Simulation of regional GNSS systems

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are today part of our daily life. Besides the US Global Positioning System (GPS) further systems are in use or are being deployed such as GLONASS, GALILEO, COMPASS, IRNSS. Many effects, such as the ionosphere degrade the GNSS performance. Space Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) augment GNSS system performance locally by broadcasting additional correction and integrity information based on measurements made by reference ground stations. Besides the two SBAS systems, the US WAAS and European EGNOS, more regional GNSS have been developed and are being developed, for example by Russia, Japan, China, and India. After a brief overview of satellite navigation systems and recent developments this paper gives an introduction to simulation of GNSS systems, discussing the challenges and types of typical simulators used, and their applications. Finally some conceptual system analysis simulation results are discussed, demonstrating the use of a GNSS simulator.