> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Hal Murray
> Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 10:10 AM
> To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Checking the Frequency of a Rubidium
> Oscillator
>
>
> > All the satellites are at the same frequency, and they are
> CDMA (each
> > satellite has a different PN sequence on its signal)
>
> What's the bandwidth of an individual satellite?
Megahertz (the 1 MHz C/A code + the 10MHz P/Y code)

>
> It may have been a different thread, but the Doppler shift is
> up to 2 KHz.
> Even if you could tune to an individual satellite signal, you
> still have to go through the whole GPS calculation in order
> to correct for Doppler.

A GPS receiver actually solves for the state vector of the receiver (including 
the local clock error) using the raw observables from the tracking loop (code 
phase).  The nav equations calculate (apparent) range and range rate from the 
known state vector of each satellite and the (estimated) state vector of the 
receiver.  Range rate is the doppler.

The 1.xxx Megachip/second C/A code is 1023 bits long, so the classical approach 
is to step the receiver through all possible phases of the code, integrating at 
each one to see if it can detect the signal.  If your integration time is, say, 
10 milliseconds, it takes 10 seconds to step through them all. Once the signal 
is detected, the PN tracking loop tracks that signal.

If you have some a-priori knowledge of the expected code phase, that reduces 
your search space quite a bit.
You can also search for multiple codes at once with parallel receivers (really, 
parallel code tracking loops, because the RF receiver is usually just a single 
bit quantizer, and the same bits go to all loops), either acquiring different 
satellites in parallel, or speeding up the acquisition of a single satellite.

This is where the proprietary nature of each manufacturer really comes in, 
because time spent acquiring is time not deriving a nav fix, and in a energy 
sensitive design (which many GPS receivers are.. E.g. in cell phones or battery 
powered), time is of the essence.

For instance, if you know your approximate position and date/time, you can not 
bother trying to search for satellites that aren't above the horizon. If you've 
characterized your local oscillator properties, you might be able to do a more 
clever acquisition by modeling the drift.

If the cellular system can tell the receiver in the phone an approximate 
position and estimated range/range rate, it can greatly reduce the acquisition 
time. (in fact, most phones don't actually implement a full GPS receiver.. They 
use assistance from the cell site to acquire, and just return the raw 
observables, and the centralized system turns that into a position)

All very interesting stuff..

Jim

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