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Linear time-invariant filtering for real-time monitoring of ionospheric scintillation in GNSS receivers

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Abstract

We propose an algorithm for estimating the ionospheric scintillation phase on global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) receivers for scintillation monitoring. The algorithm comprises linear time-invariant filtering of available observables or easily derived in traditional or Kalman filter-based carrier tracking loop structures, exploiting their complementary frequency content to provide real-time scintillation phase estimates for monitoring purposes. This algorithm is developed for receivers with traditional and Kalman frequency locked loops, but can be adapted to receivers with traditional and Kalman phase locked loops. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated via simulations with synthetic severe scintillation data, showing its capability to provide the scintillation phase estimates. In addition, we evaluated the algorithm with real data presenting equatorial scintillation collected by a professional GNSS receiver, where the scintillation phase standard deviation computed from the estimates provided by the real-time algorithm is compared to the standard deviation derived by post-processing, showing good agreement.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) under Grant 309248/2018-3 PQ-2, 312394/2021-7 PQ-2, 409865/2018-4, 307255/2018-2, 465648/2014-2, and 205906/2018-4, as well as by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) under the Programa de Apoio ao Ensino e a Pesquisa Científica e Tecnológica—Pró-Defesa IV and under Grant nº 88887.137186/2017-00. Furthermore, this work was also partially supported by FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) under Grant 2017/50115-0.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Space Research (INPE), São José Dos Campos, Brazil

    Rafael A. M. Lopes & Helio K. Kuga

  2. Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA), São José Dos Campos, Brazil

    Felix Antreich

  3. German Aerospace Center (DLR), Wessling, Neustrelitz, Germany

    Friederike Fohlmeister & Martin Kriegel

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  1. Rafael A. M. Lopes
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  2. Felix Antreich
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  3. Friederike Fohlmeister
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  4. Martin Kriegel
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  5. Helio K. Kuga
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Correspondence to Rafael A. M. Lopes.

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Lopes, R.A.M., Antreich, F., Fohlmeister, F. et al. Linear time-invariant filtering for real-time monitoring of ionospheric scintillation in GNSS receivers. GPS Solut 27, 131 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-023-01470-0

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