GPS Signal Availability in Land Mobile Applications

E. O. Frye

Abstract:	This paper summarizes the results of a series of direct measurements conducted by the Collins Avionics Divisions of Rockwell International Corporation to characterize the GPS signal environment in land vehicular operations for a variety of highway, city street, and railroad situations. The basic instrumentation for these observations consisted of a Rockwell NAVCORE GPS receiver configured to output key measurements to an IBM PC or compatible computer as a data recording device. The results of these tests are presented in terms of tables of the percentages of distance traveled in which one or more and two or more satellite outages were encountered, and histograms of the outage frequencies as functions of the distance durations of the outages. The equipment was installed in both a van type vehicle for highway and city street tests, and in a "Hy-Rail" vehicle for operation on railroad tracks.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 1989 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 23 - 26, 1989 San Mateo, CA
Pages:	25 - 33
Cite this article:	Frye, E. O., "GPS Signal Availability in Land Mobile Applications," Proceedings of the 1989 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, San Mateo, CA, January 1989, pp. 25-33.
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