Multi-GNSS Data Processing and Analysis in Point Positioning for Brazilian Stations in Months of High and Low Ionospheric Activity

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11137/1982-3908_2025_48_62882

Keywords:

Brazilian GNSS monitoring stations, Multipath, Scintillation

Abstract

The Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) have been increasingly used in positioning-related activities. The term GNSS includes the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), the Russian GLObal’naya NAvigationnaya Sputnikowaya Sistema (GLONASS), initially developed by the Soviet Union, the European Union’s Galileo, the Chinese BeiDou, and Satellite and Ground Based Augmentation System (SBAS and GBAS). With the large number of satellites available, the trend today is to combine the systems at the user level, improving availability and positioning accuracy. The objective of this study is to process and analyze GNSS data from Brazilian monitoring stations using point positioning (PP), correlating with the ionosphere activity and the multipath around each station. Four systems were considered individually and combined, under different atmospheric conditions. The results were evaluated in terms of the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), considering the horizontal and vertical bias, as well as the respective uncertainties, given by the Least Squares Method (LSM). The multi-GNSS positioning presented the best results, mainly due to the redundancy in the number of observations (average of 29 satellites per epoch), with a root-mean-square error of 1.5 m. GPS and Galileo showed the best performance among the individual results.

Author Biographies

Felipe Tintino Linhares de Souza, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, UNESP

Felipe Tintino Linhares de Souza is a MSc. student at São Paulo State University (UNESP). He received his B.Sc. degree in Cartographic and Surveying Engineering (2023) from UNESP, and is a member of INCT GNSS NavAer. His interests include multi-GNSS positioning and Multi-frequency GBAS.

João Pedro Voltare Zaupa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, UNESP

João Pedro Voltare Zaupa is a Master of Science student at São Paulo State University (UNESP). He received his bachelor of Science degree in Cartographic and Surveying Engineering from UNESP in 2023 and is a member of INCT GNSS NavAer. His research focuses on multi-GNSS precise point positioning.

John Lennon Ferreira da Silva, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, UNESP

John Lennon Ferreira da Silva é graduado em Engenharia Cartográfica e de Agrimensura pela UNESP, tendo desenvolvido seu Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso (TCC) na área de Geodésia, intitulado "PROCESSAMENTO E ANÁLISE DA COMBINAÇÃO MULTI-GNSS NO POSICIONAMENTO POR PONTO" (2022). Ele atua no campo da Fotogrametria e Cartografia na empresa GEO3D Engenharia de Mapeamento, especializada no Setor Elétrico. Na empresa, seu trabalho envolve o processamento de dados LiDAR obtidos por Aeronaves não Tripuladas para projetos de infraestrutura nas áreas de Geração, Transmissão e Distribuição de Energia. Além disso, ele contribui com a elaboração de peças técnicas que apoiam os estudos de expansão, a fim de aprimorar a eficiência da operação no setor energético.

Maluane Aline Stafocher, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, UNESP

Maluane Aline Stafocher is a Geoprocessing Analyst at H2M Engineering. She graduated in Cartographic and Surverying Engineering from São Paulo State University (UNESP) in 2023.

Paulo Tarso Setti Jr, Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Luxembourg

Paulo Tarso Setti Jr has a degree in Cartographic Engineering (2017) from São Paulo State University (UNESP), with a sandwich period at the University of Florida (USA) and a scientific internship at the University of Miami (USA). He received a master's degree in Cartographic Sciences (2019) also from UNESP, with a sandwich period at the University of Nottingham (UK), and a PhD in Sciences de l'Ingénieur (2023) from the University of Luxembourg, where he is currently a postdoctoral researcher. His areas of interest include GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R), estimation of geophysical parameters from GNSS data, multi-GNSS positioning and ionospheric models.

Daniele Barroca Marra Alves, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, UNESP

Daniele Barroca Marra Alves is an Assistant Professor at the Cartography Department of São Paulo State University (UNESP) and member of the Graduate Program on Cartographic Sciences. She received her BSc degree in Mathematics in 2001, MSc in 2004, PhD in 2008, and post-doctorate in 2011, all of them in Cartographic Science, from São Paulo State University. Since 2012 she is a researcher from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). Her research interests are on atmospheric modeling, radio occultation and GNSS Positioning.

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Published

2025-01-30

Issue

Vol. 48 (2025): Anuário do Instituto de Geociências

Section

Environmental Sciences

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This journal is licensed under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.