Monitoring storm-enhanced density using IGS reference station data

Storm-enhanced density (SED) is a geomagnetic storm phenomenon, characterized by a plume of enhanced total electron content (TEC) that initially moves poleward and sunward extending out from a larger region of enhanced TEC in the mid-latitudes. SED is associated with extreme mid-latitude space weather effects. Sharp gradients in the TEC are found along the borders of SED plumes and at the boundaries of the larger TEC region (the base of the plume). These large TEC gradients can cause significant errors in DGPS and WADGPS positioning and can result in serious consequences for applications such as railway control, highway traffic management, emergency response, commercial aviation and marine navigation, all of which require high precision, real-time positioning. Data from the global IGS network of GPS receivers have enabled the spatial and temporal visualization of these SED plumes, allowing ionospheric researchers to study this phenomenon and investigate the potential for developing prediction techniques and real-time warning systems. GPS TEC maps provided by analysis of the data from the IGS network have now been widely disseminated throughout the atmospheric research community and have become one of the standard means of studying the effects of geomagnetic storms on the ionosphere. These maps have enabled researchers to identify that the SED phenomenon occurs globally, is associated with large TEC gradients (at times greater than 100 TEC units per degree latitude), and is a magnetically conjugate phenomenon. This paper reports on the recent advances in our understanding of the SED phenomenon enabled by GPS observations.     

Precise Real-Time Positioning in WADGPS Networks

In recent years the importance of real-time positioning and navigation with the Global Positioning System (GPS) has grown rapidly. Starting from the establishment of differential GPS (DGPS) reference stations for marine and land navigation, new users and applications have emerged that resulted in a high demand for the establishment of a high-density network of reference stations around the world. Many countries have established their own DGPS service, which is either governmentally or commercially owned. These services are referred to as Local Area DGPS Systems (LADGPS). However, the costs for the establishment and maintenance of a dense network of reference stations are very high. Therefore Wide Area DGPS Systems (WADGPS) are being developed to overcome the main drawbacks of LADGPS. In this case, only a few reference stations are used to cover a large area, such s a continent like Europe. To achieve high positioning accuracies, real-time modeling of the main error sources for long-range baselines is required as errors in the satellite orbit and ionospheric refraction do not cancel entirely in double differencing. In this article, a real-time correction model based on the Kalman filter for WADGPS and networked LADGPS services is discussed and results of field tests in a WADGPS network in Europe are presented. ? 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Algorithm for carrier-adjusted DGPS positioning and some numerical results

This paper derives a DGPS positioning algorithm, referred to as the algorithm for carrier-adjusted DGPS positioning. This algorithm can be applied by a DGPS user when code and carrier observations are available and when the dynamic behaviours of both mobile positions and receiver-clock biases can and cannot be modelled. Since the algorithm directly uses code and carrier observations, the stochastic model of observations has a simple structure and can be easily specified. When the dynamic behaviour of mobile positions can be modelled, the algorithm can provide recursive solutions of the positions, on the other hand, when the behaviour cannot be modelled, it can provide their instantaneous solutions. Furthermore, the algorithm can integrate with a real-time quality-control procedure so that the quality of the position estimates can be guaranteed with a certain probability. Since in the use of the algorithm there always exist redundant observations unless the position parameters are inestimable, the quality control can even be performed when only four satellites are tracked. Using the algorithm and real GPS data collected at a 100-km baseline, this contribution investigates how DGPS positioning accuracies vary with the type of observables used at reference and mobile stations, and how important it is to choose an elevation-dependent standard deviation for code observations in DGPS data reduction. It was found that using carrier observations along with code observations is more important at the reference station than at the mobile station. Choosing an elevation-dependent standard deviation for code observations can result in better positioning accuracy than choosing a constant standard deviation for code observations. For the 100-km baseline, half-metre single-epoch positioning accuracy was achieved when dual-frequency data was used at both reference and mobile stations. The positioning accuracy became better than 0.75m when the types of observable used at the mobile station were replaced by L1 code and carrier. Received: 9 April 1996 / Accepted: 6 February 1997     

Performance of various predicted GNSS global ionospheric maps relative to GPS and JASON TEC data

When using predicted total electron content (TEC) products to generate preliminary real-time global ionospheric maps (GIMs), validation of these ionospheric predicted products is essential. In this study, we evaluate the accuracy of five predicted GIMs, provided by the international GNSS service (IGS), over continental and oceanic regions during the period from September 2009 to September 2015. Over continental regions, the GPS TEC data collected from 41 IGS continuous tracking stations are used as a reference data set. Over oceanic regions, the TEC data from the JASON altimeter are used for comparison. An initial performance comparison between the IGS combined final GIM product and the predicted GIMs is also included in this study. The evaluation results show that the predicted GIMs produced by CODE outperform the other predicted GIMs for all three validation results. The accuracy of the 1-day predicted GIMs, produced by the IGS associate analysis centers (IAACs), is higher than that of the 2-day predicted GIMs. Compared to the 2-day UPC predicted GIMs, the 2-day ESA predicted GIMs are observed to have slightly worse performances over ocean regions and better positioning performances over continental regions.     

电离层电子浓度总含量梯度对GPS差分定位精度的影响

针对GPS定位测量的信号传播路径误差,分析了电离层电子浓度总含量梯度对差分定位精度的影响,利用L1载波重点讨论了1999年-2000年太阳活动期间低纬度赤道异常地区GPS差分定位精度的问题,同时验证对于长基线采用GPS广域差分技术可以使电离层定位误差得到明显提高。     

单站区域电离层TEC建模及精度分析

为了分析单站区域电离层总电子含量(total electron content,TEC)模型的适用范围和精度,基于2～15阶次球谐函数,分别建立了欧洲区域16个单站区域电离层TEC模型,生成了区域格网TEC,并与欧洲定轨中心(Center for Orbit Determination in Europe,CODE)、...     

Real-time clock offset prediction with an improved model

The GPS orbit precision of the IGS ultra-rapid predicted (IGU-P) products has been remarkably improved since 2007. However, the satellite clock offsets of the IGU-P products have not shown sufficient high-quality prediction to achieve sub-decimeter precision in real-time precise point positioning (RTPPP), being at the level of 1–3 ns (30–90 cm) RMS in recent years. An improved prediction model for satellite clocks is proposed in order to enhance the precision of predicted clock offsets. First, the proposed prediction model adds a few cyclic terms to absorb the periodic effects, and a time adaptive function is used to adjust the weight of the observation in the prediction model. Second, initial deviations of the predictions are reduced by using a recomputed constant term. The simulation results have shown that the proposed prediction model can give a better performance than the IGU-P clock products and can achieve precision better than 0.55 ns (16.5 cm) in real-time predictions. In addition, the RTPPP method was chosen to test the efficiency of the new model for real-time static and kinematic positioning. The numerical examples using the data set of 140 IGS stations show that the static RTPPP precision based on the proposed clock model has been improved about 22.8 and 41.5 % in the east and height components compared to the IGU-P clock products, while the precisions in the north components are the equal. The kinematic example using three IGS stations shows that the kinematic RTPPP precision based on the proposed clock model has improved about 30, 72 and 44 % in the east, north and height components.     

基于球谐函数区域电离层模型建立

利用GPS双频观测数据建立高精度、准实时的区域电离层总电子含量(TEC)模型是电离层研究的一个重要手段。文中探讨IGS观测站数据结合4阶球谐函数建立区域电离层格网模型的方法,并对硬件延迟(DCB)和TEC建模结果的可靠性进行分析,结果表明,DCB解算精度在0.4ns以内,TEC内外精度优于1.4TECU(1TECU=1016电子数/m2)和1.5TECU,满足导航定位中电离层改正的需要。     

基于PANDA软件的实时精密单点定位研究

基于PANDA软件，研究了全球以及中国境内实施实时精密单点定位的模式及可行性。实际数据分析结果显示，采用IGS中心提供的超快速预报星历（Ultra—BRD），利用全球40个左右均匀分布的IGS站实时数据，PANDA软件实现了10～20cm精度的实时精密单点定位；国内仅需6～7个测站的实时观测数据，PANDA软件就可以提供全国范围精度为10～20cm的实时精密单点定位服务。     

URTK: undifferenced network RTK positioning

Standard network RTK has been widely used since it was proposed in the mid-1990s. Rovers can obtain high-precision estimates of position by resolving double-differenced (DD) ambiguities. The focus of this study is a new undifferenced network RTK method, abbreviated as URTK hereafter, based on undifferenced (UD) observation corrections whose single-differenced (SD) ambiguities between satellites can be resolved in several seconds. The tools for studying the real-time realization of the new method are our developments of logical schemes that have the capability for the real-time modeling of a reference network and the instantaneous resolution of SD ionosphere-free (IF) ambiguities at a single station. This research demonstrates the validity of modeling regional UD-unmodeled errors on the ground and examines the maximum differences when compared to modeling the errors using ionospheric pierce points (IPP). With data collected at 48 stations from a CORS network in Shanxi Province (SXCORS) in China through May 21, 2010, the efficiency of the presented real-time strategies is validated using IGS final products in a postprocessing mode. The results verify that more than 83 % of SD wide-lane (WL) ambiguity can be fixed with 5 s of observation data, and the average resolution time of all the WL tests is 4.96 s. More than 80 % of SD L1 ambiguity can be fixed within 5 s, and the average resolution time is only 6.66 s. Rovers could gain rapidly centimeter-level absolute positioning service, comparable to standard network RTK. In addition, the URTK method transforms the fixed DD-ambiguities of the reference network into UD-ambiguities, and it does not need to set the base station and base satellite. Since the UD-corrections are modeled for each common visible satellite, it breaks down the connections between stations and satellites of the DD-corrections in the current network RTK. The UD-corrections can be broadcast by the base station and automatically selected and optimized by a rover during the real-time kinematic processing, thus avoiding ambiguity in reinitialization due to the change of reference, so it should be very flexible and useful for a wide range of applications.     

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.     

GPS星历精度对精密单点定位的影响

精密单点定位的实质就是利用精密星历和精密卫星钟改正来实现单机精密定位。本文简要地介绍了精密单点定位的原理及技术关键,在此基础上,分析了IGS目前提供的3种精密星历(IGF、IGR、IGU)的精度和时延性。根据实验数据进一步分析了3种精密星历对精密单点定位精度的影响。通过精度分析,得出利用IGS的超快星历也可以达到厘米级定位精度,为全球厘米级单站RTK提供了有益的参考。     

Two-step method for the determination of the differential code biases of COMPASS satellites

The differential code bias (DCB) in satellites of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) should be precisely corrected when designing certain applications, such as ionospheric remote sensing, precise point positioning, and time transfer. In the case of COMPASS system, the data used for estimating DCB are currently only available from a very limited number of global monitoring stations. However, the current GPS/GLONASS satellite DCB estimation methods generally require a large amount of geographically well-distributed data for modeling the global ionospheric vertical total electron content (TEC) and are not particularly suitable for current COMPASS use. Moreover, some satellites with unstable DCB (i.e., relatively large scatter) may affect other satellite DCB estimates through the zero-mean reference that is currently imposed on all satellites. In order to overcome the inadequacy of data sources and to reduce the impact of unstable DCB, a new approach, designated IGGDCB, is developed for COMPASS satellite DCB determination. IGG stands for the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, which is located in Wuhan, China. In IGGDCB, the ionospheric vertical TEC of each individual station is independently modeled by a generalized triangular series function, and the satellite DCB reference is selected using an iterative DCB elimination process. By comparing GPS satellite DCB estimates calculated by the IGGDCB approach based on only a handful (e.g., seven) of tracking stations against that calculated by the currently existing methods based on hundreds of tracking stations, we are able to demonstrate that the accuracies of the IGGDCB-based DCB estimates perform at the level of about 0.13 and 0.10?ns during periods of high (2001) and low (2009) solar activity, respectively. The iterative method for DCB reference selection is verified by statistical tests that take into account the day-to-day scatter and the duration that the satellites have spent in orbit. The results show that the impact of satellites with unstable DCB can be considerably reduced using the IGGDCB method. It is also confirmed that IGGDCB is not only specifically valid for COMPASS but also for all other GNSS.     

Evaluation of NTCM-BC and a proposed modification for single-frequency positioning

Ionospheric delay is a dominant factor that affects the accuracy of single-frequency positioning. Thus, an empirical ionospheric model with high accuracy is very important for single-frequency users. This study proposes a modified empirical broadcast ionospheric model, called MNTCM-BC, based on the Neustrelitz Total Electron Content (TEC) broadcast model NTCM-BC. Nine daily ionospheric coefficients of these models are estimated using datasets of the previous day from 30 globally distributed Global Navigation Satellite System monitor stations, and the prediction performance of the MNTCM-BC is evaluated with the datasets of the current day from all 300 verification stations. The results show that the complex behavior of the ionosphere is well described by the MNTCM-BC, including the visibility of two ionization crests on both sides of the geomagnetic equator and the TEC variations that depend on the local time and geomagnetic latitude. In terms of the prediction accuracy, compared with the NTCM-BC, the main improvement in the MNTCM-BC is achieved in summer, whereas the accuracy is comparable in other seasons. Hence, the following analyses are focused on summer. In the low-solar activity year of 2009, the prediction accuracy of the MNTCM-BC is improved by 0.11 TECU compared with that of the NTCM-BC. As to the high-solar activity year of 2014, the corresponding improvement is 0.35 TECU. In addition, when the number of monitor stations is increased from 30 to 300, the prediction accuracy of two models can be slightly improved by 0.06 TECU in 2009 and 0.13 TECU in 2014, respectively, while reliability enhances. Furthermore, the average three-dimensional positioning accuracy of 160 globally distributed stations for single-frequency point positioning using the Klobuchar model, the NTCM-BC and the MNTCM-BC is 1.83, 1.21 and 1.20 m during quiet day and 3.15, 2.31 and 2.21 m during perturbed day, respectively. Relative to the Klobuchar model and the NTCM-BC, the average accuracy improvements in the MNTCM-BC are about 30 and 3%, respectively.     

Assessment of correct fixing rate for precise point positioning ambiguity resolution on a global scale

Ambiguity resolution (AR) for a single receiver has been a popular topic in Global Positioning System (GPS) recently. Ambiguity-resolution methods for precise point positioning (PPP) have been well documented in recent years, demonstrating that it can improve the accuracy of PPP. However, users are often concerned about the reliability of ambiguity-fixed PPP solution in practical applications. If ambiguities are fixed to wrong integers, large errors would be introduced into position estimates. In this paper, we aim to assess the correct fixing rate (CFR), i.e., number of ambiguities correctly fixing to the total number of ambiguities correctly and incorrectly fixing, for PPP user ambiguity resolution on a global scale. A practical procedure is presented to evaluate the CFR of PPP user ambiguity resolution. GPS data of the first 3 days in each month of 2010 from about 390 IGS stations are used for experiments. Firstly, we use GPS data collected from about 320 IGS stations to estimate global single-differenced (SD) wide-lane and narrow-lane satellite uncalibrated phase delays (UPDs). The quality of UPDs is evaluated. We found that wide-lane UPD estimates have a rather small standard deviation (Std) between 0.003 and 0.004 cycles while most of Std of narrow-lane estimates are from 0.01 to 0.02 cycles. Secondly, many experiments have been conducted to investigate the CFR of integer ambiguity resolution we can achieve under different conditions, including reference station density, observation session length and the ionospheric activity. The results show that the CFR of PPP can exceed 98.0 % with only 1 h of observations for most user stations. No obvious correlation between the CFR and the reference station density is found. Therefore, nearly homogeneous CFR can be achieved in PPP AR for global users. At user end, higher CFR could be achieved with longer observations. The average CFR for 30-min, 1-h, 2-h and 4-h observation is 92.3, 98.2, 99.5 and 99.7 %, respectively. In order to get acceptable CFR, 1 h is a recommended minimum observation time. Furthermore, the CFR of PPP can be affected by diurnal variation and geomagnetic latitude variation in the ionosphere. During one day at the hours when rapid ionospheric variations occur or in low geomagnetic latitude regions where equatorial electron density irregularities are produced relatively frequently, a significant degradation of the CFR is demonstrated.     

区域CORS在线定位系统设计与实现

目前我国大部分省市已建立连续运行参考站系统且获得大量观测成果,但是由于涉及到数据保密问题,CORS系统成果的利用仍局限于政府部门。文中以已有CORS在线服务系统软件架构为基础,加入用户参数设置及结果分析模块,研发区域CORS在线定位系统(Regional CORS Online Positioning System,RCOPS)。由于区域CORS基准站密度大于IGS站密度,降低基准站与用户站的距离,有利于削弱站间距离相关误差,从而提高相对定位精度。经过实际数据测试,得出RCOPS系统(基准站与待定点平均距离51km)精度在XYZ方向上可以达到毫米级,高于使用IGS站作为基准站(IGS站与待定点距离大于500km)进行事后定位的精度。     

北斗三号全球导航卫星系统全球广播电离层延迟修正模型(BDGIM)应用性能评估

2020年6月23日,我国北斗三号全球导航卫星系统正式完成星座全球组网.北斗三号全球导航卫星系统采用新一代全球广播电离层延迟修正模型(BDGIM),为用户提供电离层延迟改正服务.本文利用高精度全球电离层格网(GIM)以及实测BDS/GPS数据提供的电离层TEC作为参考,从延迟改正精度及北斗单频伪距单点定位应用、模型系数...     

Multi-GNSS precise point positioning (MGPPP) using raw observations

A joint-processing model for multi-GNSS (GPS, GLONASS, BDS and GALILEO) precise point positioning (PPP) is proposed, in which raw code and phase observations are used. In the proposed model, inter-system biases (ISBs) and GLONASS code inter-frequency biases (IFBs) are carefully considered, among which GLONASS code IFBs are modeled as a linear function of frequency numbers. To get the full rank function model, the unknowns are re-parameterized and the estimable slant ionospheric delays and ISBs/IFBs are derived and estimated simultaneously. One month of data in April, 2015 from 32 stations of the International GNSS Service (IGS) Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) tracking network have been used to validate the proposed model. Preliminary results show that RMS values of the positioning errors (with respect to external double-difference solutions) for static/kinematic solutions (four systems) are 6.2 mm/2.1 cm (north), 6.0 mm/2.2 cm (east) and 9.3 mm/4.9 cm (up). One-day stabilities of the estimated ISBs described by STD values are 0.36 and 0.38 ns, for GLONASS and BDS, respectively. Significant ISB jumps are identified between adjacent days for all stations, which are caused by the different satellite clock datums in different days and for different systems. Unlike ISBs, the estimated GLONASS code IFBs are quite stable for all stations, with an average STD of 0.04 ns over a month. Single-difference experiment of short baseline shows that PPP ionospheric delays are more precise than traditional leveling ionospheric delays.     

Ambiguity resolved precise point positioning with GPS and BeiDou

This paper focuses on the contribution of the global positioning system (GPS) and BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) observations to precise point positioning (PPP) ambiguity resolution (AR). A GPS + BDS fractional cycle bias (FCB) estimation method and a PPP AR model were developed using integrated GPS and BDS observations. For FCB estimation, the GPS + BDS combined PPP float solutions of the globally distributed IGS MGEX were first performed. When integrating GPS observations, the BDS ambiguities can be precisely estimated with less than four tracked BDS satellites. The FCBs of both GPS and BDS satellites can then be estimated from these precise ambiguities. For the GPS + BDS combined AR, one GPS and one BDS IGSO or MEO satellite were first chosen as the reference satellite for GPS and BDS, respectively, to form inner-system single-differenced ambiguities. The single-differenced GPS and BDS ambiguities were then fused by partial ambiguity resolution to increase the possibility of fixing a subset of decorrelated ambiguities with high confidence. To verify the correctness of the FCB estimation and the effectiveness of the GPS + BDS PPP AR, data recorded from about 75 IGS MGEX stations during the period of DOY 123-151 (May 3 to May 31) in 2015 were used for validation. Data were processed with three strategies: BDS-only AR, GPS-only AR and GPS + BDS AR. Numerous experimental results show that the time to first fix (TTFF) is longer than 6 h for the BDS AR in general and that the fixing rate is usually less than 35 % for both static and kinematic PPP. An average TTFF of 21.7 min and 33.6 min together with a fixing rate of 98.6 and 97.0 % in static and kinematic PPP, respectively, can be achieved for GPS-only ambiguity fixing. For the combined GPS + BDS AR, the average TTFF can be shortened to 16.9 min and 24.6 min and the fixing rate can be increased to 99.5 and 99.0 % in static and kinematic PPP, respectively. Results also show that GPS + BDS PPP AR outperforms single-system PPP AR in terms of convergence time and position accuracy.     

Estimation and evaluation of real-time precipitable water vapor from GLONASS and GPS

The revitalized Russian GLONASS system provides new potential for real-time retrieval of zenith tropospheric delays (ZTD) and precipitable water vapor (PWV) in order to support time-critical meteorological applications such as nowcasting or severe weather event monitoring. In this study, we develop a method of real-time ZTD/PWV retrieval based on GLONASS and/or GPS observations. The performance of ZTD and PWV derived from GLONASS data using real-time precise point positioning (PPP) technique is carefully investigated and evaluated. The potential of combining GLONASS and GPS data for ZTD/PWV retrieving is assessed as well. The GLONASS and GPS observations of about half a year for 80 globally distributed stations from the IGS (International GNSS Service) network are processed. The results show that the real-time GLONASS ZTD series agree quite well with the GPS ZTD series in general: the RMS of ZTD differences is about 8 mm (about 1.2 mm in PWV). Furthermore, for an inter-technique validation, the real-time ZTD estimated from GLONASS-only, GPS-only, and the GPS/GLONASS combined solutions are compared with those derived from very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) at colocated GNSS/VLBI stations. The comparison shows that GLONASS can contribute to real-time meteorological applications, with almost the same accuracy as GPS. More accurate and reliable water vapor values, about 1.5–2.3 mm in PWV, can be achieved when GLONASS observations are combined with the GPS ones in the real-time PPP data processing. The comparison with radiosonde data further confirms the performance of GLONASS-derived real-time PWV and the benefit of adding GLONASS to stand-alone GPS processing.