Appearance of a Promising System of Low-Orbit Control of the Ionosphere over the Territory of the Republic of Belarus and Adjacent Regions

The article substantiates the composition and characteristics of the low-orbit ionosphere monitoring system over the territory of the Republic of Belarus and adjacent regions of the globe. This system is based on satellites-repeaters of signals of the global navigation satellite system GPS on the frequencies of 150/400 MHz allocated for geophysical research, modernized equipment of receiving points of the national satellite system of precise positioning, public telecommunication channels and a group of servers for processing received signals and estimating the total electron content in the ionosphere. The low-orbit ionosphere monitoring system is designed to provide data on the total electron content on the routes repeater satellite – receiving point of the satellite system of precise positioning when restoring the electron content in the ionosphere using radio tomography methods. Recommendations have been developed on the orbital parameters of the repeater satellites, requirements for the on-board repeater, antenna system and additional receiving channel of the equipment of receiving points     of the satellite system of precise positioning, the volume of information circulating in the system and the requirements for the processing servers are determined. A digital twin of the low-orbit ionosphere monitoring system has been developed. It has been shown that the proposed low-orbit monitoring system, when relay satellites fly in orbit over the territory of Belarus and adjacent regions for 10–15 minutes, provides an increase in the volume of data for solving the radiotomographic problem in comparison with the existing high-orbit method of 5400 measurements with distances at the ionosphere “puncture†points of the order of several kilometers in the azimuthal sector relative to the conventional center of the system 120°–150°.