GNSS Receiver Carrier Tracking Loop Impact on Ionosphere Scintillation Signal C/N0 and Carrier Phase Estimation

Ionosphere scintillation is a nuisance for space-based radio systems such as GNSS. Because of the effects of ionosphere scintillation and the well-defined GNSS signal structures, GNSS signals can be used as a signal of opportunity to study ionosphere and space weather phenomena. GNSS signal parameter disturbances can be used to infer the underlying processes occurred in the ionosphere propagation medium. The objective of this paper is to obtain accurate estimations of scintillating GNSS signal parameters for ionosphere studies. The conventional way to estimate the GNSS signal carrier phase and C/N-0 is through carrier phase tracking. Depending on how the carrier phase tracking is implemented, artifacts maybe introduced into the parameter estimations. This paper investigates the receiver processing artifacts in carrier phase and carrier-to-noise ratio and presents approaches that correct or minimize these artifacts.