Open AccessNetwork‐based ionospheric gradient monitoring to support GBAS
Author(s) -
Caamano Maria,
Juan José Miguel,
Felux Michael,
Gerbeth Daniel,
GonzálezCasado Guillermo,
Sanz Jaume
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
navigation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.847
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 2161-4296
pISSN - 0028-1522
DOI - 10.1002/navi.411
Subject(s) - gnss augmentation , gnss applications , computer science , ionosphere , constellation , position (finance) , potential gradient , real time computing , remote sensing , geodesy , global positioning system , environmental science , geology , telecommunications , geophysics , physics , finance , quantum mechanics , astronomy , economics
Large ionospheric gradients acting between a Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) reference station and an aircraft on approach could lead to hazardous position errors if undetected. Current GBAS stations provide solutions against this threat that rely on the use of “worst‐case” conservative threat models, which could limit the availability of the system. This paper presents a methodology capable of detecting ionospheric gradients in real time and estimating the actual threat model parameters based on a network of dual‐frequency and multi‐constellation GNSS monitoring stations. First, we evaluate the performance of our algorithm with synthetic gradients that are simulated over the nominal measurements recorded by a reference network in Alaska. Afterwards, we also assess it with one real ionospheric gradient measured by the same network. Results with both simulated gradients and a real gradient show the potential to support GBAS by detecting and estimating these gradients instead of always using “worst‐case” models.