Performance of a scintillation robust vector tracking for GNSS carrier phase signals

An implementation of a robust vector phase-locked loop (VPLL) for joint tracking of carrier phase from the navigation satellites in the event of ionospheric scintillation is presented. This partitioned tracking method leads to an increased tolerance to ionospheric disturbances due to scintillation in the carrier phase tracking, providing a trade off between the pure VPLL and the classic scalar tracking loops. This method also allows for smoother transitions by using a weighted combination of scalar and vector tracking operation modes, which can be of importance when the environmental variables change and the state estimation may not cope with the fast changing dynamics, leading to harsh transitions and possibly to phase lock loss or inaccurate results.