Signal injection for calibration of pseudo-range errors in satellite positioning system receivers
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for calibrating a Narrow Band satellite Receiver for group delay errors in a satellite signal;
- said apparatus comprising;
a Narrow Band satellite Receiver circuit configured to receive said satellite signal;
anda Calibration circuit configured to generate a calibration signal;
wherein said calibration signal is used to calibrate said Narrow Band satellite Receiver circuit for pseudo-range errors caused by variations in the group delay of said received satellite signal across the received bandwidth.
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Abstract
The present invention discloses the apparatus and the methods for calibrating a Narrow Band receiver for the group delay code phase errors. The group delay code phase errors are caused by group delay variations in the satellite signals being transmitted by a Narrow Band satellite Transmitter. A Calibration generator circuit generates a calibration signal that is substantially similar to the satellite signal but is free from the group delay variations. The calibration signal is used by the Narrow Band satellite Receiver to measure and eliminate the code phase group delay errors.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus for calibrating a Narrow Band satellite Receiver for group delay errors in a satellite signal;
- said apparatus comprising;
a Narrow Band satellite Receiver circuit configured to receive said satellite signal; and a Calibration circuit configured to generate a calibration signal; wherein said calibration signal is used to calibrate said Narrow Band satellite Receiver circuit for pseudo-range errors caused by variations in the group delay of said received satellite signal across the received bandwidth. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
- said apparatus comprising;
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12. A method of a serial calibration production mode in order to create a database of group delay offsets of the received at temperature T1 satellite signals emanating from a satellite-vehicle SVi, a satellite system comprising a plurality of N satellite-vehicles SVi, N being an integer, i being an integer less or equal to N, said temperature T1 being within the range of temperatures T0, Tc !, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) generating a calibration signal by a Calibration Signal Generator; (b) receiving satellite signals from said satellite-vehicle SVi by a Receiver including a single Digital Channel Processor; (c) tracking and measuring said satellite signals at said temperature T1 to measure a pseudo-range from said Receiver to said satellite-vehicle SVi ; (d) tracking and measuring said calibration signal at said temperature T1 to measure a calibration-pseudo-range from said Receiver to said satellite-vehicle SVi ; (e) subtracting for said satellite-vehicle SVi at said temperature T1 said calibration-pseudo-range from said pseudo-range to generate a group delay offset GSVi/T ; (f) storing said group delay offset GSVi/T measured at said temperature T1 for said satellite-vehicle SVi in a computer memory; (g) repeating steps (a-f) for each said "i" satellite-vehicle SVi, i being less or equal to N; and (h) repeating steps (a-g) for another temperature T2 within the range of temperatures T0, Tc !.
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13. A method of a real-time serial calibration process in order to remove group delay offsets GSvi from pseudo-range measurements for satellite signals emanating from a satellite-vehicle SVi, a satellite system comprising a plurality of N satellite-vehicles SVi, N being an integer, i being an integer less or equal to N, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) generating a calibration signal by a Calibration Signal Generator; (b) receiving satellite signals from said satellite-vehicle SVi by a Receiver including a single Digital Channel Processor; (c) tracking and measuring said satellite signals to measure a pseudo-range from said Receiver to said satellite-vehicle SVi ; (d) tracking and measuring said calibration signal to measure a calibration-pseudo-range from said Receiver to said satellite-vehicle SVi ; (e) subtracting for said satellite-vehicle SVi said calibration-pseudo-range from said pseudo-range to generate a group delay offset GSVi ; (f) removing said group delay GSVi from pseudo-range measurements for satellite signals emanating from said satellite-vehicle SVi ; and (g) repeating steps (a-f) for each said "i" satellite-vehicle SVi, i being less or equal to N.
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14. A method of a parallel calibration production mode in order to create a database of group delay offsets at temperature T1 satellite signals emanating from a satellite system comprising a plurality of N satellite-vehicles SVi, N being an integer, i being an integer less or equal to N, said temperature T1 being within the range of temperatures T0, Tc !, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) generating a calibration signal by a Calibration Signal Generator; (b) receiving satellite signals from each said satellite-vehicle SVi by a Receiver including a plurality of Digital Channel Processors; (c) tracking and measuring each said satellite signal at said temperature T1 to measure pseudo-ranges from said Receiver to each said satellite-vehicle SVi ; (d) tracking and measuring said calibration signal at said temperature T1 to measure calibration pseudo-ranges from said Receiver to each said satellite-vehicle SVi ; (e) subtracting for each said satellite-vehicle SVi at said temperature T1 said calibration pseudo-range from said pseudo-range to generate a plurality of N group delay offsets GSVi/T1 ; (f) storing each said group delay offset GSVi/T1 measured at said temperature T1 for each said satellite-vehicle SVi in a computer memory ; and (g) repeating steps (a-f) for another temperature T2 within the range of temperatures T0, Tc !.
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15. A method of a real-time parallel calibration process in order to remove group delay offsets GSVi from pseudo-range measurements for satellite signals emanating from a plurality of satellite-vehicles SVi, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) generating a calibration signal by a Calibration Signal Generator; (b) receiving satellite signals from each said satellite-vehicle SVi by a Receiver including a plurality of Digital Channel Processors; (c) tracking and measuring said satellite signals to measure pseudo-ranges from said Receiver to each said satellite-vehicle SVi ; (d) tracking and measuring said calibration signal to measure calibration-pseudo-ranges from said Receiver to each said satellite-vehicle SVi ; (e) subtracting for each said satellite-vehicle SVi said calibration-pseudo-range from said pseudo-range to generate a plurality of N group delay offsets GSVi ; and (f) removing from pseudo-range measurements of satellite signals emanating from each said satellite-vehicle SVi said group delay GSVi.
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16. A method for calibration a Narrow Band GLONASS satellite Receiver for group delay errors in satellite signals emanating from at least one GLONASS satellite, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving said at least one GLONASS satellite signal; (b) tracking and measuring said at least one GLONASS satellite signal to measure pseudo-ranges from said Narrow Band GLONASS satellite Receiver to each said GLONASS satellite; (c) generating a GLONASS calibration signal for each said GLONASS satellite; (d) tracking and measuring said GLONASS calibration signal to measure calibration-pseudo-ranges from said Narrow Band GLONASS satellite Receiver to each said GLONASS satellite; and (e) subtracting for each said GLONASS satellite said GLONASS calibration-pseudo-range from said GLONASS pseudo-range in order to remove from pseudo-range measurements of each said GLONASS satellite signal said GLONASS group delay.
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17. A method for calibration a combined Narrow Band GPS/GLONASS satellite Receiver for group delay errors in satellite signals emanating from at least one GPS satellite and from at least one GLONASS satellite, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving said at least one GPS satellite signal utilizing a GPS rf channel of said combined Narrow Band GPS/GLONASS satellite Receiver; (b) tracking and measuring said at least one GPS satellite signal to measure pseudo-ranges from said combined Narrow Band GPS/GLONASS satellite Receiver to each said GPS satellite; (c) generating a GPS calibration signal for each said GPS satellite; (d) tracking and measuring each said GPS calibration signal to measure calibration-pseudo-ranges from said combined Narrow Band GPS/GLONASS satellite Receiver to each said GPS satellite; (e) subtracting for each said GPS satellite said GPS calibration-pseudo-range from said GPS pseudo-range in order to remove from pseudo-range measurements of said GPS satellite signal said GPS group delay; (f) receiving said at least one GLONASS satellite signal utilizing a GLONASS rf channel of said combined Narrow Band GPS/GLONASS satellite Receiver; (g) tracking and measuring said at least one GLONASS satellite signal to measure pseudo-ranges from said combined Narrow Band GPS/GLONASS satellite Receiver to each said GLONASS satellite; (h) generating a GLONASS calibration signal for each said GLONASS satellite; (i) tracking and measuring said GLONASS calibration signal to measure calibration-pseudo-ranges from said combined Narrow Band GPS/GLONASS satellite Receiver to each said GLONASS satellite; and (j) subtracting for each said GLONASS satellite said GLONASS calibration-pseudo-range from said GLONASS pseudo-range in order to remove from pseudo-range measurements of each said GLONASS satellite signal said GLONASS group delay.
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18. A method of measuring an electron count of ionosphere employing a GPS/GLONASS Narrow Band Receiver and a Calibration Generator circuit, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) selecting a single GPS/GLONASS satellite; (b) calibrating for an L1 GPS/GLONASS group delay within said GPS/GLONASS Narrow Band Receiver using a calibration signal CRF.sbsb.--GPS.sbsb.--L1 /CRF.sbsb.--GLONASS.sbsb.--L1 ; (c) calibrating for an L2 GPS/GLONASS group delay within said GPS/GLONASS Narrow Band Receiver using a calibration signal CRF.sbsb.--GPS.sbsb.--L2 /CRF.sbsb.--GLONASS.sbsb.--L2 ; (d) measuring a difference in time of reception between said calibrated for said group delay within said GPS/GLONASS Narrow Band Receiver L1 and L2 GPS/GLONASS signals; and (e) determining said electron count of ionosphere that is proportional to said difference in time of reception between said caliobrated for said group delay within said GPS/GLONASS Narrow Band Receiver L1 and L2 GPS/GLONASS signals. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification