GPS signals | EPFL Graph Search

GPS signals are broadcast by Global Positioning System satellites to enable satellite navigation. Receivers on or near the Earth's surface can determine location, time, and velocity using this information. The GPS satellite constellation is operated by the 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS) of Space Delta 8, United States Space Force. GPS signals include ranging signals, used to measure the distance to the satellite, and navigation messages. The navigation messages include ephemeris data, used in trilateration to calculate the position of each satellite in orbit, and information about the time and status of the entire satellite constellation, called the almanac. There are four GPS signal specifications designed for civilian use. In order of date of introduction, these are: L1 C/A, L2C, L5 and L1C. L1 C/A is also called the legacy signal and is broadcast by all currently operational satellites. L2C, L5 and L1C are modernized signals, and only broadcast by newer satelli

A survey of techniques and challenges in underwater localization

Marc Waldmeyer

Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) are expected to support a variety of civilian and military applications. Sensed data can only be interpreted meaningfully when referenced to the location of the sensor, making localization an important problem. While global positioning system (GPS) receivers are commonly used in terrestrial WSNs to achieve this, this is infeasible in UWSNs as GPS signals do not propagate through water. Acoustic communications is the most promising mode of communication underwater. However, underwater acoustic channels are characterized by harsh physical layer conditions with low bandwidth, high propagation delay and high bit error rate. Moreover, the variable speed of sound and the non-negligible node mobility due to water currents pose a unique set of challenges for localization in UWSNs. In this paper, we provide a survey of techniques and challenges in localization specifically for UWSNs. We categorize them into (i) range-based vs. range-free techniques; (ii) techniques that rely on static reference nodes vs. those who also rely on mobile reference nodes, and (iii) single-stage vs. multi-stage schemes. We compare the schemes in terms of localization speed, accuracy, coverage and communication costs. Finally, we provide an outlook on the challenges that should be, but have yet been, addressed. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

2011

Dual-frequency RF front-ends for GNSS receivers

Frédéric Chastellain

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a trilateration system which allows to compute the position of a receiver from the time the signals need to propagate from the satellites down to the receiver. Since the Selective Availability (SA) was turned off in 2000, the most important source of error is due to the variable delay experienced by the signals when traveling through the ionosphere. Today, the majority of GPS receivers use the L1C/A signal, the only civil signal currently transmitted by a full constellation of satellites, to compute their positions. The United States' GPS is actually only one of several Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) under development, such as the european Galileo or the Japanese Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS). In the years to come, the constellations of these new GNSS will be fully deployed, providing new modernized signals. The GPS is actually also being modernized and will provide two new civil signals, the first in the L2 band (1227.6 MHz) and the second in the L5 band (1176.45 MHz), as well as an improved version of the L1C/A signal in the L1 band (1575.42 MHz). The first fully available new civil signal will certainly be the GPS civil signal in the L2 band called the L2C signal. The availability of two civil signals in two different bands will give the opportunity to correct the ionospheric error to a great extent! However, receiving two signals located in different bands will add complexity in the receiver, particularly in the radio-frequency (RF) front-end. This is a major issue since, for the mass market, improved performances do usually not justify a higher power consumption and cost. As a consequence, the first objective of this thesis was to design a low-power dual-frequency RF front-end architecture for the L1C/A and L2C signals that could be integrated using standard CMOS technology and which would have a power consumption and performances comparable with that of state-of-the-art single-frequency GPS RF front-ends. Dual-frequency correction of the ionospheric error will also allow to improve the performances of another application of GPS called GPS timing. Indeed, the GPS provides the most precise time reference globally available anywhere on earth! As a consequence, an attractive solution to synchronize telecommunication networks consists to use the time reference provided by the GPS. However, the accuracy provided by single-frequency GPS receiver will soon not be sufficient anymore to be compliant with upcoming telecommunication standards. For this reason, the second objective of this thesis was the development of a dual-frequency RF front-end for an L1C/A + L2C GPS receiver for timing applications.

EPFL2010

Photogrammetric Mission Planner for RPAS

Florian Gandor, Martin Rehak, Jan Skaloud

This paper presents a development of an open-source flight planning tool for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) that is dedicated to high-precision photogrammetric mapping. This tool contains planning functions that are usually available in professional mapping systems for manned aircrafts as well as new features related to GPS signal masking in complex (e.g. mountainous) terrain. The application is based on the open-source Java SDK (Software Development Kit) World Wind from NASA that contains the main geospatial components facilitating the development itself. Besides standard planning functions known from other mission planners, we mainly focus on additional features dealing with safety and accuracy, such as GPS quality assessment. The need for the development came as a response for unifying mission planning across different platforms (e.g. rotary or fixed wing) operating over terrain of different complexity. A special attention is given to the user interface, that is intuitive to use and cost-effective with respect to computer resources.

2015

Dual-frequency RF front-ends for GNSS receivers

Frédéric Chastellain

EPFL2010