Position-Velocity Aiding of a Mitel ORION Receiver for Sounding-Rocket Tracking

Oliver Montenbruck, Werner Enderle, Markus Schesny, Vincent Gabosch, Sascha Ricken and Peter Turner

Abstract:	The paper describes a simple and effective concept for aiding the signal acquisition of a GPS receiver in sounding rocket applications. A segmented, low-order polynomial representation of the nominal flight path is employed to provide the receiver with approximate position and velocity values of the host vehicle. These are used for an open-loop Doppler and visibility prediction, which in turn assists the channel allocation and code search. The proposed concept has been implemented in the 12-channel GPS Orion receiver, which employs Mitel's GP 2000 chipset and supports firmware modifications via the Architect developer kit. Using hardware-in-the-loop simulations in a GPS signal simulator testbed, the modified receiver's robustness against temporary signal losses has been demonstrated. While the unaided receiver is essentially unable to reacquire signals in case of intermitted signals, the position-velocity aiding allows a stable and reliable operation both during the boost and free-flight phase. Test flights on actual sounding rockets are currently planned for spring (Kiruna) and summer (Alcantara, VS30/Orion) of 2001.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 13th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2000) September 19 - 22, 2000 Salt Palace Convention Center Salt Lake City, UT
Pages:	2003 - 2008
Cite this article:	Montenbruck, Oliver, Enderle, Werner, Schesny, Markus, Gabosch, Vincent, Ricken, Sascha, Turner, Peter, "Position-Velocity Aiding of a Mitel ORION Receiver for Sounding-Rocket Tracking," Proceedings of the 13th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2000), Salt Lake City, UT, September 2000, pp. 2003-2008.
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