Solar Eclipse Observations with a Dense Network of Single-frequency Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Receivers

该奖项将使用最近在市场上可用的现成手机技术来构建一个单频GPS传感器阵列，用于研究2017年8月21日发生的日食对电离层的影响。这一事件将提供机会研究电离层对太阳流入的明显变化的反应。全暗的路径穿过美国大陆中部，并计划将网络仪器部署到田纳西州进行拟议的测量。拟议的项目将部署一个由双频和单频全球导航卫星系统（GNSS）接收器组成的区域网络，目的是监测总电子含量（TEC）、电离层漂移和由日食引起的信号闪烁效应。拟议的项目为使用消费者智能手机奠定了基础，以增强当前的GNSS-TEC接收器网络，从而大大增强空间天气监测能力。8月的日食为概念验证数据捕获提供了绝佳的机会。该项目将部分资助一名全日制博士生，最终目标是使其成为博士项目，该项目将雇用六名本科生进行拟议的观察活动。从单频GNSS测量中估计TEC需要解决载波相位模糊问题，并减轻在TEC估计过程中使用码延迟带来的更高不确定性。这样的接收器集群，与周围的双频接收器协同分析，将实现增值增强标准TEC地图。此外，来自单频接收机的相位信息允许跟踪不规则漂移（通过相关分析），也可以跟踪信号闪烁事件。该数据融合方法将在实验中进行评估。

This award would use off-the-shelf cell phone technology just recently made available on the market to construct a single frequency GPS array of sensors that would be applied to study the ionospheric effects of the solar eclipse happening on 21 August 2017. This event would provide the opportunity to study the ionospheric response to a well-characterized modification of the solar influx. The path of total obscuration crosses the central continental United States and deployment of the networked instrumentation to Tennessee is planned for the proposed measurements. The proposed project would deploy a regional network of dual-frequency and single-frequency Global Navigation Satelite System (GNSS) receivers with the goal of monitoring total electron content (TEC), ionospheric drifts, and signal scintillation effects induced by the eclipse. The proposed project lays the foundation for the use of consumer smartphones to augment the current GNSS-TEC receiver network to produce a greatly enhanced space weather monitoring capability. The August eclipse provides an outstanding opportunity for a proof-of-concept data capture. The project will partially sponsor one full-time Ph.D. student with the eventual objective of making this his Ph.D. project, and this project will employ six undergraduates for the proposed observing campaign.TEC estimation from single-frequency GNSS measurements requires resolving carrier-phase ambiguity problem and mitigating the higher uncertainty introduced by using code delay in the TEC estimation process. Clusters of such receivers, analyzed collaboratively with surrounding dual frequency receivers, will enable a value-added enhancement standard TEC maps. Moreover, the phase information from the single frequency receivers allows the tracking of irregularity drifts (through a correlation analysis), and also the tracking of incidents of signal scintillation. This data fusion approach will be evaluated experimentally in the proposed investigation.