An Innovative Approach To Overcome GPS Signal Masking During Maneuvers in Aircraft or Satellite

G. Vyasaraj and S.B. Vijay

Abstract:	GPS receiver used in aircraft and satellites often encounters satellite visibility problem due to maneuvers of the vehicle. The visibility problem may cause a total loss of position or a position with a degraded accuracy (higher DOP). This problem can be countered efficiently by using multiple antennas. The choice could be a group of elements efficiently combined (Belt antenna) and then taken to the GPS receiver (first method), or multiple antennas with a combiner (second method) or multiple receiver chains with intelligence to compute the position (third method) or multiple antennas with independent front ends and a single receiver (fourth method, Multiple RF (MRF) Approach). The advantage of this MRF approach is that it eliminates the need for two or three independent receivers (which would be very expensive for aircraft and space applications). Also sustained position without any degradation in position accuracy is achieved. Further this method eliminates the signal losses that are associated with the first two methods. This paper gives a comparative analysis of all the three approaches, lists advantages and disadvantages of each approach and explains in detail the architecture and uniqueness of the MRF approach. Further this paper describes the technical challenges associated with this method and provides field tests of this technique.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 20th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2007) September 25 - 28, 2007 Fort Worth Convention Center Fort Worth, TX
Pages:	2999 - 3007
Cite this article:	Vyasaraj, G., Vijay, S.B., "An Innovative Approach To Overcome GPS Signal Masking During Maneuvers in Aircraft or Satellite," Proceedings of the 20th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2007), Fort Worth, TX, September 2007, pp. 2999-3007.
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