Multi-Frequency Simulation of Ionospheric Scintillation Using a Phase-Screen Model

A fast Monte Carlo technique to simulate equatorial ionospheric scintillation on global navigation satellite system signals is proposed. The algorithm uses a single-layer phase-screen model of the ionosphere and the scintillation is expressed as a Huygens-Fresnel integral (HFI). By assuming a specially-tailored random phase screen, the HFI can be expressed in closed form as a combination of Fresnel integrals. We statistically characterize the amplitude and phase computed by the HFI for different values of the scintillation index S4. Results for the L1, L2, and L5 bands were obtained and compared with real data, showing good agreement. Some of the advantages of the proposed technique are: (a) the amplitude and phase of the scintillation process are simultaneously obtained; (b) arbitrarily long ionospheric scintillation time series with pre-defined stationary characteristics are synthesized; and (c) several scintillation time series corresponding to different carrier frequencies are generated using a common phase-screen model.