A Cascade Tracking Loop for Weak GPS Signals

Abstract

It’s important to get accurate carrier phase and frequency information when using a standalone GPS receiver. In weak signal applications, to keep a stable tracking is hard to achieve because measuring error will be huge when the SNR is low. Different methods are used to improve the SNR before the detector in a tracking process, such as coherence integration. And this paper keeps eyes on a different viewpoint, on how to refine estimation results. A cascade structure is introduced for weak signal tracking. This structure is divided into two levels. In the first level, raw phase estimation and accurate frequency estimation is provided to achieve stable work in low CNR environment. In the second level, the raw phase estimation is refined to achieve accurate tracking requirement. This cascade structure can also work jointly with any other SNR-improving technology to get a better performance.