Re-entry plasma induced pseudorange and attenuation effects in a GPS simulator

Donald S. Frankel; Peter E. Nebolsine; Merlin G. Miller; James M. Glynn

doi:10.1117/12.540922

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3 September 2004 Re-entry plasma induced pseudorange and attenuation effects in a GPS simulator

Donald S. Frankel, Peter E. Nebolsine, Merlin G. Miller, James M. Glynn

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Proceedings Volume 5420, Modeling, Simulation, and Calibration of Space-based Systems; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.540922
Event: Defense and Security, 2004, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) is developing, with Navy SBIR Phase II funding, a hardware in the loop Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver Testbed. A computer simulation will "fly" a re-entry body (RB) along its trajectory and compute plasma properties that produce GPS signal attenuation and pseudo-range changes for each GPS satellite in view for the specified day and time. (The specified day and time determine the locations of the GPS satellites relative to the RB.) The simulation will compose digital instructions that specify GPS signal attenuation and pseudo-range change. The instructions will be sent to a GPS signal simulator via Ethernet using UDP. The GPS signal simulator generates analog RF electronic signals that are fed into a real, physical GPS receiver, thus emulating what would occur on an RB in flight. The GPS receiver navigational output will be compared to the input trajectory to determine the accuracy of the GPS receiver. Because attenuation of the GPS satellite signals will be, in general, different for each satellite, the effect of sequential loss of signal from various GPS satellites and the degradation on GPS trajectory determination will be part of the capability. In addition, when the RB goes into and returns from plasma blackout, the simulation can be continued to determine the time required for the GPS receiver to acquire and establish navigational capability.

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Donald S. Frankel, Peter E. Nebolsine, Merlin G. Miller, and James M. Glynn "Re-entry plasma induced pseudorange and attenuation effects in a GPS simulator", Proc. SPIE 5420, Modeling, Simulation, and Calibration of Space-based Systems, (3 September 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.540922

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