A worldwide network of receivers tracking the transmissions of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites represents a new source of ionospheric data that is globally distributed and continuously available. We describe a technique for retrieving the global distribution of vertical total electron content (TEC) from GPS-based measurements. The approach is based on interpolating TEC within triangular tiles that tessellate the ionosphere modeled as a thin spherical shell. The high spatial resolution of pixel-based methods, where widely separated regions can be retrieved independently of each other, is combined with the efficient retrieval of gradients characteristic of polynomial fitting. TEC predictions from climatological models are incorporated as simulated data to bridge significant gaps between measurements. Time sequences of global TEC maps are formed by incrementally updating the most recent retrieval with the newest data as it becomes available. This Kalman filtering approach smooths the maps in time, and provides time-resolved covariance information, useful for mapping the formal error of each global TEC retrieval. Preliminary comparisons with independent vertical TEC data, available from the TOPEX dual-frequency altimeter, suggest that the maps can accurately reproduce spatial and temporal ionospheric variations over latitudes ranging from equatorial to about ±65°.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/97RS02707

A global mapping technique for GPS‐derived ionospheric total electron content measurements

The International GNSS Service (IGS) Working Group on Ionosphere was created in 1998. Since then, the Scientific community behind IGS, in particular CODE, ESA, JPL and UPC, have been continuosly contributing to reliable IGS combined vertical total electron content (VTEC) maps in both rapid and final schedules. The details on how these products are being generated, performance numbers, proposed improvement as far as VTEC evolution trends during near one Solar Cycle, are summarized in this paper. The confirmation of (1) the good performance of the IGS combined VTEC maps, and (2) the characteristic VTEC variability periods, are two main results of this work.

/pdf/the-igs-vtec-maps-a-reliable-source-of-ionospheric-28b28fg9g1.pdf

The IGS VTEC maps: a reliable source of ionospheric information since 1998

The Global Positioning System (GPS) has become a powerful tool for ionospheric studies. In addition, ionospheric corrections are necessary for the augmentation systems required for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) use. Dual-frequency carrier-phase and code-delay GPS observations are combined to obtain ionospheric observables related to the slant total electron content (sTEC) along the satellite-receiver line-of-sight (LoS). This observable is affected by inter-frequency biases [IFB; often called differential code biases (DCB)] due to the transmitting and the receiving hardware. These biases must be estimated and eliminated from the data in order to calibrate the experimental sTEC obtained from GPS observations. Based on the analysis of single differences of the ionospheric observations obtained from pairs of co-located dual-frequency GPS receivers, this research addresses two major issues: (1) assessing the errors translated from the code-delay to the carrier-phase ionospheric observable by the so-called levelling process, applied to reduce carrier-phase ambiguities from the data; and (2) assessing the short-term stability of receiver IFB. The conclusions achieved are: (1) the levelled carrier-phase ionospheric observable is affected by a systematic error, produced by code-delay multi-path through the levelling procedure; and (2) receiver IFB may experience significant changes during 1 day. The magnitude of both effects depends on the receiver/antenna configuration. Levelling errors found in this research vary from 1.4 total electron content units (TECU) to 5.3 TECU. In addition, intra-day vaiations of code-delay receiver IFB ranging from 1.4 to 8.8 TECU were detected.

/pdf/calibration-errors-on-experimental-slant-total-electron-43a91y0h7z.pdf

Calibration errors on experimental slant total electron content (TEC) determined with GPS

. In this paper we examine pre-earthquake ionospheric anomalies by the total electron content (TEC) derived from a ground-based receiver of the Global Positioning System (GPS). A 15-day running median of the TEC and the associated inter-quartile range (IQR) are utilized as a reference for identifying abnormal signals during all of the 20M≥6.0 earthquakes in the Taiwan area from September 1999 to December 2002. Results show that the pre-earthquake ionospheric anomalies appear during 18:00–22:00LT (LT=UT+8h) within 5 days prior to 16 of the 20M≥6.0 earthquakes. This success rate of 80% (=16/20%) suggests that the GPS TEC is useful to register pre-earthquake ionospheric anomalies appearing before large earthquakes. Key words. Ionosphere (ionospheric disturbances; ionosphere-atmosphere interactions)

/pdf/pre-earthquake-ionospheric-anomalies-registered-by-yvax7civgs.pdf

Pre-earthquake ionospheric anomalies registered by continuous GPS TEC measurements

A software package known as MIT Automated Processing of GPS (MAPGPS) has been developed to automate the processing of GPS data into global total electron density (TEC) maps. The goal of the MAPGPS software is to produce reliable TEC data automatically, although not yet in real time. Observations are used from all available GPS receivers during all geomagnetic conditions where data has been successfully collected. In this paper, the architecture of the MAPGPS software is described. Particular attention is given to the algorithms used to estimate the individual receiver biases. One of the largest sources of error in estimating TEC from GPS data is the determination of these unknown receiver biases. The MAPGPS approach to solving the receiver bias problem uses three different methods: minimum scalloping, least squares, and zero-TEC. These methods are described in detail, along with their relative performance characteristics. A brief comparison of the JPL and MAPGPS receiver biases is presented, and a possible remaining error source in the receiver bias estimation is discussed. Finally, the Madrigal database, which allows Web access to the MAPGPS TEC data and maps, is described.

Automated GPS processing for global total electron content data

In the estimation of the ionospheric total electron content from the Global Positioning System (GPS) observables, various instrumental systematic effects such as the biases in the GPS satellites and receivers must be modeled. This paper describes a procedure, based on a Kalman filtering approach, for estimating these instrumental biases as well as the total electron content at each GPS station, using dual GPS data. The method is applied to six data sets, of 48 hours each, spanning one year, from the Deep Space Network with GPS stations in Australia, Spain, and the United States. The formal errors for the estimated satellite biases and for the total electron content at each station are about 0.07 ns and 0.2×1016 el/m2, respectively. The variation in time of the satellite biases (relative to the mean of all of them) estimated in different epochs during 1-year period, is below 1 ns.

Estimation of the transmitter and receiver differential biases and the ionospheric total electron content from Global Positioning System observations

The main source of error in the estimation of TEC (total electron content) from dual Global Positioning System (GPS) data is the effect of the differential satellite and receiver instrumental delay biases. These biases are normally estimated simultaneously with the TEC. However, the additional estimation of the instrumental biases may constitute an insurmountable burden in some practical applications like real-time estimation of TEC, or the estimation may be difficult or correlated to the ionospheric parameters, particularly in situations where the TEC behavior may be harder to model (equatorial or auroral zone, ionospheric storms, etc.). A priori values of the instrumental biases, estimated under good conditions or with global networks, could solve those problems if we could determine how stable those instrumental biases are in time and how often we need to check or reestimate their values. In this paper we will present our estimation of the GPS satellite and receiver instrumental biases from 19 months of data and the study of their variation during that time. We will also show some situations of changes in the instrumental biases and the possible influence of antispoofmg (AS). The main conclusion of this work is that the variation of the estimated differential GPS satellite biases during the 19 months is smaller than 1 ns (1 ns = 2.86 × 1016 e/m2) in most of the cases, with a mean RMS of 0.15 ns. For the GPS receivers used, that variation is greater than for the satellites, with the larger variations corresponding to physical changes in the receivers. The difference of the estimated differential instrumental biases between two consecutive days is in practically all cases smaller than 0.5 ns for the GPS satellites and smaller than 1 ns for the GPS receivers. Regarding the influence of AS, we have detected some significant changes in the instrumental biases of some satellites and some stations whether AS is activated or not. Our main conclusion is that due to the stability of the GPS instrumental biases, only an estimation or calibration of them (under optimal conditions) from time to time is required.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/97RS01457

Estimation of total electron content using GPS data: How stable are the differential satellite and receiver instrumental biases?

SUMMARY Since 1988, the European geodetic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) community and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, have set up the observation of a series of geodetic VLBI experiments with the purpose of studying possible crustal deformations in Western Europe. In this work we present the results of the analysis of the complete data set with the software package OCCAM 3.0. These results show the detection of significant motions at the centimetre per year level in the southern European stations, close to the boundary between the African and Eurasian plates. Meanwhile, they show no significant motions at that level in central Europe or the Iberian Peninsula. The extraordinary quality of the data and the consistency of the analysis have made it possible to obtain significant geodynamical results in a relatively short time-span.

/pdf/relative-motions-in-europe-studied-with-a-geodetic-vlbi-4o5l17ub47.pdf

Relative motions in Europe studied with a geodetic VLBI network

By the beginning of 1996 the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) constellation was completely deployed, although several satellites have already been decommissioned since then. With 17 satellites in operation (status as of 21 December 1997, although two of them are unusable and one is a non-operative spare), GLONASS is now an alternative and a complement to GPS. We present an evaluation of the current status of the GLONASS system, paying particular attention to its possible geodetic applications. Data from several receivers were used for this evaluation, including data from GPS receivers in order to allow for a comparison between GLONASS and GPS. We tested the quality of the geodetic observables, the consistency of the broadcast orbits, the single-point positioning results, and we also looked at multipath errors and cycle slips in our GLONASS data. In general the GLONASS performance has been found to be very satisfactory, even better than GPS in aspects such as single-receiver positioning or in the quality of the second-frequency pseudo-ranges due to the degradation of the GPS measurement quality under selective availability and anti-spoofing.

Preliminary evaluation of the Russian GLONASS system as a potential geodetic tool

En: Sardon, E, Rius, A, Zarraoa, N GPS inospheric delays Publicacion Instituto de Astronomia y Geodesia, no 185, 1993

/pdf/comparison-of-ionospheric-delays-obtained-from-s-x-vlbi-3qgkhd6x5v.pdf

Néstor Zarraoa

Papers

Estimation of the transmitter and receiver differential biases and the ionospheric total electron content from Global Positioning System observations

Estimation of total electron content using GPS data: How stable are the differential satellite and receiver instrumental biases?

Relative motions in Europe studied with a geodetic VLBI network

Preliminary evaluation of the Russian GLONASS system as a potential geodetic tool

Comparison of ionospheric delays obtained from S-X VLBI experiments and GPS observations