Influence of the ionosphere on the accuracy of the satellite navigation system.

The presence of large and small-scale irregularities TID of the ionosphere in the path of radio wave propagation from the navigation satellite to the GPS receiver is the main challenge for the application of ionospheric research to improve positioning accuracy using single-frequency receivers. In this paper, in contrast to the traditional methods of compensating for the error associated with the ionospheric delay (the Klobuchar method and the use of TEC values), we propose the calculation of the ionospheric delay by the ray tracing method in a model that is as close as possible to the real conditions. To achieve this proximity, a model is proposed that includes various types of TID irregularities. The corresponding algorithms are presented and the numerical results are given. It is shown that single large-scale TIDs can lead to errors of 10–30 m, errors due to small-scale TIDs do not exceed 2 m. © 2001 Elsevier Science. All rights reserved. • Positioning systems are highly dependent on the state of the ionosphere. • Ionospheric delay is a major source of positioning errors. • The greatest influence is exerted by irregularities. • A method is proposed for direct calculation of delays in a model with irregularities. • The core effect is influence of single large-scale irregularities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]