TY - GEN
T1 - REGIONAL IONOSPHERIC RANGE ERRORS – A COMPARISON BETWEEN SHARJAH AND BAHRAIN REGIONS
AU - Sowdagar, Sahar
AU - Musharraf, Mohammad
AU - Shaikh, Muhammad M.
AU - Fernini, Ilias
AU - Al Naimiy, Hamid M.K.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright 2021 by Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences and Technology (SAASST). Published by the IAF
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - The most significant error source in GNSS-based position, navigation, and timing (PNT) solutions is the ionosphere, a dense layer of electrically charged plasma in the upper atmosphere, which lies between 60 to 1000 km above the Earth's surface. Due to its dynamic nature, the ionosphere's properties and density may differ from one geographical region to another, resulting in different ionospheric errors for regional PNT solutions. In this paper, we have studied ionospheric range errors (IRE) over the Arabian Peninsula region. GPS data collected over two years (Nov 2018 to Oct 2020) from GNSS receivers based in Manama, Bahrain (26.209° N, 50.608° E) and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (25.282° N, 55.462° E) has been analyzed. The average annual IRE differences between observed and modeled values range from 0.3m to 1.2m for early morning hours and from 2m to 3m for afternoon hours when the local ionosphere has peak density over Bahrain GNSS station. For the Sharjah GNSS station, these values are 0.2m to 1m and 2.1m to 3.1m in the early morning and afternoon hours, respectively. It has been anticipated that such low values of IRE are observed due to the prevailing low solar activity. However, the IRE values are expected to be higher in the coming years when solar activity is expected to be higher.
AB - The most significant error source in GNSS-based position, navigation, and timing (PNT) solutions is the ionosphere, a dense layer of electrically charged plasma in the upper atmosphere, which lies between 60 to 1000 km above the Earth's surface. Due to its dynamic nature, the ionosphere's properties and density may differ from one geographical region to another, resulting in different ionospheric errors for regional PNT solutions. In this paper, we have studied ionospheric range errors (IRE) over the Arabian Peninsula region. GPS data collected over two years (Nov 2018 to Oct 2020) from GNSS receivers based in Manama, Bahrain (26.209° N, 50.608° E) and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (25.282° N, 55.462° E) has been analyzed. The average annual IRE differences between observed and modeled values range from 0.3m to 1.2m for early morning hours and from 2m to 3m for afternoon hours when the local ionosphere has peak density over Bahrain GNSS station. For the Sharjah GNSS station, these values are 0.2m to 1m and 2.1m to 3.1m in the early morning and afternoon hours, respectively. It has been anticipated that such low values of IRE are observed due to the prevailing low solar activity. However, the IRE values are expected to be higher in the coming years when solar activity is expected to be higher.
KW - GNSS
KW - Ionosphere
KW - Ionospheric Range errors
KW - Solar Activity
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85127363309
T3 - Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC
BT - IAF Space Communications and Navigation Symposium 2021 - Held at the 72nd International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2021
PB - International Astronautical Federation, IAF
T2 - IAF Space Communications and Navigation Symposium 2021 at the 72nd International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2021
Y2 - 25 October 2021 through 29 October 2021
ER -