Performance Test of the WAAS Tropospheric Delay Model for the Korean WA-DGNSS

The precipitable water vapor (PW) was estimated using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) from several GNSS stations within the Korean Peninsula. Nearby radiosonde sites covering the GNSS stations were used for the comparison and validation of test results. GNSS data recorded under typical and severe weather conditions were used to generalize our approach. Based on the analysis, we have confirmed that the derived PW values from the GNSS observables were well agreed on the estimates from the radiosonde observables within 10 mm level. Assuming that the GNSS observables could be a good weather monitoring tool, we further tested the performance of the current WAAS tropospheric delay model, UNB3, in the Korean Peninsula. Especially, the wet zenith delays estimated from the GNSS observables and from UNB3 delay model were compared. Test results showed that the modelled approach for the troposphere (i.e., UNB3) did not perform well especially under the wet weather conditions in the Korean Peninsula. It was suggested that a new model or a near real-time model (e.g., based on regional model from GNSS or numerical weather model) would be highly desirable for the Korean WA-DGNSS to minimize the effects of the tropospheric delay and hence to achieve high precision vertical navigation solutions.