Tiny GPS receiver for space application

Abstract

SUMMARYGPS receivers used in car navigation and other applications have been downsized to dozens of grams, with significant gains in power conservation. With the assistance of a vehicle GPS manufacturer, a vehicle GPS receiver has been modified and a space application GPS receiver with ultralow power consumption that generates pseudo-range data has been developed. We expanded the frequency search range for the GPS receiver, and we conducted on-orbit simulations using a GPS simulator and confirmed that the positioning accuracy performance of the receiver is less than 1 m. It has also been confirmed that the receiver has a 20-krad radiation tolerance and that it is latch-up-free with respect to 200-MeV protons. The GPS receiver will be deployed on the small scientific satellite INDEX which is under development by the Aerospace Science Research Department of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

An Overview and Initial In-Orbit Status of INDEX S...

“…Figure 9 is a variation of the raw GPS positioning data, which is the difference between the GPS positioning result and the position from the orbit determination by means of the GPS data. The random noise of the GPS receiver for one minute is observed to be about 0.5m.This random noise is qualitatively consistent with the GPS simulation on ground 10 .…”

“…We have developed the miniature GPS receivers based upon commercial GPS receivers for automobile navigation [10,11]. Satellites have higher velocities than 7km/sec, while GPS receivers on automobile are subject to earth rotation velocity less than 0.5 km/sec.…”

Miniature Space GPS Receiver by Means of Automobile-Navigation Technology

“…The GPS receiver for automobile-navigation generates position data with time tag which is not accurate enough to space application. Therefore, as a minimum amount of modification, the GPS receiver was modifies to output pseudorange data with an accurate ( less than a micro second ) time tag 6 . The pseudorange data is transmitted to a ground station through satellite telemetry system.…”

“…This paper describes the issues of such modification 6 and the performance of the modified receiver on orbit.…”