Multi-Constellation Software-Defined Receiver for Doppler Positioning with LEO Satellites

A Multi-Constellation Software-Defined Receiver (MC-SDR) is designed and implemented to extract the Doppler measurements of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite’s downlink signals, such as Orbcomm, Iridium-Next, Globalstar, Starlink, OneWeb, SpaceX, etc. The Doppler positioning methods, as one of the main localization algorithms, need a highly accurate receiver design to track the Doppler as a measurement for Extended Kalman Filter (EKF)-based positioning. In this paper, the designed receiver has been used to acquire and track the Doppler shifts of two different kinds of LEO constellations. The extracted Doppler shifts of one Iridium-Next satellite as a burst-based simplex downlink signal and two Orbcomm satellites as continuous signals are considered. Also, with having the Two-Line Element (TLE) for each satellite, the position, and orbital elements of each satellite are known. Finally, the accuracy of the designed receiver is validated using an EKF-based stationary positioning algorithm with an adaptive measurement matrix. Satellite detection and Doppler tracking results are analyzed for each satellite. The positioning results for a stationary receiver showed an accuracy of about 132 m, which means 72% accuracy advancements compared to single constellation positioning.

[1]  Luca Roselli,et al.  A Ka-Band Receiver Front-End With Noise Injection Calibration Circuit for CubeSats Inter-Satellite Links , 2020, IEEE Access.

[2]  Isao Kawano,et al.  Precision Onboard Navigation for LEO Satellite based on Precise Point Positioning , 2020, 2020 IEEE/ION Position, Location and Navigation Symposium (PLANS).

[3]  Per Enge,et al.  Sensitivity and Performance Analysis of Doppler-Aided GPS Carrier-Tracking Loops , 2005 .

[4]  Mahdi Maaref,et al.  Integrity Monitoring of LTE Signals of Opportunity-Based Navigation for Autonomous Ground Vehicles , 2018, Proceedings of the 31st International Technical Meeting of The Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2018).

[5]  Alberto Quintero,et al.  Low Complexity Implementation of Carrier and Symbol Timing Synchronization for a Fully Digital Downhole Telemetry System , 2018, 2018 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP).

[6]  Marvin K. Simon,et al.  Autonomous Software-Defined Radio Receivers for Deep Space Applications , 2006 .

[7]  Todd E. Humphreys,et al.  Adaptive estimation of signals of opportunity , 2014 .

[8]  Brian D. O. Anderson,et al.  Improved Doppler Positioning Techniques for Stand-Off Scenarios , 2020, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems.

[9]  Zaher M. Kassas,et al.  Collaborative Autonomous Vehicles with Signals of Opportunity Aided Inertial Navigation Systems , 2017 .

[10]  Honglei Qin,et al.  New Method for Positioning Using IRIDIUM Satellite Signals of Opportunity , 2019, IEEE Access.

[11]  Patrick Ellis,et al.  Use of Doppler and Doppler Rate for RF Geolocation Using a Single LEO Satellite , 2020, IEEE Access.

[12]  Kevin O. Davis,et al.  All-source position, navigation, and timing (all-source PNT) , 2020 .

[13]  Li Cong,et al.  Positioning Using IRIDIUM Satellite Signals of Opportunity in Weak Signal Environment , 2019 .

[14]  Tao Yan,et al.  A Global Navigation Augmentation System Based on LEO Communication Constellation , 2018, 2018 European Navigation Conference (ENC).

[15]  Hamza Benzerrouk,et al.  LEO satellites Based Doppler Positioning Using Distributed nonlinear Estimation , 2019, IFAC-PapersOnLine.

[16]  Zaher M. Kassas,et al.  Exploiting LTE Signals for Navigation: Theory to Implementation , 2018, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

[17]  Zaher M. Kassas,et al.  Receiver Design for Doppler Positioning with Leo Satellites , 2019, ICASSP 2019 - 2019 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP).

[18]  Ali A. Abdallah,et al.  Inertial Navigation System Aiding with Orbcomm LEO Satellite Doppler Measurements , 2018, Proceedings of the 31st International Technical Meeting of The Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2018).

[19]  Zaher M. Kassas,et al.  Distributed Signals of Opportunity Aided Inertial Navigation with Intermittent Communication , 2017 .

[20]  Gert F. Trommer,et al.  Multi GNSS constellation deeply coupled GNSS/INS integration for automotive application using a software defined GNSS receiver , 2014, 2014 IEEE/ION Position, Location and Navigation Symposium - PLANS 2014.

[21]  Zaher M. Kassas,et al.  Event-Based Communication Strategy for Collaborative Navigation with Signals of Opportunity , 2018, 2018 52nd Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers.

[22]  Craig R. Benson,et al.  A Doppler Correcting Software Defined Radio Receiver Design for Satellite Communications , 2020 .

[23]  Michael Rice,et al.  Maximum likelihood carrier phase synchronization in FPGA-based software defined radios , 2001, 2001 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing. Proceedings (Cat. No.01CH37221).

[24]  Zaher M. Kassas,et al.  Simultaneous Tracking of Orbcomm LEO Satellites and Inertial Navigation System Aiding Using Doppler Measurements , 2019, 2019 IEEE 89th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2019-Spring).

[25]  Tughrul Arslan,et al.  PROCEEDINGS OF THE 29TH INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL MEETING OF THE SATELLITE DIVISION OF THE INSTITUTE OF NAVIGATION (ION GNSS+ 2016) , 2016 .

[26]  O. Solomon,et al.  PSD computations using Welch's method , 1991 .

[27]  Yidong Lou,et al.  Real-Time Estimation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Clock Based on Ground Tracking Stations , 2020, Remote. Sens..

[28]  Xi Chen,et al.  Exploring Implicit Pilots for Precise Estimation of LEO Satellite Downlink Doppler Frequency , 2020, IEEE Communications Letters.

[29]  Nadav Levanon,et al.  Instant Active Positioning with One LEO Satellite , 1999 .

[30]  Zaher M. Kassas,et al.  Navigation With Differential Carrier Phase Measurements From Megaconstellation LEO Satellites , 2020, 2020 IEEE/ION Position, Location and Navigation Symposium (PLANS).

[31]  Kamal Sarabandi,et al.  GLORIA: Geostationary/Low-Earth Orbiting Radar Image Acquisition System: a multi-static GEO/LEO synthetic aperture radar satellite constellation for Earth observation , 2003, IGARSS 2003. 2003 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. Proceedings (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37477).

[32]  Zaher M. Kassas,et al.  Signals of Opportunity Aided Inertial Navigation , 2016 .