Analyzing ionospheric effects on GPS signals using GNSS simulator

Abstract

Currently, there has been an increase in the usage of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) purposes, for instance, satellite navigation, positional data, mapping, as well as location services. Due to our dependence on these systems, it is of utmost importance for us to have a deeper insight regarding the transmission of GNSS signals and the aspects that translates to the deterioration of the performance of the system. Ionospheric Scintillation is a natural phenomenon that is a major cause of the detrimental effects on the signals at regions of ±30° North and South of the equator, resulting in the degradation of the quality and integrity of the signals received from the satellite systems. This has been a challenge for academics all around the world to study and come up with ideas and solutions to minimize the effect of ionospheric scintillation. This project aims to plot and model the relationship between scintillation and flight paths of aircraft over various distances. First, a general overview of GNSS and GPS will be covered, followed by the cause of ionospheric scintillation and theory which explain the reasoning behind the seasonal and solar activity tendencies of amplitude scintillation around regions of low latitude as well as the equator. Following that, simulations were done based on different flight paths under different scintillation conditions. The data will then be plotted to observe the deviations in the flight paths of the aircraft under different scintillation conditions.