Direct-Y: Fast Acquisition of the GPS PPS Signal

Abstract

The NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) provides positioning and time information to military users via the Precise Positioning Service (PPS), which typically allows users a significant margin of precision over the commercially available Standard Positioning Service (SPS). Military sets that rely on first acquiring the SPS Coarse Acquisition (CIA) code, rend from the data message the handover word (HOW that provides the time-of-signal transmission needed to acquire and lock onto the PPS Y-code. Under extreme battlefield conditions, the use of GPS would be denied to the warfighter who cannot pick up the un-encrypted CIA code. Studies are underway at the GPS Joint Program Office (IPO) at the Space and Missile Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base that are aimed at developing the capability to directly acquire Y-Code without first acquiring CIA code. This paper briefly outlines current effort to develop "direct-Y" acquisition, and various approaches to solving this problem. The potential ramifications of direct-Y to military users are also discussed.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1995
Accession Number
ADA502474

Entities

People

  • O. M. Namoos
  • R. S. Diesposti

Organizations

  • Space Systems Command

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Acquisition
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Atomic Clocks
  • Clocks
  • Correlators
  • Ephemerides
  • Frequency
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Measurement
  • Navigation
  • Oscillators
  • Range Finding
  • Signal Processing
  • Spacecraft
  • Standards
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Technology.

Technology Areas

  • Space