Course code: 18ECE4201

Geethanjali College of Engineering and Technology (Autonomous), Hyderabad

IV-B.Tech (ECE) II semester (Supplementary) End Examination, August 2022
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)

Semester End Exam – Key

1. Explain about IRNSS Constellation.

The building of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) was authorized by the
Indian government in 2006. When fully developed by the Indian Space Research Organization
(ISRO), the constellation will provide position, navigation, and timing service in a region from
Latitude 30° S. Latitude to 50° N. Latitude and from 30° East Longitude to 130° East Longitude.
The region embraced isapproximately 1500 kilometers around India. The constellation is also
known as NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation; also, nāvik 'sailor' or 'navigator' in
Sanskrit, and many other Indian languages). The IRNSS constellation is comprised of 7
operational satellites. All the satellites will be continuously visible to the extensive Indian control
segment’s 21 stations located across the country including the Master Control Center (MCC) at
Hassan, Karnataka. They are named with the prefix IRNSS-1. The constellation includes 3 of the
7 satellites in geostationary orbits at 32.5o East Longitude, 83o East Longitude and 131.5o East
longitude and 4 of the 7 satellites are in geosynchronous orbits of 24,000 km apogee with an
inclination of 29°. The small inclination is appropriate to the coverage of India as the nation is
located in the low latitudes. The equator crossing of 2 of the geosynchronous satellite is at
111.75o East Longitude and 2 crosses the equator at 55o East Longitude.
IRNSS-1A was launched in 2013 and is now in partial failure. IRNSS-1B and IRNSS-1C were
launched in 2014. All three were launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota,
India. They carry a rubidium clocks, corner cube retro-reflectors for laser ranging and a C-band
transponders. They broadcast in the L5 band (1176.45 MHz) with a bandwidth of 24 MHz and S
band (2492.028 MHz) with a bandwidth of 16.5 MHz. They have a ten year design life. IRNSS -
1D was launched in 2015. IRNSS-1E through 1G were launched in 2016. IRNSS-1H failed to
make o rbit. IRNSS-1I was launched in 2018. IRNSS provides two levels of service, a public
Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and an encrypted Restricted Service (RS). Both will be
available on L5 and on the S band; however, the SPS signal is modulated by BPSK at I MHz and
the Restricted Service will use BOC (5, 2). The navigation signals are broadcast on the S-band.

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 GSOS2 GEOS2 GEOS3
GEOS1 GSOS3

GSOS1
GSOS4

Ranging and
Monitoring Station
Ranging and
Monitoring Station Master Control
Center (MCC) Telemetry and
Command Station

1 b) With a neat diagram explain how legacy GPS signals can be generated.
The transmission of GPS signals is on two frequencies: L1 (1575.42 MHz) and L2 (1227.60
MHz). A signal of base frequency 10.23 MHz generates both of these signals. The signal
frequency of L1 is 154 x 10.23 MHz = 1575.42 MHz, and the signal frequency of L2 is 120 x
10.23 MHz = 1227.60 MHz.

The C/A PRN codes are Gold codes with a period of 1023 chips transmitted at 1.023 Mchip/s,
causing the code to repeat every 1 millisecond. They are exclusive-ored with a
50 bit/s navigation message and the result phase modulates the carrier (L!) as previously
described. These codes only match up, or strongly autocorrelate when they are almost exactly
aligned. Each satellite uses a unique PRN code, which does not correlate well with any other
satellite's PRN code. In other words, the PRN codes are highly orthogonal to one another. The
1 ms period of the C/A code corresponds to 299.8 km of distance, and each chip corresponds to a
distance of 293 m. (Receivers track these codes well within one chip of accuracy, so
measurement errors are considerably smaller than 293 m.)

The P-code is a PRN sequence much longer than the C/A code: 6.187104 · 1012 chips (773,388
MByte). Even though the P-code chip rate (10.23 Mchips/s) is ten times that of the C/A code, it
repeats only once per week, eliminating range ambiguity. It was assumed that receivers could not
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directly acquire such a long and fast code so they would first "bootstrap" themselves with the
C/A code to acquire the spacecraft ephemerides, produce an approximate time and position fix,
and then acquire the P-code to refine the fix.

In addition to the PRN ranging codes, a receiver needs to know the time and position of each
active satellite. GPS encodes this information into the navigation message and modulates it onto
both the C/A and P(Y) ranging codes at 50 bit/s.

2a) Compare and contrast the GPS, GLONASS and Galileo Constellations.

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Salient Features of GPS System: The Spread Spectrum technique is being used for GPS
signals transmission. One of the principal reasons for using spread spectrum is its
inherent lack of detectability i.e. if the signal is spread out over a broad bandwidth, the
energy density at any individual frequency or a narrow band of frequencies is greatly
reduced. Further, in a spread spectrum, the transmission bandwidth is often hundreds or
even thousands of times greater than the information bandwidth. The GPS carrier
frequencies are modulated by spread spectrum codes with a unique PRN sequence
associated with each SV and by the navigation data message. Even though, all SVs transmit at
the same two carrier frequencies, but these signals do not interfere significantly with each other
because of the PRN code modulation. Since each SV is assigned a unique PRN code and
all of the PRN code sequences are nearly uncorrelated with respect to each other, the SV

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signals can be separated and detected by a technique called Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA). In order to track one SV in common view with several SVs by the CDMA technique; a
GPS receiver must replicate the PRN sequences for the desired SV along with the replica
carrier signal, including Doppler effect. The navigation message which contains
ephemeredes of the satellites, GPS time, clock behavior and system messages is
superimposed on both the P-code and the C/A code with a data rate of 50 bits/sec.
Comparison of GPS, and other global navigation systems.

The Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) is one of the GNSS currently in
operation which is maintained by Russia’s Ministry of Defence. In 1988, at a meeting of the
International Civil Aviation Organization, the Russian government offered free use of
GLONASS signals worldwide. In the year September 1993, Russian President Boris Yeltsin
officially proclaimed GLONASS to be an operational system and the basic unit of the Russian
Radio navigation Plan. Similar to the GPS, the GLONASS is a space based navigation system
providing global, all weather access to precise position, velocity and time information to a
properly equipped user. Its constellation consists of 24 satellites in three orbital planes at 19,100
km altitudes, corresponding to an 11h 15 min orbit period. Orbital inclination is 64.8
degrees, as opposed to the 55 degrees of GPS. This has a significant impact on
operations at high latitudes. GLONASS satellite continuously broadcasts its own precise
position and less precise information for the entire constellation. The transmitted data is in Earth-
Centered-Earth-Fixed (ECEF) co-ordinates and extrapolation terms and GLONASS satellite
constants are related to Soviet Geodetic System (SGS)-90 coordinates. The purpose and function
of GLONASS control segment is similar to that in GPS. User segment consists of the
equipment necessary to track GLONASS satellites. Each GLONASS satellite transmits two
carrier frequencies in the L band. The L1 band range from 1602.5625 MHz to 1615.5
MHz in jumps of 0.5625 MHz, while the L2 band ranges from 1246.4375 MHz to
1256.5 MHz in jumps of 0.4375 MHz (i.e. 24 channels are generated for each of L1 and
L2). Each of these signals is modulated by 5.11 MHz precision (P) signal or .511 MHz
coarse/acquisition (C/A) signal. The binary signals are formed by a P code. This P code is of
pseudorandom sequence with a period of one second, while the C/A code is a pseudorandom
sequence with a period of 1 msec. Contrary to GPS, GLONASS uses a single code for all the
satellites. In order to reduce the bandwidth utilized by GLONASS and to reduce
interference in the radio astronomy band, the GLONASS operators have formulated a
transitional frequency plan. Currently 24 GLONASS satellites are operational

European GLOBAL Satellite Navigation System (GALILEO) : The European GLOBAL

Satellite Navigation System (GALILEO) is one of the GNSS by European Space Agency
(ESA) and European Commission (EVP Europe, 1999). The Galileo system will be a global
navigation satellite system under civil control. It will consist of 30 satellites of which 3
are spare, depending on the level of international co-operation, the associated ground
infrastructure and regional / local augmentations. Planners and engineers at ESA have good
reasons for choosing such a structure for the Galileo constellation. With 30 satellites at an
altitude of 23, 222 Km, there is a very high probability (more than 90%) that anyone
anywhere in the world will always be in sight of at least four satellites and hence will

5
be able to determine their position from the ranging signals broadcast by the satellites. For
ensuring good coverage of polar latitudes, an inclination angle of 560 is chosen for orbits. The
Galileo navigation signals will provide good coverage even at latitudes up to 75 degrees north,
which corresponds to the North Cape, and beyond. GalileoSat is the name given to the
complementary development programme being carried out by ESA. The system will
involve a space segment of around at least 27 medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites, plus
three geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites and will cost Euro 2.2 – 2.95 billion to
develop. The large number of satellites together with the optimization of the constellation,
and the availability of the three active spare satellites, will ensure that the loss of one satellite
has no discernible effect on the user. Two numbers of Galileo Control Centers (GCC) will be
implemented on European ground to provide for the control of the satellites and to perform the
navigation mission management. The data provided by a global network of twenty Galileo
Sensor Stations (GSS) will be sent to the Galileo Control Centers through a redundant
communications network.

2b) What is ECEF coordinate system.

The position of a user is expressed conveniently in a coordinate system that is fixed to the earth
and moves with it. In fact, it is a requirement: We want the coordinates of a stationary object to
remain fixed. Such a coordinate system, however, is not suited to the analysis of satellite motion.
The motion of a satellite is governed by the equations of motion, in particular, by Newton's
second law relating force and acceleration, both expressed in an inertial reference system. An
inertial coordinate system is defined as fixed in space, or in uniform motion without any
acceleration. Clearly, a spinning, earth fixed coordinate system suited to expressing positions of
points on the earth will not do. In this section we define a Cartesian coordinate system fixed to
the earth and another fixed in orientation relative to the so-called ‘fixed’ stars.
Conventional Terrestrial Reference System (CTRS): The Conventional Terrestrial Reference
System (CTRS) is a 3-D geocentric coordinate system, i.e., its origin coincides with the center of
the Earth. The CTRS is rigidly tied to the Earth, i.e., it rotates with the earth. It is therefore also
known as the Earth-centered, Earth-fixed (ECEF) coordinate system.

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3a) Explain kepler’s laws of planetary motion.

In astronomy, Kepler's laws of planetary motion are three scientific laws describing the motion
of planets around the Sun.
1. The orbit of a planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.
2. A line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas
during equal intervals of time.[1]
3. The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the
cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.

Most planetary orbits are nearly circular, and careful observation and calculation are required in
order to establish that they are not perfectly circular. From this, Johannes Kepler inferred that
other bodies in the Solar System, including those farther away from the Sun, also
have elliptical orbits.

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3b) Explain about the significance of the atmospheric effects in GNSS systems.
Atmospheric errors All the satellite signals propagate through the atmospheric layers as
they travel from the satellite to the receiver. Ionosphere extends from a height of about
50 to 1000km above the earth. The troposphere stretches to about 16kms above the equator
and 9kms above the poles from the surface of the earth. Both the layers are considered when
dealing with Global Positioning System.

Ionospheric error: Ionosphere is the region of the Earth’s atmosphere that affects the GPS
signals as they pass from space to the ground receiver. The electron density within the
ionospheric region is not constant, it varies with the altitude. The extent of the error
occurrence is mainly dependent on the density of the charged particles, which is also a
function of the time of day as this effect is higher during the day time than night time.
The dispersion and refraction of the signal will cause time delay error. Several time delay
models are being developed and investigated. Klobuchar time delay model is the most

8
widely used model for correcting the ionospheric delay of single frequency users. The
ionospheric delay (t∆) can be calculated by using the dual-frequency GPS receiver, which is
given by:

4a) What are orbital elements and explain the significance of each elements.

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4b) What is multipath signal? Explain the significance of multipath signal effects in GNSS
system.

Multipath is a major error source for both the carrier phase and pseudorange measurements.
Multipath effect occurs when the GPS signal arrives at the receiver antenna through various
paths. These paths can be of either from the direct line-of-sight path or the reflected signals from
the objects surrounding the receiver antenna. The original signal gets distorted because of the
multipath error, which occurs due to the interference with the reflected signals at the GPS
antenna. Multipath error affects both the carrier phase and pseudorange measurements, but the
magnitude of the error differ significantly. The value of carrier phase multipath can reach a
maximum value of about 4.8cm for the L1 carrier phase. The multipath effect results in an
incorrect position calculation of  1meters, if proper planning or corrective techniques are not
employed .Typically, an antenna receives the direct signal and one or more of its reflections form
structures in the vicinity and from ground. A reflected signal is delayed and usually weak
compared to the direct signal. The effect of multipath can be reduced by using choke ring
antenna or an antenna with a matching polarization to the GPS signal. Due to the new
advancements in the receiver technology, the actual pseudorange multipath is reduced to the
maximum extent. The examples of such technologies include strobe correlator (Ashtec,Inc) and
the MEDLL . By including the multipath mitigation techniques, the pseudorange multipath error
can be reduced to several meters even in case of the highly-refractive environment. Since the
satellite-reflector antenna geometry repeats every sidereal day, the presence of multipath error
can be verified using a day-to-day correlation of the estimated residuals. However, if dual
frequency observations are available, multipath error in the undifferenced pesudorange
measurements can be identified. Typical value of multipath error in pseudorange measurements
varies in the range of 1-5m.

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5a) What is Signal acquisition? Explain about the different signal acquisition methods used in
GPS.
Serial Search Acquisition
The algorithm is based on multiplication of locally generated PRN code sequences and locally
generated carrier signals. The PRN generator generates a PRN sequence corresponding to a
specific satellite. The generated sequence has a certain code phase, from 0 to 1022 chips. The
incoming signal is initially multiplied by this locally generated PRN sequence. After
multiplication with the PRN sequence, the signal is multiplied by a locally generated carrier
signal. Multiplication with the locally generated carrier signal generates the inphase signal I , and
multiplication with a 90◦ phase-shifted version of the locally generated carrier signal generates
the quadrature signal Q. The I and Q signals are integrated over 1 ms, corresponding to the
length of one C/A code, and finally squared and added. Ideally, the signal power should be
located in the I part of the signal, as the C/A code is only modulated onto that. However, in this
case the I signal generated at the satellite does not necessarily correspond to the demodulated I .
This is because the phase of the received signal is unknown. So to be certain that the signal is
detected, it is necessary to investigate both the I and the Q signal. The output is a value of
correlation between the incoming signal and the locally generated signal. If a predefined
threshold is exceeded, the frequency and code phase parameters are correct, and the parameters
can be passed on to the tracking algorithms.
The serial search algorithm performs two different sweeps: a frequency sweep over all possible
carrier frequencies of IF ±10 kHz in steps of 500 Hz and a code phase sweep over all 1023
different code phases. All in all, this sums up to a total of Obviously, this is a very large number
of combinations. This exhausting search routine also tends to be the main weakness of the serial
search acquisition.

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Parallel frequency space search algorithm
The serial search acquisition method showed that it is a very time-consuming procedure to search
sequentially through all possible values of the two parameters frequency and code phase. If any
of the two parameters could be eliminated from the search procedure or if possible implemented
in parallel, the performance of the procedure would increase significantly. Like the serial search
acquisition method, the implementation of the parallel frequency space search method is straight
forward. The algorithm can be implemented directly based on the block diagram below.
The first part of this method is identical to the first part of the serial search method. That is, a
locally generated PRN code must be multiplied with the incoming signal. After the code
multiplication, the signal is transformed into the frequency domain through Fourier transform.
An efficient tool for that is the fast Fourier transform (FFT). It becomes a complex signal. If the
locally generated code is well aligned with the code in the incoming signal, the output from the
FFT will have a peak at the IF plus Doppler offset frequency. To find the possible peak
frequency the absolute value of all components are calculated.

Parallel Code Phase Search Acquisition

Compared to the previous acquisition methods, the parallel code phase search acquisition method
has cut down the search space to the 41 different carrier frequencies. The Fourier transform of
the generated PRN code must only be performed once for each acquisition. For each of the 41
frequencies we perform one Fourier transform and one inverse Fourier transform, so the
computational efficiency of the method depends on the implementation of these functions. The
accuracy of the parameters estimated by this acquisition method regards the frequency similar to
the serial search method. The PRN code phase, however, is more accurate compared to the other

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methods as it gives a correlation value for each sampled code phase. That is, if the sampling
frequency is 10MHz, a sampled PRN code has 10,000 samples, so the accuracy of the code
phase can have 10,000 different values instead of 1023.

6) Explain how the receiver/user position is determined in GNSS system.

GPS point positioning, also known as standalone or autonomous positioning, involves only one
GPS receiver. That is, one GPS receiver simultaneously tracks four or more GPS satellites to
determine its own coordinates with respect to the center of the Earth (Figure below). Almost all
of the GPS receivers currently available on the market are capable of displaying their point-
positioning coordinates. To determine the receivers point position at any time, the
satellitecoordinates as well as a minimum of four ranges to four satellites arerequired. The
receiver gets the satellite coordinates through the navigation message, while the ranges are
obtained from either the C/A-code or the P(Y)-code, depending on the receiver type (civilian or
military). As mentioned before, the measured pseudoranges are contaminated by both the
satellite and receiver clock synchronization errors. Correcting the satellite clock errors may be
done by applying the satellite clock correction in the navigation message; the receiver clock error
is treated as an additional unknown parameter in the estimation process. This brings the total
number of unknown parameters to four: three for the receiver coordinates and one for the
receiver clock error. This is the reason why at least four satellitesare needed. It should be pointed
out that if more than four satellites are tracked, the so-called least-squares estimation or Kalman
filtering techniques applied. As the satellite coordinates are given in the WGS 84system, the
obtained receiver coordinates will be in the WGS 84 system as well.
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 Fig. Principle of point positioning

𝑅1 = (𝑥𝑠1 − 𝑥)2 + (𝑦𝑠1 − 𝑦)2 + (𝑧𝑠1 − 𝑧)2

𝑅2 = (𝑥𝑠2 − 𝑥)2 + (𝑦𝑠2 − 𝑦)2 + (𝑧𝑠2 − 𝑧)2

𝑅3 = (𝑥𝑠3 − 𝑥)2 + (𝑦𝑠3 − 𝑦)2 + (𝑧𝑠3 − 𝑧)2

𝑅4 = (𝑥𝑠4 − 𝑥)2 + (𝑦𝑠4 − 𝑦)2 + (𝑧𝑠4 − 𝑧)2

One is to take an additional independent observation equation and solve four simultaneous
quadratic equations. The second option is to use a constraint equation instead, to resolve the
ambiguities that arise on solving three quadratics. A constraint equation is the definite relation
that the unknown variables always maintain between them. The final possibility, as chosen in
most cases of navigational receivers, is that these quadratic equations are linearized to form three
linear differential equations.
The receiver position is computed using the Linearization and Bancroft algorithm. At each
epoch, four satellites giving lowest Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP) value are chosen for
position estimation.
The position of GPS user can be computed using the techniques namely Linearization and
Bancroft algorithm.

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The Bancroft algorithm takes four satellite positions and their corresponding pseudoranges as
inputs to compute the user position in Earth-Centered Earth-Fixed (ECEF) coordinates. These
coordinates are converted into geodetic coordinates. The algorithm is based on solving the
quadratic equations formed by the pseudoranges and satellite positions. Consider the observation
equation of a single pseudorange p k given by,

 cdt   x)  (y  y)  (z  z)
k k 2 k 2 k 2
p (x (1)

where x
k
, y k and z
k
denote the geocentric coordinates for the k
th
satellite at the time of
transmission and x, y, z denotes the unknown receiver coordinates. Replacing the receiver clock
offset cdt by b and squaring on both sides yields,
 2p b  b  (x  x)  (y  y)  (z  z)
k k k 2 k 2 k 2 k 2
p p

 2p bb  x x  2x x  x  y y  2y y  y  z z  2z z  z
k k k 2 k k k 2 k k k 2 k k k 2
p p (2)
Rearranging the above equation as follows,

 y y  z z  p p )  2(x x  y y  z z  p b)  (x  y  z  b )
k k k k k k k k k k k k 2 2 2 2
(x x (3)

Eq.(3) yields two possible solutions. These possible solutions are substituted in the Eq.(1) and
error is calculated. The solution, which arrives at the minimum error is chosen as the correct
solution.

7a) write short notes on quality parameters of GNSS position estimation.

Accuracy
GNSS position accuracy is the difference between the estimated and actual aircraft position.
Ground based systems such as VOR and ILS have relatively repeatable error characteristics, so
that performance can be measured for a short period of time (e.g. during flight inspection) and it
is assumed that the system accuracy does not change after the test. GNSS errors, however, can
change over a period of hours, due to satellite geometry changes, the effects of the ionosphere
and augmentation system design. While errors can change quickly for an un-augmented basic
core satellite system, SBAS and GBAS errors would vary slowly over time. Accuracy is thus
defined as the 95th percentile of the navigation system error.

Integrity and Time to Alert

Integrity is a measure of the trust, which can be placed in the correctness of the information
supplied by the total system. Integrity includes the ability of the system to tell the user when the
system must not be used for the intended operation (or phase of flight). The necessary level of
integrity for each operation is established with respect to specific horizontal/lateral (and for some
approaches, vertical) Alert Limits. When the integrity estimates exceed these limits, the pilot

15
must be alerted within the prescribed time period. The type of operation and the phase of flight
dictate the maximum allowable horizontal/lateral and vertical errors and the maximum time to
alert the pilot. Following an alert, the crew must either resume navigating using traditional
NAVAIDs or comply with procedures linked to a GNSS-based level of service with less
stringent requirements. For example, if alert limits are exceeded for Category I precision
approach, before the aircraft crosses the FIR, the crew could restrict descent to a decision altitude
associated with an APV operation. In simpler terms Integrity can be defines as the probability
that HPL<HAL and for precision approach VPL<VAL for longer than time to alert.

Continuity
Continuity is the capability of the system to perform its function without non-scheduled
interruptions during the intended operation. This is expressed as a probability number. For
example, there must be a high probability that the service remains available throughout a full
instrument approach procedure. Continuity requirements vary from a lower value for remote
airspace en route, to more stringent for areas with high traffic density and airspace complexity,
where a failure could affect a large number of aircraft. Where there is a high degree of reliance
on the system for navigation, mitigation against failure may be through the use of alternative
navigation means, or the use of ATC surveillance and intervention to ensure that separation is
maintained. For approach and landing operations, each aircraft can be considered independently.
The results of a disruption of service would normally relate only to the risks associated with a
missed approach. For non-precision, APV and Category I approaches, this is considered a normal
operation, since it occurs whenever the aircraft descends to
the minimum altitude for the approach and the pilot is unable to continue with visual reference. It
is therefore an operational efficiency issue, not a safety issue. In simpler terms this can be
defined as the probability that the service (positioning with integrity monitoring) will exist
throughout a flight operation given that it was predicted at the beginning of the operation to exist
throughout the operation.

Availability
Availability of GPS is complicated by the movement of satellites relative to a coverage area and
the potentially long time to restore a satellite in the event of a failure. The level of availability for
certain airspace at a certain time should be determined through design, analysis and modeling,
rather than measurement. When establishing the availability requirements for GPS the desired
level of service to be supported must be considered. Availability should be directly proportional
to the reliance on that element. The original FAA WAAS specification definition for availability
is the probability that accuracy integrity and continuity requirements are met. The new definition
under consideration says that availability is the probability that positioning function exists with
HPL< HAL and for precision approach VPL<VAL.

7b) what is DOP? Explain the significance of DoP in position estimation.

The satellite geometry (which cause geometric dilution) and the ranging errors under the
assumption of uniform, uncorrelated, zero-mean, ranging error statistics affect the performance
of GPS (Parkinson and Spilker, 1996).
This can be expressed as:
RMS position error = Geometric dilution × RMS ranging error

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Understanding position dilution of precision (PDOP) is important for defining the constellation
value. PDOP reflects the geometry of the space vehicles in relation to the user and this can be
derived from the basic navigation equations. Let the user be at x, y, z in an earth-fixed, earth-
centered coordinate system and let the space vehicles be at xi, yi, zi; i=1, 2, 3, 4 in the same
coordinate system as the user. The measurement equation can be written as,
(x- xi)2 + (y- yi)2 + (z- zi)2 + T = Ri ; i = 1, 2, 3, 4
where, T is the user clock bias and Ri ;i = 1, 2, 3, 4 are the pseudorange measurements from each
satellite.
The above equations can be linearized without loss of accuracy by assuming x = x n+ x, where,
xn denotes nominal and x is the linear correction. By proper substitution and algebraic
manipulation, these linearized equations can be conveniently written in matrix notation (Ananda
and Chernick, 1988).
 11
 12
 13
1  x   R1 
     
   1 y R2
 21 22 23
X     
 31
 32
 33
1  z  R3 
     
 41
 42
 43
1 T  R 4  Ax = r
where, ij is the direction cosine of the angle between the range to the ithcoordinate, A is the
information matrix, x is the vector estimates and r is the measurement residual vector. It is
possible to estimate the covariance of the state (estimated parameters) vector by
cov(x) = A-1cov(r)A-T = [ATcov(r)A]-1
Assuming pseudorange measurements has an error (1) of unity and the expected means of the
measurement error is zero as well as that the correlation of errors between the satellite
measurement is zero, the covariance equation reduces to
cov(x) = [ATA]-1
From this, it is evident that the estimation is purely dependent upon geometry of the satellites
w.r.t users. Therefore, a measure of the ‘goodness’ of the geometry is determined by the term
Geometrical Dilution of Precision (GDOP) and can be computed as,
GDOP = [trace (ATA)-1]0.5
Let x2, y2, z2 and T2 are diagonal components of the covariance matrix, then
GDOP = [x2 + y2 + z2 + T2]0.5
The other related DOP parameters are
PDOP = [x2 + y2 + z2]0.5 (Position DOP)
HDOP = [x2 + y2]0.5 (Horizontal DOP);
VDOP = z (Vertical DOP);
TDOP = T (Time DOP)

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8. Explain how cycle slips can be detected and corrected.

when a receiver is turned on, the fractional part of the beat phase is observed and an integer
counteris initialized. During tracking, the counter is incremented by one cycle whenever the
fractional phasechanges from 2π to 0. Thus, at a given epoch, the observed accumulated phase
∆φ is the sum of the fractional phase φ and the integer count n. The initial integer number N of
cycles between the satellite and the receiver is unknown. This phase ambiguity N remains
constant as long as no loss of the signal lock occurs. In this event, the integer counter is
reinitialized which causes a jump in the instantaneous accumulated phase by an integer
number of cycles. This jump is called cycle slip (Hofmann et al, 2001). Figure 5.1 shows
the graphical representation of an outlier and cycle slip. The X-axis and Y-axis denote time
verses phase plot. At the epoch ti+1 there is a spike or outlier, which is due to change or
deviation in phase value. The measured phase values at ti+2 and ti+3 determines cycle
slip occurrence.

Sources of cycle slip

The short time loss of signal tracking at receiver leads to cycle slips. There are several possible
causes for cycle slips (Hein, 1990b). 1.Obstruction of the satellite signal due to trees, buildings,
bridges, mountains etc. 2.Low SNR due to rapidly changing ionospheric conditions, multi-path,
high receiver dynamics or low satellite elevation. 3. Failure in the receiver software, which leads
to incorrect signal processing. 4. Malfunctioning of satellite oscillator.

In practice cycle slips are usually detected in a data processing step. Various techniques have
been developed to perform this task. There are many cycle slip detection techniques available
which include raw phase, phase combination, phase and code range combination, phase and
integrated Doppler combination. All These techniques can be used for detection of cycle slips for

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single site GPS receiver data. Using these GPS observables several linear combination with
different wavelengths and ionospheric amplification factors can be constructed such as Wide-
lane combination, Narrow-lane combination, Ionosphere-free combination, Double wide-lane
combination, Semi wide-lane combination etc
These linear combinations are used in various stages of data processing to resolve cycle slips,
integer ambiguity etc. Among them two linear combinations are considered for detecting cycle
slips. They are:
 Wide-Lane Combination
 Geometry-free Combination

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