Analysis of Ionospheric Scintillation and its Impact on PPP at Low Latitudes

Abstract

on developing novel GNSS receiver tracking models and scintillation mitigation tools, aiming to improve the receiver tracking performance under ionospheric scintillation. deployment of ionospheric scintillation and TEC monitoring receivers research focused on ionospheric effects on GNSS, including system vulnerability to ionospheric disturbances and relevant countermeasures. Nottingham Nottingham in European Commission, European Space Agency and UK research council funded projects. Her research focuses on assessing the effects of space weather on GNSS receivers and positioning errors aiming to improve the modeling of scintillation and to develop scintillation mitigation tools. are GNSS positioning system integrity, various GNSS applications, seamless positioning, and ABSTRACT Ionospheric scintillation refers to the random and rapid fluctuations in the amplitude and phase of radio signals that occur due to their propagation through plasma density irregularities in the ionosphere. For Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), scintillation can seriously degrade satellite signal quality and consequently the positioning accuracy, particularly at high and low latitude regions, where ionospheric disturbances are more frequent. This study analyzes the effects of scintillation on Global Positioning System (GPS) Precise Point Positioning (PPP), by making use of scintillation data recorded in Hong Kong during the solar maximum of 2014. Significant positioning error values of as much as 1.34 m in the up direction are observed with kinematic PPP processing under strong scintillation. The variations in the standard deviations of the carrier phase residuals in relation to satellite elevations and scintillation levels are investigated for the first time in this region. It is found that the standard deviation of carrier phase residuals increases depending on scintillation intensity. This study is important to help better understand the scintillation characteristics and its effects on GPS-based positioning in the Hong Kong region. It can also help in modelling the relationship between scintillation and carrier phase residuals, which can be of use in the development of scintillation mitigation approaches for PPP processing. scintillation on This also contribute to the modelling of ionospheric scintillation effects on phase residuals and to the development of scintillation mitigation tools for satellite-based positioning algorithms.