Optimization of the carrier tracking loop for GPS high dynamic receivers

A carrier tracking loop which can adjust the loop parameters adaptively is proposed for high dynamic application. Three modules, called the α-β-γT filter model, adaptive loop structure mod- el and adaptive loop bandwidth model respectively, are added in the presented tracking loop com- pared with the traditional carrier tracking loop based on the second-order frequency lock loop （FLL） assisting third-order phase lock loop （PLL） loop filter. And the optimization methods for the track- ing bandwidth and the carrier loop order are analyzed. The real-time estimation methods of the dy- namic parameters, the velocity, acceleration and jerk along the line of sight （LOS） between the sat- ellite and the receiver＇ s antenna, and the measurement parameters are discussed based on the pres- ented α-β-γ filter algorithm. A method is introduced to improve the filter＇ s dynamic response to meet high dynamic application by self-adjusted α-β-γ filter coefficient used in the tracking loop. The performance of three cases with different carrier tracking loop is compared by simulation.

Weighted adaptive filtering algorithm for carrier tracking of deep space signal

Carrier tracking is laid great emphasis and is the difficulty of signal processing in deep space communication system.For the autonomous radio receiving system in deep space, the tracking of the received signal is automatic when the signal to noise ratio（SNR） is unknown.If the frequency-locked loop（FLL） or the phase-locked loop（PLL） with fixed loop bandwidth, or Kalman filter with fixed noise variance is adopted, the accretion of estimation error and filter divergence may be caused.Therefore, the Kalman filter algorithm with adaptive capability is adopted to suppress filter divergence.Through analyzing the inadequacies of Sage–Husa adaptive filtering algorithm, this paper introduces a weighted adaptive filtering algorithm for autonomous radio.The introduced algorithm may resolve the defect of Sage–Husa adaptive filtering algorithm that the noise covariance matrix is negative definite in filtering process.In addition, the upper diagonal（UD） factorization and innovation adaptive control are used to reduce model estimation errors,suppress filter divergence and improve filtering accuracy.The simulation results indicate that compared with the Sage–Husa adaptive filtering algorithm, this algorithm has better capability to adapt to the loop, convergence performance and tracking accuracy, which contributes to the effective and accurate carrier tracking in low SNR environment, showing a better application prospect.

Lock threshold deterioration induced by antenna vibration and signal coupling effects in hypersonic vehicle carrier tracking system of Ka band

The envelope of a hypersonic vehicle is affected by severe fluctuating pressure, which causes the airborne antenna to vibrate slightly. This vibration mixes with the transmitted signals and thus introduces additional multiplicative phase noise. Antenna vibration and signal coupling effects as well as their influence on the lock threshold of the hypersonic vehicle carrier tracking system of the Ka band are investigated in this study. A vibration model is initially established to obtain phase noise in consideration of the inherent relationship between vibration displacement and electromagnetic wavelength. An analytical model of the Phase-Locked Loop（PLL）, which is widely used in carrier tracking systems, is established. The coupling effects on carrier tracking performance are investigated and quantitatively analyzed by imposing the multiplicative phase noise on the PLL model. Simulation results show that the phase noise presents a Gaussian distribution and is similar to vibration displacement variation. A large standard deviation in vibration displacement exerts a significant effect on the lock threshold. A critical standard deviation is observed in the PLL of Binary Phase Shift Keying（BPSK） and Quadrature Phase Shift Keying（QPSK） signals. The effect on QPSK signals is more severe than that on BPSK signals. The maximum tolerable standard deviations normalized by the wavelength of the carrier are 0.04 and 0.02 for BPSK and QPSK signals,respectively. With these critical standard deviations, lock thresholds are increased from à12 andà4 d B to 3 and à2 d B, respectively.

All-digital Carrier Frequency Tracking Method in LEO DS/SS Communication

An efficient method to track the carrier frequency which is recommended to use in low earth orbit(LEO) direct-sequence spread-spectrum(DS/SS) communication system is given. The carrier frequency drifts quicker in LEO DS/SS communication system, its tracking problem becomes much more important especially in digital receiver with the limits of physical shape and power. Under the condition of coarse carrier frequency synchronization, a digital tracking method based on least square method(LSM) is proved to be a quick, simple and efficient method. Numerical results and charts are given.

Continuous-Wave Interference Mitigation for Acquisition Method in Unified Carrier TT&C Systems

An interference mitigation for acquisition method,based on both energy center and spectrum symmetry detection,has been proposed as a possible solution to the problem of signal acquisition susceptibility to continuous-wave interference(CWI)in unified carrier telemetry,tracking,and command(TT&C)systems.With subcarrier modulation index as a priori condition,the existence of CWI is determined by comparing the energy center with the symmetric center.In the presence of interference,the interference frequency point is assumed and culled;sequentially,the spectral symmetry is used to verify whether the signal acquisition is realized.Theoretical analysis,simulations,and experimental results demonstrate that the method can realize the acquisition of the main carrier target signal with an interference-to-signal ratio of 31 dB,which represents an improvement over the existing continuous-wave interference mitigation for acquisition methods.

A Power Reduction Method for Pilot Channel of LEO Satellite Based on Dynamic Compensation

Since the lower power requirement of code division multiple access(CDMA) than that of other multiple access, the CDMA technology is suitable to be used in low earth orbit(LEO) satellite communication system whose space power is limited due to the small size of satellite. The pilot channel of CDMA technology is very important for earth mobile station(EMS) in LEO system to recover carrier and code, but the power requirement of pilot channel is very higher than that of other channels. In this paper, a power reduction method for pilot channel is proposed. By the new method, the power of pilot channel transmitted from LEO satellite is reduced to a lower level. For improving the signal to noise ratio(SNR) of pilot channel with lower power, coherent integration is employed in EMS at the pre-processing stage. Considering the high dynamic situation of LEO satellite, the long period of time for integration will deteriorate the receiving performance of EMS, therefore, a dynamic compensation module is added to carrier tracking loop against the high dynamic. Meanwhile, the transfer function of the new tracking loop and the condition for steadystate zero error are deduced. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed approach.

A novel high precision Doppler frequency estimation method based on the third-order phase-locked loop

In deep space exploration,many engineering and scientific requirements require the accuracy of the measured Doppler frequency to be as high as possible.In our paper,we analyze the possible frequency measurement points of the third-order phase-locked loop(PLL)and find a new Doppler measurement strategy.Based on this finding,a Doppler frequency measurement algorithm with significantly higher measurement accuracy is obtained.In the actual data processing,compared with the existing engineering software,the accuracy of frequency of 1 second integration is about 5.5 times higher when using the new algorithm.The improved algorithm is simple and easy to implement.This improvement can be easily combined with other improvement methods of PLL,so that the performance of PLL can be further improved.

A novel Doppler frequency measurement method based on the closed-loop signal correlation for deep space exploration

In deep space exploration,it is necessary to improve the accuracy of frequency measurement to meet the requirements of precise orbit determination and various scientific studies.A phase detector is one of the key modules that restricts the tracking performance of phase-locked loop(PLL).Based on the phase relationship between adjacent signals in the time domain,a novel phase detector is presented to replace the arctangent phase detector.The new PLL,which is a closed loop signal correlation algorithm,shows good performance in tracking signals with high precision and the tracking accuracy of frequency of1 second integration is close to Cramer-Rao lower bound(CRLB)when setting proper parameters.Actual data processing results further illustrate the excellent performance of the novel PLL.

Decision-Directed Frequency Tracking Algorithm for OFDM System in Fast Fading Environments

This paper analyzed the structure of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex （OFDM） system and presented a new Carrier Frequency Offset （CFO） tracking algorithm, which depends on comparability between the decision data and the original data to correct carrier frequency offset. Therefore it is robust during the normal communization process since the Bit Error Rate （BER） of the decision data is low. We can utilize pilot data in time domain for channel estimation to track CFO without reducing system efficient and to enhance the tracking scope largely. Simulation results denote the presented algorithm can track the frequency offset and control it under ± 1% using only 1 frame if the original frequency offset is within ±8% .

A high dynamics algorithm based on steepest ascent method for GNSS receiver

High dynamic conditions impose critical challenges on Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)receivers,leading to large tracking errors or even loss of tracking.Current methods that intend to improve receivers’adaptability for high dynamics require either complicated structures or prior statistical information of noises.This paper proposes a high dynamics algorithm based on steepest ascent method that can circumvent the deficiencies of existing methods.First,the relationship between the error of carrier tracking and the maximum of Fast Fourier Transform(FFT)outputs is established,and a performance function based on the steepest ascent method is designed.It can keep stable in high dynamics.Second,a new carrier-tracking loop is constructed by deploying the performance function.When the variation of GPS receiver acceleration ranges from 10 g to 100 g,compared with the PLL that either loses lock or keeps tracking accuracy less than 33.89 Hz,the experimental results show that the proposed method can not only keep tracking,but also achieve tracking accuracy more than 2.77 Hz.