Ionospheric delay corrections for single-frequency GPS receivers over Europe using tomographic mapping

The majority of navigation satellites receivers operate on a single frequency and experience a positioning error due to the ionospheric delay. This can be compensated for using a variety of approaches that are compared in this paper. The study focuses on the last solar maximum. A 4D tomographic imaging technique is used to map the ionospheric electron density over the European region during 2002 and 2003. The electron density maps are then used to calculate the excess propagation delay on the L1 frequency experienced by GPS receivers at selected locations across Europe. The excess delay is applied to correct the pseudo-range single frequency observations at each location and the improvements to the resulting positioning are calculated. The real-time tomographic technique is shown to give navigation solutions that are better than empirical modelling methods and approach the accuracy of the full dual-frequency solution. The improvements in positioning accuracy vary from day to day depending on ionospheric conditions but can be up to 25 m during mid-day during these solar maximum conditions at European mid-latitudes.

Application of the TaiWan Ionospheric Model to single-frequency ionospheric delay corrections for GPS positioning

The performance of a three-dimensional ionospheric electron density model derived from FormoSat3/COSMIC GPS Radio Occultation measurements, called the TaiWan Ionosphere Model (TWIM), in removing the ionospheric delays in single-frequency pseudorange observations is presented. Positioning results using TWIM have been compared with positioning results using other ionospheric models, such as the Klobuchar (KLOB) and the global ionospheric model (GIM). C/A code pseudoranges have been observed at three International GPS Service reference stations that are representative of mid-latitude (BOR1 and IRKJ) and low-latitude (TWTF) regions of the ionosphere. The observations took place during 27 geomagnetically quiet days from April 2010 to October 2011. We perform separate solutions using the TWIM, KLOB, GIM ionospheric models and carry out a solution applying no ionospheric correction at all. We compute the daily mean horizontal errors (DMEAN) and the daily RMS (DRMS) for these solutions with respect to the published reference station coordinates. It has demonstrated that TEC maps generate using the TWIM exhibit a detailed structure of the ionosphere, particularly at low-latitude region, whereas the Klobuchar and the GIM only provide the basic diurnal and geographic features of the ionosphere. Also, it is shown that even for lower satellite elevations, the TWIM provides better positioning than the Klobuchar and GIM models. Specifically, using TWIM, the difference of the uncorrected solution (no ionospheric correction), and the other solutions, relative to the uncorrected solution, is 45 % for the mean horizontal error (DMEAN) and 42 % for the horizontal root-mean-square error (DRMS). Using Klobuchar and GIM, the percent for DMEAN only reaches to about 12 % and 3 %, while the values for the DRMS are only 12 and 4 %, respectively. In the vertical direction, all models have a percentage of about 99 and 70 % for the mean vertical error (VMEAN) and vertical root-mean-square error (VRMS), respectively. These percentages show the greater impact of TWIM on the ionospheric correction compared to the other models. In at least 40 % of the observed days and across all stations, TWIM has the smallest DMEAN, VMEAN, DRMS, and VRMS daily values. These values reach 100 % at station TWTF. This shows the overall performance of TWIM is better than the Klobuchar and GIM.     

Ionospheric error contribution to GNSS single-frequency navigation at the 2014 solar maximum

For single-frequency users of the global satellite navigation system (GNSS), one of the main error contributors is the ionospheric delay, which impacts the received signals. As is well-known, GPS and Galileo transmit global models to correct the ionospheric delay, while the international GNSS service (IGS) computes precise post-process global ionospheric maps (GIM) that are considered reference ionospheres. Moreover, accurate ionospheric maps have been recently introduced, which allow for the fast convergence of the real-time precise point position (PPP) globally. Therefore, testing of the ionospheric models is a key issue for code-based single-frequency users, which constitute the main user segment. Therefore, the testing proposed in this paper is straightforward and uses the PPP modeling applied to single- and dual-frequency code observations worldwide for 2014. The usage of PPP modeling allows us to quantify—for dual-frequency users—the degradation of the navigation solutions caused by noise and multipath with respect to the different ionospheric modeling solutions, and allows us, in turn, to obtain an independent assessment of the ionospheric models. Compared to the dual-frequency solutions, the GPS and Galileo ionospheric models present worse global performance, with horizontal root mean square (RMS) differences of 1.04 and 0.49 m and vertical RMS differences of 0.83 and 0.40 m, respectively. While very precise global ionospheric models can improve the dual-frequency solution globally, resulting in a horizontal RMS difference of 0.60 m and a vertical RMS difference of 0.74 m, they exhibit a strong dependence on the geographical location and ionospheric activity.     

电离层闪烁对GNSS的影响

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。电离层闪烁可造成GNSS载噪比降低,测量误差增大,载波周跳次数增多,电离层修正精度降低,定位用精度因子变大等影响。中国南方区域是全球电离层闪烁多发区之一,电离层闪烁影响的时空范围和程度较大,是我国卫星导航应用应关注的问题。针对电离层闪烁影响,提出了我国卫星导航系统应用中可行的针对性减缓措施。     

低轨卫星增强BDS单频伪距单点定位

针对单频定位由于成本优势被广泛运用,却无法同时满足较高精度要求的问题,对低轨卫星增强单频定位精度的效果进行了探究。基于卫星工具包软件仿真北斗卫星导航系统与铱星系统观测数据,并结合误差建模实现高低轨卫星联合定位算法,分析不同纬度观测站的定位结果。结果表明,当可见卫星比例(LEO:总体)从5%上升到18%,定位精度改善比从48%提升到80%左右,呈现一定正相关性;误差标准差在U方向上均有大于50%以上减小,在E、N方向则出现大约10%的浮动,总体有改善的趋势。因此,低轨卫星的加入可以有效提高伪距单点定位精度。     

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。     

几种附电离层约束GNSS单频PPP性能评估

针对单频精密单点定位(PPP)两种常用的定位模型:非组合模型和附加电离层约束模型,同时综合考虑电离层约束模型三种不同约束策略(常数约束,时空约束,逐步松弛),对比分析了其使用GPS单系统及GPS+BDS双系统观测值的定位收敛时间,定位精度及其优缺点.实验结果表明:使用GPS单系统,附加不同电离层约束对单频PPP收敛时间...     

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.     

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。     

Ionospheric tomography based on GNSS observations of the CMONOC: performance in the topside ionosphere

This study carries out a quantitative analysis of the performance of ionospheric tomography in the topside ionosphere, utilizing data of October 2011 collected from 260 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations in the Crustal Movement Observation Network of China. This tomographic reconstruction with a resolution of 2° in latitude, 2° in longitude and 20 km in altitude has more than 70 % of voxels traversed by GPS raypaths and is able to provide reliable bottom parts of ionospheric profiles. Compared with the observations measured by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites (F16, F17 and F18) at an altitude of 830–880 km, the results show that there is an overestimation in the reconstructed plasma density at the DMSP altitude, and the reconstruction is better during daytime than nighttime. In addition, the reconstruction at nighttime also indicates a solar activity and latitudinal dependence. In summary, with respect to DMSP measurements, the daytime bias is on average from ?0.32 × 10⁵/cm³ to ?0.28 × 10⁵/cm³, while the nighttime bias is between ?0.37 × 10⁵/cm³ and ?0.24 × 10⁵/cm³, and the standard deviation at daytime and at nighttime is, respectively, 0.082 × 10⁵/cm³ to 0.244 × 10⁵/cm³ and 0.086 × 10⁵/cm³ to 0.428 × 10⁵/cm³. This study suggests that vertical ionospheric profiles from other sources, such as ionosondes or GNSS occultation satellites, should be incorporated into ground-based GNSS topside tomographic studies.     

电离层闪烁对GNSS接收机性能影响比较分析

电离层闪烁是引起GNSS接收机性能降低甚至失锁的重要环境干扰因素。利用实测数据,比较分析了不同电离层闪烁活动强度下,不同GNSS系统（BD和GPS）接收机的定位性能。结果表明：电离层闪烁较弱时（S4〈0．3）,两种接收机均可以实现基本的定位功能;电离层闪烁较强（S4〉0.7）,且持续时间较长时,不同GNSS接收机将出现定位结果的抖动、跳变或失去定位能力;GNSS接收机应对电离层闪烁影响的能力与接收机设计相关。研究结果可作为抗闪烁接收机开发或闪烁影响分级的参考。     

基于GNSS观测的地下核试验电离层扰动研究

地震、海啸以及核爆炸等现象都会对电离层产生影响,利用全球导航卫星系统(GNSS)可以有效地研究这些物理现象产生的电离层效应。本文利用朝鲜地下核试验期间部分IGS台站的GNSS观测数据,提取电离层倾斜总电子含量,并通过高阶差分的方法将电离层扰动进行放大,实现对核爆触发的电离层扰动事件的提取和识别。基于该方法,本文进一步提出了一种核爆检测识别的实现思路。      

星地跟踪网的导航卫星精密轨道确定及预报

针对区域跟踪网不能覆盖导航卫星全弧段从而导致卫星定轨精度低的问题,简述了导航卫星和低轨卫星联合定轨模型,然后利用星地跟踪网观测数据同时确定了低轨卫星和导航卫星精密轨道,并根据实验结果详细分析了低轨卫星在联合定轨中所起到的作用。计算结果表明,引入低轨卫星之后,全球网和区域网定轨精度分别平均提高了20.0%和44.3%,区域网6h和24h的轨道预报精度分别优于10cm、13cm,利用星地跟踪网观测数据联合定轨方案是一种提高定轨精度并削弱对地面站依赖性的有效方法。     

Weighted discriminators for GNSS BOC signal tracking

Modern Global Navigation Satellite System including Galileo and GPS III will employ multiplexed binary offset carrier (MBOC) modulation to achieve spectrum separation and enhanced tracking performance. A challenge of the MBOC or BOC signal tracking is the presence of ambiguities due to multiple sidepeaks of the autocorrelation functions. Several different techniques including multi-correlator and double estimator schemes have been proposed to address the ambiguity issue. We propose a class of ambiguity-free code tracking techniques by exploiting the unique features of the BOC modulation. In the proposed architecture, the incoming BOC-modulated signals are correlated with BOC-modulated replica and the spreading codes, respectively. Through a multiplicative combination strategy of the two correlator outputs, a noncoherent weighted discriminator is formed and shown to possess the ambiguity-free property. The multipath effect is assessed and compared with existing early-minus-late power and autocorrelation sidepeak cancellation technique discriminators. The noise effects of the theory and simulation are also discussed. In order to further verify the proposed scheme, a set of field data of a Galileo in-orbit validation satellite is collected and processed. It is demonstrated that the proposed method is simple to implement, free from ambiguities, and yields acceptable performance in the presence of multipath and noise.     

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。      

GNSS卫星可见性及可用性的概率特征

针对现有平均值指标难以客观地评价具有显著非对称非均匀的全球导航卫星系统可见性及可用性的问题,该文利用概率统计方法和广播星历研究了北斗导航系统、全球导航卫星系统和格洛纳斯系统的可见性及可用性的概率分布特征。结果表明:可见星数、站星高度角及可跟踪因子、几何精度因子值的概率直方图均呈显著的非对称非均匀分布特征。中地球轨道卫星可见概率与高度角为近似线性负相关,随方位角呈现"四叶玫瑰"对称非均匀分布特征且南北向可见概率略高于东西向。北斗导航系统静止地球轨道、倾斜地球同步轨道卫星远高于中地球轨道卫星的可跟踪因子,显著提高了导航星座时间可用性。星空分布图与几何精度因子值均表明导航性能随纬度增大而降低。此外,全球定位系统和全球导航卫星系统在可见性及可用性概率特征基本一致,而北斗导航系统概率分布特征与之具有较高的互补性且在亚太地区较之更适用于受限应用条件。     

Real-time kinematic positioning of LEO satellites using a single-frequency GPS receiver

Due to their low cost and low power consumption, single-frequency GPS receivers are considered suitable for low-cost space applications such as small satellite missions. Recently, requirements have emerged for real-time accurate orbit determination at sub-meter level in order to carry out onboard geocoding of high-resolution imagery, open-loop operation of altimeters and radio occultation. This study proposes an improved real-time kinematic positioning method for LEO satellites using single-frequency receivers. The C/A code and L1 phase are combined to eliminate ionospheric effects. The epoch-differenced carrier phase measurements are utilized to acquire receiver position changes which are further used to smooth the absolute positions. A kinematic Kalman filter is developed to implement kinematic orbit determination. Actual flight data from China’s small satellite SJ-9A are used to test the navigation performance. Results show that the proposed method outperforms traditional kinematic positioning method in terms of accuracy. A 3D position accuracy of 0.72 and 0.79 m has been achieved using the predicted portion of IGS ultra-rapid products and broadcast ephemerides, respectively.     

Ionospheric threat simulation for GNSS using the Spirent hardware signal simulator

Ionospheric disturbances present a considerable hazard to single-frequency satellite navigation systems for airborne users. We discuss our implementation of three ionospheric threat models in the DLR “multi-output advanced signal test environment for receivers” global navigation satellite system simulator, which is based on Spirent GSS 7780/7790 signal generator. These threat models include the standard front-based threat model developed for the integrity assessment of ground-based augmentation systems (GBAS), a simplified plasma bubble model, and ionospheric scintillation, which can be combined with either of the two previously mentioned models. These effects can now straightforwardly be simulated at the German Aerospace Center’s research facilities. As an example, we simulate a GBAS ground facility with code–carrier divergence monitoring, affected by an ionospheric front, and we show the results of a simulation with coincidental occurrence of a plasma bubble and scintillation with an S ₄ index of 0.4.