTCM-GL TEC maps both provided via the ionosphere data service SWACI (http://swaciweb.dlr.de) in near real-time. For that purpose, data from different locations covering several days in 2011 and 2012 are investigated, including periods of quiet and disturbed ionospheric conditions. In applying the NTCM-GL based corrections instead of the Klobuchar model, positioning accuracy improvements up to several meters have been found for the European region in dependence on the ionospheric conditions. Further in mid- and low-latitudes the NTCM-GL model provides results comparable to NeQuick during the considered time periods. Moreover, in regions with a dense GNSS ground station network the reconstructed NTCM-GL TEC maps are partly at the same level as the final IGS TEC maps.     

Improved precise point positioning in the presence of ionospheric scintillation

Ionospheric disturbances can be detrimental to accuracy and reliability of GNSS positioning. We focus on how ionospheric scintillation induces significant degradation to Precise Point Positioning (PPP) and how to improve the performance of PPP during ionospheric scintillation periods. We briefly describe these problems and give the physical explanation of highly correlated phenomenon of degraded PPP estimates and occurrence of ionospheric scintillation. Three possible reasons can contribute to significant accuracy degradation in the presence of ionospheric scintillation: (a) unexpected loss of lock of tracked satellites which greatly reduces the available observations and considerably weakens the geometry, (b) abnormal blunders which are not properly mitigated by positioning programs, and (c) failure of cycle slip detection algorithms due to the high rate of total electronic content. The latter two reasons are confirmed as the major causes of sudden accuracy degradation by means of a comparative analysis. To reduce their adverse effect on positioning, an improved approach based on a robust iterative Kalman filter is adopted to enhance the PPP performance. Before the data enter the filter, the differential code biases are used for GNSS data quality checking. Any satellite whose C1–P1 and P1–P2 biases exceed 10 and 30 m, respectively, will be rejected. Both the Melbourne–Wubbena and geometry-free combination are used for cycle slip detection. But the thresholds are set more flexibly when ionospheric conditions become unusual. With these steps, most of the outliers and cycle slips can be effectively detected, and a first PPP estimation can be carried out. Furthermore, an iterative PPP estimator is utilized to mitigate the remaining gross errors and cycle slips which will be reflected in the posterior residuals. Further validation tests based on extensive experiments confirm our physical explanation and the new approach. The results show that the improved approach effectively avoids a large number of ambiguity resets which would otherwise be necessary. It reduces the number of re-parameterized phase ambiguities by approximately half, without scarifying the accuracy and reliability of the PPP solution.     

Improving the GNSS positioning stochastic model in the presence of ionospheric scintillation

Ionospheric scintillations are caused by time- varying electron density irregularities in the ionosphere, occurring more often at equatorial and high latitudes. This paper focuses exclusively on experiments undertaken in Europe, at geographic latitudes between ~50°N and ~80°N, where a network of GPS receivers capable of monitoring Total Electron Content and ionospheric scintillation parameters was deployed. The widely used ionospheric scintillation indices S4 and s_j{\sigma_{\varphi}} represent a practical measure of the intensity of amplitude and phase scintillation affecting GNSS receivers. However, they do not provide sufficient information regarding the actual tracking errors that degrade GNSS receiver performance. Suitable receiver tracking models, sensitive to ionospheric scintillation, allow the computation of the variance of the output error of the receiver PLL (Phase Locked Loop) and DLL (Delay Locked Loop), which expresses the quality of the range measurements used by the receiver to calculate user position. The ability of such models of incorporating phase and amplitude scintillation effects into the variance of these tracking errors underpins our proposed method of applying relative weights to measurements from different satellites. That gives the least squares stochastic model used for position computation a more realistic representation, vis-a-vis the otherwise ‘equal weights’ model. For pseudorange processing, relative weights were com- puted, so that a ‘scintillation-mitigated’ solution could be performed and compared to the (non-mitigated) ‘equal weights’ solution. An improvement between 17 and 38% in height accuracy was achieved when an epoch by epoch differential solution was computed over baselines ranging from 1 to 750 km. The method was then compared with alternative approaches that can be used to improve the least squares stochastic model such as weighting according to satellite elevation angle and by the inverse of the square of the standard deviation of the code/carrier divergence (sigma CCDiv). The influence of multipath effects on the proposed mitigation approach is also discussed. With the use of high rate scintillation data in addition to the scintillation indices a carrier phase based mitigated solution was also implemented and compared with the conventional solution. During a period of occurrence of high phase scintillation it was observed that problems related to ambiguity resolution can be reduced by the use of the proposed mitigated solution.     

Method for evaluating real-time GNSS satellite clock offset products

Real-time satellite clock offset products are frequently utilized in navigation and positioning service fields. The precision of such products is a key issue for their application. The evaluation methods existed for satellite clock offset products are mostly based on post-processed satellite clock offset solutions, which will encounter problems in real-time product evaluation, especially for real-time satellite clock offset products estimated from data with regional stations only. We propose an improved evaluation method for global navigation satellite system (GNSS) satellite clock offset products. In the proposed method, we use all-satellite reference method instead of single-satellite reference method to eliminate the timescale in satellite clock offset products. Moreover, a preprocessing step is suggested to detect gross errors and initial clock bias before evaluating the precision of the satellite clock offsets. We conduct two examples to verify our method, and the experimental results show that the proposed method is more reasonable in assessing the GNSS satellite clock offset precision, and it also provides a reliable approach to analyzing the estimated satellite clock offset in both real-time and post-processed, or globally and regionally.     

Ionospheric correction using NTCM driven by GPS Klobuchar coefficients for GNSS applications

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) require mitigation of ionospheric propagation errors because the ionospheric range errors might be larger than tens of meters at the zenith direction. Taking advantage of the frequency-dispersive property of ionospheric refractivity, the ionospheric range errors can be mitigated in dual-frequency applications to a great extent by a linear combination of carrier phases or pseudoranges. However, single-frequency GNSS operations require additional ionospheric information to apply signal delay or range error corrections. To aid single-frequency operations, the global positioning system (GPS) broadcasts 8 coefficients as part of the navigation message to drive the ionospheric correction algorithm (ICA) also known as Klobuchar model. We presented here an ionospheric correction algorithm called Neustrelitz TEC model (NTCM) which can be used as complementary to the GPS ICA. Our investigation shows that the NTCM can be driven by Klobuchar model parameters to achieve a significantly better performance than obtained by the mother ICA algorithm. Our research, using post-processed reference total electron content (TEC) data from more than one solar cycle, shows that on average the RMS modeled TEC errors are up to 40% less for the proposed NTCM model compared to the Klobuchar model during high solar activity period, and about 10% less during low solar activity period. Such an approach does not require major technology changes for GPS users rather requires only introducing the NTCM approach a complement to the existing ICA algorithm while maintaining the simplicity of ionospheric range error mitigation with an improved model performance.     

海口地区扩展F和GPS电离层闪烁发生时间相关性分析

对2012年8月至2013年7月太阳活动高年海口地区扩展F和GPS L1频段电离层闪烁进行了发生时间相关性分析。结果表明,该地区的GPS电离层闪烁与扩展F具有较好的相关性,二者发生的相关系数为095.受太阳活动高年低纬电离层不均匀体发展演化特性和设备观测方式的影响,观测到的电离层闪烁起始时间稍早于扩展F。扩展F结束时间比电离层闪烁结束时间有所滞后,分析认为,在低纬电离层不均匀体的消亡阶段,1 km以下中小尺度的不均匀体首先消失。      

联合GNSS/LEO卫星观测数据的区域电离层建模与精度评估

高精度的电离层模型对于提高导航卫星系统的定位精度具有重要意义.低轨卫星的快速发展为建立高精度的电离层模型提供了新的契机.基于仿真数据模拟获得2017年1月1日-30日LEO (low earth orbit)和GNSS(global navigation satellite system)卫星观测数据,星座类型包括60...