Design of a Ground-Based Beacon Signal for Calibration of Spaceborne GNSS Remote Sensing Instruments

Matthew L. Buchanan, Andrew J. O'Brien, Bruce P. Block

Peer Reviewed

Abstract: The paper presents the design and analysis of a groundbased beacon signal that will be used for testing and calibration of spaceborne GNSS-reflectometry (GNSS-R) instruments aboard the upcoming Cyclone GNSS (CYGNSS) Mission. GNSS-R provides remote sensing capabilities of geophysical properties by tracking the reflections of GNSS signals off of the surface of the Earth using downward-looking antennas. The fundamental measurement made by GNSS-R receivers is the delay-Doppler map (DDM). For CYGNSS, the beacon signal will be composed of precisely timed and controlled replicas of the GPS C/A-code signal which create a pattern in the DDM measurement. Design and generation of this signal require careful consideration of the receiver instrument, satellite geometry and transmit power restrictions in order to ensure test objectives will be met.
Published in: Proceedings of the 28th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2015)
September 14 - 18, 2015
Tampa Convention Center
Tampa, Florida
Pages: 3859 - 3868
Cite this article: Buchanan, Matthew L., O'Brien, Andrew J., Block, Bruce P., "Design of a Ground-Based Beacon Signal for Calibration of Spaceborne GNSS Remote Sensing Instruments," Proceedings of the 28th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2015), Tampa, Florida, September 2015, pp. 3859-3868.
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