Ionospheric Range Delay Research Articles

An Optima Combination Method of Three-Frequency Real-Time Cycle Slip Detection for Non-Normal Ionospheric Variation Data

Linear combinations of triple-frequency help improve the performance of cycle slip detection for high-precision positioning using a single receiver; however, the position can be easily misjudged under ionospheric scintillation conditions or low sampling rates. We propose a method, which is developed specially for the datasets under ionospheric scintillation conditions or low sampling rates, to detect the triple-frequency cycle slips in real-time based on optimal linear combination coefficients and ionospheric range delay. Detection formulas are derived from the triple-frequency geometry-free code-phase combination, and ionospheric range delay is estimated by the wide lane combination. In addition, the principle used to select an optimal linear phase combination coefficient is derived, and the optimal linear coefficient suitable under high ionospheric activity conditions is provided. Finally, the data collected from self-build stations JYPS and NQ01 are used to test the performance of the method. The results demonstrate that the improved method can be used to detect all combinations of cycle slips in real-time, even under conditions of ionospheric scintillation or a sampling period exceeding 10 s.

Impact of Approximate Implementation manner in Klobuchar Model

This paper focuses on the approximations that John A. Klobuchar made in mid 70s in his famous algorithm of ionospheric correction model for single frequency GPS receiver. At that time Klobuchar used a system of fixed geomagnetic north pole coordinates which are not accurate nowadays according to the International Geomagnetic Reference Field and to the World Magnetic Model because the geomagnetic poles move slowly. In addition, Klobuchar had to do other trigonometry simplifications in his implementation to avoid sophisticated computations. In order to evaluate this approximate implementation in a single frequency GPS receiver, ionospheric time and range delay are estimated on the entire day of January 1st 2010, using a different implementation in MATLAB. The required GPS data is obtained from recorded RINEX files at UDMC near DAMASCUS, SYRIA. In this comparative study, we reformulated the standard equations of Klobuchar model and examined the influence of its approximations on the ionospheric range delay and found a non- negligible bias in order of ten centimeters, whereas the influence of the movement of the geomagnetic poles was in order of few centimeters.

Distribution of Reference Stations: Initial Explore on the Optimal Selection Strategy

The Satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) is intended to provide real-time differential global navigation satellite system corrections with the high accuracy, availability, and integrity required for aviation applications. Since the performance of Satellite clock and ephemeris (SCE) corrections and Ionospheric range delay (IRD) corrections can vary dramatically depending on satellites and Ground reference stations (GRSs) geometry, therefore, we present a GRSs distribution optimized criteria and process to improve SBAS corrections performance. The present step-by-step optimized scheme using the average satellite surveillance dilution of precision and relative centroid metric availability of grid points as fitness values to determine the appropriate GRSs distribution to sufficiently meet the corrections requirements. The results show that the statistical mean RCM availability can reach more than 0.5518 for all IGPs and the coverage depth of GRSs in China and its surrounding areas is more than 25, which fully satisfies the requirement for solving SCE and IRD corrections.

Single-Frequency Ionospheric-Delay Correction from BeiDou & GPS Systems for Northern Hemisphere

Abstract The range delay caused by the ionosphere layer is the major current source of error for GNSS users with single-frequency receivers. GNSS advice users to correct this type of error using ionospheric models whose coefficients are sent in their navigation messages. GPS-users use the Klobuchar model to correct this type of error. GPS navigation message contains the model’s eight coefficients which vary on the basis of seasonal ionospheric variations and average solar flux. The correction accuracy of Klobuchar model is about 50% (rms) of the ionospheric range delay. Beidou system calculates and broadcast 8 parameters of Klobuchar model based on continuous monitoring stations. BeiDou system updates the ionospheric coefficients every two hours. GPS-Klobuchar model uses completely different coefficients than BeiDou-Klobuchar model. This research demonstrates a comparison study between the Klobuchar model using the GPS broadcast coefficients and the same model using BeiDou-coefficients. The correction accuracy offered by the two models has been judged using the most accurate International GNSS Service-Global Ionospheric Maps (IGS-GIMs) for three different-latitude stations along northern hemisphere, one station in low-latitude region, the second station is in mid-latitude region and the third station is in high-latiude region to reflect models’ behaviour in different geographic regions. The study was applied over three different months of the year 2017 that each of them reflects a different activity state for the ionosphere layer. The study proves that BeiDou model is able to show the ionosphere’s day-to-day fluctuations while GPS model can’t. It can be concluded that GPS model offers better behaviour than BeiDou model in correcting range delay in low-latitude and high-latitude geographic regions under any activity state for the ionosphere. BeiDou model offers better correction accuracy than GPS model in mid-latitude under any activity state for the ionosphere.

Nequick2 Model Behaviour for Global Ionospheric Delay Mitigation During Solar Cycle-24

Abstract The ionospheric delay is the major current source of potential range delay for single-frequency GNSS users. Different ionospheric delay mitigation methods have been developed to mitigate the ionospheric delay effects for single-frequency users. The NeQuick is a quick-run ionospheric electron density model particularly designed for trans-ionospheric propagation applications developed at the Aeronomy and Radio propagation Laboratory of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy. NeQuick2 is the latest version of the NeQuick ionosphere electron density model. NeQuick model been used by the European Space Agency (ESA) European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) project for assessment analysis and has been adopted for single-frequency positioning applications in the frame work of the European satellite navigation system (Galileo). NeQuick2 model adopted modifications related to the modeling of the F1 layer peak electron density, height and thickness parameter. Also, a new formulation of the shape parameter k has been adopted. This paper presents a global study for the behavior of the modified NeQuick2 model. The zenith ionospheric range delay correction by the model has been assessed using the highly accurate IGS-Global Ionospheric Maps (IGS-GIMs) for two different-latitude stations (Aswan, Egypt) (low-latitude) (24.1o N) and (Helsinki, Finland) (high-latitude) (60.2o N). The study was carried out during current solar cycle-24 over three different months that each of them reflects a different state of solar activity. It can be concluded that NeQuick2 model globally presents overestimation for ionospheric delay for quiet and medium ionospheric activity states respectively, while the model presents underestimation for high activity state of the ionosphere layer.

Ionospheric TEC Weather Map Over South America

Ionospheric weather maps using the total electron content (TEC) monitored by ground based GNSS receivers over South American continent, TECMAP, have been operationally produced by INPE´s Space Weather Study and Monitoring Program (Estudo e Monitoramento Brasileiro de Clima Especial, EMBRACE) since 2013. In order to cover the whole continent, 4 GNSS receiver net-works, RBMC/IBGE, LISN, IGS and RAMSAC, in total ~140 sites, have been used. TECMAPs with a time resolution of 10 minutes are produced in 12 hour time delay. Spatial resolution of the map is rather low, varying between 50 and 500 km depending on the density of the observation points. Large day to day variabilities of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) have been observed. Spatial gradient of TEC from the anomaly trough (TECu 80) causes a large ionospheric range delay in the GNSS positioning system. Ionospheric plasma bubbles (IPB), their seeding and development, could be monitored.These plasma density (spatial and temporal) variability causes not only the GNSS based positioning error but also radio wave scintillations. Monitoring of these phenomena by TEC Mapping becomes an important issue for Space Weather concern for high technology positioning system and telecommunication.

Ionospheric influences on GPS signals in terms of range delay

All the transionospheric signals interact with the ionosphere during their passage through ionosphere, hence are strongly influenced by the ionosphere. One of most important ionospheric effects on the transionospheric signals is the delay both in range and time. Under this investigation we have studied the variability of ionospheric range delay in GPS signals. To accomplish this study we have used the GPS measurements at a low latitude station, IISC Bangalore (13.02◦N, 77.57◦E) during January 2012 to December 2012. We studied the diurnal, monthly as well as seasonal variability of the range delay. We also selected five intense geomagnetic storms that occurred during 2012 and investigated the variability of delay during the disturbed conditions. From our study we found the diurnal variability of the range delay is similar to the diurnal pattern observed for the Total This is the e-book version of the article, published in Russian Journal of Earth Sciences (doi:10.2205/2015ES000555). It is generated from the original source file using LaTeX’s epub.cls class. Electron Content (TEC). The delay is maximum during the month of October while lowest delay is found to occur in the month of December. During summer season the range delay in GPS signals is less while the largest delay occurs during the equinox season. The variability of delay during the geomagnetic storms of 09 March 2012, 24 April 2012, 15 July 2012, 01 October 2012 and 14 November 2012 were also studied. All these geomagnetic storms belonged to intense category. We found that the value of delay is strongly increased during the course of geomagnetic storms.

Comparison of standard TEC models with a Neural Network based TEC model using multistation GPS TEC around the northern crest of Equatorial Ionization Anomaly in the Indian longitude sector during the low and moderate solar activity levels of the 24th solar cycle

The highest Total Electron Content (TEC) values in the world normally occur at Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA) region resulting in largest ionospheric range delay values observed for any potential Space Based Augmentation System (SBAS). Reliable forecasting of TEC is crucial for satellite based navigation systems. The day to day variability of the location of the anomaly peak and its intensity is very large. This imposes severe limitations on the applicability of commonly used ionospheric models to the low latitude regions. It is necessary to generate a mathematical ionospheric forecasting and mapping model for TEC based on physical ionospheric influencing parameters. A model, IRPE-TEC, has been developed based on real time low latitude total electron content data using GPS measurements from a number of stations situated around the northern crest of the EIA during 2007 through 2011 to predict the vertical TEC values during the low and moderate solar activity levels of the 24th solar cycle. This model is compared with standard ionospheric models like International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) and Parameterized Ionospheric Model (PIM) to establish its applicability in the equatorial region for accurate predictions.

GNSS single frequency ionospheric range delay corrections: NeQuick data ingestion technique

A study of the performance of the NeQuick model and the Klobuchar model for GNSS single frequency range delay correction on a global scale was done using data for moderate solar activity. In this study NeQuick was used in the way intended for Galileo. This study is to assess the performance of the two models at each ionospheric geographic region during moderate solar activity as previously published studies were concentrated only on high solar activity. The results obtained showed that NeQuick outperformed Klobuchar for the whole year at the three geographical regions of the ionosphere. In terms of monthly root mean square of mismodeling, NeQuick outperformed Klobuchar by 15 TECU or more at low-latitudes, 5 TEC or more at mid-latitudes, and 1 TECU or more at high-latitudes.Also, a study on how the data ingestion technique already developed for NeQuick could be expanded in order to reduce the deviation of NeQuick TEC prediction from observation for a particular day based on the information from the previous day was done. Instead of obtaining a regularly spaced Az grid from monitoring stations spread across the region of interest, we obtained hourly Az coefficients from hourly Az from designated monitoring stations. The obtained hourly Az coefficients were then used to drive NeQuick for the next day at the test stations. The results obtained, in terms of daily RMS of mismodeling, showed a daily maximum improvement of 26.0% at low-latitudes, 54.9% at mid-latitudes, and 41.3% at high-latitudes.

GPS based TEC measurements for a period August 2008– December 2009 near the northern crest of Indian equatorial ionospheric anomaly region

In recent years, measurements of total electron content (TEC) have gained importance with increasing demand for the GPS-based navigation applications in trans-ionospheric communications. To study the variation in ionospheric TEC, we used the data obtained from GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC monitoring (GISTM) system which is in operation at SVNIT, Surat, India (21.16°N, 72.78°E) located at the northern crest of equatorial anomaly region. The data collected (for the low sunspot activity period from August 2008–December 2009) were used to study the diurnal, monthly, seasonal semi-annual and annual variations of TEC at Surat. It was observed that the diurnal variation at the region reaches its maximum value between 13:00 and 16:00 IST. The monthly average diurnal variations showed that the TEC maximizes during the equinox months followed by the winter months, and are lowest during the summer months. The ionospheric range delay to TEC for the primary GPS signal is 0.162 m per TECU. The diurnal variation in TEC shows a minimum to maximum variation of about 5 to 50 TECU (in current low sunspot activity periods). These TEC values correspond to range delay variations of about 1 to 9 m at Surat. These variations in the range delay will certainly increase in high sunspot activity periods. Detected TEC variations are also closely related to space weather characterizing quantities such as solar wind and geomagnetic activity indices.

Analysis of Ionospheric Range Delay Corrections for Navigation in South American Low-Latitude Regions

Ionospheric conditions for South American low- and mid-latitude scenarios are simulated. The performance of an ionospheric correction algorithm on positioning is analysed for this region. This correction is of similar nature to the Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) type algorithm. The mismodelling produced by each ionospheric simulated approximation can be separately quantified: 1) the single layer shell representation of the ionosphere and 2) the simple geometric mapping function. The effects of both components on positioning are evaluated and discussed for periods with different levels of ionospheric activity: winter, summer, and austral spring equinox. The results show that the mapping function is the most important contributor to the ionospheric error. Its effect on the height component is the most important. Besides, on north and east components, the principal error contributor is the Vertical Total Electron Content (VTEC) mismodelling. The application was also tested on real data during a spring equinox of a mid-low solar activity year (2005) and the results are similar and coherent with those obtained using simulated data.

Space Weather and the Global Positioning System

Space Weather and the Global Positioning System

Evaluating the accuracy of ionospheric range delay corrections for navigation at low latitude

Abstract La Plata Ionospheric Model (LPIM) corrections in ionospheric range delay can be studied by analysing their effect on geodetic positioning. To evaluate these corrections, a scheme similar to that used in Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) is employed in this work. So, in this context an appropriate model for computing the ionospheric range delay and its error is required. By means of numerical simulation, the accuracy of LPIM for computing the ionospheric range delay correction at low latitude is evaluated. The slant range delays for the observing network are simulated using the NeQuick ionospheric model. The simulated ionospheric range delay correction applied to geodetic positioning is analysed at different levels of ionospheric activity as well as to solstices and equinoxes. The large errors of the ionospheric correction on geodetic positioning are obtained in high solar activity during the equinox. This work shows that the accuracy achieved using simulated data at low latitude is similar to the accuracy reported using real data at mid latitude.

An Assessment of the Current WAAS Ionospheric Correction Algorithm in the South American Region

: The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) for civil aircraft navigation is focused primarily on the conterminous United States (CONUS). In this paper, based on a limited dataset, we assess WAAS's planar fit algorithm in the equatorial region, where the spatial gradients and the absolute slant total electron content (TEC) are known to be the highest in the world. We found that in Brazil, the dominant error source for the WAAS planar fit algorithm is the inherent spatial variability of the equatorial ionosphere, with ionospheric slant range delay residuals as high as 15 m and root-mean-square (RMS) residuals for the quiet day of 1.9 m. This compares with a maximum residual of 2 m in CONUS and 0.5 m RMS. We discovered that ionospheric gradients in Brazil are at the 2 m over 100 km level. In contrast with results obtained for CONUS, we found that a major ionospheric storm had a small impact on the planar fit residuals in Brazil.

Eye on The Ionosphere: Correction Methods for GPS Ionospheric Range Delay

Eye on The Ionosphere: Correction Methods for GPS Ionospheric Range Delay

Eye on the Ionosphere: Correcting for Ionospheric Range Delay on GPS – Temporal Decorrelation

Eye on the Ionosphere: Correcting for Ionospheric Range Delay on GPS – Temporal Decorrelation

Eye on the Ionosphere: The Correlation between Solar 10.7 cm Radio Flux and Ionospheric Range Delay

Patricia Doherty joins the regular contributors of this column to discuss the correlation between measurements of solar 10.7 cm radio flux and ionospheric range delay effects on GPS. Mrs. Doherty has extensive experience in the analysis of ionospheric range delays from worldwide systems and in the utilization and development of analytical and theoretical models of the Earth's ionosphere. Ionospheric range delay effects on GPS and other satellite ranging systems are directly proportional to the Total Electron Content (TEC) encountered along slant paths from a satellite to a ground location. TEC is a highly variable and complex parameer that is a function of geographic location, local time, season, geomagnetic activity, and solar activity. When insufficiently accounted for, ionospheric TEC can seriously limit the performance of satellite ranging applications. Since the ionosphere is a dispersive medium, dual-frequency Global Positoning System (GPS) users can make automatic corrections for ionospheric range delay by computing the apparent difference in the time delays between the two signals. Single-frequency GPS users must depend on alternate methods to account for the ionospheric range delay. Various models of the ionosphere have been used to provide estimates of ionospheric range delay. These models range from the GPS system's simple eight-coefficient algorithm designed to correct for approximately 50% rms of the TEC, to state-of-the-art models derived from physical first principles, which can correct for up to 70 to 80% rms of the TEC but at a much greater computational cost. In an effort to improve corrections for the day-to-day variability of the ionosphere, some attempts have been made to predict the TEC by using the daily values of solar 10.7 cm radio flux (F10,7). The purpose of this article is to show that this type of prediction is not useful due to irregular, and sometimes very poor, correlation between daily values of TEC and F10.7. Long-term measurements of solar radio flux, however, have been shown to be well correlated with monthly mean TEC, as well as with the critical frequency of the inonospheric F2 region (foF2), which is proportional to the electron density at the peak of the ionospheric F2 region. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Eye on the Ionosphere: The Spatial Variability of Ionospheric Range Delay

The ionospheric range delay is highly variable both in space and in time. The ionospheric correlation distance is defined as the distance over which a measurement of the difference from monthly mean ionospheric range delay at one location can be used to determine the difference from mean conditions at a second location. The percentage improvement required is dependent upon the actual correlation coefficient, which must be relatively large to produce a significant improvement over differences from average conditions at two stations. Results of studies of the correlation distance show that, in order to obtain even a 28% improvement over monthly median conditions, the measurement location must be within approximately 3,000 km in longitude or 1,800 km in latitude from the location where the update from monthly mean conditions is required, at least in the mid-latitude region. Another study showed that, in order to be able to determine an improvement of 1 m in ionospheric range delay from average ionospheric conditions at a location remote from where the actual measurement of range delay is made, the measurement must be within approximately 500 km of that location. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Ionospheric effects on differential GPS applications during auroral substorm activity

The use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology has become increasingly incorporated into airborne remote sensing applications over the past decade. While GPS positioning results may prove adequate for several applications at present, users should expect to experience degraded positioning accuracies over the next few years due to auroral substorm activity. Such degraded accuracies will arise from increased spatial decorrelation of ionosphere range delay errors in differential GPS applications, as the ionospheric activity increases during solar maximum. In this paper, the spatial decorrelation of ionospheric range delay is estimated during a substorm event and compared with “quiet” time values. Positional errors (in both vertical and horizontal measurements) in the range 60–80 cm RMSE were observed during a 1997 substorm event that is representative of the activity anticipated at solar maximum around the year 2000.

A Look Ahead: Expected Ionospheric Effects on GPS in 2000

he next maximum in the approximate 11-year cycle of solar ultraviolet (UV) activity is expected to occur near 2000. Two major ionospheric effects on GPS signals are closely related to long-term solar UV activity, and also will maximize at that time. These are ionospheric range delays and amplitude fading and phase scintillation effects. Dual-frequency GPS receivers automatically correct for the ionospheric range delay by measuring the difference in this dispersive effect on both frequencies. Civilian users of singlefrequency LI GPS receivers must either rely on the ionospheric correction algorithm sent as part of the user message, designed to correct for only 50% rms of the range delay, or they must use a nearby, in time and space, actual measurement of the ionospheric range delay to provide a correction for the ionospheric range error. Ionospheric range delays are directly proportional to the total electron content (TEC), encountered along the path from each GPS satellite to the user. The TEC increases with increasing solar cycle activity. As the absolute values of range delay increase with the solar cycle, the need for improved corrections also will increase. Irregularities in the ionosphere that produce amplitude fading and phase scintillation effects on GPS frequencies can become significant as the solar cycle