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.     

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.     

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.

Ionospheric calibration of single frequency VLBI and GPS observations using dual GPS data

Summary The ionospheric effect is one of the main sources of error in Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and Global Positioning System (GPS) high precision geodesy. Although the use of two frequencies allows the estimation of this effect, in some cases dual observations are not possible due to the available equipment or the type of observation. This paper presents the ionospheric calibration of single frequency VLBI and GPS observations based on the ionospheric electron content estimated from dual frequency GPS data. The ionospheric delays obtained with this procedure and the VLBI baseline length results have been compared with those obtained with dual frequency data. For the European geodetic VLBI baselines, both solutions agree at the 3–5 parts in 10^–9 level. The noise introduced by the GPS-based calibration is in the order of 3 cm for the VLBI observables and of 10 cm for the GPS observables.     

GNSS差分码偏差处理方法及全球广播电离层模型研究

<正>针对当前多模GNSS应用对多系统差分码偏差(differential code bias,DCB)产品的需求以及DCB研究仍多局限于GPS及GLONASS的现状,本文首先开展多模GNSS DCB参数精确确定研究;进而结合BDS全球系统建设的实际应用需求,深入开展了GPS、Galileo及BDS全球广播电离层模型研究,并采用大量实测数据对相关     

利用GPS进行电离层闪烁研究

电离层闪烁观测是研究电离层闪烁现象及其效应的基础。介绍了中国电波传播研究所利用GPS进行电离层闪烁研究的设备和监测网,并且给出了一些初步的结果。     

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。      

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。      

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.     

Correlation between ROTI and Ionospheric Scintillation Indices using Hong Kong low-latitude GPS data

The correlation between the rate of TEC index (ROTI) and scintillation indices S ₄ and σ _Φ for low-latitude region is analyzed in this study, using data collected from a Global Positioning System (GPS) scintillation monitoring receiver installed at the south of Hong Kong for the periods June–August of 2012 and May 2013 and July–December of 2013. The analysis indicates that the correlation coefficient between ROTI and S ₄/σ _Φ is about 0.6 if data from all GPS satellites are used together. If each individual satellite is considered, the correlation coefficients are above 0.6 on average and sometimes above 0.8. The analysis also shows that the ratio of ROTI and S ₄ varies between 1 and 4. The ratio ROTI/σ _Φ, varies between 2 and 9. In addition, it is also found that there is a good consistency between the temporal variations of ROTI with scintillation activity under different ionospheric conditions. ROTI has a high correlation relationship with scintillation indices on geomagnetically disturbed days or in solar active months. Moreover, the data observed at low elevation angles have weak correlation between ROTI and scintillation indices. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using ROTI derived from GPS observations recorded by common non-scintillation GPS receivers to characterize ionospheric scintillations.     

Improved vessel squat modeling for hydrographic and navigation applications using kinematic GNSS positioning

The squat phenomenon, that is, the sinkage of a vessel due to its motion can affect the safety of navigation and reduce the accuracy of hydrographic bathymetry. Therefore, it is necessary to model and predict the squat of vessels as a function of cruise speed. We present a Global Navigation Satellite Systems–based squat modeling method for both hydrographic and navigation applications. For implementation of the proposed method, onboard GPS antennae configurations are offered to model bow squat for full-form ships such as supertankers or ore–bulk–oil carriers as well as stern squat for fine-form vessels such as passenger liners or container ships. In the proposed methodology, the onboard GPS observations are used to determine cruise ground speed, heave, attitude, and controlling the quality of kinematic positioning via fixed baselines. The vessel squat is computed from ellipsoidal height differences of the onboard antennae with respect to a reference state, after removal of all disturbing effects due to roll, pitch, heave, tide, vessel load, and geoidal height variations. The final products of the proposed approach are the analytical squat models usable for hydrographic and navigation applications. As the case study, the method is applied to a survey vessel in the offshore waters of Kish harbor. Numerical results indicate that the experimental precision of the derived analytical squat models is in the range of 0.003–0.028 m. The computed navigation squat of the test vessel at a speed of 12.64 knots is 30 % of the vessel draft and about twice its hydrographic squat. Although the field test was performed on a survey vessel, the method can be applied to any ship at any waterway. The proposed method can address the inevitable demand of reliable squat models for delicate hydrographic projects and high-speed marine traffic.     

Enhancing mobile applications by combination of GNSS and W-CDMA

The location requirements for emergency callers outside urban areas can hardly be fulfilled without global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). Consequently, interest in positioning techniques based on use of a GNSS such as GPS or on the cellular network infrastructure itself is growing rapidly in the mobile-telephone community. Moreover, the increasing demand for commercial location-based services (LBS) has driven cellular-phone and network manufacturers to focus on positioning solutions which are even more accurate than the regulatory mandates for positioning of emergency callers. One example of these upcoming LBS is our PARAMOUNT project, which aims at improving user-friendly info-mobility services for hikers and mountaineers by combining wireless communications (GMTS), satellite navigation (GNSS) and geographic information systems (GIS), based on a mobile client/server architecture. The availability of mobile phones or PDAs with combined GNSS and cellular network-based wireless communication on a high integration level is one primary demand of such LBS applications. Based on this, we will give some initial answers to the question of whether mobile handset architecture synergies exist for the combination of GNSS with wireless location in CDMA cellular wireless networks. In order to identify synergies, we will outline similarities and differences between wireless communication and satellite navigation. In this respect, we pay particular attention to the so-called RAKE receiver architecture employed in mobile CDMA cellular handsets. Our initial investigations will show that the RAKE receiver architecture, on which mobile CDMA cellular handsets are based, will most likely be the one most suitable for achieving synergies between the two positioning techniques within the same mobile handset architecture. Consequently, several receiver components could be used to handle both types of signals (navigation and communications), resulting in a reduction of manufacturing costs and in a decrease in energy consumption. Electronic Publication     

Precise GPS Positioning by Applying Ionospheric Corrections from an Active Control Network

In this article, initial results are presented of a method to improve fast carrier phase ambiguity resolution over longer baselines (with lengths up to about 200 km). The ionospheric delays in the global positioning system (GPS) data of these long baselines mainly hamper successful integer ambiguity resolution, a prerequisite to obtain precise positions within very short observation time spans. A way to correct the data for significant ionospheric effects is to have a GPS user operate within an active or permanently operating network use ionospheric estimates from this network. A simple way to do so is to interpolate these ionospheric estimates based on the expected spatial behaviour of the ionospheric delays. In this article such a technique is demonstrated for the Dutch Active Control Network (AGRS.NL). One hour of data is used from 4 of the 5 reference stations to obtain very precise ionospheric corrections after fixing of the integer ambiguities within this network. This is no problem because of the relatively long observation time span and known positions of the stations of the AGRS.NL. Next these interpolated corrections are used to correct the GPS data from the fifth station for its ionospheric effects. Initial conclusions about the performance of this technique are drawn in terms of improvement of integer ambiguity resolution for this baseline. ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

GPS现代化后电离层折射误差高阶项的三频改正方法

研究了电离层对GPS观测信号的主要影响及电离层折射误差模型,总结了电离层双频改正模型。针对GPS现代化中增加的第三频率,系统推导了三个频率的电离层改正模型及相位观测值无电离层组合(LC组合)模型。该模型将电离层折射误差模型改正至二阶项,可进一步提高GPS定位精度,同时,为GPS定位中其他误差的改正及分离、周跳的探测等提供了有力的技术手段。     

SPODS软件GPS/GNSS网解的模糊度解算方法

为了尽可能多地固定模糊度,需要定义一组"最容易被固定"的独立双差模糊度,当前最优的方法(传统方法)是分基线层和网层对候选双差模糊度进行独立性检验,其中候选模糊度按照其综合固定成功概率进行排列。考虑到通常的网解中,测站数量远多于卫星数量,提出了先星座层再网层的分层独立模糊度选取方法以及基于更新协方差阵上三角平方根的序贯模糊度固定方法,并应用于西安测绘研究所自主设计和开发的SPODS软件中。采用包含64个IGS监测站的实测GPS数据进行单天解算试验,验证了该方法的正确性。试验结果表明,该方法和传统方法得到的单天GPS轨道解与IGS最终综合轨道比较的1DRMS都约为0.012m,独立双差模糊度成功固定的比例约为92%,两种方法仅有非常细微的差异。不同测站数量的进一步试验表明,该方法和传统方法在网层需要采用Grams-Schmidt方法进行独立性检验的候选双差模糊度数量的比约等于卫星和测站的数量比,这与理论分析结论一致。对于实际应用中更为普遍的测站数量大于卫星数量的情况,该方法将减少独立双差模糊度选取的计算时间,且测站数越多,其优势越明显。     

GPS单频机电离层延迟改正新算法

探讨了几种新的电离层延迟改正算法,通过算例检验了新方案的效率和可行性,对不同精度用户选取电离层延迟改正方案给出了建议。     

利用GPS组合观测值探测与修复周跳算法实现

本文在目前常用的周跳探测和修复方法的基础上,根据相位减伪距组合,Melbourne-Wübbena组合,电离层残差组合三种GPS组合观测值优缺点互补,将这三种组合观测值有机结合产生可靠的探测与修复周跳算法并用程序实现,通过实例分析证明此算法能够探测和修复任意大小的周跳。