DeepION Model Evaluation for SPP Navigation Performance During Solar-active Periods
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摘要: 精确的电离层建模对于空间天气监测和全球导航卫星系统(GNSS)定位至关重要,特别是在太阳活动导致地磁暴并引发电离层剧烈扰动的时段。该文提出一种基于深度算子网络的电离层建模框架——DeepION模型,用于预测电离层关键参数,包括斜向总电子含量(STEC)、垂直总电子含量(VTEC)以及由STEC推导的总电子含量变化率指数(ROTI)。模型以卷积神经网络作为分支网络,从GNSS观测数据中提取射线特征,同时主干网络结合周期时间编码与时空坐标实现电离层参数的连续推理与预测。利用覆盖2024年5月一次典型地磁暴事件的连续28天全球GNSS数据集对模型进行训练与评估后,DeepION模型在STEC预报、高分辨率VTEC重构以及基于ROTI的电离层不规则扰动预测方面表现出了较强的鲁棒性。与传统的CODE, NeQuick和Klobuchar模型相比,DeepION在电离层状态重构及GNSS单点定位(SPP)中均表现出更高的精度,并在扰动条件下显著降低了均方根误差(RMSE),其中中纬度区域的定位误差较现有模型降低约10%~50%。上述结果表明,所提DeepION 模型在地磁暴扰动条件下能够有效提升电离层建模精度,并在单频GNSS定位改正中展现出良好的应用前景,为其在实际导航系统中的进一步应用奠定了基础。Abstract:
Objective Accurate characterization of ionospheric variability is essential for reliable Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning, especially during geomagnetic storms, when rapid and highly structured disturbances occur. Existing empirical and physics-based ionospheric models often have limited ability to represent storm-time ionospheric dynamics and small-scale irregularities in real time. This study develops a unified data-driven ionospheric modeling framework that uses GNSS-derived Slant Total Electron Content (STEC) time series as input and learns spatiotemporal mappings to key ionospheric parameters, including Vertical Total Electron Content (VTEC) and the Rate Of TEC Index (ROTI). By using deep operator learning, the proposed framework improves short-term ionospheric modeling and forecasting under disturbed conditions and provides more reliable ionospheric corrections for single-frequency positioning. Methods A unified data-driven ionospheric modeling framework, named DeepION, is proposed based on the Deep Operator Network (DeepONet) architecture. The framework uses STEC time series as the primary input and learns nonlinear spatiotemporal mappings to key ionospheric parameters. DeepION models and predicts STEC and VTEC, whereas ROTI is derived from the predicted STEC series. In the network design, a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is used as the branch network to extract spatiotemporal features from historical STEC time series. The trunk network uses a multilayer fully connected structure with periodic time encoding. Its inputs include GNSS observation geometry and temporal information, which allows the model to capture the continuous temporal dynamics of ionospheric behavior. During data preprocessing, a VTEC-based modeling strategy is first used to estimate and remove receiver Differential Code Bias (DCB), thereby providing high-quality STEC observations. The model is then trained and validated using GNSS observations collected during the May 2024 geomagnetic storm. Its outputs include ray-path STEC values, gridded VTEC fields, and derived ROTI time series. The proposed framework is further evaluated by incorporating model-derived VTEC corrections into Single Point Positioning (SPP) experiments. Modeled and observed ionospheric parameters are compared under both geomagnetically quiet and disturbed conditions to assess the modeling accuracy and practical performance of DeepION. Results and Discussions The experimental results show that DeepION robustly characterizes ionospheric spatiotemporal variability under different space weather conditions. It captures both large-scale structures and small-scale disturbances during geomagnetic storms. For STEC forecasting, the model achieves a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 12.82 TECU over a 3-day prediction horizon and maintains high consistency with GNSS observations ( Fig. 4 ). The model also predicts ionospheric irregularities accurately, as indicated by the close agreement between predicted and observed ROTI time series at the mid-latitude NVSK station (Fig. 5 ). For VTEC modeling, DeepION-generated global VTEC maps reproduce equatorial anomalies and storm-enhanced density regions. These maps closely match the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe Spherical Harmonic (CODE-SH) model and outperform the Klobuchar and NeQuick empirical models in spatial resolution and structural fidelity (Fig. 6 ). Further ray-path-level analysis shows that STEC derived from DeepION-based VTEC mapping yields the lowest residual error at the mid-to-high-latitude NLIB station. It achieves an RMSE of 6.80 TECU, outperforming Klobuchar and NeQuick and slightly improving on CODE-SH (Fig. 7 ). In GNSS positioning applications, the SPP results show that DeepION-derived ionospheric corrections consistently reduce positioning errors at both the CUSV and NLIB stations. The improvement is especially clear in the vertical and geometric components during storm-time conditions, indicating stronger robustness under intensified geomagnetic disturbances (Fig. 8 ,Fig. 9 ).Conclusions This study presents DeepION, a data-driven ionospheric modeling framework based on the DeepONet architecture. The framework learns spatiotemporal relationships between GNSS-derived STEC observations and key ionospheric parameters. With a CNN-based branch network and a periodically encoded trunk network, DeepION models and predicts STEC and VTEC, and then derives ROTI from the predicted STEC series. Experiments using global GNSS data during the May 2024 geomagnetic storm show that DeepION captures storm-time ionospheric variability and achieves stable performance in STEC forecasting and global VTEC reconstruction. Compared with conventional empirical and physics-based models, DeepION improves modeling accuracy and spatial representation. SPP experiments further show that ionospheric corrections derived from DeepION reduce positioning errors at both mid- and high-latitude stations, especially in the vertical and geometric components under disturbed geomagnetic conditions. These results indicate the practical value of DeepION for GNSS ionospheric correction during space weather events. Overall, DeepION provides a scalable framework for data-driven ionospheric modeling. Future work will extend it to multi-GNSS constellations, longer prediction lead times, and additional ionospheric observations. -
表 1 SPP解算的处理策略
类型 项目 解算策略 基本信息 时间范围 2024年5月10日 系统 仅使用GPS 频率与伪距类型 L1 C/A码,对应RINEX格式中的C1C 采样间隔 30 s 可建模误差 对流层 Saastamoinen模型 电离层 Klobuchar模型、NeQuick模型、CODE-SH模型及DeepION模型 随机与加权模型 高程角加权模型(伪距单位权中误差为0.3 m);15°以下加权降低 地球自转 通过卫星位置进行修正,$ {\omega }_{e}=7.292115\times {10}^{-5}\; \text{rad/s} $ 相对论效应 通过卫星钟差进行修正 PNT参数 卫星位置与卫星钟差 使用IGS广播星历(BRDC)计算 接收机位置与接收机钟差 通过最小二乘平差估计 表 2 2024年5月10日CUSV与NLIB站点的SPP定位精度统计结果(m)
方向 CUSV站点 NLIB站点 Klobuchar Nequick CODE-SH DeepION Klobuchar Nequick CODE-SH DeepION 北向 2.3341 1.2796 0.9861 1.1673 3.2986 3.3627 2.0421 2.1161 东向 1.2759 1.0634 0.9313 0.8930 2.5064 2.5250 2.2240 2.2302 垂直向 6.0624 3.8052 3.9117 2.7500 7.0457 6.8331 5.8519 5.5182 水平 2.6590 1.6635 1.3564 1.4695 4.1439 4.2043 3.0208 3.0744 几何 6.6186 4.1522 4.1388 3.1180 8.1763 8.0231 6.5823 6.3167 表 3 2024年5月11日CUSV与NLIB站点的SPP定位精度统计结果(m)
方向 CUSV站点 NLIB站点 Klobuchar Nequick CODE-SH DeepION Klobuchar Nequick CODE-SH DeepION 北向 2.9536 4.9078 1.5190 1.6624 1.6813 1.5957 1.3462 1.1432 东向 1.2644 1.6091 1.3067 1.0583 0.8574 0.8211 0.7742 0.7820 垂直向 6.7673 9.1351 6.8998 6.7521 4.9630 2.8212 2.2047 2.0712 水平 3.2130 5.1646 2.0033 1.9709 1.8876 1.7945 1.5518 1.3853 几何 7.4919 10.4935 7.1849 7.0338 5.3096 3.3439 2.6961 2.4935 -
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