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Session A5: Receivers for New Space-Based Sources

Practical Precision Tracking for Proliferated Space-Based Sources
Nathan Green, Coherent Technical Services, Inc.; Mark Psiaki, Virginia Tech; Eric Bickford, C5ISR RTI; Paul Olson, C5ISR RTI
Location: Ballroom C
Alternate Number 2

Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) with signals from proliferated space-based communication satellites, either as signals of opportunity or as cooperative signals, face a number of significant challenges due to differing requirements of communication and navigation systems. Users with constraints on size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) may be equipped with radio frequency (RF) front ends that cover only a fraction of the full bandwidth of the communication signal and that lack the sampling rate to track the full signal.
To address the challenges represented by the unique needs for signals of opportunity users, we present multiple contributions to improved signal tracking. These contributions result in the ability to produce high-precision estimates able to support rapid navigation. Additionally we present practical considerations for PNT from space-based communication satellites, including (1) deriving relationships between front end, signal design, and signal processing parameters for computationally efficient receivers, and (2) demonstrating important clocking architecture concerns for both constellation providers and receiver designers to consider.
Preliminary results include successful demonstration of all algorithms for strong signals captured from one of the space-based constellations. Additional results will include signals captured at varying levels of carrier to noise ratio and from another space-based constellation.

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