Assessment of Measurement Distortions in GNSS Antenna Array Space-Time Processing

Antenna array processing techniques are studied in GNSS as effective tools to mitigate interference in spatial and spatiotemporal domains. However, without specific considerations, the array processing results in biases and distortions in the cross-ambiguity function (CAF) of the ranging codes. In s...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Thyagaraja Marathe, Saeed Daneshmand, Gérard Lachapelle
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2016-01-01
Series:International Journal of Antennas and Propagation
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/2154763
Description
Summary:Antenna array processing techniques are studied in GNSS as effective tools to mitigate interference in spatial and spatiotemporal domains. However, without specific considerations, the array processing results in biases and distortions in the cross-ambiguity function (CAF) of the ranging codes. In space-time processing (STP) the CAF misshaping can happen due to the combined effect of space-time processing and the unintentional signal attenuation by filtering. This paper focuses on characterizing these degradations for different controlled signal scenarios and for live data from an antenna array. The antenna array simulation method introduced in this paper enables one to perform accurate analyses in the field of STP. The effects of relative placement of the interference source with respect to the desired signal direction are shown using overall measurement errors and profile of the signal strength. Analyses of contributions from each source of distortion are conducted individually and collectively. Effects of distortions on GNSS pseudorange errors and position errors are compared for blind, semi-distortionless, and distortionless beamforming methods. The results from characterization can be useful for designing low distortion filters that are especially important for high accuracy GNSS applications in challenging environments.
ISSN:1687-5869
1687-5877