Orbital Filter Aiding of a High Sensitivity GPS Receiver for Lunar Missions

Capuano, Vincenzo; Blunt, Paul; Botteron, Cyril; Farine, Pierre-André

doi:10.1002/navi.185

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…In this section we report some significant simulation results from our previous studies [ 13 , 24 ], and [ 26 ] used to define the main receiver characteristics. Figure 4 shows the received power levels of all the GPS L1 C/A signals as a function of the time, during the full considered trajectory.…”

Section: The Weakheo Receiver Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…As described in [ 24 ] in detail, the achievable navigation accuracy at Moon altitude is strongly limited by a very poor relative geometry between the receiver and the transmitters (very large GDOP values) and large ranging errors. For instance, at Moon altitude, simulations in [ 26 ] show GDOP values much higher than 1000 for an acquisition sensitivity of 15 dB-Hz. Due to the very low carrier to noise ratio

values, when processing GPS L1 C/A signals, the code tracking thermal range jitter

can achieve values larger than 6 m [ 24 ].…”

Section: The Weakheo Receiver Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In [ 26 ] we show how Doppler and Doppler rate aiding from an integrated orbital filter can be used to improve sensitivity of conventional FLL tracking to around 11 dB-Hz. This is considered suitable for a stand-alone receiver as the orbital filter can be integrated into the receiver’s navigation software.…”

Section: The Weakheo Receiver Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

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Standalone GPS L1 C/A Receiver for Lunar Missions

Capuano

Blunt

Botteron

et al. 2016

Sensors

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Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) were originally introduced to provide positioning and timing services for terrestrial Earth users. However, space users increasingly rely on GNSS for spacecraft navigation and other science applications at several different altitudes from the Earth surface, in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), and feasibility studies have proved that GNSS signals can even be tracked at Moon altitude. Despite this, space remains a challenging operational environment, particularly on the way from the Earth to the Moon, characterized by weaker signals with wider gain variability, larger dynamic ranges resulting in higher Doppler and Doppler rates and critically low satellite signal availability. Following our previous studies, this paper describes the proof of concept “WeakHEO” receiver; a GPS L1 C/A receiver we developed in our laboratory specifically for lunar missions. The paper also assesses the performance of the receiver in two representative portions of an Earth Moon Transfer Orbit (MTO). The receiver was connected to our GNSS Spirent simulator in order to collect real-time hardware-in-the-loop observations, and then processed by the navigation module. This demonstrates the feasibility, using current technology, of effectively exploiting GNSS signals for navigation in a MTO.

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Section: The Weakheo Receiver Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

values, when processing GPS L1 C/A signals, the code tracking thermal range jitter

can achieve values larger than 6 m [ 24 ].…”

Section: The Weakheo Receiver Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Weakheo Receiver Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Standalone GPS L1 C/A Receiver for Lunar Missions

Capuano

Blunt

Botteron

et al. 2016

Sensors

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“…The filter was tuned and adapted to be used in GEO, processing GPS L1 and L5 dual frequency observations. A complete description of the orbital filter architecture and implementation is provided in the previous studies [16], [11] and [10].…”

Section: Gnss-based Orbital Filter For Absolute Navigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

DGNSS-Vision Integration for Robust and Accurate Relative Spacecraft Navigation

Capuano¹,

Harvard²,

Lin³

et al. 2019

Proceedings of the 32nd International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 201

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He received a PhD in Microsystems and Microelectronics atÉcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), a Master of Engineering in Astronautic Engineering from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" and a Bachelor of Engineering in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Naples "Federico II". His current research activity focuses on Spacecraft Navigation, mainly relative navigation, vision-based, GNSS-based and multisensor-based.

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“…In [5], for instance, only an example of L5 pattern for only one PRN (PRN 5, from block IIR-M) is reported, and without detailing how this pattern was approximated from the available data. In our previous research [6], we investigated the feasibility of using GNSS as navigation system to reach the Moon; in [7] we described the implementation of an orbital filter in order to improve the navigation accuracy; in [8] we detailed how such a filter can be used for aiding purposes; in [9] we demonstrated the GNSS accuracy at GEO altitude achieved with the developed orbital filter considering that the receiver is able to process different signal combinations. However, the lack of information about the transmitters' antenna patterns has always limited the level of accuracy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

GPS Based Navigation Performance Analysis within and beyond the Space Service Volume for Different Transmitters’ Antenna Patterns

et al. 2017

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In recent years, global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based navigation in high earth orbits (HEOs) has become a field of research interest since it can increase the spacecraft's autonomy, thereby reducing the operating costs. However, the GNSS availability and the GNSS-based navigation performance for a spacecraft orbiting above the GNSS constellation are strongly constrained by the signals' power levels at the receiver position and the sensitivity. The simulated level of signal power at the receiver's position may considerably increase or decrease when assuming different gain/attenuation values of the transmitter antenna for a certain azimuth and elevation. Assuming a slightly different antenna pattern therefore may significantly change the simulated signal's availability results and accordingly the simulated navigation accuracy, leading to an inexact identification of the requirements for the GNSS receiver. This problem particularly concerns the case of orbital trajectories above the GNSS constellation, where most of the signals received are radiated from the secondary lobe of the transmitters' antennas, for which typically very little information is known. At the time of this study, it was possible to model quite accurately the global positioning system (GPS) L1 antenna patterns for the IIR and IIR-M Blocks because of the precise information available. No accurate information was available for the GPS L1 antenna patterns of the IIF Block. Even less accurate information was available on the GPS L5 antenna patterns. In this context, this paper aims at investigating the effect of different antenna pattern assumptions on the simulated signal availability and on the consequent simulated navigation performance of a spaceborne receiver orbiting in a very highly elliptical orbit from the Earth to the Moon. Initially the impact of averaging the transmitter's antenna gain over the azimuth, a typical assumption in many studies, is analyzed. Afterwards, we also consider three different L5 antenna patterns assumed in the literature (the precise L5 patterns are unfortunately not yet fully available). For each of the considered antenna pattern assumptions, we simulate received signal power level, availability, geometric dilution of precision (GDOP), and navigation accuracy in order to evaluate their different effects. After identifying the most conservative assumptions for the transmitters' antenna patterns, for each elevation of the receiver antenna, we also compute the number of available GNSS observations and analyze their distribution. Moreover, possible aiding of the acquisition process using the prediction of the elevation at which the signal is transmitted, as well as the elevation at which the signal is received, are discussed. Finally, the impact on the GDOP of using only signals transmitted from certain angle intervals of the transmitter antenna pattern and the importance of selecting the transmitters that provide the best GDOP (in the case of a receiver with a limited number of channels) are consid...

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Orbital Filter Aiding of a High Sensitivity GPS Receiver for Lunar Missions

Cited by 18 publications

References 13 publications

Standalone GPS L1 C/A Receiver for Lunar Missions

Standalone GPS L1 C/A Receiver for Lunar Missions

DGNSS-Vision Integration for Robust and Accurate Relative Spacecraft Navigation

GPS Based Navigation Performance Analysis within and beyond the Space Service Volume for Different Transmitters’ Antenna Patterns

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