Carrier Phase Tracking of Weak Signals Using Different Receiver Architectures

M.G. Petovello, C. O'Driscoll and G. Lachapelle

Abstract:	This paper investigates four receiver architectures and their ability to track the carrier phase signal under attenuated environments. The receiver architectures considered include a standard receiver, an estimator-based receiver, a vector-based receiver and an ultra-tight GPS/IMU receiver. The receiver architectures were implemented in software and tested using pedestrianbased data collected in open-sky environments but attenuated using a variable signal attenuator. To assess the performance of the different receivers, their phase lock indicator values and carrier phase-based positioning quality were compared. Unexpectedly, the vector-based receiver did not perform very well and more work is needed to understand why this is the case. Of the remaining receivers, the ultra-tight receiver performed best, the estimator-based receiver performed second best and the standard receiver performed the worst. The ultra-tight receiver provided about 7 dB and 3 dB of sensitivity improvement over the standard and estimator-based receivers.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2008 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 28 - 30, 2008 The Catamaran Resort Hotel San Diego, CA
Pages:	781 - 791
Cite this article:	Petovello, M.G., O'Driscoll, C., Lachapelle, G., "Carrier Phase Tracking of Weak Signals Using Different Receiver Architectures," Proceedings of the 2008 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, San Diego, CA, January 2008, pp. 781-791.
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