Evaluation of GLONASS Performance In Practical Applications: Comparison with GPS-Based Ionospheric TEC Values

Nestor Zarraoa, Esther Sardon, Dietmar Klan, and Arne Jungstand

Abstract:	After GPS has reached the operational status, the Russian Navigation Satellite System GLONASS, is also approaching the stage of constellation completion. However, the knowledge about the capacities of GLONASS, as compared with those of GPS, is rather scarce, because of the reduced number of receivers available, and the little literature published so fnr. The DLR Remote Sensing Station Neustrelitz has started several activities around GLONASS. Some of the purposes we have are the proper evaluation of the quality and integrity of the Russian system, the distribution of updated information about the system to other users, and the extensive testing of the capa- bilities of GLONASS, as compared with the current GPS performance, in areas like positioning, navigation and ionospheric monitoring. In this paper we will present part of our work in the evaluation of the GLONASS system and a first detailed comparison of the applicability of GLONASS for ionospheric mo- nitoring, as stand alone or combined with GPS. Ionospheric monitoring based on GPS is one impor- tant line of research in DLR Neustrelitz, and we are providing a regular distribution of ionospheric TEC values for other users, using our permanent GPS refe- rence station and also other stations from the IGS net- work. The inclusion of GLONASS data, into the scheme of this monitoring is a rather natural appli- cation of the system, and an excellent test base to eva- luate the data quality and the possible complications of the GLONASS structure for this purpose. Moreover, the use of the new observables from GLONASS, increases the spatial coverage of the data when monitoring with a single station by more than 50%. We have used for our comparisons a combination of two receivers, one GLONASS (3SPlOl) and one GPS (Turbo-Rogue) in the same site. We have studied the performance of the GLONASS receiver in terms of reliability and integrity, and we have adapted the existing algorithms for TEC monitoring from GPS to the combination of both techniques. In this paper we will present the results of these tests and the comparison of the results that are obtained using each technique independently or both together, in terms of ionospheric corrections monitoring.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 8th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1995) September 12 - 15, 1995 Palm Springs, CA
Pages:	1031 - 1039
Cite this article:	Zarraoa, Nestor, Sardon, Esther, Klan, Dietmar, Jungstand, Arne, "Evaluation of GLONASS Performance In Practical Applications: Comparison with GPS-Based Ionospheric TEC Values," Proceedings of the 8th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1995), Palm Springs, CA, September 1995, pp. 1031-1039.
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