Regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Education and ICG Information Centres affiliated to the United Nations

Based on resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, Regional Centres for Space Science and Technology Education were established in India, Morocco, Nigeria, Brazil and Mexico. Simultaneously, education curricula were developed for the core disciplines of remote sensing, satellite communications, satellite meteorology, and space and atmospheric science. This paper provides a brief summary on the status of the operation of the regional centres with a view to use them as information centres of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG), and draws attention to their educational activities.     

高动态GPS/BD2组合导航信号模拟器关键技术研究

高动态组合导航信号模拟器是高动态组合导航接收机设计验证的高效平台。本文给出了高动态GPS/BD2组合导航信号模拟器关键部分架构和实现方案,重点阐述了高动态信号的产生方法、提高模拟器运算效率的三次样条插值算法、反SINC滤波器补偿方法和保证模拟器通道一致性措施。对这一信号模拟器所产生的GNSS信号进行了验证。     

GNSS radio tomography of the ionosphere: The problem with essentially incomplete data

We discuss the specific features of the spatiotemporal radio tomography of ionospheric electron density based on the data from high orbiting global navigational satellite system (GNSS). The main peculiarities are four-dimensionality of the problem and essential incompleteness of input data. The approach suggested for the solution of this problem is based on the search for the solution with minimal Sobolev’s norm (the most smooth solution), which provides, in particular, smooth extension of the solution to the area where no input data is available. Methods and algorithms for the solution of the problem are developed, and the resolution of the proposed technique is estimated. Examples of global and regional radio tomographic imaging based on GNSS data are presented. The obtained results are compared with the data of ionosondes and with the results of radio tomography based on the radio transmissions from low-orbiting satellites.     

A real-time combined quality control method for GNSS precise positioning in harsh environments

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) precise positioning can be significantly affected by severe multipath effects and outliers in harsh environments, and highly relies on quality control strategies. Previous studies mainly focus on the posterior residuals to check and exclude the outliers in GNSS observations, limited work emphasizes the combined quality control method considering both the prior and posterior knowledge simultaneously. This paper proposed a real-time combined quality control method to process the multipath effects and outliers in harsh environments simultaneously. Specifically, in the prior stage, a modified multipath processing strategy is proposed for both phase and code observations, then a modified detection, identification, and adaptation (DIA) method considering the maximum times of data snooping is studied in the posterior stage. Two dedicated experiments in real harsh environments were carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed combined quality control method. For the static experiment, the proposed method exhibits smaller positioning errors, the best positioning accuracy, and the highest availability in this study. Specifically, the proposed method exhibits an improved percentage of 55.4 %, 56.3 %, and 59.7 % for positioning accuracy compared to those without the quality control method in the E, N, and U directions, respectively. Besides, the proposed method can further improve the performance of ambiguity resolution with an improved percentage of 32.2 %. For the kinematic experiment, the three-dimensional positioning accuracy of the proposed method is 0.577 m, which exhibits a 40.0 % improvement compared to those without the quality control method. Also, the proposed method exhibits better performance under relatively strong multipath effects. In this sense, the proposed real-time combined quality control method is highly appreciated in terms of positioning availability, accuracy, and ambiguity resolution for GNSS precise positioning, especially in harsh environments.     

不同GNSS在高纬度地区时间传递性能分析

全球卫星导航系统（GNSS）载波相位时间传递技术是高精度时间传递领域的主要研究方法之一，但目前关于该部分的研究主要集中在中低纬度地区，在高纬度地区并不多见。不同GNSS由于星座设计不同，在高纬度地区结构差异较大，因此需要对不同GNSS在高纬度地区的时间传递性能进行分析。实验结果表明，在高纬度地区时间传递中，Galileo稳定度最高，GPS和BDS次之，GLONASS最差。同时因在高纬度地区卫星的高度角普遍偏低，为合理平衡低高度角时可视卫星多和多路径误差大的矛盾，对不同截止高度角下获取的链路时间传递性能进行了分析。结果表明，在5°截止高度角下，高纬度地区的时间传递链路稳定性最好。     

Trans-ionospheric GPS signal delay gradients observed over mid-latitude Europe during the geomagnetic storms of October–November 2003

Ionospheric disturbances are known to have adverse effects on the satellite-based communication and navigation. One particular type of ionospheric effects, observed during major geomagnetic storms and threatening the integrity performance of both ground-based and space-based GNSS augmentation systems, is the sharp increase/decrease in the ionospheric delay that propagates in horizontal direction, thus called for convenience ‘moving ionospheric wall’. This paper presents preliminary results from researching such anomalous ionospheric delay gradients at European middle latitudes during the storm events of 29 October 2003 and 20 November 2003. For the purpose, 30-s GPS data from the Belgian permanent network was used for calculating and analysing the slant ionospheric delay and total electron content values. It has been found that, during these two particular storm events, substantial gradients did occur in Europe although they were not so pronounced as in the American sector.     

NeQuick2 validation using multi-satellite and ground data

Global Navigation Satellite System’s (GNSS) positioning calculation is prone to ionospheric errors. Single frequency GNSS users receive ionospheric corrections through broadcast ionospheric models. Therefore, the accuracy of ionospheric models must be validated based on various geographic and geomagnetic conditions. In this work, an attempt is made to validate NeQuick2 electron density (Ne) using multiple sources of space-based and ground-based data at the Arabian Peninsula and for low solar activity conditions. These sources include space-based data from Swarm, DMSP and COSMIC-2 satellite constellations and ground-based data from GNSS receiver and the ionosonde. The period of this study is 1 year from October 2019 to September 2020. Analysis shows that the agreement between NeQuick2 and experimental Ne close to the peak density height depends on seasons and time of the day with the largest errors found in Autumn and during the daytime. NeQuick2 generally overestimates Ne during the daytime. During the early morning and evening hours, Ne estimates seem to be fairly accurate with slight underestimation in Winter and Spring. Estimation of slab thickness by NeQuick2 is found to be close to the values calculated using collocated ionosonde and GNSS receiver.     

新型GNSS信号波形设计

在发射带宽严格受限的约束下连续函数波形信号较传统矩形波形表现出了较高的频谱利用率优势和优良性能,很有可能应用到未来的全球卫星导航系统(GNSS,Global Navigation Satellite System)信号体制中.在建立导航信号波形设计准则的理论模型基础上,研究了7种可能适用于未来GNSS系统的新型信号波形,在典型的宽/窄发射带宽条件下,通过仿真评估了传统GNSS信号和新型GNSS信号的精度、抗多径、抗干扰等性能,优选出BOCc和MSK两种适用于不同环境的信号波形: 在频谱资源充足的情况下,BOCc信号具有最优的导航性能;在频率资源受限的情况下,MSK信号兼容性好,抗干扰能力强,拥有较好的导航性能.最后,结合两类信号波形的优缺点提出了我国新一代卫星导航系统信号波形设计的建议.     

全球导航卫星系统的测高研究

以美国全球定位系统为代表的全球导航卫星系统具有广泛的应用领域，特点是能够在全球范围和近地空间，全天候地提供飞行器的位置、速度和时间信息。     

单接收机GNSS数据组合硬件延迟的联合求解方法

利用GNSS观测数据解算TEC的最大误差源是硬件延迟,包括卫星硬件延迟和接收机硬件延迟.在单接收机情况下,由于数据稀疏以及接收到的卫星信号时间不对齐等特点,已有的解算硬件延迟方法的求解结果往往不理想.在应用局域模式拟合方法和SCORE方法求解单接收机数据基础上,利用局域模型拟合法在电离层平静期拟合较准确的优点,提出一种联合改进方法,同时改正了SCORE方法解算过程中约束过强的缺点.通过利用GPStation-6接收机的GPS和BDS实际观测数据进行解算分析,验证了所提方法的有效性与准确性.