Estimation and Importance of IPP Distribution for NavIC System

The ionosphere is a highly variable region existing in upper atmosphere of earth, showing notable physical and structural dissimilarities in electron concentration and ion composition. These dissimilarities cause delay in reception of radio signals travelling through ionosphere, which finally affects accuracy of satellite based navigation and positioning systems like NavIC. For modelling and reducing the effects of ionospheric delay on NavIC signals considering the comprehensive study of Ionospheric Pierce Point (IPP) distribution is very important. It is also responsible for enhancing accuracy and reliability of navigation and positioning of NavIC system by including precise positioning algorithms into actual/real-time IPP data. This paper presents approach for IPP calculation, evaluating the effect of geostationary and geosynchronous satellites on IPP distribution. For real-time monitoring and calculation of ionospheric parameters over particular regions geostationary satellites are found more beneficial in calculating IPP as there are less variations in latitude and longitude coordinate values of IPP as shown in this paper. Thus the system can correct ionospheric delay and enhance positional accuracy of NavIC system more effectively by using real-time IPP data specifically in tough conditions such as equatorial and low-latitude regions where ionospheric irregularities/space weather activities are more active. Moreover, paper also investigates future studies directed at improving IPP calculation methods and enhancing NavIC positioning algorithms for tough and authentic positioning in various operational environment.