Passive detection of moving aerial target based on multiple collaborative GPS satellites

Passive localization is an important part of intelligent surveillance in security and emergency applications. Nowadays, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) have been widely deployed. As a result, the satellite signal receiver may receive multiple GPS signals simultaneously, incurring echo signal detection failure. Therefore, in this paper, a passive method leveraging signals from multiple GPS satellites is proposed for moving aerial target detection. In passive detection, the first challenge is the interference caused by multiple GPS signals transmitted upon the same spectrum resources. To address this issue, successive interference cancellation (SIC) is utilized to separate and reconstruct multiple GPS signals on the reference channel. Moreover, on the monitoring channel, direct wave and multi-path interference are eliminated by extensive cancellation algorithm (ECA). After interference from multiple GPS signals is suppressed, the cycle cross ambiguity function (CCAF) of the signal on the monitoring channel is calculated and coordinate transformation method is adopted to map multiple groups of different time delay-Doppler spectrum into the distance−velocity spectrum. The detection statistics are calculated by the superposition of multiple groups of distance-velocity spectrum. Finally, the echo signal is detected based on a properly defined adaptive detection threshold. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method. They show that the detection probability of our proposed method can reach 99%, when the echo signal signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is only −64 dB. Moreover, our proposed method can achieve 5 dB improvement over the detection method using a single GPS satellite

The Impact of Interference on GNSS Receiver Observables – A Running Digital Sum Based Simple Jammer Detector

A GNSS-based navigation system relies on externally received information via a space-based Radio Frequency (RF) link. This poses susceptibility to RF Interference (RFI) and may initiate failure states ranging from degraded navigation accuracy to a complete signal loss condition. To guarantee the integrity of the received GNSS signal, the receiver should either be able to function in the presence of RFI without generating misleading information (i.e., offering a navigation solution within an accuracy limit), or the receiver must detect RFI so that some other means could be used as a countermeasure in order to ensure robust and accurate navigation. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to identify an interference occurrence and not to confuse it with other signal conditions, for example, indoor or deep urban canyon, both of which have somewhat similar impact on the navigation performance. Hence, in this paper, the objective is to investigate the effect of interference on different GNSS receiver observables in two different environments: i. an interference scenario with an inexpensive car jammer, and ii. an outdoor-indoor scenario without any intentional interference. The investigated observables include the Automatic Gain Control (AGC) measurements, the digitized IF (Intermediate Frequency) signal levels, the Delay Locked Loop and the Phase Locked Loop discriminator variances, and the Carrier-to-noise density ratio (C/N0) measurements. The behavioral pattern of these receiver observables is perceived in these two different scenarios in order to comprehend which of those observables would be able to separate an interference situation from an indoor scenario, since in both the cases, the resulting positioning accuracy and/or availability are affected somewhat similarly. A new Running Digital Sum (RDS) -based interference detection method is also proposed herein that can be used as an alternate to AGC-based interference detection. It is shown in this paper that it is not at all wise to consider certain receiver observables for interference detection (i.e., C/N0); rather it is beneficial to utilize certain specific observables, such as the RDS of raw digitized signal levels or the AGC-based observables that can uniquely identify a critical malicious interference occurrence

Comparison of SAGE and classical multi-antenna algorithms for multipath mitigation in real-world environment

The performance of the Space Alternating Generalized Expectation Maximisation (SAGE) algorithm for multipath mitigation is assessed in this paper. Numerical simulations have already proven the potential of SAGE in navigation context, but practical aspects of the implementation of such a technique in a GNSS receiver are the topic for further investigation. In this paper, we will present the first results of SAGE implementation in a real world environmen

Analysis of Multipath Mitigation Techniques with Land Mobile Satellite Channel Model

Multipath is undesirable for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers, since the reception of multipath can create a significant distortion to the shape of the correlation function leading to an error in the receivers’ position estimate. Many multipath mitigation techniques exist in the literature to deal with the multipath propagation problem in the context of GNSS. The multipath studies in the literature are often based on optimistic assumptions, for example, assuming a static two-path channel or a fading channel with a Rayleigh or a Nakagami distribution. But, in reality, there are a lot of channel modeling issues, for example, satellite-to-user geometry, variable number of paths, variable path delays and gains, Non Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) path condition, receiver movements, etc. that are kept out of consideration when analyzing the performance of these techniques. Therefore, this is of utmost importance to analyze the performance of different multipath mitigation techniques in some realistic measurement-based channel models, for example, the Land Multipath is undesirable for Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers, since the reception of multipath can create a significant distortion to the shape of the correlation function leading to an error in the receivers’ position estimate. Many multipath mitigation techniques exist in the literature to deal with the multipath propagation problem in the context of GNSS. The multipath studies in the literature are often based on optimistic assumptions, for example, assuming a static two-path channel or a fading channel with a Rayleigh or a Nakagami distribution. But, in reality, there are a lot of channel modeling issues, for example, satellite-to-user geometry, variable number of paths, variable path delays and gains, Non Line-Of-Sight (NLOS) path condition, receiver movements, etc. that are kept out of consideration when analyzing the performance of these techniques. Therefore, this is of utmost importance to analyze the performance of different multipath mitigation techniques in some realistic measurement-based channel models, for example, the Land Mobile Satellite (LMS) channel model [1]-[4], developed at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The DLR LMS channel model is widely used for simulating the positioning accuracy of mobile satellite navigation receivers in urban outdoor scenarios. The main objective of this paper is to present a comprehensive analysis of some of the most promising techniques with the DLR LMS channel model in varying multipath scenarios. Four multipath mitigation techniques are chosen herein for performance comparison, namely, the narrow Early-Minus-Late (nEML), the High Resolution Correlator, the C/N0-based two stage delay tracking technique, and the Reduced Search Space Maximum Likelihood (RSSML) delay estimator. The first two techniques are the most popular and traditional ones used in nowadays GNSS receivers, whereas the later two techniques are comparatively new and are advanced techniques, recently proposed by the authors. In addition, the implementation of the RSSML is optimized here for a narrow-bandwidth receiver configuration in the sense that it now requires a significantly less number of correlators and memory than its original implementation. The simulation results show that the reduced-complexity RSSML achieves the best multipath mitigation performance in moderate-to-good carrier-to-noise density ratio with the DLR LMS channel model in varying multipath scenarios

Performance assessment of pulse blanking mitigation in presence of multiple Distance Measuring Equipment/Tactical Air Navigation interference on Global Navigation Satellite Systems signals

It is known that the Aeronautical Radio Navigation Systems sharing the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) frequency band represent a threat to the satellite-based navigation services. Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) and Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN) systems broadcast strong pulsed ranging signals within the Global Positioning System L5 and Galileo E5a frequency bands where the aviation positioning aids services are allocated. This study provides an experimental assessment of the DME/TACAN interference effect on the GNSS receivers performance in scenarios where the presence of several transmitters in view generates radio-frequency interference hard to mitigate by means of the classical solutions. In detail, analysis in terms of the receiver performance will be presented by showing the effect of the non-ideal pulse blanking on the GNSS signal quality. The optimal set-up of the mitigation process, investigated by means of a software simulation, is provided

A review of RFI mitigation techniques in microwave radiometry

Radio frequency interference (RFI) is a well-known problem in microwave radiometry (MWR). Any undesired signal overlapping the MWR protected frequency bands introduces a bias in the measurements, which can corrupt the retrieved geophysical parameters. This paper presents a literature review of RFI detection and mitigation techniques for microwave radiometry from space. The reviewed techniques are divided between real aperture and aperture synthesis. A discussion and assessment of the application of RFI mitigation techniques is presented for each type of radiometer.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Adaptive Interference Mitigation in GPS Receivers

Satellite navigation systems (GNSS) are among the most complex radio-navigation systems, providing positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) information. A growing number of public sector and commercial applications rely on the GNSS PNT service to support business growth, technical development, and the day-to-day operation of technology and socioeconomic systems. As GNSS signals have inherent limitations, they are highly vulnerable to intentional and unintentional interference. GNSS signals have spectral power densities far below ambient thermal noise. Consequently, GNSS receivers must meet high standards of reliability and integrity to be used within a broad spectrum of applications. GNSS receivers must employ effective interference mitigation techniques to ensure robust, accurate, and reliable PNT service. This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the Adaptive Notch Filter (ANF), a precorrelation mitigation technique that can be used to excise Continuous Wave Interference (CWI), hop-frequency and chirp-type interferences from GPS L1 signals. To mitigate unwanted interference, state-of-the-art ANFs typically adjust a single parameter, the notch centre frequency, and zeros are constrained extremely close to unity. Because of this, the notch centre frequency converges slowly to the target frequency. During this slow converge period, interference leaks into the acquisition block, thus sabotaging the operation of the acquisition block. Furthermore, if the CWI continuously hops within the GPS L1 in-band region, the subsequent interference frequency is locked onto after a delay, which means constant interference occurs in the receiver throughout the delay period. This research contributes to the field of interference mitigation at GNSS's receiver end using adaptive signal processing, predominately for GPS. This research can be divided into three stages. I first designed, modelled and developed a Simulink-based GPS L1 signal simulator, providing a homogenous test signal for existing and proposed interference mitigation algorithms. Simulink-based GPS L1 signal simulator provided great flexibility to change various parameters to generate GPS L1 signal under different conditions, e.g. Doppler Shift, code phase delay and amount of propagation degradation. Furthermore, I modelled three acquisition schemes for GPS signals and tested GPS L1 signals acquisition via coherent and non-coherent integration methods. As a next step, I modelled different types of interference signals precisely and implemented and evaluated existing adaptive notch filters in MATLAB in terms of Carrier to Noise Density (\u1d436/\u1d4410), Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), Peak Degradation Metric, and Mean Square Error (MSE) at the output of the acquisition module in order to create benchmarks. Finally, I designed, developed and implemented a novel algorithm that simultaneously adapts both coefficients in lattice-based ANF. Mathematically, I derived the full-gradient term for the notch's bandwidth parameter adaptation and developed a framework for simultaneously adapting both coefficients of a lattice-based adaptive notch filter. I evaluated the performance of existing and proposed interference mitigation techniques under different types of interference signals. Moreover, I critically analysed different internal signals within the ANF structure in order to develop a new threshold parameter that resets the notch bandwidth at the start of each subsequent interference frequency. As a result, I further reduce the complexity of the structural implementation of lattice-based ANF, allowing for efficient hardware realisation and lower computational costs. It is concluded from extensive simulation results that the proposed fully adaptive lattice-based provides better interference mitigation performance and superior convergence properties to target frequency compared to traditional ANF algorithms. It is demonstrated that by employing the proposed algorithm, a receiver is able to operate with a higher dynamic range of JNR than is possible with existing methods. This research also presents the design and MATLAB implementation of a parameterisable Complex Adaptive Notch Filer (CANF). Present analysis on higher order CANF for detecting and mitigating various types of interference for complex baseband GPS L1 signals. In the end, further research was conducted to suppress interference in the GPS L1 signal by exploiting autocorrelation properties and discarding some portion of the main lobe of the GPS L1 signal. It is shown that by removing 30% spectrum of the main lobe, either from left, right, or centre, the GPS L1 signal is still acquirable