Characterizing the accuracy of Global Positioning System for single point positioning at African low-latitude region

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the accuracy of the Global Positioning System (GPS) within the African low-latitude sector. We evaluated the vertical and horizontal of the single-point positioning (SPP) accuracy of GPS and critically analysed the effects of the equatorial ionospheric anomaly (EIA) over the region of study. Our results imply that using single-frequency GPS for any application could give a positioning error up to 45.00 m vertically and ~25.00 m horizontally. The study revealed that 54% of GNSS positioning errors during the night-time could be linked to ionospheric plasma irregularities. Also, positioning errors are higher in western Africa than in the eastern region. The influence of geomagnetic activities is not consistent with GPS positioning accuracy. However, positioning errors are lower during geomagnetically disturbed conditions in comparison to quiet conditions. The unique phenomena of the EIA can severely limit GPS services at night-time for positioning in the study area.

KEYWORDS:

• Single-point positioning accuracy
• Global Positioning System (GPS)
• Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA)
• African low-latitude regions

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the administrators of the IGS, AFREF and SONEL networks for preserving the GPS data and making it publicly available for the scientific community.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.