Preliminary study on theory and method of ground-based GNSS-IR wind speed

With the development of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), the multipath effect that was once regarded as one error source has been proven can be used to monitor reflecting surface parameters such as water level, snow depth, vegetation water content, and soil moisture using a technology named GNSS-interferometry reflectomety (GNSS-IR). In order to expand monitoring objects and applications of GNSS-IR, this paper proposed the theory and method to retrieve wind speed using ground-based GNSS-IR. The theory includes the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) multipath oscillation theory, the scattering model theory, and wave spectrum theory. This paper simulated the mathematical model between the SNR cutoff elevation angle and the wind speed, and used the wavelet analysis to extract SNR cutoff elevation angle and a unified method to unify reference of cutoff elevation angle. Data of HKQT station, located in Hong Kong, during the period of "Mangkhut" and "Hato" were used. The results showed that the variations of GPS L5 SNR cutoff elevation angles had a good corresponding relationship with the measured wind speeds, and the correlation coefficient reached 70%~85%. Also, the variations of cutoff elevation angles can describe the change of wind speed from low wind speed to high wind speed and there was a specific mathematical relationship between them. Finally, this paper discussed two difficulties to overcome in the GNSS-IR wind speed retrieval technology.