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A new multi-C/A code acquisition method for GPS

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Abstract

An acquisition method is proposed which saves processing time and rapidly finds the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite with high receiving power. The idea is to combine two or more Coarse/Acquisition (C/A) codes to process acquisition, thus called “multi-C/A code acquisition method.” The proposed method will change the procedure of conventional Fast Fourier Transform acquisition slightly, and it has the capabilities to combine with other acquisition methods to perform signal acquisition simultaneously. In order to show how this multi-C/A code acquisition method may improve the Time To First Fix at the cold start, the real raw Intermediate Frequency data from a GPS software receiver are used to validate this multi-C/A code acquisition method. The results show that this method can save at least 23% processing time and it is able to detect the satellite more rapidly.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Taiwan National Science Council for supporting the work reported in this paper under research grant NSC 97-2221-E-006-061.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan

    Shau-Shiun Jan & Yao-Cheng Lin

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  1. Shau-Shiun Jan
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  2. Yao-Cheng Lin
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Correspondence to Shau-Shiun Jan.

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Jan, SS., Lin, YC. A new multi-C/A code acquisition method for GPS. GPS Solut 13, 293–303 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-009-0122-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10291-009-0122-7

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