Advanced Kalman Filter Carrier Tracking: Performance Assessment Under Two Ionospheric Scintillation Models

Rodrigo de Lima Florindo, Rubem Pacelli, Thiago Lobo Ferreira, Daniele Oliveira Silva, Antonio Macilio Pereira de Lucena, Felix Antreich

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	We evaluate the behavior of advanced carrier-phase tracking loops that are specifically designed for global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals under equatorial ionospheric scintillation by analyzing their carrier-phase estimates using two distinct synthetic models: the Cornell scintillation model (CSM) and the Compact Phase-Screen-Based Scintillation Model (CPSSM). A simplified received-signal framework is used for evaluating the performance of the proposed carrier-phase tracking algorithms. A goodness-of-fit analysis of autoregressive (AR) processes, for modeling the diffractive scintillation phase simulated by both scintillation models, is provided for weak and strong scintillation events. Under CSM-generated scenarios, it was possible to reproduce results predicted by the literature. However, when CPSSM’s combined diffractive and refractive effect are present, the same tracking loops exhibit significant phase deviations in the weak and strong regimes, indicating that the refractive phase component degrades the capability of the proposed loops on estimating the ionospheric diffractive effect properly. These results demonstrate the carrier-phase tracking loops proposed by the literature cannot be applied directly in real-time applications yet. Our findings underline the necessity of re-evaluating advanced single-frequency loops under physics-based scintillation models before deployment in operational GNSS receivers.
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:	3421 - 3435
Cite this article:	Florindo, Rodrigo de Lima, Pacelli, Rubem, Ferreira, Thiago Lobo, Silva, Daniele Oliveira, de Lucena, Antonio Macilio Pereira, Antreich, Felix, "Advanced Kalman Filter Carrier Tracking: Performance Assessment Under Two Ionospheric Scintillation Models," Proceedings of the 38th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2025), Baltimore, Maryland, September 2025, pp. 3421-3435. https://doi.org/10.33012/2025.20395
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In