Characterisation of System Performance of GPS Antennas in Mobile Terminals Including Environmental Effects

M. Ur Rehman 1 , Y. Gao X. Chen , C.G. Parini and Z. Ying

Queen Mary University of London, School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science Mile End Road, London E1 4NS (UK)
1

masood.rehman@elec.qmul.ac.uk

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, Sweden

Abstract Incident waves on a GPS antenna on mobile terminals suffer from multipath effects due to reection, diffraction and scattering from environmental objects including buildings, trees, vehicles and ground. A traditional electromagnetic approach to analyse the GPS antenna performance is therefore unable to give a correct account of the antenna working in a real multipath environment. A new technique to characterise these environmental effects on the GPS antenna is presented in this paper, dened by three parameters; GPS Mean Effective Gain (MEGGP S ), GPS Angle of Arrival (AoAGP S ) distribution and GPS Coverage Efciency ( c ).

I. I NTRODUCTION Global Positioning System (GPS) is currently the only fully operational system that delivers the navigation and positioning services worldwide. Evolution of GPS enabled mobile phones has further added to its popularity and made it an essential element of Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) and Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN). Antenna is an important part of such applications and its performance is affected by a number of environmental factors. The GPS antenna suffers from the multipath effects due to reection, diffraction and scattering of the incident waves in a radio environment from the buildings, trees, vehicles and ground. Working environment plays a vital role in antenna performance that makes the traditional electromagnetic evaluation tools inefcient to predict the overall behaviour of the GPS antenna in a real multipath scenario. A number of studies are reported in the literature that evaluate the environmental factors on the performance of a mobile antenna in land mobile environment making use of Mean Effective Gain (MEG) of the antenna and Angle of Arrival (AoA) of the incident waves [1]-[4]. However, no effort is made in open literature to analyse the environmental factors on the performance of a GPS antenna. In this paper, a new technique is presented to characterise the effects of these environmental factors on the GPS antenna elaborating the concept proposed in [5]. This model consists of three parameters that dene the performance of the GPS antenna in a multipath environment namely GPS Mean Effective Gain (MEGGP S ), GPS Angle of Arrival (AoAGP S ) distribution and GPS Coverage Efciency ( c ). The MEG concept for land

mobile environment introduced by Taga [2] is modied and re-formulated to suit the GPS system requirements by handling the circular polarised (CP) nature of the incoming waves [5]. The concept of GPS Coverage Efciency ( c ) is introduced to take into account the effect of Right Hand Circularly Polarised (RHCP) GPS signals and coverage area of the antenna in terms of effective solid angle. The working of the GPS antenna in a multipath environment is characterised in terms of GPS System Gain (GSG) that results by the combined effect of the three parameters. Fig.1 shows the basic concept of the proposed environmental model for the GPS operation. Performance of three types of generic and mobile terminal GPS antennas is analysed in a multipath environment using the proposed model including a half wavelength dipole, a DRA and an IFA. The antennas are designed to operate in the L1 (1.57542GHz) frequency band using Computer Simulation Technology (CST) Microwave Studio R package based on Finite Integration Technique (FIT) for the numerical modelling [6]. Both simulation and measurement results are used to evaluate the antenna performance in a multipath environment. II. S TATISTICAL E NVIRONMENTAL M ODEL FOR GPS A. GPS Mean Effective Gain (MEGGP S ) The average gain of the antenna performance in a multipath radio environment is termed as the Mean Effective Gain. The ratio of the mean received power of the antenna and the total mean incident power gives the MEG. Average performance of

Random RHCP hemispherical incident waves from GPS satellite

AUT Ground

Reflected Electric Waves (Angle Dependent)

Fig. 1. GPS antenna under test (AUT) with RHCP incident waves from GPS satellites and environmental (ground) reections

1832

an antenna in the multipath environment can be characterised by the MEG taking into account the incident radio waves and the gain patterns of the antenna in that environment. Taga [2] derived Eq.1 to calculate the MEG of an antenna in a land mobile radio environment. Preceived M EG = (1) Pincident The mean received power of antennas in spherical coordinates can be equated as: [2]: Preceived =
2 0 0

[P1 G (, )P (, ) (2)

+P2 G (, )P (, )] sin dd

In the above equation, G and G represent the and components of the antenna gain pattern respectively, P (, ) and P (, ) are the and components of the angular density functions of the incoming waves respectively, P1 indicates the mean power that would be received by an isotropic antenna in polarisation while P2 is the mean power received by an isotropic antenna in polarisation. In a GPS mobile environment, the incident wave can be split into two components, perpendicular polarised and parallel polarised. Therefore, and components respectively corresponds to the perpendicular and parallel polarised components. Thus, the term P1 becomes the mean received power of the perpendicular polarised isotropic antenna and P2 becomes the mean received power of the parallel polarised isotropic antenna. It results the mean incident power to be: Pincident = P + P (3)

on earth at any time; it can be assumed that at least four incident waves arrive at the GPS receiving antenna placed in a wireless communication environment. The surrounding objects around the receiving antenna including buildings and ground plane causes most of the incident waves to be reected, diffracted and scattered. This leads fairly to the assumption that the angular density function in azimuth can be considered as uniform, similar to the case of land mobile environment [2]-[3]. However, GPS environment differs from the land mobile environment in the elevation due to reections taking place from the ground plane, in lower hemisphere. Since, no measurements are reported in the literature for angle of arrivals for the GPS antennas, it is assumed as a starting point that angular density function is uniform in upper hemisphere. In the lower hemisphere; it is uniform but reduced by a factor governed by the reection coefcients for perpendicular and parallel polarised components [5]. The preceding discussion and assumptions pave the way to the proposal of a novel statistical model for the GPS antenna in a multipath environment given in the following equations: P (, ) = Pinc (, ) + Pref (, ) = 1 A() 0/2 /2 (6)

P (, ) = Pinc (, ) + Pref (, ) = 1 A() 0/2 /2 (7)

where, A() depends upon the reection coefcients for the perpendicular and parallel polarised components. C. GPS Coverage Efciency ( c ) The Coverage Efciency ( c ) of the receiving GPS antenna is a newly introduced parameter that plays an important role in the antenna performance. It is the capability of the antenna to pick up the satellite signal and varies with AoAGP S of the incident wave. Hence, c governs the useful angles; directions from which signals can be received by the antenna and wasted angles; directions from which no signal is being received as the signal strength does not meet a certain threshold dened by the GPS link budget. These wasted signals are called diffused component of the incident waves. The coverage efciency of the GPS antenna can be found in terms of the solid angle, setting a threshold level carefully selected from the link budget calculations. For the GPS antennas in mobile terminals, a signal threshold level of 6dB is selected that is adequate for a received power level of -166dBi of the GPS signal. Signals below this level are considered as too weak to make an impact and hence, diffused. Fig.2 illustrates the coverage efciency calculations, based on the following expression: CoveargeArea c = (8) T otalArea where, the coverage area is the solid angle subtended by the antenna under test in useful angles in the incident region (0

The mean incident power ratio is the ratio between the powers received in two polarisations. This ratio is denoted as XPR (Cross Polarisation Ratio), described as: XP R = P P (4)

It results in the MEG equation for the GPS antenna formulated as follows: M EGGP S =
2 0 0

XP R G (, )P (, ) 1 + XP R (5)

1 + G (, )P (, ) sin dd 1 + XP R

Since, simultaneous transmission of two linearly polarised waves out of phase by /2 radian results in the generation of a circularly polarised wave. The CP nature of the incoming waves is therefore accumulated by making the XP R = 0dB . B. GPS Angle of Arrival (AoAGP S ) The direction of arrival of the incident waves at the GPS receiver from the satellite antenna is dened by the GPS Angle of Arrival (AoAGP S ). Application of a suitable statistical model similar to the real environment is required to evaluate the actual antenna performance in a multipath environment. Since, at least four GPS satellites are visible at a single point

1833

S IMULATED AND MEASURED GPS

SYSTEM GAIN OF GENERIC

TABLE I GPS ANTENNAS IN VARIOUS REFLECTION ENVIRONMENTS WITH DIFFERENT VALUES OF

ANTENNA EFFICIENCY

Antenna

a 100% 75% 50% 25%

c 0.771 0.690 0.537 0

TR

Simulated GSG (dB) NR -6.979 -8.709 -11.561 Undened

AR -5.776 -7.496 -10.343 Undened

c 0.760 0.672 0.445 0.024

Measured GSG (dB) TR NR -4.669 -6.449 -9.996 -25.686 -7.670 -9.446 -13.028 -28.861

AR -6.349 -8.128 -11.701 -27.447

Horizontal Dipole

-4.175 -5.906 -8.755 Undened

0o

Total Area

Since, c is calculated using the RHCP gain, it is also affected by the changing value of the antenna efciency. Overall GPS System Gain is again computed using Eq.9. III. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS A. Generic GPS Antennas

-6dB Threshold

The proposed statistical model is implemented in software and used to evaluate the performance of the generic GPS antennas in a multipath environment considering the ground reections. A half wavelength dipole antenna in horizontal Coverage Area orientation is designed to work in L1 frequency band with center frequency of 1.57542GHz. Both the simulation and Fig. 2. Illustration of Coverage Efciency calculations for a GPS antenna measurement results for the antenna are considered to benchwith an arbitrary donut shaped radiation pattern mark the model. The antenna power gain patterns of perpendicular and parallel polarisations are input to the model. Three environments are considered, total reection (TR), no reec /2) while the total area is the half-hemispherical solid tion (NR) and actual reection (AR). The rst two are ideal angle for an isotropic antenna that equals to . RHCP radiation environments used for bench-marking. A dry concrete ground pattern is used in this calculation to incorporate the right hand plane with a relative permittivity of 4.5 [7] is considered for the ground reections in actual environment. circular polarisation of the incoming waves. In the total reection environment, all of the incident power D. GPS System Gain (GSG) is reected back with no loss of energy, while in the no Overall performance of a mobile handset GPS antenna in reection environment, all of the incident power is absorbed the multipath environment is termed as GPS System Gain with no reections. In the actual reection environment, part (GSG). It can be calculated by incorporating all three dened of the incident wave is reected back, depending upon the parameters; MEGGP S , AoAGP S and c that results in the corresponding reection coefcients. Theoretically, the GSG following expression: should be in between these two extreme environments when the antenna is working in the actual environment. Effects of GSG = c M EGGP S (9) change in the antenna efciency and hence the GPS antenna E. Antenna Efciency (a ) sensitivity are also analysed considering the maximum simThe Antenna efciency (a ) also plays a vital role in ulated efciency of the antenna as 100%. Loss is introduced the GPS antenna performance in the multipath environment. by decreasing the GPS antenna efciency (a ) to 75%, 50% Increase in the antenna efciency can improve the GPS System and 25% and corresponding values of the GSG are noted and Gain as the sensitivity of the antenna is improved. Similarly, summarised in Table I. It can be observed that the model works excellently to an antenna with poor a will have degraded performance in the GPS multipath environment due to reduced MEGGP S . Effects evaluate the multipath effects on the antenna performance as of the antenna efciency can be calculated by integrating it in the GSG values for the actual reection (AR) environment lies in between the two ideal extreme environments. The results the following equation: show good agreement between the simulated and the measured 2 XP R results of the GSG with a maximum difference of 11.6% M EGGP S = a G (, )P (, ) 1 + XP R in the actual reection environment. The results also clearly 0 0 1 indicate that the antenna efciency plays an important role + G (, )P (, ) sin dd (10) in its performance in a multipath environment. Reduction in 1 + XP R
90o

1834

40

Z 3.2 X Y 0.5

7.378

10.9

1.3

1.3

100 45

100

40

(a) DRA Geometry

(b) IFA Geometry

(c) 3-D gain patterns of horizontal DRA

(d) 3-D gain patterns of vertical DRA

(e) 3-D gain patterns of horizontal IFA G G

(f) 3-D gain patterns of vertical IFA G G

Fig. 3. Geometry of the simulated GPS mobile terminal antennas (all lengths are in mm) with simulated 3-D power gain patterns for perpendicular and parallel polarisations in both horizontal and vertical orientations

the antenna efciency causes the power gain to be reduced that results in lower MEGGP S . A reduced MEGGP S inicts decrease in the GSG. Decreasing a to 25% results in c = 0 in case of simulated horizontal dipole as -6dB threshold could not be met, forcing the GSG to become undened. It is clear from the results that the GPS link can be established more easily if an antenna with high a is used. B. GPS Terminal Antennas Two types of actual GPS antennas used in the mobile terminals, DRA and IFA, in both horizontal and vertical orientations

are designed and simulated in CST Microwave Studio R package to work at 1.57542GHz for the GPS operation. Ground plane size is 100mm40mm in both cases. Other geometric parameters are shown in Fig.3(a) and 3(b). The DRA antenna is loaded with a dielectric of = 21. The ground plane is of lossy copper while the loaded dielectric is covered with lossy silver, as shown in Fig.3(a). The simulated 3-D radiation patterns for the two antennas in different orientations are illustrated in Fig.3(c), 3(d), 3(e) and 3(f). The two antennas are tested to perform in the GPS multipath environment with ground reections from a dry concrete ground plane using

1835

TABLE II GPS
SYSTEM GAIN OF

GPS

MOBILE TERMINAL ANTENNAS IN DIFFERENT ORIENTATIONS WITH MAXIMUM SIMULATED REFLECTION ENVIRONMENT

IN THE MULTIPATH

Antenna Horizontal DRA Vertical DRA Horizontal IFA Vertical IFA

c 0.790 0.743 0.585 0.578

GSG (dB) -5.558 -5.800 -8.582 -7.053

the propposed model. The relative permittivity value for dry concrete is taken as 4.5 [7] in all of the tested congurations. Table II gives an account of the calculated results of c and GSG. It is evident from the presented results that change in the antenna orientation plays an important role. Horizontal orientation for the IFA shows poor performance as compared to the vertical orientation. It is because of the fact that more signals can be received and less are the diffused components for the vertical orientation that give rise to the c due to enhanced power gain, followed by increase in the MEGGP S . There is a difference of 0.242dB between the GSG for the two orientations of the DRA antenna with vertical orientation having a slight edge although exhibiting less coverage area. IV. C ONCLUSIONS A statistical model to evaluate the GPS antenna performance in a multipath environment is presented with a practical AoAGP S distribution model and a new concept of MEGGP S and c . The model is implemented and veried by taking into account the performance of three types of GPS antennas in different orientations. Experimental results show that the environment and the antenna orientation causes signicant impact on the antenna performance by changing its MEGGP S and c . It is evident from the presented results that alongwith these two parameters, a also has a serious impact on the GPS antenna performance by affecting the sensitivity of the receiving GPS antenna. It is observed that the MEGGP S , c and a should be optimal in order to get a good performing GPS antenna in the multipath environment. Improving one of these parameters is not enough as evident from the results for the GPS mobile terminal antennas in Table II. Although, it is hard to dene a pattern of performance changes in terms of the antenna orientation, horizontal congurations have a potential of good performance due to the increased level of c . Overall, the proposed model is well capable of handling the CP nature of the incoming GPS signals and evaluates the performance of the GPS antennas in a real working environment providing means to analyse different controlling factors. It can be helpful to antenna designers to enhance the antenna performance keeping in view the implications of actual scenarios. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank Sony Ericsson Communications, AB for their support of this research.

R EFERENCES
[1] Andersen, J. B. and Hansen, F.; Antennas for VHF/UHF personal radio: A theoretical and experimental study of characteristics and performance, IEEE Trans. Veh. Tech., Vol. VT-26, pp. 349357, Nov. 1977. [2] Taga, T.; Analysis for mean effective gain of mobile antennas in land mobile radio environments, IEEE Trans. Veh. Tech., Vol. 39, pp. 117131, May 1990 [3] Douglas, M.G.; Okoniewski, M. and Stuchly, M.A., A planar diversity antenna for handheld PCS devices, IEEE Trans. Veh. Tech., Vol. 47, No. 3, Aug. 1998 [4] Kalliola, K.; Sulonen, K.; Laitinen, H.; Kivekas, O.; Krogerus, J. and Vainikainen, P. Angular power distribution and mean effective gain of mobile antenna in different propagation environments, IEEE Trans. Veh. Tech., Vol. 51, No. 5, Sept. 2002 [5] Ur Rehman, M.; Gao, Y.; Chen, X., Parini, C.G. and Ying, Z., Analysis of GPS antenna performance in a multipath environment, Proc. IEEE Intl. Symp. on Antennas and Prop., July 2008 [6] CST Microwave Studio 2008 User Manual [7] Jemai, J.; Kurner, T.; Varone, A.; and Wagen, J.F., Determination of the permittivity of building materials through WLAN measurements at 2.4GHz, Proc. IEEE Intl. Symp. on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Commun., Sept. 2005

1836