Radiolocation Using AM Broadcast Signals: Positioning Performance

Timothy D. Hall, Charles C. Counselman III and Pratap N. Misra

Abstract:	Instantaneous position determinations by a navigation system that observes only AM radio broadcast signals are compared with GPS and conventionally surveyed positions for a variety of venues: outdoors in the clear, in woods, and in an urban area; and inside a wood-frame house. The AM-only system, which works like a kinematic DGPS system, has meter-level accuracy outdoors for baselines up to two kilometers and its accuracy is only slightly degraded for baselines up to 35 kilometers. The chief, and practically the only significant, cause of error for the AM-only system is close proximity to extended electrical conductors, such as power transmission lines. Foliage, as in woods, has no significant effect on the AM system. When an AM navigation receiver and a GPS receiver were driven through woods, under foliage, the AM system worked as well in the woods as it had out in the clear, whereas the precision of the GPS system was poor, poorer than the AM system. Experiments in an urban area show that electric conductors underground and in nearby buildings can severely degrade AM positioning. Electric conductors also degraded AM positioning inside a wood-frame house.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2002) September 24 - 27, 2002 Oregon Convention Center Portland, OR
Pages:	921 - 932
Cite this article:	Hall, Timothy D., Counselman, Charles C., III, Misra, Pratap N., "Radiolocation Using AM Broadcast Signals: Positioning Performance," Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 2002), Portland, OR, September 2002, pp. 921-932.
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