Thesis (Doctoral)--Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, 1990. / In English, summary in Dutch. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D. (Physics and Electronics))--Rhodes University, 2006.

The behaviour of very low frequency (V.L.F.) radio waves propagating in an ionlzed medium, such as the ionosphere and exosphere, may exhibit markedly different characteristics from those of frequencies such as are used for communication in the short-wave bands. The anisotropy introduced into the medium by the presence of the earth's magnetic field has a significant effect, while at frequencies below about 5KHz the presence of heavy positive ions may further affect propagation. In particular it is found that, under suitable conditions, V.L.F. signals may propagate along paths closely following the lines of force of the earth's magnetic field. The study of such signals has a practical interest in that, from consideration of their propagation times and dispersion properties, they can provide an inexpensive method of determining electron densities at well beyond the range of satellite investigation. For this reason, if for no other, theoretical investigation of the paths traced in a model exosphere may indicate how closely the model exosphere approximates the true one. A powerful method of tracing out these paths is by the use of "ray-tracing", provided the properties of the medium vary slowly in space, a condition not always fulfilled in practice. It has been the subject of this thesis to carry out ray-tracing studies, in particular noting the effects of the positive ions in the exosphere; effects which have not received much notice before as they were thought to be unimportant. Intro., p. 1-2.

abstract: The goal is to provide accurate measurement of the channel between a ground source and a receiving satellite. The effects of the the ionosphere for ground to space propagation for radio waves in the 3-30 MHz HF band is an unstudied subject. The effects of the ionosphere on radio propagation is a long studied subject, the primary focus has been ground to ground by means of ionospheric reflection and space to ground corrections of ionospheric distortions of GPS. Because of the plasma properties of the ionosphere there is a strong dependence on the frequency of use. GPS L1 1575.42 MHz and L2 1227.60 MHz are much less effected than the 3-30 MHz HF band used for skywave propagation. The channel between the ground transmitter and the satellite receiver is characterized by 2 unique polarization modes with respective delays and Dopplers. Accurate estimates of delay and Doppler are done using polynomial fit functions. The application of polarimetric separation of the two propagating polarizations allows improved estimate quality of delay and Doppler of the respective mode. These methods yield good channel models and an effective channel estimation method well suited for the ground to space propagation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2017

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-05-29Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:08:13Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_ha_me_prud.pdf: 2618530 bytes, checksum: b2c909f5a51e515ca736f8c6a5a4def3 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Atualmente, o GNSS, em especial o GPS, é uma das tecnologias mais utilizadas para realizar posicionamento. Os modelos funcionais relacionados com as observações GNSS são mais conhecidos do que os modelos estocásticos, visto que o desenvolvimento destes últimos é mais complexo. Normalmente, no posicionamento GNSS são utilizados modelos estocásticos numa forma simplificada, com um modelo padrão, o qual assume que todas as medidas das observações GNSS têm a mesma variância e são estatisticamente independentes. Porém, atualmente os modelos estocásticos relacionados ao GNSS vêm sendo pesquisados com maior profundidade, por exemplo, considerando efeitos de cintilação ionosférica. Este efeito pode ser considerado na modelagem estocástica já que atualmente receptores GNSS permitem a extração de parâmetros de cintilação ionosférica. Além dessa, outro tipo de modelagem estocástica pode ser realizada, no caso, trata-se da consideração da variação dos ângulos de elevação dos satélites durante o rastreio dos dados. Sendo assim, nessa pesquisa foram desenvolvidos e analisados esses dois casos de modelagem estocástica, tanto no posicionamento relativo, quanto no absoluto (por ponto). No posicionamento relativo, ao se considerar a modelagem estocástica em função da cintilação ionosférica, os resultados atingiram melhorias em torno de 93,0% em relação à modelagem padrão. No processamento e análise foram utilizados dados GPS coletados no Norte da Europa, os quais estão sob condições de cintilação ionosférica. No posicionamento relativo considerando a modelagem estocástica em função dos ângulos de elevação dos satélites, as melhorias foram em torno de 89,2%. No caso do posicionamento por ponto, as melhorias em relação a modelagem estocástica padrão atingiram valores de aproximadamente 45,1% e 42,1% considerando, respectivamente... / Nowadays, the GNSS, especially the GPS, is one of the most used techniques to accomplish positioning. The functional models related with the GNSS observables are more known than the stochastic models, considering that the development of the last ones is more complex. Usually, they are used in a simplified form, as the standard model, which assumes that all the GNSS observable have the same variance and are statistically independent. However, the stochastic models are being investigated with more property, for example, considering the ionospheric scintillation effects. This effect can be considered in the stochastic modelling since now receivers GNSS allow the extraction of ionospheric scintillation parameters. Besides that, others stochastic modelling can be accomplished, e.g. considering the variation of the satellites elevation angles during the data tracking. Thus, in this dissertation it was investigated the two cases of stochastic modelling cited above, either in the relative or in the absolute positioning... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Submitted by Gabriel Oliveira Jerez null (gabrielojerez@gmail.com) on 2017-04-14T21:10:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Gabriel.pdf: 58918950 bytes, checksum: c672d2677b4cddee82e8492deec6b6f9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luiz Galeffi (luizgaleffi@gmail.com) on 2017-04-18T14:47:18Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 jerez_go_me_prud.pdf: 58918950 bytes, checksum: c672d2677b4cddee82e8492deec6b6f9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-18T14:47:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 jerez_go_me_prud.pdf: 58918950 bytes, checksum: c672d2677b4cddee82e8492deec6b6f9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-17 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Com o desenvolvimento dos sistemas globais de navegação por satélite as atividades que envolvem posicionamento passaram por uma revolução. Os pioneiros, GLONASS (GLObal NAvigation Satellite System) e GPS (Global Positioning System), são atualmente os principais sistemas, e únicos com constelação completa. A utilização combinada de dados GPS e GLONASS passou por uma perda de interesse no final da década de noventa devido à rápida degradação que o GLONASS sofreu. Porém, em 2001 teve início um plano de restabelecimento do sistema que em 2011 voltou a contar com constelação completa de 24 satélites e cobertura global. O GLONASS passa ainda por um processo de modernização, com novas gerações de satélites sendo desenvolvidas, refinamentos dos sistemas de tempo e referência e novas estações de controle sendo instaladas. Além do uso de dados combinados, outros fatores que influenciam a qualidade do posicionamento são os métodos empregados e os erros aos quais os sinais transmitidos estão sujeitos. Nas metodologias de integração devem constar as diferenças de estrutura dos sistemas, sendo as principais, para este caso, os sistemas de referência, sistemas de tempo e a tecnologia relacionada às frequências. Em relação aos erros, a ionosfera é uma importante fonte, principalmente para usuários de receptores de apenas uma frequência. Ela exige atenção especial, pois além de degradar a acurácia do posicionamento há uma grande dependência entre perdas do sinal e irregularidades ionosféricas, como a cintilação ionosférica. Na presente pesquisa buscou-se analisar as melhorias apresentadas no posicionamento utilizando dados combinados GPS/GLONASS sob efeito de cintilação ionosférica, avaliar a influência da cintilação nos sinais GLONASS e realizar um estudo da estrutura do sistema. Foram realizados três experimentos, relacionados à aplicação do PPP (Posicionamento por Ponto Preciso), do posicionamento relativo estático e do posicionamento em redes (especificamente no conceito de VRS – Virtual Reference Station). Para possibilitar o posicionamento em redes foi adaptada a ferramenta VRS-UNESP, para permitir a geração de bases virtuais com dados GLONASS ou GPS/GLONASS. Para as três metodologias foram selecionadas estações em três regiões do Brasil com comportamentos ionosféricos distintos visando possibilitar também a análise do efeito da cintilação. Para isso foram escolhidas regiões próximas ao equador geomagnético, próximas a área afetada pelo efeito fonte e ao sul do país, onde se tem menor influência da ionosfera. Para o PPP considerando-se todos os casos, independente da configuração, houve melhoria em 92,28% dos dias com o uso de dados GPS e GLONASS. Para o posicionamento relativo os resultados obtidos foram mais irregulares que para o PPP, sendo que a melhoria ocorreu em 69,18% dos casos. Os dados virtuais foram processados de maneira análoga ao experimento com PPP, obtendo melhoria em 100% os casos analisados ao se utilizar dados GPS e GLONASS. / With the development of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) the activities involving positioning passed by a great revolution. Currently, the pioneers, GLONASS (GLObal NAvigation Satellite System) and GPS (Global Positioning System), are the main systems with full constellation. The interest in the combined use of GPS and GLONASS data had a great fall in the late nineties due to the fast degradation of GLONASS. However, in 2001 a restoration plan of the system began and in 2011 GLONASS recovered the full constellation of 24 satellites with global coverage. Furthermore GLONASS is going through a modernization process, with the development of new satellite generations, time and reference systems refinements and new control stations. Besides the use of combined data, other factors that influence the positioning quality are the applied methods and the errors that can affect the transmitted signals. The integration methodologies must consider the differences in the systems structures, the main differences, for this case, are reference and time systems and the technology related to the frequencies. About the errors, the ionosphere is an important source, mainly for users of single frequency receivers. It requires special attention, because besides of degrading the positioning accuracy there is a great dependency between the loss of signal and ionospheric irregularities, as ionospheric scintillation. In this research it was intended to analyze the improvement of the combined use of GPS/GLONASS data at positioning under ionospheric scintillation effect, evaluate the influence of scintillation at GLONASS signals and perform a study about the structure of the system. Three experiments were performed, the first one is related to the application of PPP (Precise Point Positioning), the second one is about static relative positioning and the third one is about network based positioning (specifically in the Virtual Reference Station concept).To enable the network based positioning the software VRS-UNESP was adapted, in order to allow the generation of virtual stations with GLONASS or GPS/GLONASS data. In the three methodologies were selected three regions of Brazil with distinct ionospheric behavior, in order to evaluate the scintillation effect in the positioning. It was selected regions near to the geomagnetic equator, regions near the fountain effect and in the south of the country, where the ionosphere effect is less intense. For the PPP, considering all the configurations adopted, there was improvement with the use of GPS and GLONASS combined data in 92,28% of the days analyzed. For the relative positioning the results obtained were more irregulars than the ones from PPP. In such case it was achieved improvement in 69,18% of the cases with the use of combined data. The virtual data were processed in a procedure similar to the one used in the PPP experiment. It was achieved improvement in 100% of the cases that were used GPS and GLONASS data.

Submitted by Bruno César Vani (brunovani22@gmail.com) on 2018-04-24T14:58:48Z No. of bitstreams: 1 tese-vani-final.pdf: 20308847 bytes, checksum: 6ca432e31093b56b561a864e475e55a1 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by ALESSANDRA KUBA OSHIRO ASSUNÇÃO (alessandra@fct.unesp.br) on 2018-04-24T18:26:17Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 vani_bc_dr_prud.pdf: 20308847 bytes, checksum: 6ca432e31093b56b561a864e475e55a1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-24T18:26:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 vani_bc_dr_prud.pdf: 20308847 bytes, checksum: 6ca432e31093b56b561a864e475e55a1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-01 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Cintilações Ionosféricas são rápidas variações na amplitude e/ou fase de um sinal de rádio ao se propagar por irregularidades na densidade de elétrons na ionosfera. Este fenômeno degrada a performance do posicionamento pelo GNSS, uma vez que pode acarretar, dentre outros aspectos, a degradação na acurácia de observáveis e em perdas de sincronismo no receptor. No Brasil, verifica-se a maior suscetibilidade de ocorrência de cintilação algumas horas após o pôr-do-sol, nas épocas do ano compreendidas entre os equinócios de primavera e outono nos anos de alta atividade solar. Redes GNSS de monitoramento de cintilações estão implantadas no território brasileiro, incluindo a rede CIGALA/CALIBRA – a qual é mantida pela FCT/UNESP com o apoio de parceiros nos últimos sete anos. Os dados de monitoramento permitem a realização de diversas pesquisas sobre características e efeitos da cintilação, incluindo as investigações conduzidas neste projeto. Foram investigados aspectos sobre a modelagem da cintilação ionosférica no Brasil, com ênfase na mitigação dos seus efeitos no PPP e na predição de ocorrência de cintilação. No contexto da mitigação, abordagens existentes foram avaliadas e uma nova proposta foi desenvolvida. A abordagem proposta para mitigação consiste em um novo modelo funcional, novo modelo estocástico e uma estratégia para minimizar os efeitos de perdas de sincronismo. A abordagem proposta foi testada com o suporte do software científico RT-PPP e os resultados obtidos foram promissores, incluindo casos de recuperação da acurácia esperada do PPP, mesmo sob influência de cintilação forte. No contexto da predição, uma integração de bases de dados de monitoramento oriundos de três redes (CIGALA/CALIBRA, ICEA e LISN) permitiu o desenvolvimento de um modelo preditivo (guiado por dados) baseado em redes neurais artificiais. A rede neural é treinada para obter uma estimativa das localidades e horários onde a cintilação é esperada em uma determinada noite, com base em dados de monitoramento obtidos em noites anteriores. Dados de monitoramento de diferentes regiões coletados no começo da mesma noite (logo após o pôr-do-sol) também são utilizados com o objetivo de inferir padrões acerca do surgimento das irregularidades que causam as cintilações e sua relação com o nível de cintilação observado no restante da noite. O modelo permite obter mapas de cintilação preditos com antecedência de uma a quatro horas, os quais são acompanhados de estimativas de qualidade das predições. Em resumo, este projeto apresenta contribuições com potencial para trazer benefícios ao cenário científico-tecnológico nacional. Além disso, os dados de monitoramento da base de dados integrada foram disponibilizados pela internet à comunidade através do software científico ISMR Query Tool, proporcionando suporte à realização de pesquisas adicionais em diversas instituições do Brasil e do mundo. / Ionospheric scintillations are rapid variation in amplitude and/or phase of a radio signal as it propagates through irregularities on electron density in the ionosphere. Such phenomenon degrades the performance of GNSS positioning, because it may cause accuracy degradation on observables and losses of lock, among other aspects. In Brazil, there is more susceptibility to occurrence of scintillations after sunset time between the spring and autumn equinoxes of years with high solar activity. Monitoring networks based on GNSS receivers are deployed over the Brazilian territory such as the CIGALA/CALIBRA network, managed by FCT/UNESP (with support from partners) in the last seven years. Monitoring data allows to develop several research regarding the scintillation effects, as in this thesis. Aspects regarding the modeling of ionospheric scintillation effects in Brazil were investigated, with emphasis on the mitigation of these effects on PPP and predictions of scintillation occurence. In the field of mitigation, existing approaches were investigated and a new one was proposed. The new approach for mitigation relies in both new functional and stochastic models for PPP, as well as a strategy to model effects of losses of lock. The proposed approach was tested with the scientific software RT-PPP and the achieved results were promising, including cases in which the expected accuracy for the PPP was recovered. In the field of the predictions, a database integration was conducted with data from three different networks (CIGALA/CALIBRA, ICEA e LISN). The integration allowed the development of a data-driven predictive model based on artificial neural network. The neural network is trained with data from previous nights. Data from the same night (around the sunset time) is also used to detect patterns regarding the emerging of the irregularities driving scintillation occurrence on the whole night. The model allows to generate maps of predicted scintillation with antecedence from one to four hours. In summary, this thesis shows contributions with potential to create benefits on the scientific and technological scenarios in Brazil. Furthermore, monitoring data from the integrated database was made available to the scientific community via the software ISMR Query Tool, providing support to conduct new research in different institutions from Brazil and the world. / CAPES: 88881.134266/2016-01

This thesis describes the development and application of a neural network based ionospheric model for the bottomside electron density profile over Grahamstown, South Africa. All available ionospheric data from the archives of the Grahamstown (33.32ºS, 26.50ºE) ionospheric station were used for training neural networks (NNs) to predict the parameters required to produce the final profile. Inputs to the model, called the LAM model, are day number, hour, and measures of solar and magnetic activity. The output is a mathematical description of the bottomside electron density profile for that particular input set. The two main ionospheric layers, the E and F layers, are predicted separately and then combined at the final stage. For each layer, NNs have been trained to predict the individual ionospheric characteristics and coefficients that were required to describe the layer profile. NNs were also applied to the task of determining the hours between which an E layer is measurable by a groundbased ionosonde and the probability of the existence of an F1 layer. The F1 probability NN is innovative in that it provides information on the existence of the F1 layer as well as the probability of that layer being in a L-condition state - the state where an F1 layer is present on an ionogram but it is not possible to record any F1 parameters. In the event of an L-condition state being predicted as probable, an L algorithm has been designed to alter the shape of the profile to reflect this state. A smoothing algorithm has been implemented to remove discontinuities at the F1-F2 boundary and ensure that the profile represents realistic ionospheric behaviour in the F1 region. Tests show that the LAM model is more successful at predicting Grahamstown electron density profiles for a particular set of inputs than the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI). It is anticipated that the LAM model will be used as a tool in the pin-pointing of hostile HF transmitters, known as single-site location.

This thesis describes the development of an ionospheric map for the South African region using the current available resources. The International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model, the South African Bottomside Ionospheric Model (SABIM), and measurements from ionosondes in the South African Ionosonde Network, were incorporated into the map. An accurate ionospheric map depicting the foF2 and hmF2 parameters as well as electron density profiles at any location within South Africa is a useful tool for, amongst others, High Frequency (HF) communicators and space weather centers. A major product of the work is software, written in MATLAB, which produces spatial and temporal representations of the South African ionosphere. The map was validated and demonstrated for practical application, since a significant aim of the project was to make the map as applicable as possible. It is hoped that the map will find immense application in HF radio communication industries, research industries, aviation industries, and other industries that make use of Earth-Space systems. A potential user of the map is GrinTek Ewation (GEW) who is currently evaluating it for their purposes

Satellites have revolutionized navigation by making it more universal, accessible and ac- curate. Global Positioning System (GPS) is the most widely used satellite navigation system in the world. However, it is prone to errors from various sources such as the ionosphere, troposphere and clock biases. In order to make the system very accurate and reliable, especially to meet the requirements of safety-critical applications, Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) have recently been designed in various countries to augment the GPS by providing corrections for its errors. An Indian SBAS called GAGAN (GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation), developed for the Airports Authority of India (AAI) by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is currently being installed and proven for aviation and other use. The uncertain propagation delay of signals through the ionosphere is the most important contributor of error in GPS positioning, its maximal elimination is a major task of SBAS overlays. Ionospheric delays have steady, cyclic, and irregular components. The last types are of particular concern because they are unpredictable. This thesis deals with ionospheric depletion, an important phenomenon of this class that is specific to tropical regions like India and hence have not been well studied in the context of other SBAS systems of the world which cover mid-latitude domains. Depletion is an ionospheric phenomenon in which the density of electrons dips suddenly and then returns close to the previous value. It poses a challenge to the model adopted for ionospheric delay estimation since it may not be detectable by ground systems be- cause of its localized nature, and its occurrence and intensity cannot be predicted. In this work we have analyzed the depletion characteristics over the Indian region such as its distribution, frequency of occurrence, and depth and duration parameters. We have then studied and implemented an existing algorithm to detect a depletion from the Total Electron Content (TEC) data. This algorithm has been found to be inaccurate for estimation of depletion duration, and we have proposed an improved algorithm for depletion detection and shown it to be more suitable for the Indian SBAS, GAGAN. The algorithm utilizes multiple thresholds for depletion detection in order to improve performance in the presence of irregularities including noise. These thresholds are determined by analyzing real TEC data containing depletion events over the Indian region. The detected depletion events are those that have a strong likelihood of contributing large range errors and degrading GAGAN's reliability. The thresholds include depletion parameters such as the depth, duration, rate of change of TEC, and the rate of change of slope of the TEC curve. The characterization of depletion events over the Indian region yielded useful insights into the behaviour of the phenomenon. It was observed that the depletion events were invariably present post-sunset, between 1900 and 0200 hrs. This observation is consistent with the other studies on plasma bubbles so far. The average depth of the depletion was found to be about 3.31 meters of propagation delay while the strongest depletion corresponds to about 5.04 meters of delay. The latter observation impresses upon the need to detect and study the phenomenon of depletion since it is capable of causing a significant loss of accuracy and reliability to the system. The duration of the depletion was found to range from about 10 min to 2.35 hours. In addition, a statistical study of the relationship among the different parameters and a study devoted to now-casting of depletion was made to get a more quantitative insight into the phenomenon of depletion. Scintillation is another phenomenon occurring in the ionosphere which causes rapid fluctuations of phase and amplitude of the signal due to TEC variations in the ionosphere. The occurrences of depletion were observed to be accompanied by scintillation, as also noted in previous studies. The correlation of depletion and scintillation was studied using the data available for this research. A spatial characterization of the depletion events was also investigated using the same temporal TEC data from neighbouring stations which were relatively close to each other. This study addressed the movement of the plasma bubble with respect to the advection speed and direction with definite results. Attention was also devoted to the spatial dimension of the bubble as observed from various stations. Contributions to this variability in the apparent spatial extent comes from the observation of the depletion event from varying lines-of-sight corresponding to different GPS satellites which are also moving, and the differential `slicing' effect because of the location of the stations with respect to the plasma bubble, in addition to the evolution of the bubble during transit. The detection of depletion and its temporal characterization, in addition to the knowledge of its spatial extent and motion, can provide very useful insights on the behaviour of a depletion event and over the ionosphere in general. This knowledge and the mechanism for detection can help to improve the quality and dependability of the information provided by SBAS systems, in particular the Indian GAGAN system, for improved navigation in this part of the world. The present thesis aims to make a significant contribution in this direction.