GPS Signal Structure

Sources:
GPS Satellite Surveying, Leick
Kristine Larson Lecture Notes
http://www.colorado.edu/engineering/ASEN/asen
4519/asen4519.html

GPS Signal Requirements
Method (code) to identify each satellite
The location of the satellite or some
information on how to determine it
Information regarding the amount of time
elapsed since the signal left the satellite
Details on the satellite clock status
Important Issues to Consider
Methods to encode information
Signal power
Frequency allocation
Security
Number and type of codes necessary to
satisfy system requirements
Overview of Satellite Transmissions
All transmissions derive from a
fundamental frequency of 10.23 Mhz
L1 = 154 10.23 = 1575.42 Mhz
L2 = 120 10.23 = 1227.60 Mhz
All codes initialized once per GPS week at
midnight from Saturday to Sunday
Chipping rate for C/A is 1.023 Mhz
Chipping rate for P(Y) is 10.23 Mhz
Schematic of GPS codes and carrier phase
GPS Signal Characteristics
Digital Modulation Methods
Amplitude Modulation (AM) also known as
amplitude-shift keying. This method requires
changing the amplitude of the carrier phase
between 0 and 1 to encode the digital signal.
Frequency Modulation (FM) also known as
frequency-shift keying. Must alter the frequency
of the carrier to correspond to 0 or 1.
Phase Modulation (PM) also known as phase-
shift keying. At each phase shift, the bit is flipped
from 0 to 1 or vice versa. This is the method used
in GPS.
Modulation Schematics
Modulo-2 recovery of GPS code
Modulo-2 arithmetic: 0 + 0 = 0; 0 + 1 = 1; 1 + 0 = 1; 1 + 1 = 0
Bit shifts aligned
MUST MOD-2 ADD RECEIVER-GENERATED CODE TO RECOVER
Superposition of codes - details
Superposition of two codes is not unique because
the bit transition occurs at the same epoch;
remember that both codes and phases are
multiples of the fundamental frequency

Need to impose an additional constraint to arrive
at a solution - quadri-phase-shift keying (QPSK),
which puts the two codes 90 (t/2)
Phase and Quandrature - General
General Expression:

y(t) = y
1
(t) + y
2
(t) = x
1
(t)coset + x
2
(t)sinet

where
y
1
(t) is in phase (I) and y
1
(t) is in quandrature (Q)
All spectral components of y
1
(t) are 90 out of phase
with those of y
2
(t). This allows this the two signals to
be separated in the receiver.
2
Codes on L1 and L2

S
1
p
(t) = A
p
P
p
(t)D
P
(t)cos(2tf
1
t) + A
c
G
P
(t)D
P
(t)sin(2tf
1
t)
where
A
p
, A
c
= amplitudes (power) of P(Y)- code and C/ A- code
P
P
(t) = pseudorandom P(Y)- code
G
P
(t) = C/ A- code (Gold c ode)
D
P
(t) = navigation data stream
and
S
2
p
(t) = B
p
P
p
(t)D
P
(t)cos(2tf
2
t)
Codes on L1 and L2 (cont.)

P
p
(t)D
P
(t) and G
P
(t)D
P
(t) imply modulo- 2 addition
and the P(Y)- code is also a modulo- 2 sum of two
pseudorandom data streams:
P
p
(t) = X
1
(t)X
2
(t pT)
0 s p s 36
1
T
=10.23 Mhz
GPS signal strength - frequency domain
Note that C/A code is below noise
level; signal is multiplied in the
Receiver by the internally calculated
code to allow tracking.
C/A-code chip is 1.023 Mhz
P-code chip is 10.23 Mhz
Power = P(t) = y
2
(t)
The calculated power spectrum
derives from the Fourier
transform of a square wave
of width 2 and unit amplitude.
Common function in DSP
called the sinc function.

sin c(x) =
sin(tx)
tx
=
1
2t
e
iex
ce
t
t
}

Bandwidth B~
1
T
where
T is chip duration
Digital Signal Processing Techniques
Filtering: Allows one to remove some
portion of the frequency spectrum that may
contain unwanted signal.
Low Pass Filter: lets all frequencies below a
cutoff frequency through.
High Pass Filter: lets all frequencies above a
cutoff frequency through.
Band Pass Filter: lets all frequencies within a
specified window pass through. The window
is called the passband
DSP Techniques, cont.
Frequency Translation and Multiplication:
technique to shift frequency spectrum of some
signal to another portion of the frequency domain.

Up-conversion: translate signal to higher frequencies.

Down-conversion: translate signal to lower frequencies.
Commonly done in GPS receivers. Multiply signal by
sine function in a mixer. Special case is signal
squaring and may be used to recover the pure carrier
phase from a bi-phase modulated ranging signal.
DSP Techniques, cont.
Spread Spectrum: broadly defined as a mechanism
by which the bandwidth of the transmitted code is
much greater than the baseband information signal
(e.g. the navigation message in GPS)
FDMA: Frequency Division Multiple Access. Requires
different carriers. Used by GLONASS.
TDMA: Time Division Multiple Access. Several channels
share transmission link. Used by many cellular telephone
providers and LORAN-C.
CDMA: Code Division Multiple Access. Requires
pseudorandom codes by transmitted and also generated for
correlation within the receiver. Used by GPS.
DSP Techniques, cont.
Cross-correlation: Used by GPS receivers
to determine what signal is coming from a
specific satellite. Can be generalized to
extracting information from any
multiplexed digital signal.

C
ij
(At) =
1
t
y
i
(t)y
j
(t + At)dt =
1
1
At
T
~ 0




t
0
t
0
+t
}
if At = 0
if | At | s T
if | At | > T

where t denotes the integration time and
y
i
(t) and y
j
(t) are continuous functions ( e.g. PRN codes)
PRN Cross-correlation
Correlation of receiver generated PRN code (A) with incoming data
stream consisting of multiple (e.g. four, A, B, C, and D) codes
Schematic of C/A-code acquisition
Since C/A-code is 1023 chips long and repeats every 1/1000 s, it is inherently
ambiguous by 1 msec or ~300 km. Must modulo-2 add the transmitted and
received codes after correlation to increase SNR and narrow bandwidth.
Methods to Cope with Anti-spoofing
Anti-spoofing: Implemented in 1994 to make P-
code unavailable to non-military users. Encrypted
P-code is referred to as Y-code.
Squaring: Yields half-wavelength carrier and
greatly reduces SNR. Old technology.

Code-aided squaring: Uses mathematical
similarity of the Y-code to P-code. L1 carrier is
down-converted and multiplied with a local
replica of the P-code, then squared. Results in
less reduction of SNR than simple squaring.
Anti-spoofing Methods, cont.
Cross-correlation: Takes advantage of the fact that both
L1 and L2 are modulated with the same P(Y)-code, despite
lack of knowledge of the actual P-code. Yields the
difference in pseudoranges, P
1
(Y) - P
2
(Y), and the phase
difference of L1 and L2. Again less SNR loss compared
with squaring. Can be difficult to track at low elevation
angles. Technique employed in Trimble 4000SSi/SSE.

Z-tracking: Takes advantage of the fact that Y-code is the
modulo-2 sum of the P-code with a lower encryption rate.
Yields L1 and L2 Y-code pseudoranges and the full carrier
phases of L1 & L2. This method yields the best SNR.
Multipath performance is better than other methods.
Technique employed in Ashtech Z-12 and micro-Z.
AS Technologies Summary Table
Trimble 4000SSi
Ashtech Z-12 & Z
From Ashjaee & Lorenz, 1992