GPS Continuous Track on a Spinning Vehiclewith Multiple Patch Antennas

Robert H. Cantwell, Richard Ventresca

Abstract:	The objective is to use multiple patch antennas to allow visibility to the GPS satellite vehicles for continuous tracking on a spinning platform without going through the acquisition process. Our methodology is to use patch antennas mounted to allow overlapped visibility coverage of the GPS satellite vehicles. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) is used to determine the attitude and position or coverage of each antenna. Ephemeris is collected from each visible satellite. Using the GPS receiver's position and the positions of the GPS satellite vehicles (SV’s), the receiver determines which satellites are in the field of view (FOV) of each antenna. The overlapped coverage allows an SV to be acquired and tracked on two antennas. At this time we do a direct track hand-over from the receiver channel whose antenna will be going out of view to another receiver channel using the antenna that has come into view. This eliminates interruption in signal tracking and thereby results in continuous, accurate navigation solutions. This technique has been demonstrated successfully on multiple spinning vehicles.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 12th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1999) September 14 - 17, 1999 Nashville, TN
Pages:	901 - 906
Cite this article:	Cantwell, Robert H., Ventresca, Richard, "GPS Continuous Track on a Spinning Vehiclewith Multiple Patch Antennas," Proceedings of the 12th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GPS 1999), Nashville, TN, September 1999, pp. 901-906.
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