Navigation with Cellular Signals of Opportunity

Kassas, Zaher M.

doi:10.1002/9781119458555.ch38

Cited by 16 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…While it is known that cellular infrastructure must meet certain minimum time and frequency stability specifications, which have generally become more stringent as data rates and network densities have increased, the implementation details can leave room for interpretation on matters such as which time scale a network may be synchronized to [ 20 , 21 ]. Based on a survey of the existing literature, the stability of the time source within the base stations could be as poor as a normal quartz oscillator [ 22 ], but it is likely steered to a common time scale that is shared among the adjacent stations that are operated by the same network operator to prevent intercell interference and to meet the synchronization requirements of 5G [ 23 ]. To test this assumption directly, the data from the observed stations were gathered over periods of multiple hours using the STARE SDR.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of 5G and LTE Signals for Opportunistic Navigation and Time Holdover

Winter,

Morrison,

Sokolova

2023

Sensors

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the stability and therefore suitability of available fifth generation (5G) and long-term evolution (LTE) signals for positioning navigation and timing (PNT) purposes with particular focus on answering questions around the time-scale-dependent stability of these sources, which, to our knowledge, has not been addressed in the context of the numerous publications within the PNT community to date. The methodology used directly measured the over-the-air signal phase stability to one or more of the cellular signal sources that were visible from the lab environment simultaneously while using a local atomic clock or differential measurements to isolate the time stability of the observable cellular downlink signals. This approach was taken since it does not require subscription or association with the networks under test. Instead, it exploits a ‘signal of opportunity’ (SoP) approach to signal use for PNT purposes. The somewhat surprising result is that the time domain instability of the sources was highly variable, dependent on the implementation choices of the operator, and that the stability of even the modernized towers was generally best at interrogation intervals of approximately 0.01 s, which indicates that the existing exploitation of these signals within the PNT community has substantial room for improvement through simple changes to the selected update rate used.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of 5G and LTE Signals for Opportunistic Navigation and Time Holdover

Winter,

Morrison,

Sokolova

2023

Sensors

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“…The second category of relevant research originates from the fields of electrical and/or aeronautical engineering. These studies are primarily concerned with the physical layer details of the Starlink system, often to aid secondary applications like positioning [7], [12], [16] or passive radar systems [3]. They employ specialized radio technology to scrutinize the physical layer properties.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fine-Grained Starlink Throughput Variation Examined With State-Transition Modeling

Garcia,

Sundberg,

Brunstrom

2024

2024 19th Wireless on-Demand Network Systems and Services Conference (WONS)

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Leveraging a data set of almost half a billion packets with high-precision packet times and sizes, we process it to extract characteristics of the bursts emitted over Starlink's Ethernet interface. The structure of these bursts directly reflect the physical layer receipt of OFDMA frames on the satellite link. We study these bursts by analyzing their rates, and by proxy the transition between different physical layer rates. The results highlight that there is definitive structure in the transition behavior, and we note specific behaviors such as particular transition steps associated with rate switching, and that rate switching occurs mainly to neighboring rates. We also study the joint burst rate and burst duration transitions, noting that transitions occur mainly within the same rate, and that changes in burst duration are often performed with an intermediate short burst in-between. Finally, we examine the configurations of the three factors burst rate, burst duration, and inter-burst silent time, which together determine the effective throughput of a Starlink connection.

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“…A second body of related work comes from the electrical and/or aeronautical engineering domains. Such work focus on understanding physical layer details, in many cases to support ancillary use cases of the Starlink signal, such as positioning [7], [13] or passive radar [3]. These works use specialized radio equipment to examine physical layer aspects.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, LEO systems can also address use cases such as providing Internet connectivity to passengers onboard trains and buses, or backhauling 5G networks [1], [2]. Other ancillary use cases include using the Starlink signals for positioning [7], [13], or as a passive radar [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inferring Starlink Physical Layer Transmission Rates Through Receiver Packet Timestamps

Garcia,

Sundberg,

Brunstrom

2024

2024 IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC)

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Navigation with Cellular Signals of Opportunity

Cited by 16 publications

References 62 publications

Analysis of 5G and LTE Signals for Opportunistic Navigation and Time Holdover

Analysis of 5G and LTE Signals for Opportunistic Navigation and Time Holdover

Fine-Grained Starlink Throughput Variation Examined With State-Transition Modeling

Inferring Starlink Physical Layer Transmission Rates Through Receiver Packet Timestamps

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