Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), provide essential services for multiple industries, such as the financial services sector, the military, and the aviation industry.
GNSS signals, when passing through ionospheric structures, experience fluctuations known as phase and amplitude scintillation. In the most severe cases a GNSS receiver may lose lock on the signal. A study of ionospheric scintillation can reveal information of the ionospheric irregularities, their occurrence, formation and relation to the geomagnetic storms, and their impact on navigation.
The GNSS team at Embry-Riddle currently has two receivers (Novatel-GPStation6) deployed at the SPRL lab, collecting data since June 2017. These receivers are capable of measuring low rate and high rate (50Hz) phase/amplitude scintillation, as well as total electron content (TEC) measurements.
The project has been presented at the American Geophysical Union conferences in 2017 and 2019, and is currently funded and supported by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant.
News
November 2020
Undergraduate students Nicolas Gachancipa, Chintan Thakrar and Daniel Koshy, and PhD candidate Marie Bals present at the 2020 ERAU Research Symposium. Their work focuses on the implementation of machine learning models for ionospheric data analysis, and the study of ionospheric disturbances due to rocket launches.
Related Links: ERAU SRS: Koshy; ERAU SRS: Bals; ERAU SRS: Gachancipa