Improved Circular Correlation Methods for Acquisition in Software GPS Receiver

In this paper the authors explore the Global Positioning System (GPS) signal acquisition and tracking algorithms used in software GPS receiver. Acquisition time is the most important parameter in evaluating the performance of a software GPS receiver in terms of its speed. A trade-off study is done to seek a good balance between the acquisition accuracy and the processing time. The frequency-domain acquisition method by circular correlation, used in a software GPS receiver, has been improved by studying the power spectrum of the Coarse Acquisition (C/A) code alone. The analysis of C/A code reveals that its power spectrum is symmetrical; hence only half the points are required to perform circular correlation. Besides, either half of the spectrum is asymmetrical where a larger amount of power is concentrated in almost one-quarter of the spectrum on its either sides. This further reduces the number of points used to perform correlation. Comparative results of MATLAB simulation of full-size, half-size and quarter-size circular correlation done on actual data stored on hard disk are provided, and they agree with those obtained using GPS receiver. Further reduction in acquisition time has been achieved by investigating the effect of length of the noncoherent pre-integration period. The improved acquisition methods pave way for further development of new algorithms to enhance software GPS receiver performance.