Multiplexing modulation design optimization and quality evaluation of BDS-3 PPP service signal

The Precise Point Positioning (PPP) service of BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System (BDS-3) is implemented on its Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites. However, its signal design is limited by the actual power of satellite and other conditions. Furthermore, the design needs to fully consider the compatibility of different service phases. Starting from the actual state of the BDS-3 GEO satellite, this paper studies the multiplexing modulation of the BDS PPP service signal that is based on the Asymmetric Constant Envelope Binary Offset Carrier (ACE-BOC) technique and proposes several feasible schemes for this signal. Comparison and optimization of these techniques are made from the aspects of transmission efficiency, multiplexing efficiency, and service forward compatibility. Based on the Type-III ACE-BOC multiplexing modulation technique, phase rotation and intermodulation reconstruction techniques are proposed to suppress the intermodulation interference issue. Finally, a signal based on improved ACE-BOC multiplexing is designed. The quality of the proposed signal was continuously monitored and tested using large-diameter antennas. The evaluation results show that the power spectrum deviation of the signal is 0.228 dB, the correlation loss is 0.110 dB, the S-curve slope deviation is 1.558% on average, the average length difference between the positive/negative chip and the ideal chip is only 0.0006 ns, and the coherence between the carrier and the pseudo code is 0.082°. All quality indicators are satisfactory, indicating that the proposed signal multiplexing modulation technique is an ideal solution that meets all the requirements of the design constraints, and can achieve efficient information broadcasting and forward compatibility of the BDS PPP service.

Efficient and Unique learning of the Complex Receiver Structure of Galileo E5 AltBOC using an Educational Software in Matlab

This paper presents an efficient and unique method to learn the complex receiver structure of Galileo E5 AltBOC (Alternative Binary Offset Carrier). The software application is designed in Matlab to present each step involved in the design of software receiver of Galileo E5 signal. This software application contains the fundamental concepts of the Galileo E5 signal in the form of signal acquisition, signal tracking, extraction of the navigation data, power spectral density (PSD) of the AltBOC (15, 10), Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the E5a and E5b signal and implementation of the subcarrier used for the AltBOC (15,10). This paper also presents the extraction of navigation data by a novel based approach using the prompt channel of carrier tracking from the code loop discriminator.

Galileo E5 AltBOC Signals: Application for Single-Frequency Total Electron Content Estimations

Global navigation satellite system signals are known to be an efficient tool to monitor the Earth ionosphere. We suggest Galileo E5 AltBOC phase and pseudorange observables— a single-frequency combination—to estimate the ionospheric total electron content (TEC). We performed a one-month campaign in September 2020 to compare the noise level for different TEC estimations based on single-frequency and dual-frequency data. Unlike GPS, GLONASS, or Galileo E5a and E5b single-frequency TEC estimations (involving signals with binary and quadrature phase-shift keying, such as BPSK and QPSK, or binary offset carrier (BOC) modulation), an extra wideband Galileo E5 AltBOC signal provided the smallest noise level, comparable to that of dual-frequency GPS. For elevation higher than 60 degrees, the 100-sec root-mean-square (RMS) of TEC, an estimated TEC noise proxy, was as follows for different signals: ~0.05 TECU for Galileo E5 AltBOC, 0.09 TECU for GPS L5, ~0.1TECU for Galileo E5a/E5b BPSK, and 0.85 TECU for Galileo E1 CBOC. Dual-frequency phase combinations provided RMS values of 0.03 TECU for Galileo E1/E5, 0.03 and 0.07 TECU for GPS L1/L2 and L1/L5. At low elevations, E5 AltBOC provided at least twice less single-frequency TEC noise as compared with data obtained from E5a or E5b. The short dataset of our study could limit the obtained estimates; however, we expect that the AltBOC single-frequency TEC will still surpass the BPSK analogue in noise parameters when the solar cycle evolves and geomagnetic activity increases. Therefore, AltBOC signals could advance geoscience.

Retrieval of Ocean Surface Wind Speed Using Reflected BPSK/BOC Signals

The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) has become a valuable resource as a remote sensing technique. In the past decade, the use of reflected GNSS signals for sensing the Earth, also known as GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R), has grown rapidly. On the other hand, with the continuous development of GNSS, multi-frequency multi-modulation signals have been used to enhance not only positioning performance, but also remote sensing applications. It is known that for some constellations, navigation satellites broadcast signals employing BPSK (binary phase-shift keying) modulation and BOC (binary offset carrier) modulation at the same frequency band. This paper proposes a new GNSS-R measurement, called a composite delay-Doppler map (cDDM), by utilizing the received reflected GNSS signals with different modulation techniques for the purpose of retrieving wind speed. The GNSS-R receiver can receive BPSK and BOC signals simultaneously at the same frequency band (e.g., GPS III L1 C/A and L1C or QZSS L1 C/A and L1C) and process the signals to generate GNSS-R measurements. Exploration of the observable features extracted from the composite DDM and the wind speed retrieval algorithm are also provided. The simulation verifies the proposed method under a configuration that is specified for the orbital and instrument specification of the upcoming TRITON mission.

Positioning Performance Limits of GNSS Meta-Signals and HO-BOC Signals

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are the main source of position, navigation, and timing (PNT) information and will be a key player in the next-generation intelligent transportation systems and safety-critical applications, but several limitations need to be overcome to meet the stringent performance requirements. One of the open issues is how to provide precise PNT solutions in harsh propagation environments. Under nominal conditions, the former is typically achieved by exploiting carrier phase information through precise positioning techniques, but these methods are very sensitive to the quality of phase observables. Another option that is gaining interest in the scientific community is the use of large bandwidth signals, which allow obtaining a better baseband resolution, and therefore more precise code-based observables. Two options may be considered: (i) high-order binary offset carrier (HO-BOC) modulations or (ii) the concept of GNSS meta-signals. In this contribution, we assess the time-delay and phase maximum likelihood (ML) estimation performance limits of such signals, together with the performance translation into the position domain, considering single point positioning (SPP) and RTK solutions, being an important missing point in the literature. A comprehensive discussion is provided on the estimators’ behavior, the corresponding ML threshold regions, the impact of good and bad satellite constellation geometries, and final conclusions on the best candidates, which may lead to precise solutions under harsh conditions. It is found that if the receiver is constrained by the receiver bandwidth, the best choices are the L1-M or E6-Public Regulated Service (PRS) signals. If the receiver is able to operate at 60 MHz, it is recommended to exploit the full-bandwidth Galileo E5 signal. In terms of robustness and performance, if the receiver can operate at 135 MHz, the best choice is to use the GNSS meta-signals E5 + E6 or B2 + B3, which provide the best overall performances regardless of the positioning method used, the satellite constellation geometry, or the propagation conditions.

Expressions for the Autocorrelation Function and Power Spectral Density of BOC Modulation Based on Convolution Operation

We present universal expressions for the autocorrelation functions (ACFs) of the Binary Offset Carrier (BOC), Multiplexed BOC (MBOC), and Alternative BOC (AltBOC) modulations based on convolution operations. We also derive the expressions for the power spectrum densities (PSDs) of these modulations using the Fourier transform of their ACFs. The results obtained in this contribution are useful for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal simulation, performance evaluation, and high-performance acquisition and tracking algorithm design. The derivation methods of the expressions for the ACFs are common and can be used to derive expressions for the ACFs of other BOC-based modulations.