Global modeling 2nd-order ionospheric delay and its effects on GNSS precise positioning

Abstract

Ionospheric delay is one of the major error sources in GNSS navigation and positioning. Nowadays, the dual-frequency technique is the most widely used in ionospheric refraction correction. However, dual-frequency measurements can only eliminate the first-order term of ionospheric delay, while the effect of the second-order term on GNSS observations may be several centimeters. In this paper, two models, the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) 2007 and International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) 11 are used to estimate the second-order term through the integral calculation method. Besides, the simplified single layer ionosphere model in a dipole moment approximation for the earth magnetic field is used. Since the traditional integral calculation method requires large calculation load and takes much time, it is not convenient for practical use. Additionally, although the simplified single layer ionosphere model is simple to implement, it results in larger errors. In this study, second-order term ionospheric correction formula proposed by Hoque (2007) is improved for estimating the second-order term at a global scale. Thus, it is more practicable to estimate the second-order term. More importantly, its results have a higher precision of the sub-millimeter level for a global scale in normal conditions. Compared with Hoque’s original regional correction model, which calculates coefficients through polynomial fitting of elevation and latitudes, this study proposes a piece-wise look-up table and interpolation technique to modify Hoque model. Through utilizing a table file, the modified Hoque model can be conveniently implemented in an engineering software package, like as PANDA in this study. Through applying the proposed scheme for the second-order ionospheric correction into GNSS precise positioning in both PPP daily and epoch solutions, the results have shown south-shift characteristics in daily solution at a global scale and periodic change with VTEC daily variation in epoch positioning solution.