Multipath-rejecting GPS antennas

Multipath interference limits the speed and accuracy of determining position by differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) techniques. A geodetic surveyor for example, requires multipath interference rejection of about 36+20log₁₀sinϵ dB, where ϵ is the elevation angle of the satellite being observed. Signal processing in a GPS receiver cannot satisfy this requirement. A receiving antenna is required that can sufficiently reject signals arriving from below the horizon. Available antennas have inadequate rejection, and brute-force methods of improving them, e.g., by enlarging their ground-planes, are impractical. A compact, ground-planeless, dual-band GPS antenna with improved multipath rejection has been designed and field-tested. This antenna resembles a vertical post rather than a horizontal platter; within its 0.1-m diameter, 0.4-m tall randome is a vertical array of turnstile elements. In field tests, a three-element array antenna rejected multipath better than a 0.5-m diameter ground-plane antenna by an average of 5 dB. A five-element array antenna appears superior to a 0.9-m diameter ground-plane antenna     

Adaptive beam-space nulling of multipath signals

A beam-space adaptive nulling technique that has potential for applications in communication circuits degraded by multipath signals is described. The technique is based on a well-known vector relationship in beam space. A linear transformation is used to prevent the degradation of the desired signal reception. Results are presented from tests of the technique that were conducted using real multipath data. The data used in these tests were recorded using a 32-element sampled aperture antenna (SAMPAR). These measurements were carried out on an over-water path. The direct signal, i.e. the signal that propagates via the shortest path from the transmitter to the receiver antenna, is selected as the desired signal; its reception is enhanced by suppressing the unwanted signals, i.e. the multipath signals that propagate via a reflection from the surface of the water. Examples are given in which the wanted and unwanted signals are separated by less than a beamwidth     

A suboptimal receiver for joint spatial-temporal filtering andmultiuser detection in mobile radio communications

This paper proposes a suboptimal receiver for joint spatial-temporal filtering and multiuser detection in mobile radio communications using single carrier signaling. The proposed receiver is a reasonable approximation of the maximum likelihood (ML) based optimal receiver described in the present paper. A cascaded connection of an adaptive array antenna and an ML multiuser sequence estimator is the basis of the proposed receiver. The major advantages of the proposed receiver over conventional adaptive array antennas are: (1) delayed path components of desired signals can be effectively combined; (2) interference signals exceeding the degree of freedom; and (3) those having the same incident angle as that of desired path components can both be suppressed. The proposed receiver does not require prohibitively large computational complexity. Results of computer simulations presented in this paper show that the proposed receiver exhibits excellent performance even in severe multipath fading environments     

机载圆锥对数螺旋天线及两种馈电方式的研究

论述了机载圆锥对数螺旋天线及其两种馈电方式的设计方法.利用FEKO软件对圆锥对数螺旋天线和两种平衡馈电方式进行了优化仿真分析.结果说明,该天线的电特性能够满足实际工程应用要求.在此基础上,研制了天线实物样机,并对该天线实物样机进行了测试.测试结果表明该天线在2.5～8GHz的工作频率范围内,方向图3dB波瓣宽度为100°左右,轴比小于3dB,驻波系数小于2.测试数据说明该天线的测试结果和仿真分析结果吻合良好,同时也说明该圆锥对数螺旋天线具有宽频带圆极化及宽频带宽波束特性,进而说明该设计方法是有效可行的,并可以推广应用.     

Gigabit/s indoor wireless systems with directional antennas

The design of a high speed (>150 Mb/s) wireless local area network (WLAN), requires that many factors be considered, including technical, economic, and regulatory. A major technical factor is the channel response behavior (multipath) in the indoor environment as a function of the frequency band, building type and radio system architecture. The consequences of designing indoor wireless systems with directional antennas at one or both ends of a line-of-sight (LOS) link are investigated. We determine how narrow the beamwidth must be so that the maximum data rate is not limited by multipath effects. For such beamwidths, simple unequalized two-level frequency shift keying (FSK) or phase shift keying (PSK) modems can be used in place of the more costly and complex “anti-multipath” modems, and data rates above 1 Gb/s may be achieved. The channel impulse response in an empty room is estimated using geometrical optics, observing that with directional antennas, multipath rays must arrive from the same direction as the LOS ray. The link outage probability is then estimated as a function of the antenna beamwidth, and guidelines are established for the selection of the frequency band and antenna placement. Experiments using a 19-GHz 622-Mb/s binary phase shift keying (BPSK) link and 15° beamwidth horn antennas in an office building with plaster walls and large metallized windows have demonstrated error-free performance on both LOS and non-LOS (NLOS) links     

Environment effects and system performance characterisation of GPS antennas for mobile terminals

The GPS antenna on mobile terminals suffers from multipath effects owing to reflection, diffraction and scattering of the incident wave in a radio environment. A traditional approach to evaluate the GPS antenna performance in a real multipath environment is therefore insufficient. Presented is a new technique to characterise these environmental effects and the system performance of GPS antennas on mobile terminals.     

Convergence analysis of a CM array for CDMA systems

The incorporation of directional sensitivity, provided by so-called adaptive antennas is useful in suppressing interfering signals that arise from spatially distinct mobile sources. The problem is that in a cellular radio environment where multipath exists, the standard adaptive antenna using reference signals may not properly lock on the desired signal. This is because the signal correlation matrix processed by the antenna may then be close to singular and standard algorithms fail. Also, most standard algorithms need to cooperate with the receiver for the spatial discrimination of signals. A smart antenna utilizing a blind algorithm is of interest since the antenna may not need to get any feedback from a receiver for the adjustment of weight coefficient for spatial processing and can stand alone to be plugged into any kind of receiver structure.In this paper, we address the convergence property of a Constant Modulus Algorithm which is a blind algorithm and, if employed, can provide no need for an antenna to cooperate with a receiver attached. By identifying a relationship between the weight coefficients and output signal amplitude, we also evaluate the performance of such a stand-alone antenna plus a CDMA matched filter reception. Our results show that for a three element CM array, the BER of a desired user with the other interfering users is much better than a conventional correlation receiver for a single user case since the array suppresses interferences and achieves array gain in SNR.     

支持空时分复用无线Mesh网络的微带阵列天线

支持空时分复用的无线Mesh网络采用多方向天线阵列技术,使用多个高增益定向天线进行多方向覆盖,具备通信距离远和天线自动扫描与对准的特性,便于快速部署。但现有的多方向天线阵列的设计从扩大通信距离的角度考虑,侧重于提高天线增益,使其垂直主瓣宽度仅为6°,这对于通信距离较近并且节点之间高程差较大的情况来说,覆盖性能不够理想。对多方向天线阵列的组成单元——微带阵列天线进行了优化设计,提出了一种支持空时分复用无线Mesh网络的微带阵列天线设计,其垂直主瓣宽度可达30°,并对设计的微带阵列天线进行了性能仿真和实际测试。     

Cochannel Interference in Cellular Fixed Broadband Access Systems with Directional Antennas

The Cellular Fixed Broadband Access System for LMCS (Local Multipoint Communication Services) is aiming to provide broadband services to fixed subscribers through wireless access. A representative LMCS scenario involves a cellular system design with the entire allocated bandwidth being used in each cell and with a highly directional antenna employed at the subscriber. The LMCS system designs rely on assumed information regarding radio propagation phenomena in the anticipated coverage areas. The research reported here, therefore, has the objective of verifying such information by theoretical modeling and simulation. Simulation and analysis have been used to study the effects of a number of factors on the system performance and interference characteristics of such a LMCS system. The investigated factors include beamwidth and gain ratio of directional antennas, sectorization of hub antennas, propagation exponent, lognormal shadowing, site diversity and transmitter power control. Both models of LOS (line of sight) and NLOS (non-line of sight) have been investigated in this work. The simulation results demonstrate that highly directional antennas at the subscribers can dramatically improve the system performance for both uplink and downlink. The system design with frequency reuse of one is examined, and it is confirmed that an outage of 0.9% for a NLOS system could be achieved by using narrow beam antennas of 3 degrees with site diversity and power control techniques employed. Under the condition of LOS available for the desired links, the outage can be expected to be as low as 0.3%.     

Scanning-beam microwave landing system--Multipath-errors and antenna-design philosophy

Multipath reception can cause guidance-angle errors in a microwave landing system (MLS). The antenna radiation-control problem for a scanning-beam MLS is defined and analyzed. "Centerline emphasis" is presented as a helpful design philosophy for the ground antennas. It is shown that the maximum guidance-angle error is proportional to 1) the amplitude of the indirect signal, 2) the antenna beamwidth, and 3) the time derivative of the indirect signal as the direct beam-peak scans by the receiver. This result is used in developing a rationale for the selection of the antenna beamwidth and sidelobe level (aperture size and excitation) for the azimuth and elevation guidance functions.     

An efficient moderate-size vertical-incidence ionosonde antenna for 2-20-MHz polarization studies

A wide cone-angle conical spiral antenna which has been developed for use as a circularly polarized vertical-incidence ionosonde antenna is described. It exhibits an 80-degree beamwidth, 5-dB gain, axial ratio of 1.2:1 and SWR less than 2:1 typically over the band 2-20 MHz. The entire structure is only 38 meters high and 52 meters in diameter. Extensive measurements on models and the full-size antenna are presented which show that the polarization and radiation patterns are quite uniform over the entire operating band. In particular, the radiation pattern shows no evidence of sidelobes at low elevation angles which could cause unwanted oblique returns. The discovery of a beam-reversing phenomenon in spiral antennas is described along with its elimination by geometry control. An example of ionosphere mode selection by means of polarization control with the full-size antenna is presented.     

Exploiting Multipath Diversity in Multiple Antenna OFDM Systems With Spatially Correlated Channels

Multiple antennas are useful in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems for providing transmit and receive diversity to overcome fading. Typically, these designs require considerable separation between the antennas. Spatial correlation is introduced when antennas are not well separated, and it often leads to performance degradation in a flat fading environment. However, in frequency selective fading channels with rich multipath diversity, OFDM receivers can overcome this performance degradation due to antenna correlation. This is due to transformation of a highly spatially correlated channel impulse response to a less spatially correlated channel frequency response inherently by an OFDM system in the presence of rich multipath diversity. We illustrate this for a simple receive diversity OFDM system and hence introduce the concept of space sampling at the receiver where antennas are placed relatively close to each other. The minimum separation required between the antennas under such circumstances is derived analytically, and it is shown that even with a separation of only$0.44lambda$, the required spatial correlation in the channel frequency response becomes sufficiently low. Simulated performance results with such spacing for various multiple antenna OFDM systems corroborate the analytical results.     

Performance evaluation of a cellular base station multibeam antenna

Experimental test results are used to determine the performance that can be achieved from a multibeam antenna array, with fixed-beam azimuths, relative to a traditional dual-diversity three-sector antenna configuration. The performance tradeoffs between the hysterisis level, switching time, and gain improvement for a multibeam antenna are also examined. The multibeam antenna uses selection combining to switch the signals from the two strongest directional beams to the base station's main and diversity receivers. To assess the impact of beamwidth on overall system performance, the following two multibeam antennas were tested: a 12-beam 30° beamwidth array and a 24-beam 15° beamwidth array. Both multibeam antennas were field-tested in typical cellular base station sites located in heavy urban and light urban environments. Altogether, the system performance is evaluated by investigating three fundamental aspects of multibeam antenna behavior. First, the relative powers of the signals measured in each directional beam of the multibeam antenna are characterized. Then, beam separation statistics for the strongest two signals are examined. Gain improvements achievable with a multibeam antenna compared to the traditional sector configuration are determined in the second phase of the analysis. Results indicate that in excess of 5 dB of gain enhancement can be achieved with a 24-beam base station antenna in a cellular mobile radio environment. Finally, the effects of hysterisis level and switching time are characterized based on gain reductions relative to a reference case with no hysterisis and a 0.5-s switching decision time. Useful approximations are developed for the gain effects associated with varying hysterisis levels and switching times. The resulting design curves and empirical rules allow engineers to quantify multibeam antenna performance while making appropriate tradeoffs for parameter selection     

一种宽频带导航天线的研究与设计

研究并设计了一款基于阿基米德螺旋天线的宽频带(覆盖GPS,BeiDou 和GLONASS 卫星导航系统的所有工作频点,即1.1 -1.7 GHz)高稳定相位中心导航天线。以带有反射腔的阿基米德螺旋天线为基础,结合三维扼流环抑制多径效应的性能,通过加载扼流环,并经有限元电磁仿真软件的参数优化设计,很大程度上改善了整个频带内天线在特定俯仰角范围内的相位稳定度。所设计的宽频带高稳定相位中心导航天线的指标达到:在GPS,BeiDou 和GLONASS 卫星导航系统的所有工作频点上,输入端口驻波比小于1.5;在俯仰角为-60°-60°的范围内,方向图轴比小于2 dB,相位稳定度在-2.7°-2.7°;同时由于扼流环的加载,天线的抗多径性能也得到了改善。研究表明,加载了三维扼流环的阿基米德螺旋天线综合性能优异,适合作为宽频带高稳定相位中心导航天线。     

暗室条件下抗干扰测试结果影响分析

暗室为卫星导航接收机抗干扰测试提供了全面有效的测试环境，极大地提高了抗干扰性能定量测试与评估能力。但暗室的静区性能、结构尺寸、天线布局等因素会对抗干扰性能测试结果产生影响。基于多径信号天线接收模型、阵列波程差等效模型和信号来向天线映射模型，通过仿真量化分析了干扰多径信号、有限距离下近场效应和来波方向误差对抗干扰测试结果的影响。结果表明，暗室静区性能的提升可降低干扰多径信号对零陷位置的拉偏；不同暗室尺寸对应不同的零陷深度测试，需根据测试需求折中选择；布设暗室天线应依据预设的被测阵列天线和测试场景。结果可为暗室设计、抗干扰测试方案选定和测试结果分析提供参考，提升抗干扰测试的可信度。     

Channel Statistics-Based RF Pre-Processing with Antenna Selection

We introduce two novel joint radio-frequency (RF)-baseband designs for receivers in a MIMO system with N_t transmit antennas, N _r receive antennas, but only L < N_r RF chains at the receiver. The joint design introduces an RF pre-processing matrix that processes the signals from the different antennas, and is followed by selection (if necessary), down-conversion, and further processing in the baseband. The schemes are similar to conventional antenna selection in that they use fewer RF chains than antenna elements, but achieve superior performance by exploiting the spatial correlation of the received signals. The first of our proposed designs uses an L times N _r RF pre-processing matrix that outputs only L streams followed by baseband signal processing, and, thus, eliminates the need for a selection switch. The second one uses an N_r times N _r RF pre-processing matrix that outputs N_r streams and is followed by a switch that selects L streams for baseband signal processing. Both spatial diversity and spatial multiplexing systems are considered and the optimum pre-processing matrices are derived for all cases. To accommodate practical RF design constraints, which prefer a variable phase-shifter-based implementation, a sub-optimal phase approximation is also introduced. Performance better than conventional antenna selection and close to the full complexity receiver is observed in both single cluster and multi-cluster wireless channels. A beam-pattern-based geometric intuition is also developed to illustrate the effectiveness of the optimal solutions     

Development and use of a GPS ionospheric scintillation monitor

Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite signals provide convenient radio beacons for ionospheric studies. Among other propagation phenomena, the ionosphere affects GPS signal propagation through amplitude scintillations that develop after radio waves propagate through ionospheric electron density irregularities. This paper outlines the design, testing, and operation of a specialized GPS receiver to monitor L-band amplitude scintillations: the Cornell scintillation monitor. The Cornell scintillation monitor consists of a commercial GPS receiver development kit with its software modified to log signal strength from up to 12 channels at a high data rate (50 samples/s). Other features of the receiver include the optional assignment of a channel to monitor the receiver noise level in the absence of signal tracking and the means to synchronize measurements between nearby independent receivers to perform drift measurements and correlation studies. The Cornell scintillation monitor provides characterization of the operational L-band scintillation environment and additionally permits study of the multipath environment of a static antenna, GPS scintillation monitors can provide information about the state of ionospheric irregularities for pure research purposes as well. Their strength lies in the fact that they are inexpensive and compact and therefore can he readily proliferated. Even a single scintillation monitor can supplement radar spatial coverage of irregularities in a limited way because it monitors several satellite lines of sight simultaneously     

计算曲线天线电流分布的一种新途径─参数形式下的B样条有限元法──Ⅱ：应用实例─多臂螺旋天线的电流分布

多臂螺旋天线由于其宽频和多模特征，它在空中和地面天线系统中得到了广泛的应用。本文详细描述了基于第一部分提出的参数形式下的Ｂ样条有限元法计算等角螺旋天线和阿基米德平面螺旋天线电流分布的实施过程。通过与有关文献比较，计算实践表明本文方法具有实施简便、计算量少等优点。     

GNSS CODE AND CARRIER TRACKING IN THE PRESENCE OF MULTIPATH

It is well known that multipath represents a major error source in differential GNSS positioning. Errors produced are unique to each antenna position and so are uncorrelated between the reference station and the mobile receiver. Reduction techniques, such as narrow correlator spacing¹ and the multipath estimating delay lock loop (MEDLL)² have improved the situation. However, reflected signals emanating close to the antenna are not reduced by either technique. Carrier multipath is a particular problem because short delay multipath signals cause maximum carrier errors. This study describes the analysis that has been carried out into code and carrier tracking in the presence of multipath. Code tracking in this situation produces a non-zero mean error,³ and the source of this bias has been investigated. Code and carrier multipath errors of the global orbiting navigation satellite system (GLONASS) have been compared with those of the global positioning system (GPS). The effects of pre-correlation filtering on code and carrier multipath errors have been determined using data from a measured correlation function. The multipath fading bandwidth is also discussed, and fast and slow fading effects are presented. A comparison has been made of the performance of typical coherent and non-coherent code discriminators in the presence of multipath. The performance of the GPS and GLONASS P code signals have been determined with respect to code and carrier multipath errors. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Use of Deeply Integrated GPS/INS Architecture and Laser Scanners for the Identification of Multipath Reflections in Urban Environments

This paper investigates the constructive use of multipath reflections of Global Positioning System (GPS) signals for navigation in urban environments. Urban navigation applications are generally characterized by a significant presence of multipath signals. In order to maintain reliable and accurate navigation capabilities, it is critical to distinguish between direct signal and multipath. At the same time, multipath reflections can be exploited as additional measurements for those cases where the number of direct path satellites is insufficient to compute the navigation solution. The paper develops a method for the identification of multipath reflections in received satellite signals: i.e., multipath is separated from direct signal and a line-of-site between the GPS receiver and a multipath reflecting object is determined. Once multipath reflections are identified, they can be used constructively for navigation. The method presented in the paper exploits an open-loop batch-processing GPS receiver, laser scanner and inertial navigation system (INS) to identify multipath reflections in received satellite signals. Experimental GPS, inertial and laser scanner data collected in real urban environments are applied to demonstrate identification of multipath reflections.