A MARS-based method for estimating regional 2-D ionospheric VTEC and receiver differential code bias

The geometry-free linear combination of dual-frequency GNSS reference station ground observations are currently used to build the Vertical Total Electron Content (VTEC) model of the ionosphere. As it is known, besides ionospheric delays, there are differential code bias (DCB) of satellite (SDCB) and receiver (RDCB) in the geometry-free observation equation. The SDCB can be obtained using the International GNSS Service (IGS) analysis centers, but the RDCB for regional and local network receivers are not provided. Therefore, estimating the RDCB and VTEC model accurately and simultaneously is a critical factor investigated by researchers. This study uses Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) to estimate the VTEC approximate model and then substitutes this model in the observation equation to form the normal equation. The least squares method is used to solve the RDCB and VTEC model together. The research findings show that this method has good modeling effectiveness and the estimated RDCB has good reliability. The estimated VTEC model applied to GPS single-frequency precise point positioning has better positioning accuracy in comparison to the IGS global ionosphere map (GIM).