UNIT- 5

LEO AND GEO SATELLITE SYSTEMS

By,
Mr. S. Gopala Krishna, Assistant Professor
Mr. Tejender Singh, Assistant Professor

Electronics and Communication Engineering

Contents:
LEO AND GEO SATELLITE SYSTEMS:

Orbit considerations
Coverage and frequency considerations
Delay and through put considerations
Systems considerations
Operational Ngso Constellation Designs

SATELLITE NAVIGATION AND GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM:

Radio And Satellite Navigation

GPS Position Location Principles
GPS Receivers And Codes
Satellite Signal Acquisition
GPS Navigation Message
GPS Signal Levels
GPS Receiver Operation
GPS C/A Code Accuracy
Differential Gps
 INTRODUCTION

There are some specialized applications that require non-geostationary

satellites. Surveillance of the earth's surface, for both military data
gathering and earth resources applications, requires satellites in low earth
orbit that cover the entire surface of the earth.

Satellites providing global navigation, such as the Global Positioning

System (GPS) constellation, must utilize orbits that place the satellites in
widely spaced positions in the sky, as seen by the receiver.

Some of the satellites can be in GEO, but most must be in inclined

orbits with an even distribution over the earth's surface. GPS uses 24
satellites in orbits with an altitude of 20,000 km and an inclination of
55°.
A GEO satellite used for communication with a satellite telephone that
is handheld, like a cellular telephone, requires a very large antenna with
hundreds of beams to achieve a very high gain.

The high gain satellite antenna is needed to compensate for the low gain
of the antenna employed by the user's telephone handset. An alternative to
a GEO satellite with a high gain antenna is a LEO or ME0 satellite
constellation with a smaller multibeam antenna.

Because the satellite is not geostationary, a large number of satellites are

required to maintain continuous coverage. The Iridium system used 66
satellites in LEO, for example, to provide continuous global coverage.
 Orbit considerations
Once in orbit, the motion of a satellite is determined by orbital
mechanics. However, while the satellite moves in such a way as to
balance centrifugal and centripetal forces, the earth is also in
motion beneath it. The following are different orbital
considerations for any satellite.
1.Equatorial Orbits
2.Inclined Orbits
3.Elliptical Orbits
4.Molniya Orbit
5.Sun Synchronous Orbit
1.Equatorial Orbits
Equatorial orbits lie exactly in the plane of the geographical
equator of the earth. That is, the orbital path lies directly above the
equator at all times. In order to take advantage of the 0.45 km/s
eastward rotational velocity of the earth, most satellites are
launched toward the east into a pro grade orbit.

A westerly directed orbit is called a Retrograde orbit.

A satellite in an eastwardly directed equatorial orbit will have two

periods: a real orbital period that is referenced to inertial space (the
galactic background) and an apparent orbital period that is
referenced to a stationary observer on the surface of the earth.
The apparent orbital period to the observer on the equator will be
P hours where P = (24T)/(24 — T) hours
The real orbital period, denoted here as T hours.

The plane of a satellite's orbit must be in the plane of the equator

for the satellite to be in equatorial orbit. This can be achieved by
launching the satellite in one of two ways. The first launch method
is to locate the launch site on the equator and to launch the
spacecraft toward the east along the equatorial plane.

The second method is to launch the satellite into an inclined orbit

and to execute a maneuver either during the launch trajectory or
when the satellite is in an inclined orbit that changes the plane of
the initial orbit so that the final orbit is in the plane of the equator.
2.Inclined Orbits

There are advantages and disadvantages to inclined orbits,

depending on the mission goals and the data recovery
requirements. The greater the inclination of the orbit is the
larger surface area of the earth that the satellite will pass over
at some time in its flight.

In Coverage of an equatorial orbit LEO satellite. , the

inclined orbit will take the spacecraft, at one time or another
over the earth's entire surface that lies approximately between
the latitudes given region the orbital inclination
FIGURE.1 (a) Coverage of an equatorial orbit LEO satellite.
(b) Coverage of an inclined orbit LEO satellite
FIGURE 2 (a) Store -and -forward concept.
(b) Real-time data 1-ansfer via a GEO satellite
3.Elliptical Orbits

An elliptical orbit will have a nonzero eccentricity. The orbit

centricity, e, is determined by the lengths of the semimajor axis,
a, and the semi axis, b, of the orbit ellipse

e2 = 1—(b2/a2) Eq 1

Alternatively, if Ra is the distance between the center of the

earth and the apogee point of the orbit and Rp is the distance
between the center of the earth and the perigee point.
The eccentricity is

e = (Ra — Rp)/(Ra+ Rp) Eq 2

 FIGURE: Schematic of an elliptical orbit illustrating ellipticity

Figure illustrates the geometry of Eq. (2). In Eqs. (1) and (2), if the orbit is
exactly circular, a = b and Ra = R and the eccentricity reduces to zero.
The eccentricity is another way of describing the variation in
the radius of the orbit. If Ra y is the average radius of an orbit
from the center of the earth, then the variation, ∆ R , in the
orbital radius, is given by
∆R = ± eR av
For a geostationary satellite (R = 42,164.17 km) with an
eccentricity of 10-4
∆R will be ±4.2 km.

For a LEO constellation with a circular orbit of approximately

800 km above the earth, with each LEO satellite having an
eccentricity of 10-4, ∆R will be - ±0.7178 km (assuming the
earth mean radius is 6378.137 km).
 4.Molniya Orbit

The first Molniya satellite was launched in April 1965 and it gave
its name to both the system of satellites and to the unique orbit. The
word Molniya means flash of lightning in Russian. The apogee of
the Molniya orbit is at an altitude of 39,152 km and the perigee is at
an altitude of 500 km.

The orbital period is 11 h and 38,min and the orbital inclination is

62.9°. This combination of apogee, perigee, and inclination ensures
that the ground track of the Molniya orbit repeats every other orbit.
 FIGURE: Schematic of a Molniya orbit

In this example, the trajectory is configured to have a large dwell time over
the northern part of the orbit so that it can serve a country that has most of its
landmass in this region.

This was the design adopted for the original Molniya system of the former
Soviet Union.
FIGURE: Schematic of an operational Molniya
system
 Satellite 1 in Molniya orbit 1 is providing service over
Russia at close to its apogee while the second satellite is also
close to its apogee in Molniya orbit 2.

 Molniya orbits I and 2 are separated by 180° in their orbital

planes. By the time satellite 2 has moved around its orbit once
and back to its apogee (a period of about 12 hours), the earth
will have rotated about 180° and the second satellite will be
over Russia.
5.Sun Synchronous Orbit

A sun synchronous orbit is a special form of low earth orbit

where the plane of the orbit maintains a constant aspect angle
with the direction to the sun.

Some satellite missions require a specific orbit with such a

constant relation to the direction of the sunlight. One example is
an earth resources satellite that requires a large amount of direct
sunlight to illuminate the region below the satellite so that
photographs can be taken.
FIGURE: Examples of two sun synchronous
orbits. In the illustration above, the is viewed
from above the North Pole, N, with the sunlight
illuminating the left side of the earth
FIGURE: Illustration of alignment changes of
the orbital plane of a satellite due to the
movement of the earth around the sun
COVERAGE AND FREQUENCY CONSIDERATIONS

For example, if a communications satellite system has to provide

coverage of the European Union (EU), there is a minimum altitude
at which a single satellite can operate and still cove: all of the EU
at once.

If the coverage of the EU must be continuous, a GEO orbit can

be selected or a constellation of NGSO satellites can be designed to
provide the necessary coverage overlap between successive
satellites.

The determination of coverage area, while initially an exercise in

simple geometry, is eventually heavily influenced by the available
technology both on the ground and in space, and other aspects such
as the radiation environment. We will consider first the geometrical
aspects of determining an optimum coverage.
FIGURE: Geometry for calculating coverage area
In the above Figure, a spacecraft orbits at distance r
s from the center of the earth, C We will assume that the
spacecraft is a communications satellite and that it needs to be in
contact with an earth station located at E.

The., elevation angle to the satellite is Using the sine rule we

have
[rs /sin(90 + θ)] = [d/sin(γ)]………(1)
Which yields
cos(θ) = [rs sin(γ)]/d ….(2)
All three parameters in equation (2) have key inputs to the
architecture of the satellite system.

The angle γ will yield the coverage area on the surface of the
earth assuming the satellite has a symmetrical coverage about
nadir.

The distanced will determine the free space path loss along
the propagation path, and will be a factor in the link budget
design.
Consider a LEO satellite with a coverage zone on the earth's
surface that has an area A m2.

A transponder on the satellite with output power Pt watts

drives an antenna with a linear gain Gt to produce an EIRP
from the satellite of PtGt watts.
The average flux density across the coverage zone is
therefore

F =PtGt/A watts/m2 ……… (3)

The value of the flux density is independent of frequency.
The mobile receiver has an antenna that is nearly
omnidirectional, with a gain Gr, where Gr is typically less than
3 dB.

The effective receiving area of this antenna is given by

Ae =Grλ2/4Π… (4)

The received power at the mobile earth station is given by

Pr = F X A, hence

Pr = PtGtGrλ2/4ΠA watts… (5)

Elevation Angle Considerations

FIGURE: Illustration of the decrease in the path

through rain as the elevation angle to the satellite
increases
Most commercial satellite systems require that earth stations operate
above certain minimum elevation angles.

Light rain is generally formed at the melting layer height in

stratiform clouds. The rain then falls fairly uniformly over a wide area.

Freezing precipitation (hail, ice crystals, dry snow) does not cause
any appreciable attenuation to radio waves. Since the rain is uniform,
the attenuation per meter will be constant everywhere in the stratiform
rain shower and the total path attenuation will be given by the length
of the signal path in the rain.

The higher elevation angle path (AC) will therefore suffer less
attenuation than the lower elevation angle path AB.
 provide full global coverage.
FIGURE: Illustration of coverage area under a
satellite
FIGURE :Illustration of a three -cell reuse pattern
Number of Beams per Coverage

FIGURE: Illustration of scan angle control mechanisms for phased

array antennas.(a)Passive phased array.(b)Direct radiating array. In
(a), the high -power amplifier (HPA) has had the power divided up
among a number of different feed lines.
Off -Axis Scanning
The design of a point-to-point wireless communications system requires
that the antennas at either end be directed toward each other for maximum
gain advantage.

FIGURE: Point-to-point line -of -sight terrestrial communications link.

FIGURE: Schematic of the total scan angles
for LEO, MEO, and GEO satellites.
FIGURE Illustration of path loss and scan angle loss
evaluation for a phased array
Determination of Optimum Orbital Altitude

The locations at the edge of coverage within the instantaneous

coverage region normally present the greatest problems in the design
of a satellite service. It is at the edge of coverage that the posse( flux
density into the user terminal is at its lowest.

For a LEO constellation of satellites with a given large

instantaneous coverage requirement as the orbital altitude increases
from a minimum of 500km. the scan loss will decrease faster than the
path loss increases. Therefore an optimum altitude for a LEO
constellation, based on the number of satellites per plane and whether
more than one satellite must be in view to any given user
Radiation Safety and Satellite Telephones
In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) mandates strict limits on radiated power levels throughout the
spectrum. Their rules are usually issued in dockets.

The Office of Engineering of the FCC has also posted an RF Safety

Program on its Web site 23, which provides guidance on the specific
absorption rate (SAR) for wireless phones and devices.

Many of these guidelines have been developed through IEEE

Committees (see e.g., reference 24), which have made many
proposals to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) on this
issue. Safe exposure levels are given as 0.08 W/kg as averaged over
the whole body for the general population and 0.4 W/kg for
occupational or controlled exposure for professionals working in this
area.
Projected NGSO System Customer Service Base

A single satellite in an NGSO system will not provide

continuous 24-h coverage over a given area. If a national or
regional coverage is desired, a constellation of NGSO satellites is
required with orbits tailored to match the coverage.

Most of the new NGSO systems have been aimed at mobile

users. For mobile users, the problem is to generate sufficient
transmit power in a handheld terminal without exceeding the
limits for electromagnetic radiation from the antenna into the
head and body of the user.
DELAY AND THROUGHPUT CONSIDERATIONS

Delay in a communications link is not normally a problem

unless the interactions between the users are very rapid—a few
milliseconds apart in response time.

Long delays, such as those associated with manned missions

to the moon, required the development of agreed procedures,
much like tactical military or police communications requires
specific hand- off code words such as "over" to signal the end of
one user's input.
 GEO satellite: 35,786km

One-way delay 119.3ms

FIGURE :One-way propagation delay for the

three orbits: LEO, MEO, and GEO.
SYSTEM CONSIDERATIONS

There are four important factors that influence the design of

any satellite communication system:

1.Incremental growth
2.Interim operations, (satellite)
3.Replenishment options
4.end- to-end system implementation.
1.Incremental growth
The 1964 decision by the Interim Communications Satellite
Committee (soon to become The International Telecommunications
Satellite Organization Intelsat a few years later) to select a GEO
satellite system rather than a 12 -satellite ME0 system that was
supported by major entities on both sides of the north Atlantic at
that time was driven by incremental growth plans as well as by
launcher technology.

The first GEO satellite, Early Bird, was placed over the Atlantic
Ocean region in 1965. For the first decade of operations, new
satellites were launched into the Atlantic Ocean region to replace
satellites that had been operating there. The satellites being replaced
were moved to the Indian Ocean region and the satellites replaced
in the Indian Ocean region were moved to the Pacific Ocean region.
2.Interim Operations

Interim operations for LEO and MEO systems serve two

functions: they can bring a serv-ice on line gradually,
introducing the technology to the market while teething
problems are sorted out; and they can act as fall back plans
should multiple satellite failures occur over a short period.

The technical planning for interim operations includes

relaxing the number of satellites visible to any user at any
particular time, which lowers the number of satellites required
to complete the constellation.
3.Replenishment Options
Launching five or more satellites to replace one failed satellite
makes little economic sense. As a result, the LEO service
providers use smaller rockets to replenish their system.

4.End -to -End System Implementation

A communications system can be part of a larger network (e.g.,
just providing the long- distance portion of the connection) or it
can provide the full end -to -end system implementation, from
user to user. AT&T and Intelsat, when they were first set up, did
not provide end -to -end service:
OPERATIONAL NGSO CONSTELLATION DESIGNS

Seven satellite constellation designs are reviewed briefly in

the following discussion, four MSS offerings with multiple
beams, one with single beam coverage providing both two-
way services and one-way store -and –forward services, and
Two Internet –multimedia satellite systems.

1. Ellipso
2. Globalstar
3. New ICO
4. Iridium
5. Orbcomm
6. Skybridge
7. Teledesic
1.Ellipso

The Ellipso constellation drew from studies of the world's

population distribution and the potential market for MSS users.
Additional studies concluded that an equatorial constellation of
MEO satellites could serve the bulk of the world's population.
Ellipso therefore adopted an incremental approach to their
service offering.

The equatorial orbit groups of the Ellipso system are called

Concordia and the sun synchronous group is called Borealis
2.Globalstar

In a similar manner to Ellipso. Globalstar elected to develop

a constellation that was aimed at the populous regions of the
earth.

The Globalstar orbital planes are therefore inclined at 520 to

the equator, thus ignoring the sparsely populated high -latitude
regions.
3.New ICO

ICO Global is the company that was spun off from the
International Maritime Satellite Organization (Inmarsat); New
ICO is the company that emerged from bankruptcy protection in
2000. Inmarsat was initially set up solely for the purpose of
providing reliable communications to maritime traffic.

.A double -hop link involves two uplinks and two downlinks. A
double –hop configuration is not feasible for a GEO constellation
since the overall delay would be completely unacceptable at
about 1 s.
4.Iridium

The genesis of Iridium was formed around the need to

communicate from anywhere to anywhere on the surface of the
world, even where no telecommunications infrastructure existed.

The system therefore must be stand-alone. From this—and the

need for a low power handset—came the concept of first 77, and
then 66, almost -polar orbiting LEO satellites linked via ISLs.
5.Orbcomm

Many research organizations and businesses need to

obtain data from locations that are either inaccessible on a
regular basis or are moving within areas without good
cellular telephone coverage.

Examples are buoys measuring water characteristics in

rivers and at sea, and delivery trucks. Tracking of high
value cargo on trucks is another application that needs to
send a short message to a central station at regular
intervals
6.Skybridge

Skybridge evolved a similar approach to coverage as

Globalstar, by selecting an inclined orbit that covers the
major population densities.

Like Globalstar, Skybridge satellites carry a

nonprocessing payload and do not have intersatellite links;
so all traffic is transponded down to the gateway earth
stations for processing and onward routing
7.Teledesic

Teledesic started from the same precept as Iridium, but is

designed for Internet –like data traffic rather than voice
communication. Any user can access any other user or ISP
(Internet service provider) independent of location and the
existing telecommunications infrastructure.

The concept of Teledesic is to provide a complete worldwide

data communications system above the surface of the earth using
satellites, instead of on the earth's surface using fiber optic
cables.
SATELLITE NAVIGATION AND GLOBAL POSITIONING
SYSTEM:
 What is a Navigation System?
• The word Navigation is a combination of two Latin words “navis” means
boat and “agire” means guide .
• Traditionally meant the art or science of moving the ships and other
watercraft safely from one place to another.
• Today word Navigation used in broad sense.
Navigation system define as a system providing useful information to
determine the position of a boat, car or airplane etc,

The Global Positioning Satellite System (GPS) has revolutionized

navigation and position location. It is now the primary means of navigation
for most ships and aircraft and is widely used in surveying and many other
applications.

The GPS system, originally called NAVSTAR, was developed as a military

navigation system for guiding missiles, ships. And aircraft to their targets.
GPS satellites transmit L -band signals that are modulated by several codes
 What are the components of GPS?
There are 3 components of GPS.
1)Space Component
2)Control component
3)User Component

1)Space Component

It includes the satellites and Delta rockets.

 What Delta rockets do?
• They launch the satellites.
 What is a satellite?
• A GPS satellite is a smaller object in space which is orbiting in its
orbits around the earth at a height of 20,200km and with a speed
equal to 14,000 km/hour, relative to the Earth .A satellite
completes two revolution around earth
Delta Rocket
(satellite launcher) GPS satellite Arrangement of
satellites in space
around earth
 Figure 1: GPS block II-F satellite

The satellites weigh 1877 kg at launch and have a design lifetime of 10

years. In 2000, there were 30 GPS satellites in orbit, some of which it were
spares. Because GPS is an integral part of the defence of the United States,
spare GPS satellites are kept in orbit and more spares are ready for
immediate launch. The GPS system is operated by the U.S.
2)Control component
 The control component of a GPS includes the stations around the
world where the GPS satellites are monitored. These bases include
Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado, a station in Hawaii, a station
on Ascension Island, another on Kwajalein Island, and one on
Diego Garcis Atoll. The control component is responsible for
ensuring that the GPS satellites are in working condition and
functioning properly.
3)User Component
• The user component includes the GPS receivers.

 What is a GPS receiver ?

A GPS receiver is a device which receives GPS signal sent by a satellite. A
GPS receiver consist of a clock and almanac.

 What is a GPS receiver clock?

A GPS receiver has a clock which measures the time of the signal from
satellite to reach the GPS receiver.

 What is an almanac?
An almanac is a set of information.

 What is the function of almanac?

An almanac is just like a diary it tells the position of satellite to the receiver ,
e.g. the satellite will be above the city A at 9:30:10 pm and it will be above
the city B at 3:10:01 am. So it knows the position of every satellite at any
time.
GPS receivers
 RADIO AND SATELLITE NAVIGATION
Radio navigation systems consist of networks of transmitters that allow the
user to locate his position in relation to the network, and hence themselves.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) consists of a network of low earth orbit
satellites.

GPS navigation systems are increasingly used in many applications.

GPS can provide a single navigation system with better accuracy and
reliability than earlier radio navigation aids. It can provide navigation of
aircraft directly between air-instead of indirectly via airways, while providing
absolute position readout of latitude and longitude. Differential GPS can be
used instead of ILS to provide the required straight line in the sky for an
instrument approach to a runway, and can be linked to an pilot to provide
automatic landing of aircraft in zero visibility conditions.
Differential GPS can be used instead of ILS to provide the required
straight line in the sky for an instrument approach to a runway, and can be
linked to an pilot to provide automatic landing of aircraft in zero visibility
conditions.

Ships can safely navigate and dock in treacherous waters in bad weather
by using differential GPS. Eventually, GPS will replace all other means of
navigation, although some may be retained as backup systems in case of
failure of the GPS receiver(s) or jamming of the signals.
 GPS POSITION LOCATION PRINCIPLES
The basic requirement of a satellite navigation system like GPS is that there
must be four satellites transmitting suitably coded signals from known positions.

Three satellites are required to provide the three distance measurements, and the
fourth to remove receiver clock error. Figure 12.2 shows the general arrangement
of position location with GPS.

The three satellites provide distance information when the GPS receiver makes
three measurements of range, Ri, from the receiver to three known points. Each
distance Ri can be thought of as the radius of a sphere with a GPS satellite at its
center.
 General Arrangement Of Position Locations With GPS.
The Aircraft Must Receive Signals From Four GPS Satellites To Be Able To Determine
Its Position.

The receiver lies at the intersection of three such spheres, with a satellite at the
center of each sphere.

Locally, at the receiver, the spheres will appear to be planes since the radii of the
spheres are very large. A basic principle of geometry is that the intersection of three
planes completely defines a point. Thus three satellites, through measurement of their
distances to the receiver, define the receiver location close to the earth's surface. There
is another point in outer space where the three spheres intersect, but it is easily
eliminated in the calculation process.
Position Location in GPS

FIGURE-3: Position location by measurement of the

distance to three satellites. The GPS receiver is located at
point X, where three spheres with radii R1, R2, and R3
intersect. The centers of the spheres are the three GPS
satellites S1, S2, and S3. If the distances R,, R2, and R3 are
measured, the location of the point X can be uniquely
defined.
The Z-axis of the coordinate system is directed through the earth's North Pole
and the X-and Y-axes are in the equatorial plane. The X-axis passes through the
Greenwich meridian—the line of zero longitude on the earth's surface, and the Y-
axis passes through the 90° east meridian. The ECEF coordinate system rotates
with the earth. The receiver coordinates are (Ux, Uy, Uz),and the four satellites
have coordinates

(Xi, Yi, Zi), where I = 1, 2, 3, 4. There may be more than four satellite signals
available, but we use only four signals in a position calculation. The measured
distance to satellite is called a psuedorange, PR„ because it uses the internal clock
of the receiver to make a timing measurement that includes errors caused by
receiver clock offset
Psuedorange, denoted as PR,, is measured from the propagation time delay T i
between the satellite (number i) and the GPS receiver, assuming that EM waves
travel with velocity c.
PRi = Ti x C

The distance R between two points A and B in a rectangular coordinate system is

given by

The equations which relate pseudorange to time delay are

called ranging equations:
The position of the satellite at the instant it sent the timing signal (which is
actually the start of a long sequence of bits) is obtained from ephemeris data
transmitted along with the timing signals.

 Each satellite sends out a data stream that includes ephemeris data for itself
and the adjacent satellites. The receiver calculates the coordinates of the
satellite relative to the center of the earth, (XiYi,Zi), and then solves the four
ranging equations for the four unknowns using standard numerical techniques
for the solution of nonlinear simultaneous equations. (The equations are
nonlinear because of the squared terms.
 GPS Time

The clock bias value T which is found as part of the position location calculation
process can be added to the GPS receiver clock time to yield a time measurement
that is synchronized to the GPS time standard.

The crystal oscillator used in the GPS receiver is highly stable over a period of a
few seconds, but will have a frequency which changes with temperature and with
time. Temperature changes cause the quartz crystal that is the frequency
determining element of a crystal oscillator to expand or contract, and this changes
the oscillator frequency.
Crystals also age, which causes the frequency to change with time.

The changes are very small, but sufficient to cause errors in the clock time at the
receiver when the clock is not synchronized to a satellite. Calculating the clock
bias by solving ranging equations allows the receiver clock time to be updated
every second or two so that the GPS receiver time readout is identical to GPS time.
The time standard on board each GPS satellite consists of two cesium clocks
plus two rubidium clocks (atomic clocks). An atomic clock uses the
fundamental resonance of the cesium or rubidium molecule as a frequency
reference to lock a crystal oscillator.

In the GPS satellites, the master oscillator is at 10.23 MHz; all code rates,
the Li, and the L2 RF frequencies are multiples or submultiples of 10.23 MHz.
The atomic clocks are updated by the controlling ground stations to keep them
within 1 As of Universal Time Coordinated (UTC), and the navigation
message broadcast by each satellite contains information about its current
clock errors relative to GPS time. (UTC is a worldwide time standard.
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is equal to UTC.)
GPS RECEIVERS AND CODES

FIGURE-Signal generation in a GPS satellite.

The C/A Code

The C/A codes transmitted by GPS satellites are all 1023 bit Gold codes.
GPS C/A Gold codes are formed from two 1023 bit in -sequences, called
G1 and G2, by multi- plying together the G1 and G2 sequences with
different time offsets. An m -sequence is a maximum length pseudorandom
(PN) sequence, which is easy to generate with a shift register and feedback
taps.

The C/A code for a particular satellite is created with an algorithm that
includes the identification number of the GPS satellite, thus creating a
unique code for each satellite_ The satellite with ID number i has a C/A
code sequence Ci (t)
 
Ci (t) = G1(t) x G2(t + 10iTc) equation1
 
where T c= clock period for the C/A code.
 
There are 64 Gold sequences available for satellites numbered 1
through 64.

A total of 100 Gold sequences can be created using the algorithm

in Eq. 1, but not all the sequences have sufficiently low cross
-correlation properties, and reference 4 states that 37 are actually
used in the GPS system. Low cross -correlation of the sequences is a
requirement because the GPS receiver can pick up signals from as
many as 12 satellites at the same time.
FIGURE- C/A code generator.
FIGURE -Simplified GPS receiver
SATELLITE SIGNAL ACQUISITION

The GPS receiver must find the starting time of the unique C/A
code for each of four satellites. This is done by correlating the
received signal with stored C/A codes, as in any direct sequence
spread spectrum system

FIGURE-Code synchronization and doppler

tracking matrix
There are eight possible Doppler shifts for each signal, and 1023
possible code positions, giving 8184 possible signal states that must be
searched.

Once any of the GPS satellites has been acquired, the navigation
message provides sufficient information about the adjacent satellites for
the remaining visible satellites to be acquired quickly. The receiver may
need to search in Doppler shift because the position of the receiver
relative to the satellites is not known, but their C/A codes are.

The correlation process described above assumes that each satellite is

acquired sequentially. Some lower cost GPS receivers use sequential
acquisition of the satellites, and also make timing measurements
sequentially, one satellite at a time.
The P code for the ith satellite is generated in a similar way to the C/A
code.

The algorithm is
Pi(t) = X1(t) + X2(t +iTc)

where T c is the period of the X1 sequence, which contains 15,345,000

bits and repeats every 1.5 s.

The X2 sequence is 37 bits longer. The P code repeats after 266.4 days,
but is changed every 7 days for security reasons
GPS NAVIGATION MESSAGE

Every satellite receives from the ground antennas the navigation data which is
sent back to the users through the navigation message. The Navigation Message
provides all the necessary information to allow the user to perform the
positioning service.

It includes the Ephemeris parameters, needed to compute the satellite coordinates

with enough accuracy, the Time parameters and Clock Corrections, to compute
satellite clock offsets and time conversions, the Service Parameters with satellite
health information (used to identify the navigation data set).

Ionospheric parameters model needed for single frequency receivers, and the
Almanacs, allowing the computation of the position of ”all satellites in the
constellation”, with a reduced accuracy (1 - 2 km of 1-sigma error), which is
needed for the acquisition of the signal by the receiver. The ephemeris and clocks
parameters are usually updated every two hours, while the almanac is updated at
least every six days.
The complete navigation message is 1500 bits, sent as a 30-s frame with 5
subframes. However, some information is contained in a sequence of frames,
and the complete data set requires 12.5 min for transmission.

The most important elements of the message are repeated in every frame.
The subframes contain the satellite's clock time data, orbital ephemeris for
the satellite and its neighbors, and various correction factors
 GPS SIGNAL LEVELS

GPS receiver antennas have low gain because they must be

omnidirectional.
We will assume a worst -case gain of G = 0 dB, corresponding to an
isotropic antenna. In practice, G> 0 dB in many directions, but may fall to 0
dB in some directions. The omnidirectional antenna picks up radiated noise
from the environment, making the antenna temperature close to 273 K. LNA
temperatures can be as low as 25 K, so a system noise temperature of 273 K
will be used as a typical value

GPS satellites have an array of helical antennas that provide gain toward
the earth, and 10 W transmitters, leading to EIRP values in the range 19 to
27 dBW. The C/A code transmitted by the satellite is a direct sequence
spread spectrum signal, so the C/N ratio in the C/A code's RF bandwidth
will be less than 0 dB.
TIMING ACCURACY

The position location process requires an accurate measurement of

the time of arrival of the code sequence at the receiver. The output of
the C/A code correlator is a 1 kts wide pulse that repeats every
millisecond. The accuracy with which a timing measurement can be
made on a single pulse is given by the approximate

Where St is the rms timing error, Bn, is the noise bandwidth of the
RF channel, and S/N ratio is the signal-to-noise power ratio (not in
dB) for the pulse in the noise bandwidth Bn.
The S/N ratio after the correlator is
S/N = C/N + Gp - losses
Where Gp is the correlator processing gain.
For the C/A code Gp = 1023 = 30.1 dB and
 
S/N = -19.3 + 30.1 dB - losses
= 11.7 dB - losses
If we assume the specification value for S/N of 11.7 dB and
losses of 1.7 dB, S/N = 10 dB, a power ratio of 10.

The theoretical noise bandwidth of the correlator is = 1 MHz (IF

noise bandwidth) so
GPS RECEIVER OPERATION
A C/A code GPS receiver must be able to correlate signals from at least four
satellites. Calculate time delays, read the Navigation message, calculate the
Orbits of the GPS satellites, and calculate position from pseudoranges

The IF signal in the GPS receiver will consist of the sum of a number (up to
12) of signals from visible GPS satellites. The IF carrier signal has several
BPSK modulations applied to it by the satellite, and when received on earth
has been Doppler shifted by satellite and earth motion. The IF signal from N
GPS satellites in view is
FIGURE 12.8;Noncoherent code lock loop and navigation
message recovery. VCO, voltage controlled oscillator.
The output of the C/A code correlator with Doppler corrected IF frequency for the
satellite signal with code number M is

where R(τm — τ) is the autocorrelation function of the wanted

code number M, and n(t) is the output from cross -correlation
with all other codes.
The time shift (tm — τ) to the correlation peak is the wanted
measurement that provides the pseudorange to the satellite.
The output of the correlator is a despread signal at baseband,
which is modulated with the 50 bps navigation message.
The despread IF carrier is BPSK modulated by the
navigation message Dm(t)

The IF carrier signal is limited to remove any amplitude variations, which sets
A, = 1. Then
The navigation message D(t) is recovered by multiplying the IF signal
y'(t) by sin[ωm(t) – φ’m] And low pass filtering to obtain the 50 bps
signal. The reference carrier for the BPSK demodulator can be derived
from the output of the Costas loop. The demodulated message signal is
z(t) where

Provided that the correlation peak of z(t) crosses the threshold and
n'(t) doesn't, we can recover the data message Dm(t) correctly. If
everything works correctly in the receiver, the S/N of the signal y'
(t) is at least 17 dB, so there will be no bit errors. Even if a bit error
occurs in the navigation message, it is removed when the next
message is received about 30 s later.
Figure shows a Costas loop which is often used as the demodulator for
low speed BPSK signals such as the 50 bps GPS navigation message.
The loop has an I channel and a Q channel driven by a VCO. The VCO
frequency is set by the sum of the outputs from the I and
Q channel detectors, which steers the VCO phase such that the I channel
is in phase with the signal. The I channel output is then (ideally) a zero
ISI waveform which can be integrated and sampled to recover the
navigation message bits.
GPS C/A CODE ACCURACY

The major sources of error in a GPS receiver that calculates its position are:

Satellite clock and ephemeris errors

Selective availability (when switched on)
 Ionospheric delay (advance)
 Tropospheric delay
Receiver noise Multipath
Dilution of Precision: HDOP, VDOP, and GDOP
There are many DOP factors in GPS. The more important ones are
horizontal dilution of precision, HDOP, vertical dilution of precision,
VDOR and geometric dilution of precision, GDOP. Other DOPs include
position dilution of precision, PDOP, and time dilution of precision, TDOP.
In general, VDOP and GDOP are most likely to degrade the accuracy of
GPS position measurements.

Horizontal dilution of precision is one of the most important DOP factors

for most GPS users. It provides an error metric for the x and y directions, in
the horizontal plane. A typical HDOP value is 1.5, and it is often the
smallest of the DOPs. Horizontal measurement error for a C/A code receiver
is typically 14.3 m with SA off ( 1DR_MS) and 50 m with SA on (1DRMS).
GPS practice uses 2DRMS as the quantifier for accuracy in position
determination giving a 2DRMS accuracy of 28.6m with SA off_
 DIFFERENTIAL GPS
The accuracy of GPS measurements can be increased considerably
by using differential GPS (DGPS) techniques.

There are several forms of DGPS, all of which are intended to

increase the accuracy of a basic GPS position measurement, and to
remove the effects of selective availability. A second, fixed, GPS
receiver at a reference station is always required in a differential
GPS system.

In the simplest forms of DGPS, a second GPS receiver at a known

position continuously calculates its position using the GPS C/A
code. The calculated (x,y, z) location is compared to the known
location of the station and the differences in x, y, and z are sent by a
radio telemetry link to the first GPS receiver.