Technological Maturity and Gaps of Current GNSS Antennas for DFMC Aviation Applications

S. Caizzone, V. Tripathi, W. Elmarissi

Abstract:	Aviation GNSS systems are currently undergoing an important evolution, moving from single frequency single constellation to dual frequency dual/multi constellation capability (see e.g. [1], [2]). In order to enable such paradigm shift, the avionic onboard hardware has to be upgraded and accordingly, new MOPS are currently being finalized, e.g., at RTCA or EUROCAE level. Antennas are the entry point of GNSS signals into the receiving hardware and contribute to determine the achievable navigation performance. The new minimum operational performance standard (MOPS) for GNSS airborne active antenna equipment for the L1/E1 and L5/E5a frequency bands has been first published in 2018 as DO-373 [3], succeeding to DO-301, which was only specifying performance for L1 antennas. At the moment of writing, multiple multiband antennas in avionic footprint are available on the market but their performance appears to still be far from satisfying the new requirements specified in DO-373, such that a modification of the new standard has already been brought to discussion by antenna manufacturers. The current paper aims at identifying the main technological challenges present in DO-373 (from an electromagnetic point of view) and compare the performance of commercially available antennas with the requirements specified in DO-373, to evaluate the technological maturity of current solutions as well as to identify the actual gaps to be overcome in order to make them certification-ready. In particular, the antenna response in specifically challenging requirements as the following ones will be analyzed: • Boresight relative frequency response • Antenna Unit Relative Radiation Pattern • 1dB compression point • Differential group delay versus aspect angle • Axial ratio vs elevation Environmental test-related performance will not be dealt with in the paper.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023) September 11 - 15, 2023 Hyatt Regency Denver Denver, Colorado
Pages:	904 - 908
Cite this article:	Caizzone, S., Tripathi, V., Elmarissi, W., "Technological Maturity and Gaps of Current GNSS Antennas for DFMC Aviation Applications," Proceedings of the 36th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2023), Denver, Colorado, September 2023, pp. 904-908. https://doi.org/10.33012/2023.19424
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In