Analysis of ionospheric scintillation for global navigation satellite system at UTeM, Malaysia

Ionization satellite scintillation is the most effective variable on global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) such as the global positioning system (GPS). In the GPS communication system, the channel is impacted by the scintillation problem which produces rapid fluctuations on the propagated signals and causes positioning error. Since Malaysia is located on the equatorial region, scintillation satellite effects should be analyzed especially in this region where scintillation activity is maximum. In this paper, the latest specifications of the GNSS receiver is used to measure the scintillation intensity and the total electrons content (TEC). The GNSS receiver is a dual frequency (L1 = 1.57542 GHz and L2 = 1.2276 GHz) monitor which is located at Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM), Malaysia (2.3139° N, 102.3183° E). The GPS data samples is collected and analyzed for the period of 3 months with sample of every 60 seconds for 24 hours daily. The scintillation amplitude, the elevation angle, the carrier-to-noise ratio, and availability of GPS satellites are reported in the proposed experimental GPS model.