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Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement

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Need advice for multilateration setup

JL
Jim Lux
Tue, Apr 7, 2015 10:46 PM

On 4/7/15 11:33 AM, Magnus Danielson wrote:

Hi,

O
One might look at the available frequencies and see if there is a
telemetry band available which allows wider bandwidth. For the
application, I don't see that very much transmitted power is needed.

If the OP is a licensed amateur radio person, then choosing one of the
low microwave ham bands would be easy.  Parts to generate a carrier and
BPSK at 2.39-2.45,3.3-3.5, 5.6-5.8 GHz are cheap and readily available.

You might be able to get away with a VCO and no crystal as the
transmitter, but even if you can't, there's tons of PLLs out there that
will nicely lock to a crystal and are cheap.

You might want to do a link budget and see how much power you need to
radiate, so that you get a decent SNR at the receiver.

free space path loss between isotropic antennas (in dB)
= 34  + 20 log10(freq in MHz) + 20 log10(distance in km).

1km at 3 GHz is 34+69 = 103 dB.

If you radiate 1 mW (0dBm) from an omni (a piece of wire), you'll see
-103 dBm at the input to your receiver, which is a fairly healthy
signal.  A detection bandwidth of 10 Hz would have a noise floor of -164
dBm before taking into account the receiver noise, but even if the
receiver is terrible, you're still looking at tens of dB SNR with a very
simple transmitter.

That's a very good argument for higher chiping rates.

I expect that the launch is a bit challenging for the tracking loop.

If you're trying to track in real time, certainly.  If you're doing post
processing, less so.

On 4/7/15 11:33 AM, Magnus Danielson wrote: > Hi, > > O > One might look at the available frequencies and see if there is a > telemetry band available which allows wider bandwidth. For the > application, I don't see that very much transmitted power is needed. > If the OP is a licensed amateur radio person, then choosing one of the low microwave ham bands would be easy. Parts to generate a carrier and BPSK at 2.39-2.45,3.3-3.5, 5.6-5.8 GHz are cheap and readily available. You might be able to get away with a VCO and no crystal as the transmitter, but even if you can't, there's tons of PLLs out there that will nicely lock to a crystal and are cheap. You might want to do a link budget and see how much power you need to radiate, so that you get a decent SNR at the receiver. free space path loss between isotropic antennas (in dB) = 34 + 20 log10(freq in MHz) + 20 log10(distance in km). 1km at 3 GHz is 34+69 = 103 dB. If you radiate 1 mW (0dBm) from an omni (a piece of wire), you'll see -103 dBm at the input to your receiver, which is a fairly healthy signal. A detection bandwidth of 10 Hz would have a noise floor of -164 dBm before taking into account the receiver noise, but even if the receiver is terrible, you're still looking at tens of dB SNR with a very simple transmitter. >> That's a very good argument for higher chiping rates. > > I expect that the launch is a bit challenging for the tracking loop. If you're trying to track in real time, certainly. If you're doing post processing, less so.
MD
Magnus Danielson
Wed, Apr 8, 2015 7:21 PM

Hi Jim,

On 04/08/2015 12:46 AM, Jim Lux wrote:

On 4/7/15 11:33 AM, Magnus Danielson wrote:

Hi,

O
One might look at the available frequencies and see if there is a
telemetry band available which allows wider bandwidth. For the
application, I don't see that very much transmitted power is needed.

If the OP is a licensed amateur radio person, then choosing one of the
low microwave ham bands would be easy.  Parts to generate a carrier and
BPSK at 2.39-2.45,3.3-3.5, 5.6-5.8 GHz are cheap and readily available.

You might be able to get away with a VCO and no crystal as the
transmitter, but even if you can't, there's tons of PLLs out there that
will nicely lock to a crystal and are cheap.

You might want to do a link budget and see how much power you need to
radiate, so that you get a decent SNR at the receiver.

free space path loss between isotropic antennas (in dB)
= 34  + 20 log10(freq in MHz) + 20 log10(distance in km).

1km at 3 GHz is 34+69 = 103 dB.

If you radiate 1 mW (0dBm) from an omni (a piece of wire), you'll see
-103 dBm at the input to your receiver, which is a fairly healthy
signal.  A detection bandwidth of 10 Hz would have a noise floor of -164
dBm before taking into account the receiver noise, but even if the
receiver is terrible, you're still looking at tens of dB SNR with a very
simple transmitter.

Indeed. I realized that without doing the numbers, so I think the focus
could be in how to realize a simple and light transmitter. A small FPGA
will suffice for the code-generation. It will be essentially empty.
Re-cycling the GPS C/A codes should be trivial. It should not be too
hard to build the receiver side too. It's essentially the same as
building a GPS receiver.

That's a very good argument for higher chiping rates.

I expect that the launch is a bit challenging for the tracking loop.

If you're trying to track in real time, certainly.  If you're doing post
processing, less so.

Fair enough. If you know you can track it in real time, then you know
you can do it in post-processing.

Cheers,
Magnus

Hi Jim, On 04/08/2015 12:46 AM, Jim Lux wrote: > On 4/7/15 11:33 AM, Magnus Danielson wrote: >> Hi, >> >> O >> One might look at the available frequencies and see if there is a >> telemetry band available which allows wider bandwidth. For the >> application, I don't see that very much transmitted power is needed. >> > > If the OP is a licensed amateur radio person, then choosing one of the > low microwave ham bands would be easy. Parts to generate a carrier and > BPSK at 2.39-2.45,3.3-3.5, 5.6-5.8 GHz are cheap and readily available. > > You might be able to get away with a VCO and no crystal as the > transmitter, but even if you can't, there's tons of PLLs out there that > will nicely lock to a crystal and are cheap. > > You might want to do a link budget and see how much power you need to > radiate, so that you get a decent SNR at the receiver. > > free space path loss between isotropic antennas (in dB) > = 34 + 20 log10(freq in MHz) + 20 log10(distance in km). > > 1km at 3 GHz is 34+69 = 103 dB. > > If you radiate 1 mW (0dBm) from an omni (a piece of wire), you'll see > -103 dBm at the input to your receiver, which is a fairly healthy > signal. A detection bandwidth of 10 Hz would have a noise floor of -164 > dBm before taking into account the receiver noise, but even if the > receiver is terrible, you're still looking at tens of dB SNR with a very > simple transmitter. Indeed. I realized that without doing the numbers, so I think the focus could be in how to realize a simple and light transmitter. A small FPGA will suffice for the code-generation. It will be essentially empty. Re-cycling the GPS C/A codes should be trivial. It should not be too hard to build the receiver side too. It's essentially the same as building a GPS receiver. >>> That's a very good argument for higher chiping rates. >> >> I expect that the launch is a bit challenging for the tracking loop. > > If you're trying to track in real time, certainly. If you're doing post > processing, less so. Fair enough. If you know you can track it in real time, then you know you can do it in post-processing. Cheers, Magnus
AK
Attila Kinali
Sat, Apr 18, 2015 9:02 PM

Moin,

On Mon, 06 Apr 2015 07:37:53 -0500
Robert Watzlavick rocket@watzlavick.com wrote:

Thank you very much for the references.  I had come across [4] when
searching on Kalman filters for GPS aiding of INS measurements.  I
didn't pay much attention to the GPS chapter at the time but I'll look
at it again.  I just downloaded [3] and it appears to have a good mix of
practical vs. theoretical aspects. I appreciate the help!

While looking for something completely different[tm] I stumbled over
the paper below. It is definitly not the best paper I have seen, but
it might give you some ideas.

"A reverse GPS architecture for tracking and location of small objects",
by Andrade, Alves, Cuipdo, Santos, 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICL-GNSS.2011.5955273

		Attila Kinali

--
< av500> phd is easy
< av500> getting dsl is hard

Moin, On Mon, 06 Apr 2015 07:37:53 -0500 Robert Watzlavick <rocket@watzlavick.com> wrote: > Thank you very much for the references. I had come across [4] when > searching on Kalman filters for GPS aiding of INS measurements. I > didn't pay much attention to the GPS chapter at the time but I'll look > at it again. I just downloaded [3] and it appears to have a good mix of > practical vs. theoretical aspects. I appreciate the help! While looking for something completely different[tm] I stumbled over the paper below. It is definitly not the best paper I have seen, but it might give you some ideas. "A reverse GPS architecture for tracking and location of small objects", by Andrade, Alves, Cuipdo, Santos, 2011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICL-GNSS.2011.5955273 Attila Kinali -- < _av500_> phd is easy < _av500_> getting dsl is hard
RW
Robert Watzlavick
Sun, Apr 19, 2015 2:15 PM

Attila,
From reading at the abstract, it looks interesting - bird tracking!
But essentially the same problem I'm trying to solve. I was looking for
a copy of the paper on the web as I'm not sure I want to purchase it.

Thanks,
-Bob

On 04/18/2015 04:02 PM, Attila Kinali wrote:

Moin,

On Mon, 06 Apr 2015 07:37:53 -0500
Robert Watzlavick rocket@watzlavick.com wrote:

Thank you very much for the references.  I had come across [4] when
searching on Kalman filters for GPS aiding of INS measurements.  I
didn't pay much attention to the GPS chapter at the time but I'll look
at it again.  I just downloaded [3] and it appears to have a good mix of
practical vs. theoretical aspects. I appreciate the help!

While looking for something completely different[tm] I stumbled over
the paper below. It is definitly not the best paper I have seen, but
it might give you some ideas.

"A reverse GPS architecture for tracking and location of small objects",
by Andrade, Alves, Cuipdo, Santos, 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICL-GNSS.2011.5955273

		Attila Kinali
Attila, From reading at the abstract, it looks interesting - bird tracking! But essentially the same problem I'm trying to solve. I was looking for a copy of the paper on the web as I'm not sure I want to purchase it. Thanks, -Bob On 04/18/2015 04:02 PM, Attila Kinali wrote: > Moin, > > On Mon, 06 Apr 2015 07:37:53 -0500 > Robert Watzlavick <rocket@watzlavick.com> wrote: > >> Thank you very much for the references. I had come across [4] when >> searching on Kalman filters for GPS aiding of INS measurements. I >> didn't pay much attention to the GPS chapter at the time but I'll look >> at it again. I just downloaded [3] and it appears to have a good mix of >> practical vs. theoretical aspects. I appreciate the help! > While looking for something completely different[tm] I stumbled over > the paper below. It is definitly not the best paper I have seen, but > it might give you some ideas. > > > "A reverse GPS architecture for tracking and location of small objects", > by Andrade, Alves, Cuipdo, Santos, 2011 > http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICL-GNSS.2011.5955273 > > > Attila Kinali > > >