Scintillation Effects and Tracking of GNSS-Like Signals Transmitted from LEO Satellites and Propagated Through Ionospheric Plasma Irregularities

<title>Abstract</title> In this paper, we present simulation studies of scintillation effects and tracking of global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-like signals propagating from a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite through ionospheric plasma irregularities to a receiver on the Earth’s surface. Realistic strong scintillation effects are simulated by propagating signals through a phase screen based on real GNSS scintillation signals. Configurations with different phase screen altitudes, LEO satellite orbits, and scintillation severity levels are simulated. We first statistically analyze the number of fades, fading depth and duration, and phase rate disturbance in the signal. A software-defined radio receiver is then applied to process the simulated signals. The impacts of such signals on tracking performance, e.g., <italic>C</italic>/<italic>N</italic>₀, cycle slip, and loss of lock, are analyzed and compared with that of the same signal traveling through the same irregularity, but from a medium Earth orbit. The results provide a quantitative assessment of the effect of ionospheric plasma irregularities on LEO satellite signal transmissions and receiver processing.