Besides their intended use in radio navigation, global positioning system (GPS) satellite signals provide convenient radio beacons for ionospheric studies. Among other propagation phenomena, the ionosphere affects GPS signal propagation through amplitude scintillations that develop after radio waves propagation through ionospheric electron density irregularities. This paper outlines the design, testing, and results of a specialized GPS receiver to monitor L-band scintillations. The scintillation monitor system consists of a commercial GPS receiver development kit with its software designed to log signal strength and carrier phase from up to 12 channels at one sample per second rate. Other prime features of the monitor include the data compression, transmission and processing. Here is the fact that they are inexpensive and compact and therefore can be readily proliferated.
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