Abstract
Certain GPS receivers exhibit a power-induced measurement error when the input signal power exceeds a certain threshold that is a function of the receiver architecture. The characterization of this error is important in the case of airport pseudolites (APLs) due to receiver saturation at ranges close to the transmission antenna. This paper details an effort using laboratory test to characterize the power-induced measurement error in NovAtel Millennium and Beeline receivers that are widely used for APL development. The results from the laboratory tests show that this effect can lead to errors as large as 3Â m on pseudorange measurement for the dynamic range typical for APLs. The carrier-phase error however is seen to be limited to 5Â cm. On the verification and characterization of the error, a cost-effective mitigation technique for LAAS is proposed. A solution for the ground subsystem is sought by employing power-control measures to limit the amount of APL power that LGF GPS/APL receivers are exposed to. In order to keep the integration cost low, the solution for the airborne subsystem does not involve hardware modifications or additions, but rather relies on the transition to a differential carrier-phase positioning algorithm prior to the onset of the power-induced error along the approach path. The proposed architecture was flight-tested to verify successful mitigation of the power-induced error on both the ground and air, and the results from these tests are presented in the paper.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bartone CG (1998) Ranging airport pseudolite for local area augmentation using the global positioning system. PhD Thesis, Ohio University
Bartone CG, van Graas F (2000) Ranging airport pseudolite for local area augmentation. Inst Electric Electron Eng Trans Aerospace Electron Systems 36(1), ISSN 0018-9251
Bartone CG, Kiran S (2001) Flight-test results of an integrated wideband airport pseudolite for the Local Area Augmentation System, navigation. J Inst Navig 48(1)
Brenner M (2003) Differential carrier tracking. Presentation at the RTCA SC-159 WG4, January 14
Dickman J, Bartone CG (2001) Antenna techniques to optimize pseudorange measurements for ground based ranging sources. ION 57th Annual Meeting/CIGTF 20th Biennial Guidance Test Symposium, 11–13 June 2001, Albuquerque, NM
Hartenstein R (1996) GPS antenna patterns. Naval Air Warfare Center, August
Hein GW et al. (1997) Practical investigations on DGPS for aircraft precision approaches augmented by pseudolite carrier phase tracking. Proceedings of ION-GPS ‘97, 16–19 September, Kansas City, MO, pp 1851–1860
Kiran S, Bartone CG (2002) Flight-test results of an integrated wideband-only airport pseudolite for the category II/III Local Area Augmentation System. 2002 IEEE Proceedings on the Position Location and Navigation Symposium, April 15–18, Palm Springs, CA
McGraw G et al. (2000) Development of the LAAS accuracy models. ION-GPS ‘00, 19–22 September, Salt Lake City, UT, pp 1212–1223
RTCA/DO-245 (1998) Minimum aviation performance standards for the Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS). 28 September
RTCA/DO-246 (1998) GNSS based precision approach Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) signal-in-space interface control document (ICD). 28 September
Suga S et al. (2002) Airport pseudolite flight experiments. Proceedings of ION-GPS ‘02, 24–27 September, Portland, OR, pp 60–68
Thornberg BD et al. (2002) The LAAS integrated multipath limiting antenna (IMLA). Proceedings of ION-GPS ‘02, 24–27 September, Portland, OR, pp 2082–2092
Van Dierendonck AJ (1998) Report on APL receiver pseudorange bias investigation. GPS Silicon Valley, 10 July
van Graas F (2003) Carrier tracking below 500Â Ft. Presentation at the RTCA SC-159 WG4, 16 January
van Graas F, Lee SW (1995) High-accuracy differential positioning for satellite-based systems without using code-phase measurements. J Inst Navig 42(4)
Warburton J et al. (1999) Integration and testing of a wide-band airport pseudolite. Proceedings of the ION-GPS ‘99, 14–17 September, Nashville TN, pp 1531–1540
Acknowledgement
The authors thank the FAA Office of Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance Systems (AND-1) for sponsoring this research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kiran, S., Bartone, C. Verification and mitigation of the power-induced measurement errors for airport pseudolites in LAAS. GPS Solutions 7, 241–252 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-003-0076-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-003-0076-0