Improving GNSS positioning by ingesting regional characteristics into an ionospheric mitigation algorithm

Single-frequency Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) ionospheric mitigation over a certain area is an important capability for accurate positioning for low-cost mobile platforms such as phones and tablets. GNSS systems such as GALILEO rely on an underlying ionospheric model (NeQuick-G) to facilitate this capability. The concept of ingesting regional ionospheric characteristics measured by a digital ionosonde to drive the NeQuick-G algorithm as opposed to a global scale representation, has been recently explored in the frames of a research project. This approach facilitates the local adjustment of Committee Consultative for Ionospheric Radiowave propagation (CCIR) files and the Az ionization level, which control the ionospheric electron density profile in NeQuick-G, therefore enabling better estimation of positioning errors under quiet geomagnetic conditions. In this study we demonstrate the applicability of the concept over Cyprus during the rising solar activity phase of the current solar cycle.