scholarly journals Using GNSS radio occultation data to derive critical frequencies of the ionospheric sporadic E layer in real time

GPS Solutions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingkun Yu ◽  
Christopher J. Scott ◽  
Xianghui Xue ◽  
Xinan Yue ◽  
Xiankang Dou

Abstract The small-scale electron density irregularities in the ionosphere have a significant impact on the interruptions of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) navigation and the accuracy of GNSS positioning techniques. The sporadic ionospheric E (Es) layer significantly contributes to the transient interruptions of signals (loss of lock) for GNSS tracking loops. These effects on the GNSS radio occultation (RO) signals can be used to derive the global location and intensity of Es layers as a complement to ground-based observations. Here we conduct statistical analyses of the intensity of Es layers, based on the scintillation index S4max from the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC during the period 2006–2014. In comparison with simultaneous observations from an ionosonde network of five low-to-middle latitude ionosondes, the S4max indices from COSMIC, especially the small values, are linearly related to the critical frequency of Es layers (foEs). An accumulated period of less than 1 h is required to derive the short-term variations in real-time ionospheric Es layers. A total of 30.22%, 69.57% and 98.13% coincident hourly foEs values have a relative difference less than 10%, 30% and 100%. Overall, the GNSS RO measurements have the potential to provide accurate hourly observations of Es layers. Observations with S4max < 0.4 (foEs < 3.6 MHz), accounting for 66% of COSMIC S4 measurements, have not been used fully previously, as they are not easily visible in ground-based ionosonde data.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingkun Yu ◽  
Christopher Scott ◽  
Xianghui Xue ◽  
Xinan Yue ◽  
Xiankang Dou

&lt;p&gt;In the past decades, the scintillations of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) measurements have been widely employed to study the occurrence of sporadic E (Es) layers. Recent results indicated that amplitude scintillation index (S4max) observations can be used to study the intensity of global Es layers. In this study, we show a statistical assessment of the hourly ionospheric Es layer measurements between 90 and 130 km from FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellites. The Es observations from FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellites are in agreement with those from ground-based ionosonde stations at different latitudes. With the successful launch of FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2, an accurate, high-resolution (&lt; 5&amp;#176; &amp;#215;5&amp;#176;&amp;#215;1 hour) map of Es layers on a global scale is available in the hopeful future.&lt;/p&gt;


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1483-1493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weihua Bai ◽  
Guojun Wang ◽  
Yueqiang Sun ◽  
Jiankui Shi ◽  
Guanglin Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract. The rapid advancement of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) occultation technology in recent years has made it one of the most advanced space-based remote sensing technologies of the 21st century. GNSS radio occultation has many advantages, including all-weather operation, global coverage, high vertical resolution, high precision, long-term stability, and self-calibration. Data products from GNSS occultation sounding can greatly enhance ionospheric observations and contribute to space weather monitoring, forecasting, modeling, and research. In this study, GNSS occultation sounder (GNOS) results from a radio occultation sounding payload aboard the Fengyun 3 C (FY3-C) satellite were compared with ground-based ionosonde observations. Correlation coefficients for peak electron density (NmF2) derived from GNOS Global Position System (GPS) and Beidou navigation system (BDS) products with ionosonde data were higher than 0.9, and standard deviations were less than 20 %. Global ionospheric effects of the strong magnetic storm event in March 2015 were analyzed using GNOS results supported by ionosonde observations. The magnetic storm caused a significant disturbance in NmF2 level. Suppressed daytime and nighttime NmF2 levels indicated mainly negative storm conditions. In two longitude section zones of geomagnetic inclination between 40 and 80∘, the results of average NmF2 observed by GNOS and ground-based ionosondes showed the same basic trends during the geomagnetic storm and confirmed the negative effect of this storm event on the ionosphere. The analysis demonstrates the reliability of the GNSS radio occultation sounding instrument GNOS aboard the FY3-C satellite and confirms the utility of ionosphere products from GNOS for statistical and event-specific ionospheric physical analyses. Future FY3 series satellites and increasing numbers of Beidou navigation satellites will provide increasing GNOS occultation data on the ionosphere, which will contribute to ionosphere research and forecasting applications.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 2373
Author(s):  
Dong L. Wu

Ionospheric scintillation can significantly degrade the performance and the usability of space-based communication and navigation signals. Characterization and prediction of ionospheric scintillation can be made from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) technique using the measurement from a deep slant path where the RO tangent height (ht) is far below the ionospheric sources. In this study, the L–band S4 from the RO measurements at ht = 30 km is used to infer the amplitude scintillation on the ground. The analysis of global RO data at ht = 30 km shows that sporadic–E (Es), equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs), and equatorial spread–F (ESF) produce most of the significant S4 enhancements, although the polar S4 is generally weak. The enhanced S4 is a strong function of local time and magnetic dip angle. The Es–induced daytime S4 tends to have a negative correlation with the solar cycle at low latitudes but a positive correlation at high latitudes. The nighttime S4 is dominated by a strong semiannual variation at low latitudes.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weihua Bai ◽  
Guojun Wang ◽  
Yueqiang Sun ◽  
Jiankui Shi ◽  
Xiangguang Meng ◽  
...  

Abstract. The rapid advancement of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) occultation technology in recent years has made it one of the most advanced space detection technologies of the 21st century. GNSS radio occultation has many advantages, including all-weather operation, global coverage, high vertical resolution, high precision, long-term stability, and self-calibration. Data products from GNSS occultation sounding can greatly enhance ionospheric observations and contribute to space weather monitoring, forecasting, modeling, and research. In this study, GNSS occultation sounder (GNOS) results from a radio occultation sounding payload aboard the Fengyun 3-C (FY3-C) satellite were compared with ground-based ionosonde observations. Correlation coefficients for peak electron density (NmF2) derived from GNOS Global Position System (GPS) and Beidou navigation system (BDS) products with ionosonde data were higher than 0.9, and standard deviations were less than 20 %. Global ionospheric effects of the strong magnetic storm event in March 2015 were analyzed using GNOS results supported by ionosonde observations. The magnetic storm caused a significant disturbance in NmF2 and hmF2 levels. Suppressed daytime and nighttime NmF2 levels indicated mainly negative storm conditions. In the zone of geomagnetic inclination between 40–80 °, average NmF2 during the geomagnetic storm showed the same basic trends in GNOS measurements, and in observations from 17 ground-based ionosonde stations, and confirmed the negative effect of the event on the ionosphere. The analysis demonstrates the reliability of the GNSS radio occultation sounding instrument GNOS aboard the FY3-C satellite, and confirms the utility of ionosphere products from GNOS for statistical and event-specific ionospheric physical analyses. Future FY3 series satellites, and increasing numbers of Beidou navigation satellites, will provide increasing GNOS occultation data on the ionosphere, which will contribute to ionosphere research and forecasting applications.


2014 ◽  
Vol 142 (2) ◽  
pp. 555-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Bauer ◽  
Gábor Radnóti ◽  
Sean Healy ◽  
Carla Cardinali

Abstract Observing system experiments within the operational ECMWF data assimilation framework have been performed for summer 2008 when the largest recorded number of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation observations from both operational and experimental satellites were available. Constellations with 0%, 5%, 33%, 67%, and 100% data volume were assimilated to quantify the sensitivity of analysis and forecast quality to radio occultation data volume. These observations mostly constrain upper-tropospheric and stratospheric temperatures and correct an apparent model bias that changes sign across the upper-troposphere–lower-stratosphere boundary. This correction effect does not saturate with increasing data volume, even if more data are assimilated than available in today’s analyses. Another important function of radio occultation data, namely, the anchoring of variational radiance bias corrections, is demonstrated in this study. This effect also does not saturate with increasing data volume. In the stratosphere, the anchoring by radio occultation data is stronger than provided by radiosonde and aircraft observations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 781-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mi Liao ◽  
Peng Zhang ◽  
Guang-Lin Yang ◽  
Yan-Meng Bi ◽  
Yan Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract. As a new member of the space-based radio occultation sounders, the GNOS (Global Navigation Satellite System Occultation Sounder) mounted on Fengyun-3C (FY-3C) has been carrying out atmospheric sounding since 23 September 2013. GNOS takes approximately 800 daily measurements using GPS (Global Positioning System) and Chinese BDS (BeiDou navigation satellite) signals. In this work, the atmospheric refractivity profiles from GNOS were compared with the ones obtained from the co-located ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) reanalysis. The mean bias of the refractivity obtained through GNOS GPS (BDS) was found to be approximately −0.09 % (−0.04 %) from the near surface to up to 46 km. While the average standard deviation was approximately 1.81 % (1.26  %), it was as low as 0.75 % (0.53 %) in the range of 5–25 km, where best sounding results are usually achieved. Further, COSMIC (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate) and MetOp/ GRAS (GNSS Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding) radio occultation data were compared with the ECMWF reanalysis; the results thus obtained could be used as reference data for GNOS. Our results showed that GNOS/FY-3C meets the design requirements in terms of accuracy and precision of the sounder. It possesses a sounding capability similar to COSMIC and MetOp/GRAS in the vertical range of 0–30 km, though it needs further improvement above 30 km. Overall, it provides a new data source for the global numerical weather prediction (NWP) community.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 2810
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Naus ◽  
Piotr Szymak ◽  
Paweł Piskur ◽  
Maciej Niedziela ◽  
Aleksander Nowak

Undoubtedly, Low-Altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are becoming more common in marine applications. Equipped with a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) receiver for highly accurate positioning, they perform camera and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) measurements. Unfortunately, these measurements may still be subject to large errors-mainly due to the inaccuracy of measurement of the optical axis of the camera or LiDAR sensor. Usually, UAVs use a small and light Inertial Navigation System (INS) with an angle measurement error of up to 0.5∘ (RMSE). The methodology for spatial orientation angle correction presented in the article allows the reduction of this error even to the level of 0.01∘ (RMSE). It can be successfully used in coastal and port waters. To determine the corrections, only the Electronic Navigational Chart (ENC) and an image of the coastline are needed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Spogli ◽  
Hossein Ghobadi ◽  
Antonio Cicone ◽  
Lucilla Alfonsi ◽  
Claudio Cesaroni ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;We investigate the reliability of the phase scintillation index determined by receiving Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals at ground in the high-latitudes. To the scope, we report about the capabilities of recently introduced detrending scheme based on the signal decomposition provided by the Fast Iterative Filtering (FIF) technique. This detrending scheme enables a fine tuning of the cutoff frequency for phase detrending used in the phase scintillation index definition, aimed at disentangling diffraction and refraction effects. On a single case study based on GPS and Galileo data taken by a GNSS Ionospheric Scintillation Monitor Receiver (ISMR) in Concordia Station (Antarctica), we show how the FIF-based detrending allows deriving adaptive cutoff frequencies, whose value changes minute-by-minute. They are found to range between 0.4 Hz and 1.2 Hz. This allows better accounting for diffractive effects in phase scintillation index calculation and also showing the limitations on the use of such index, being still widely used in the community, both to characterize the features of ionospheric irregularities and to adopt mitigation solutions.&lt;/p&gt;


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
Maelckson Bruno Barros Gomes ◽  
André Luis Silva Santos

<p class="04CorpodoTexto">Este artigo tem por objetivo aplicar geotecnologias para obtenção de informações planialtimétricas a fim de avaliar a viabilidade de implantação do campus Centro Histórico/Itaqui-Bacanga do IFMA. Considerando que para realização de levantamento por métodos tradicionais é recomendado que seja realizado o destocamento e a limpeza do terreno previamente, avaliou-se a realização do levantamento planialtimétrico a partir de um par de receptores <em>Global Navigation Satellite System</em> (GNSS) pelo método <em>Real Time Kinematic</em> (RTK) pós processado e também a partir da realização de levantamento fotogramétrico, utilizando aeronave remotamente pilotada (ARP), popularmente conhecida como drone. Esta análise permitiu demonstrar que o aerolevantamento com a ARP pode ser aplicado na concepção inicial de um projeto de engenharia, conforme classificação do Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU) para níveis de precisão, pois obteve-se uma diferença orçamentária de 19% entre os projetos elaborados a partir das duas geotecnologias.</p><div> </div>


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