scholarly journals Ionospheric Correction Based on Ingestion of Global Ionospheric Maps into the NeQuick 2 Model

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Yu ◽  
Chengli She ◽  
Weimin Zhen ◽  
Nava Bruno ◽  
Dun Liu ◽  
...  

The global ionospheric maps (GIMs), generated by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) during a period over 13 years, have been adopted as the primary source of data to provide global ionospheric correction for possible single frequency positioning applications. The investigation aims to assess the performance of new NeQuick model, NeQuick 2, in predicting global total electron content (TEC) through ingesting the GIMs data from the previous day(s). The results show good performance of the GIMs-driven-NeQuick model with average 86% of vertical TEC error less than 10 TECU, when the global daily effective ionization indices (Az) versus modified dip latitude (MODIP) are constructed as a second order polynomial. The performance of GIMs-driven-NeQuick model presents variability with solar activity and behaves better during low solar activity years. The accuracy of TEC prediction can be improved further through performing a four-coefficient function expression of Az versus MODIP. As more measurements from earlier days are involved in the Az optimization procedure, the accuracy may decrease. The results also reveal that more efforts are needed to improve the NeQuick 2 model capabilities to represent the ionosphere in the equatorial and high-latitude regions.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilya K. Edemskiy

Abstract. The paper is dedicated to investigation of localized TEC (total electron content) enhancements (LTEs), particularly of LTE series, detected in the Southern Hemisphere using global ionospheric maps for different solar activity years (2014, 2015, 2018). It is shown that LTE intensity varies in dependence on solar flux and does not directly depend on interplanetary magnetic field orientation. The enhancements occur in a subsolar region and could be observed during a continuous series of days. The highest LTE occurrence rate is observed during period of local winter (April-September) for all analyzed years. The longest observed LTE series was detected during 2014 and lasted 80 days or 120 days if we exclude 2 daily gaps.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Yang ◽  
Jing Guo ◽  
Tao Geng ◽  
Qile Zhao ◽  
Kecai Jiang ◽  
...  

For single-frequency Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) users, ionospheric delay is the main error source affecting the accuracy of positioning. Applying a broadcast ionospheric correction model to mitigate the ionospheric delay is essential for meter-to-decimeter-level accuracy positioning. To provide support for real-time single-frequency operations, particularly in the China area, we assessed the performance of three broadcast ionospheric correction models, namely, the Neustrelitz total electron content (TEC) broadcast model (NTCM-BC), the BeiDou global broadcast ionospheric delay correction model (BDGIM), and the Klobuchar model. In this study, the broadcast coefficients of Klobuchar and BDGIM are obtained from the navigation data files directly. Two sets of coefficients of NTCM-BC for China and global areas are estimated. The slant total electron contents (STEC) data from more than 80 validation stations and the final vertical TEC (VTEC) data of the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) are used as independent benchmarks for comparison. Compared to GPS STEC during the period of Day of Year (DOY) 101~199, 2019, the ionospheric correction ratio of NTCM-BC, BDGIM, and Klobuchar are 79.4%, 64.9%, and 57.7% in China, respectively. For the global area, the root-mean-square (RMS) errors of these three models are 3.67 TECU (1 TECU = 1016 electrons/m2), 5.48 TECU, and 8.92 TECU, respectively. Compared to CODE VTEC in the same period, NTCM-BC, BDGIM, and Klobuchar can correct 72.6%, 69.8%, and 61.7% of ionospheric delay, respectively. Hence, NTCM-BC is recommended for use as the broadcast ionospheric model for the new-generation BeiDou satellite navigation system (BDS) and its satellite-based augmentation system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaojiao Zhao ◽  
Manuel Hernández-Pajares ◽  
Zishen Li ◽  
Ningbo Wang ◽  
Hong Yuan

AbstractAside from the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) information, root-mean-square (RMS) maps are also provided as the standard deviations of the corresponding TEC errors in global ionospheric maps (GIMs). As the RMS maps are commonly used as the accuracy indicator of GIMs to optimize the stochastic model of precise point positioning algorithms, it is of crucial importance to investigate the reliability of RMS maps involved in GIMs of different Ionospheric Associated Analysis Centers (IAACs) of the International GNSS Service (IGS), i.e., the integrity of GIMs. We indirectly analyzed the reliability of RMS maps by comparing the actual error of the differential STEC (dSTEC) with the RMS of the dSTEC derived from the RMS maps. With this method, the integrity of seven rapid IGS GIMs (UQRG, CORG, JPRG, WHRG, EHRG, EMRG, and IGRG) and six final GIMs (UPCG, CODG, JPLG, WHUG, ESAG and IGSG) was examined under the maximum and minimum solar activity conditions as well as the geomagnetic storm period. The results reveal that the reliability of the RMS maps is significantly different for the GIMs from different IAACs. Among these GIMs, the values in the RMS maps of UQRG are large, which can be used as ionospheric protection level, while the RMS values in EHRG and ESAG are significantly lower than the realistic RMS. The rapid and final GIMs from CODE, JPL and WHU provide quite reasonable RMS maps. The bounding performance of RMS maps can be influenced by the location of the stations, while the influence of solar activity and the geomagnetic storm is not obvious.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 191
Author(s):  
Angela Aragon-Angel ◽  
Adria Rovira-Garcia ◽  
Enrique Arcediano-Garrido ◽  
Deimos Ibáñez-Segura

Users of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) operating with a single-frequency receiver must use an ionospheric correction algorithm (ICA) to account for the delay introduced on radio waves by the upper atmosphere. Galileo, the European GNSS, uses an ICA named NeQuick-G. In an effort to foster the adoption of NeQuick-G by final users, two implementations in C language have been recently made available to the public by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (EC), respectively. The aim of the present contribution is to compare the slant total electron content (STEC) predictions of the two aforementioned implementations of NeQuick-G. For this purpose, we have used actual multi-constellation and multi-frequency data for several hundreds of stations distributed worldwide belonging to the Multi GNSS Experiment (MGEX) network of the International GNSS Service (IGS). For each first day of the month during year 2019, the STECs of the two NeQuick-G versions were compared in terms of accuracy, consistency, availability, and execution time. Our study concludes that both implementations of NeQuick-G perform equivalently. Indeed, in over 99.998% of the 2125 million STECs computed, the output is exactly coincident. In contrast, 0.002% of the whole set of STECs for those rays are tangent to the Earth, the behavior of both implementations differs. We confirmed the discrepancy by processing radio-occultation actual measurements from a COSMIC-2 low Earth orbit satellite. We selected the JRC version of the Galileo ICA to be integrated into the GNSS LABoratory (gLAB) tool suite, because its open license and its processing speed (it is 13.88% faster than the ESA version). NeQuick-G outperforms the GPS ICA in STEC residuals up to 12.15 TECUs (percentile 96.23th) and in the 3D position errors, up to 5.76 m (percentile 99.18th) for code-pseudorange positioning.


2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Montenbruck ◽  
Eberhard Gill

This paper describes an ionospheric correction technique for single frequency GPS measurements from satellites in low Earth orbit. The fractional total electron content (TEC) above the receiver altitude is obtained from global TEC maps of the International GPS Service network and an altitude dependent scale factor. By choosing a suitable effective height of the residual ionosphere, the resulting path delay for positive elevations is then computed from a thin layer approximation. The scale factor can be predicted from the assumption of a Chapman profile for the altitude variation of the electron density or adjusted as a free parameter in the processing of an extended set of single frequency measurements. The suitability of the proposed model is assessed by comparison with flight data from the Champ satellite that orbits the Earth at an altitude of 450 km. For the given test case, a 90% correction of the ionospheric error is achieved in a reduced dynamic orbit determination based on single frequency C/A-code measurements.


Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Christina Oikonomou ◽  
Haris Haralambous ◽  
Sergey Pulinets ◽  
Aakriti Khadka ◽  
Shukra R. Paudel ◽  
...  

The purpose of the present study is to investigate simultaneously pre-earthquake ionospheric and atmospheric disturbances by the application of different methodologies, with the ultimate aim to detect their possible link with the impending seismic event. Three large earthquakes in Mexico are selected (8.2 Mw, 7.1 Mw and 6.6 Mw during 8 and 19 September 2017 and 21 January 2016 respectively), while ionospheric variations during the entire year 2017 prior to 37 earthquakes are also examined. In particular, Total Electron Content (TEC) retrieved from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) networks and Atmospheric Chemical Potential (ACP) variations extracted from an atmospheric model are analyzed by performing statistical and spectral analysis on TEC measurements with the aid of Global Ionospheric Maps (GIMs), Ionospheric Precursor Mask (IPM) methodology and time series and regional maps of ACP. It is found that both large and short scale ionospheric anomalies occurring from few hours to a few days prior to the seismic events may be linked to the forthcoming events and most of them are nearly concurrent with atmospheric anomalies happening during the same day. This analysis also highlights that even in low-latitude areas it is possible to discern pre-earthquake ionospheric disturbances possibly linked with the imminent seismic events.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 443
Author(s):  
Ye Wang ◽  
Lin Zhao ◽  
Yang Gao

In the use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) to monitor ionosphere variations by estimating total electron content (TEC), differential code biases (DCBs) in GNSS measurements are a primary source of errors. Satellite DCBs are currently estimated and broadcast to users by International GNSS Service (IGS) using a network of GNSS hardware receivers which are inside structure fixed. We propose an approach for satellite DCB estimation using a multi-spacing GNSS software receiver to analyze the influence of the correlator spacing on satellite DCB estimates and estimate satellite DCBs based on different correlator spacing observations from the software receiver. This software receiver-based approach is called multi-spacing DCB (MSDCB) estimation. In the software receiver approach, GNSS observations with different correlator spacings from intermediate frequency datasets can be generated. Since each correlator spacing allows the software receiver to output observations like a local GNSS receiver station, GNSS observations from different correlator spacings constitute a network of GNSS receivers, which makes it possible to use a single software receiver to estimate satellite DCBs. By comparing the MSDCBs to the IGS DCB products, the results show that the proposed correlator spacing flexible software receiver is able to predict satellite DCBs with increased flexibility and cost-effectiveness than the current hardware receiver-based DCB estimation approach.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1559
Author(s):  
Fabricio S. Prol ◽  
M. Mainul Hoque

A 3D-model approach has been developed to describe the electron density of the topside ionosphere and plasmasphere based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements onboard low Earth orbit satellites. Electron density profiles derived from ionospheric Radio Occultation (RO) data are extrapolated to the upper ionosphere and plasmasphere based on a linear Vary-Chap function and Total Electron Content (TEC) measurements. A final update is then obtained by applying tomographic algorithms to the slant TEC measurements. Since the background specification is created with RO data, the proposed approach does not require using any external ionospheric/plasmaspheric model to adapt to the most recent data distributions. We assessed the model accuracy in 2013 and 2018 using independent TEC data, in situ electron density measurements, and ionosondes. A systematic better specification was obtained in comparison to NeQuick, with improvements around 15% in terms of electron density at 800 km, 26% at the top-most region (above 10,000 km) and 26% to 55% in terms of TEC, depending on the solar activity level. Our investigation shows that the developed model follows a known variation of electron density with respect to geographic/geomagnetic latitude, altitude, solar activity level, season, and local time, revealing the approach as a practical and useful tool for describing topside ionosphere and plasmasphere using satellite-based GNSS data.


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