GPS Receiver Performance Characterization Under Simulated Ionospheric Scintillation Environments

Thomas N. Morrissey, Karl W. Shallberg, A.J. Van Dierendonck, Taehwan Kim and Matthew J. Nicholson

Abstract:	It is well known that ionospheric scintillation has the potential to affect all types of GPS receivers, even dualfrequency PPS versions. In this paper the degree of degradation to WAAS operation caused by scintillation, based upon simulated data input to an actual WAAS reference receiver under carefully controlled laboratory conditions, is documented and analyzed. This degradation is manifested in increased errors for carrier phase and code range measurements and in a higher probability of loss of GPS signal track. The objective of this testing was to quantify such effects on GPS/WAAS receiver(s) to ensure that key parameters (loop bandwidth, discriminator type and tracking loop order) are properly tailored for operation in the expected scintillation environment. This paper describes the simulated input scintillation data characteristics, the test configuration with the GPS simulator, and the configuration of the WAAS receivers that were tested. Key variables included the ionospheric phase scintillation strength, amplitude scintillation strength, correlation between the phase scintillation signals at L1 and L2, input carrier-to-noise ratio, and the WAAS receiver carrier and code loop bandwidths at L1 and L2. WAAS receiver performance data collected during these tests (e.g., L1 and L2 carrier tracking errors, pseudorange errors, and lock status) for the above input parameters is described in detail. The results presented here support the assessment that WAAS receivers can operate successfully in the presence of moderate ionospheric scintillation at mid to high satellite elevation angles, and in the presence of weak ionospheric scintillation at low elevation angles. However, scintillations are not expected to be a problem in the CONUS except during the very rare occurrence of a “Great Geomagnetic Storm”, which may occur only once or twice during an 11 year solar cycle.
Published in:	Proceedings of the IAIN World Congress and the 56th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (2000) June 26 - 28, 2000 The Catamaran Resort Hotel San Diego, CA
Pages:	577 - 587
Cite this article:	Morrissey, Thomas N., Shallberg, Karl W., Van Dierendonck, A.J., Kim, Taehwan, Nicholson, Matthew J., "GPS Receiver Performance Characterization Under Simulated Ionospheric Scintillation Environments," Proceedings of the IAIN World Congress and the 56th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (2000), San Diego, CA, June 2000, pp. 577-587.
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