A Unique L2C Radio for Research and Development Using Modernized GPS Signal

S.M. Deshpande, A. Kumar, H. N. Suhas, J.K.Ray and R.A.Nayak

Abstract:	Global Positioning System (GPS) signal modernization is just round the corner) GPS signal. The civilian signal on L2 frequency is expected to revolutionize the GPS community by allowing better accuracy (ionospheric error can be eliminated using measurements from two frequencies) and indoor signal operation. The L2C is specifically designed for indoor operation and has robust code compared to L1 coarse acquisition (C/A) code. A pilot signal is provided on L2C to allow coherent integration up to 1.5 seconds. Many GPS receiver manufacturers are in the process of building a L2C capable GPS receiver. Signal simulation in software or hardware is necessary to aid the design of L2C correlator. Software signal simulation does not emulate the actual GPS signal conditions and hence hardware GPS simulator is preferred. A radio-frequency (RF) front-end data logger is required to collect the sampled signal to use it for correlator algorithm design. An RF front-end radio called GNSSSignalTapTM –L2C is developed, which is suitable for collecting the sampled digital GPS L2C signal data on to the PC platform. This easy access of data allows in depth analysis of L2C acquisition, tracking, multipath mitigation and jamming performance. Different algorithms can be implemented and optimized in addition to developing new algorithms. These algorithms can be verified with the real GPS-L2C signal data before designing the receiver. This paper describes the architecture of the GNSSSignalTapTM, identifies the major blocks, explains the operation of the tool and presents results on L2C acquisition and tracking for different data sets collected using the hardware GPS simulator from Spirent Communications. Data sets were collected for different sampling frequencies and signal strengths to verify the performance of the tool.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2005) September 13 - 16, 2005 Long Beach Convention Center Long Beach, CA
Pages:	2440 - 2447
Cite this article:	Deshpande, S.M., Kumar, A., Suhas, H. N., J.K.Ray,, R.A.Nayak,, "A Unique L2C Radio for Research and Development Using Modernized GPS Signal," Proceedings of the 18th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2005), Long Beach, CA, September 2005, pp. 2440-2447.
Full Paper:	ION Members/Non-Members: 1 Download Credit Sign In