New Approach of High Sensitivity Techniques Using Collective Detection Method with Multiple GNSS Receivers

• Main Authors: Maherizo Andrianarison, René Landry
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-10-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: collective detection; high sensitivity; cooperative positioning; cognitive GNSS receivers; weak signals; challenging environments
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/11/3690

The Collective Detection (CD) technique is a promising approach to meet the requirements for signal acquisition in GNSS-harsh environments. The CD approach has been proposed because of its potential to operate as both a direct positioning method and a high-sensitivity acquisition method. This paper is dedicated to the development of a new CD architecture for processing satellite signals in challenging environments. It proposes the best signal acquisition method used according to the reception conditions of the different receivers that can assist the user in difficulty. Knowing that the CD approach is beneficial in the case where the maximum of satellite signals can be combined, the proposed approach consists in choosing the best receiver(s) from several connected receivers to serve as a reference station, as smart cooperative navigation concept. New metrics of the CD with optimal weighting of visible satellites are exploited. Analysis of optimization method in order to use better satellites according to some defined parameters (elevation, <inline-formula> <math display="inline"> <semantics> <mrow> <mi>C</mi> <mo>/</mo> <msub> <mi>N</mi> <mn>0</mn> </msub> </mrow> </semantics> </math> </inline-formula>, and GDOP) were carried out. Real GPS L1 C/A signals are exploited to analyze the efficiency of the proposed approach. A comparison of the results through the accumulation of some good satellites among all visible satellites have shown the effectiveness of this method.