TY - JOUR
T1 - Optimum parameter for estimating phase fluctuations on transionospheric signals at high latitudes
AU - Forte, Biagio
AU - Materassi, Massimo
AU - Alfonsi, Lucilla
AU - Romano, Vincenzo
AU - De Franceschi, Giorgiana
AU - Spalla, Paolo
PY - 2011/6/15
Y1 - 2011/6/15
N2 - Transionospheric radio signals may experience fluctuations in their amplitude and phase due to irregularity in the spatial electron density distribution, referred to as scintillation. Ionospheric scintillation is responsible for transionospheric signal degradation that can affect the performance of satellite based navigation systems. Usually, the scintillation activity is measured by means of indices such as the normalised standard deviation of the received intensity S4 and the standard deviation of the received phase r/ typically calculated over 1 min of data. Data from a GPS scintillation monitor based on 50 Hz measurements recorded at Dirigibile Italia Station (Ny-Alesund, Svalbard), in the frame of the ISACCO project (De Franceschi et al., 2006) are used to investigate possible adoption of an alternative parameter for the estimate of phase fluctuations: i.e., the standard deviation of the phase rate of change Sphi. This parameter is shown to better correlate with S4 being much less detrending dependent than sigma_phi. The couple (S4, Sphi) should be then considered a more physical proxy of radio scintillation than the couple (S4, sigma_phi).
AB - Transionospheric radio signals may experience fluctuations in their amplitude and phase due to irregularity in the spatial electron density distribution, referred to as scintillation. Ionospheric scintillation is responsible for transionospheric signal degradation that can affect the performance of satellite based navigation systems. Usually, the scintillation activity is measured by means of indices such as the normalised standard deviation of the received intensity S4 and the standard deviation of the received phase r/ typically calculated over 1 min of data. Data from a GPS scintillation monitor based on 50 Hz measurements recorded at Dirigibile Italia Station (Ny-Alesund, Svalbard), in the frame of the ISACCO project (De Franceschi et al., 2006) are used to investigate possible adoption of an alternative parameter for the estimate of phase fluctuations: i.e., the standard deviation of the phase rate of change Sphi. This parameter is shown to better correlate with S4 being much less detrending dependent than sigma_phi. The couple (S4, Sphi) should be then considered a more physical proxy of radio scintillation than the couple (S4, sigma_phi).
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79955832440&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2010.04.033
U2 - 10.1016/j.asr.2010.04.033
DO - 10.1016/j.asr.2010.04.033
M3 - Article
SN - 0273-1177
VL - 47
SP - 2188
EP - 2193
JO - Advances in Space Research
JF - Advances in Space Research
IS - 12
ER -