DANISH GPS CENTER

Carrier Tracking Loop;

Loop Filter
GPS Signals And Receiver Technology MM12
Darius Plaušinaitis
[email protected]
Today’s Subjects DANISH GPS CENTER

• Demodulation of the GPS signal

• Tracking loop introduction
• Carrier tracking
– Phase Lock Loop (PLL)
– Frequency Lock Loop (FLL)
• Loop filters

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Demodulation
Or how to turn the radio waves back into the data
message that we are interested in

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Demodulation DANISH GPS CENTER

• The transmitted signal from satellite k is:

S k (t ) = 2 Pc (C k (t ) D k (t )) cos(2πf L1t ) L1 C/A signal

+ 2 PPL1 ( P k (t ) D k (t )) sin( 2πf L1t ) L1 P(Y) signal

+ 2 PPL 2 ( P k (t ) D k (t )) cos(2πf L 2t )
L2 P(Y) signal

D – data
C – C/A code
P – P(Y) code

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Demodulation DANISH GPS CENTER

• The transmitted signal from satellite k is:

S k (t ) = 2 Pc (C k (t ) D k (t )) cos(2πf L1t ) + 2 PPL1 ( P k (t ) D k (t )) sin( 2πf L1t )
+ 2 PPL 2 ( P k (t ) D k (t )) cos(2πf L 2t )

• After an RF front-end (L1 only):

S k (t ) = 2 Pc (C k (t ) D k (t )) cos(ω IF t ) + 2 PPL1 ( P k (t ) D k (t )) sin(ω IF t )

• The signal from one satellite after the ADC

(narrow filters and low sampling frequency):
S k (n) = C k (n) D k (n) cos(ωif n) + e(n)

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Demodulation DANISH GPS CENTER

• The signal from two satellites after the ADC:

S (n) = C 1 (n) D1 (n) cos(ωif 1n) + C 2 (n) D 2 (n) cos(ωif 2 n) + e(n)

• The code phase and the intermediate

frequency of the carrier wave should be
known parameters to demodulate the
navigation data from e.g. satellite 1.

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Demodulation DANISH GPS CENTER

• Convert the signal down to baseband:

S (n) cos(ωif 1n) = C 1 (n) D1 (n) cos(ωif 1n) cos(ωif 1n) +
C 2 (n) D 2 (n) cos(ωif 2 n) cos(ωif 1n) + e(n)

cos(a)*cos(b) = ½cos(a+b) + ½cos(a-b)

S (n) cos(ωif 1n) = 12 C 1 (n) D1 (n) + 12 C 1 (n) D1 (n) cos(2ωif ) +

C 2 (n) D 2 (n) cos(ωif 2 n) cos(ωif 1n) + e(n)

S (n) cos(ωif 1n) = 12 C 1 (n) D1 (n) + 12 C 1 (n) D1 (n) cos(2ωif )

+ 12 C 2 (n) D 2 (n) cos(ωif 2 − ωif 1n)
+ 12 C 2 (n) D 2 (n) cos(ωif 2 + ωif 1n) + e(n)
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Demodulation Visualized DANISH GPS CENTER

IF f

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Demodulation DANISH GPS CENTER

• Code wipe off:

S (n) cos(ωif 1n)C 1 (n) = 12 D1 (n) + 12 D1 (n) cos(2ωif ) + e(n)
• After low-pass filtering (integration):
S (n) cos(ωif 1n)C 1 (n) = I = 12 D1 (n) + e(n)
• Received signal amplitude vs. tracking errors
sin(π∆f iT ) S
Ii = 2 R(τ i ) Di cos(∆φi ) + ei
(π∆f iT ) N0
• Conclusion: perfectly aligned code and carrier
replicas are required to do demodulation.
These replicas can be tracked using two
tracking loops.
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Tracking Loop
A way to generate exact copy of the received signal

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What does tracking do and
why?
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• The main goal is to receive the GNSS signal

”as clear and loud” as possible – the local
carrier and spreading code must be well
aligned with the ones in the signal
• GNSS adds one more requirement: to track
signal arrival (time) as precise as possible
• Advanced receivers can detect multipath to
some extent
• Additional task can be signal quality
monitoring

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The Tracking Loop Idea DANISH GPS CENTER

• Generate a local signal

• Correlate it with the received signal
• Measure (time/code-phase, frequency, phase)
error between the local and the received
signals
• Steer local signal generators to minimize the
error
• Pass demodulated data bit value stream to the
data processing task
• Repeat procedure

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Main Parts Of A Tracking Loop DANISH GPS CENTER

The error measurement Scaling of error – used to control

sensitivity to the tracking error

Tracked
signal Filter has two
Filter
Θ1(s) Θe(s) main tasks:
? Kd F(s) •To filter noise in
Error the error
measurement unit measurements
Θ2(s) VCO (due to noise in
(called error
the tracked signal)
detector or K0/s •To shape the
discriminator)
tracking loop’s
response to the
Generated Signal generator generates tracking error
signal replica of the tracked signal

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Types Of Tracking Loops DANISH GPS CENTER

• There are 3 main types of the tracking loops

depending on the tracked property of the
tracked signal:
– Phase lock loop (PLL)
– Frequency lock loop (FLL)
– Delay lock loop (DLL)
• There are few error detectors for each type of
the tracking loop with different properties
• Variations of filter parameters will shape the
filter response and amount of noise filtering

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Plan For The Tracking Topic DANISH GPS CENTER

• PLL (FLL) and DLL are explained in sections

on carrier and code tracking
• Each section will also cover a set of error
detectors applicable in a given tracking loop
• Tracking loop filter is explained in a separate
section as the same theory is used for all
types of tracking loops

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The Carrier Tracking Loop

The Phase Locked Loop (PLL)

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Carrier Tracking Loop DANISH GPS CENTER

• The goal of the Carrier Tracking Loop is to produce a

perfectly aligned carrier replica. The most common
way is to use a PLL:
In-phase arm

cos(ωif n + φ )
D(n) cos(ωif n)

sin(ωif n + φ )

Quadrature-
phase arm

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Carrier Tracking Loop DANISH GPS CENTER

• The demodulation in the In-phase (I) branch:

D(n) cos(ωif n) cos(ωif n + φ ) = 12 D(n) cos(φ ) + 12 D(n) cos(2ωif n + φ )

• The demodulation in the Quadrature-phase (Q)

branch:
D(n) cos(ωif n) sin(ωif n + φ ) = 12 D(n) sin(φ ) + 12 D(n) sin( 2ωif n + φ )

• The I signal:
I = 12 D(n) cos(φ )
• The Q signal:
Q = 12 D(n) sin(φ )

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Carrier Tracking Loop DANISH GPS CENTER

• Costas loop:

I = 12 D(n) cos(φ )

cos(ωif n + φ )

D(n) cos(ωif n)
sin(ωif n + φ )

Q = 12 D(n) sin(φ )

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Carrier Tracking Loop DANISH GPS CENTER

• To find the phase error:

φ
Q 12 D(n) cos(φ ) -2π 2π
= 1 = tan(φ )
I 2 D ( n) sin(φ ) Phase
delay

1
D(n) sin(φ ) Q
φ = tan −1 2
1
2 D(n) cos(φ )
φ
I
Q
φ = tan −1

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Carrier Tracking Loop DANISH GPS CENTER

• The Costas loop is independent on the phase shifts

caused by the data bits

• Phasor diagram: An output example:

Discrete-Time Scatter Plot
Q
4000

2000

Q prompt
φ 0

φ I -2000

-4000

-8000 -6000 -4000 -2000 0 2000 4000 6000 8000

I prompt

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Carrier Tracking Loop DANISH GPS CENTER

• Different kinds of phase lock loop discriminators:

– Arctan
Q
D = tan −1
I
• Much time consuming (not a big problem today)
• The output is the real phase error

– Sign product

D = Q • sign(I )
• Fast method
• The discriminator output is proportional to sin(φ)

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Carrier Tracking Loop DANISH GPS CENTER

• Different kinds of phase lock loop discriminators:

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Carrier Tracking Loop DANISH GPS CENTER

• Costas loop:

I = 12 D(n) cos(φ )

cos(ωif n + φ )
D(n) cos(ωif n)

I
φ = tan −1
Q
sin(ωif n + φ )

Q = 12 D(n) sin(φ )

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Carrier Tracking Loop DANISH GPS CENTER

• The signal energy in I and Q when PLL has locked on

the signal:

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 DANISH GPS CENTER

The Carrier Tracking Loop

The Frequency Locked Loop (FLL)

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Frequency Lock Loop DANISH GPS CENTER

• The discrimators are a bit different than in

PLL. They measure change in carrier phase
over an interval of time.
• Less noise sensitive than PLL – it can track at
lower SNR
• The tracking loop has more noise than PLL
• Can be used for the re-acquisition or pull-in
states due to bigger frequency lock range

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Loop Filters

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Why The Filter Is Needed
Anyway?
DANISH GPS CENTER

• The error measurement is there, so just

correct the generator frequency and job is
done, right?
• The answer is NO:
– There is an error measurement noise (even at good
SNR)
– There is a stady state error caused by Doppler

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The Typical Tracking Loop DANISH GPS CENTER

• Phase error detector has

gain Kd. The transfer Phase detector Filter
Θ1(s) Θe(s)
function is showed in +
Σ Kd F(s)
figure a) –

• The VCO has a center Θ2(s) VCO

frequency ω0 and gain K0/s

K0. The transfer function
is showed in figure b) ω ud
• The filter coefficients ω0
depend on Kd and K0 u Θe

a) b)

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An Example Of Filter Output
vs. Input
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Raw PLL discriminator • There is an initial

0.2 frequency between
0.1
tracked and generated
Amplitude

0
signals (27Hz here)
-0.1

-0.2
• Figures show:
0.05 0.1 0.15
Time (s)
0.2 0.25 0.3
– The filter “accumulates”
offset over time and keeps
Filtered PLL discriminator
it
30

20
– The result of damping –
different convergence
Amplitude

10

0 times
-10

-20
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
Time (s)

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A Simple Digital Loop Filter DANISH GPS CENTER

• The C1 and C2 depend

Filter Filter
on loop noise bandwidth input output
BL, VCO and PD gains c2 Σ Σ
and loop damping factor
ζ. z-1
• Damping factor controls c1
how fast the filter
reaches its settle point 1 8ζω nT
C1 =
• Noise bandwidth K 0 K D 4 + 4ζω nT + (ωnT ) 2
controls the amount of
allowed noise in the 1 4(ζω nT ) 2
C2 =
filter K 0 K D 4 + 4ζω nT + (ωnT ) 2

8ζ BL
ωn =
4ζ 2 + 1

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Damping Factor DANISH GPS CENTER

• Determines how much

Different loop responses
the loop filter ”resists”
depending on the damping factor to the control signal:
(first 20ms are due to loop filter initialization) – On one hand – how fast
the loop will ”fix” the
tracking error
– On other hand – how
much the loop will
overshoot 0 error point

ζ = 0.3
• A compromise value is
80

60
ζ = 0.5 used or few values are
ζ = 0.7
used for different
minator output°][

40 ζ = 0.9

20
ζ = 1.1
receiver modes
0

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 Noise Bandwidth DANISH GPS CENTER

• Narrow noise bandwidth decreases noise in

the tracking loop, AND – response speed
• At 100ms the loop noise bandwidth is
switched from about 100Hz to 15Hz
PLL discriminator Carrier frequency offset
90 -2520

Frequency offset (Hz)

Phase offset [degrees]

45 -2540

0 -2560

-45 -2580

-2600
-90 0 100 200 300 400 500
0 100 200 300 400 500
Time (ms) Time (ms)

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Noise Bandwidth DANISH GPS CENTER

• Loop noise PLL discriminator

bandwidth also
90

determines 45

maximum 0

Doppler offset -45

and rates -90

0 50 100 150 200 250
Time (ms)
300 350 400 450 500

tolerated by the
Carrier frequency offset
loop -98
Frequency offset (Hz)

• Figures show a -99

case of too big

initial frequency
-100

error in -101
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
acquisition Time (ms)

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Loop Order DANISH GPS CENTER

• The filter is a first order

filter
• The tracking loop
Filter Filter (excluding filter) is a
input output
c2 Σ Σ first order system,
therefore the tracking
z-1 loop is second order
c1
• Higher order filters
approximate the error
dynamics better (e.g. to
be used for ships etc.)

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An Example Of A PLL DANISH GPS CENTER

• ω=20/0.7845; T=0.02;
– k1= 2.4 * ω
– k2= (1.1 * ω ^2)/20
– k3= ω ^3/20

• ω =20/0.53; T=0.02;
– k1= 1.414 * ω
– k2= ω ^2/20
– k3= 0

This slide
contents is only
available to the
listeners of our
courses

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2-nd Order Loop Responce DANISH GPS CENTER

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3-rd Order Loop Responce DANISH GPS CENTER

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Questions and Exercises

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