A South Pacific Cyclone-caused GPS Positioning Error and Its Impact on Remote Oceanic Island Communities

• Main Authors: Mia Filic, Renato Filjar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Gdynia Maritime University 2018-12-01
• Series: TransNav: International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation
• Subjects: Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS); South Pacific; Tropical Cyclones; Software-Defined Radio (SDR); GPS Positioning Error; GNSS Positioning Performance; Remote Oceanic Inland Communities; GNSS Resilience
• Online Access: http://www.transnav.eu/files/A South Pacific Cyclone-caused GPS Positioning Error and Its Impact on Remote Oceanic Island Communities,850.pdf

Satellite navigation gains importance in sustainable development of modern civilisation. With the increasing number of GNSS-based technology and socio-economic systems and services, satellite navigation has become an essential component of national infrastructure. This calls for novel requirements on GNSS positioning perfomance, and increasing need for resilient GNSS development. Here we examined the impact of rapidly developing tropical cyclone on GPS positioning performance degradation, and the resulting impact on oceanic non-navigation and navigation GPS applications. We presented the methodology for indirect simulation-based GPS positioning performance evaluation through utilisation of experimental GPS observations, GNSS Software-Defined Radio (SDR) receiver, and a statistical analysis and framework we developed in the R environment for scientific computing. We identified alteration of GPS positioning error components time series statistical properties, and discuss the potential impact on GPS-based services essential for remote oceanic island communities. Manuscript concludes with the summary of findings, proposal for recommendations on improved GNSS resilience, and an outline for future research.