Development of a Simplified Model to Characterize and Introduce Scintillation Effects into SBAS Reference Scenarios

África Hernando Vigara, Daniel Gutiérrez Reyes, Ramón Sánchez-Verdejo Cidfuentes, Anna Martínez Medina, and Aina Moncho Roig

Abstract:	Ionospheric scintillation is one of the most critical disturbances impacting GNSS based augmentation systems, as it degrades signal tracking at reference stations and compromises the estimation of ionospheric delays. This work presents the development of a simplified scintillation model specifically designed for SBAS performance assessment. The model focuses on the dominant operational effects of scintillation: loss of measurements and data gaps, derived from statistical analysis of real data collected from reference networks. A dedicated metric is used to detect disturbed periods and to extract probability distributions of measurement loss and gap duration. These distributions feed a Monte Carlo method that introduces synthetic disruptions in GNSS measurements, enabling the representative reproduction of scintillation conditions using standard 1 Hz data. The approach has been tested with European stations affected by scintillation and further applied to a simulated scenario in Brazil. Results demonstrate that the synthetic scintillations reproduce the same patterns of GIVE growth, residual increase, and uncertainty amplification observed during real scintillation events. The model therefore provides a practical and reliable tool for SBAS design and testing in regions with scintillation, supporting the development of robust algorithms and the evaluation of system availability under degraded ionospheric conditions.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 38th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2025) September 8 - 12, 2025 Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor Baltimore, Maryland
Pages:	3377 - 3398
Cite this article:	Vigara, África Hernando, Reyes, Daniel Gutiérrez, Cidfuentes, Ramón Sánchez-Verdejo, Medina, Anna Martínez, Roig, Aina Moncho, "Development of a Simplified Model to Characterize and Introduce Scintillation Effects into SBAS Reference Scenarios," Proceedings of the 38th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2025), Baltimore, Maryland, September 2025, pp. 3377-3398. https://doi.org/10.33012/2025.20393
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