Numerical Investigation Of The Accuracy Of Computerized Ionospheric Tomography Reconstructions For Realistic Receiver Configurations

Abstract

A comprehensive numerical study of the accuracy of computerized ionospheric tomography (CIT) has been completed. The primary objective of the study was to quantify the error source and degradation in reconstruction accuracy when CIT is applied to real world conditions. Real world deployment of Transit (NSS) receivers will be determined by convenience and availability of sites. Therefore the receivers will not all be in a line, nor will they be directly under Transit passes. Typically there will be a cross dispersion in the locations of the receivers, as well as an angular offset from the north-south direction. Knowledge of how these effects degrade the quality of reconstructed images is important for both the academic and applied communities. Computer simulations of Transit TEC data have been generated for a number of different receiver configurations, data rates, and geophysical locations. The data has been used as input to CIT reconstruction algorithms. The resulting reconstructions ..