GNSS/5G Hybridization for Urban Navigation
Hybridation GNSS/5G pour la navigation en milieu urbain
Résumé
Over the past few years, the need for positioning, and thus the number of positioning services in general, has been in constant growth. This need for positioning has been increasingly focused on constrained environments, such as urban or indoor environments, where GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) is known to have significant limitations: multipath as well as the lack of Line-of-Sight (LOS) satellite visibility degrades the GNSS positioning solution and makes it unsuitable for some urban or indoor applications. In order to improve the GNSS positioning performance in constrained environments, many solutions are already available: hybridization with additional sensors, [1], [2] or the use of signals of opportunity (SoO) for example, [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8]. Concerning SoO, mobile communication signals, such as the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) or 5G, are naturally envisioned for positioning, [3], [9], [10]. Indeed, a significant number of users are expected to be “connected-users” and 5G systems offers promising opportunities.
5G technology is being standardized at 3GPP [11]; the first complete release of 5G specifications, Release-15, was provided to the community in March 2018. 5G is an emerging technology and its positioning performance, as well as a potential generic receiver scheme to conduct positioning operations, is still under analysis. In order to study the potential capabilities provided by 5G systems and to develop a 5G-based generic positioning module scheme, the first fundamental step is to develop mathematical models of the processed 5G signals at each stage of the receiver for realistic propagation channel models: the mathematical expression of the useful received 5G signal as well as the AWG (Additive White Gaussian) noise statistics. In the Ph.D., the focus is given to the correlation operation which is the basic function implemented by typical ranging modules for 4G LTE signals [12], DVB signals [7], [8], and GNSS [13]. In fact, the knowledge of the correlation output mathematical model could allow for the development of optimal 5G signal processing techniques for ranging positioning.
Previous efforts were made to provide mathematical models of received signals at the different receiver signal processing stages for signals with similar structures to 5G signals – Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) signals as defined in 3GPP standard, [14]. OFDM signal-type correlator output mathematical model and acquisition techniques were derived in [7], [15]. Moreover, in [8], [15], tracking techniques were proposed, analyzed and tested based on the correlator output mathematical model of [7]. However, these models were derived by assuming a constant propagation channel over the duration of the correlation. Unfortunately, when the Channel Impulse Response (CIR) provided by a realistic propagation channel is not considered to be constant over the duration of the correlation, the correlator output mathematical models are slightly different from the mathematical models proposed in [7], [8].
Therefore, the first main point considered in the Ph.D. consists in the development of mathematical models and statistics of processed 5G signals for positioning. In order to derive accurate mathematical models, the time evolution impact of the 5G standard compliant propagation channel is of the utmost importance. Note that, in the Ph.D., the continuous CIR will be approximated by a discretized CIR, and the continuous time-evolution will be replaced by the propagation channel generation sampling rate notion. This approximation makes sense since, in a real transmission/reception chain, the received time-continuous signal is, at the output of the Radio-Frequency (RF) front-end, sampled. Therefore, a preliminary step, prior to derive accurate mathematical models of processed 5G signals, consists in determining the most suitable CIR-generation sampling interval for a selected 5G standard compliant propagation channel, QuaDRiGa: trade-off between having a realistic characterization and its complexity. Complexity is especially important for 5G compliant channels with multiple emitter and receiver antennas, and high number of multipath. Then, the impact of a time-evolving propagation channel inside an OFDM symbol duration is studied. A method to select the most appropriate CIR sampling interval for accurate modelling of symbol demodulation, correlator outputs and delay tracking will also be proposed.
Based on the correlator output mathematical models developed for realistic multipath environments for both GNSS and 5G systems, ranging modules are then developed. These ranging modules outputs the pseudo ranging measurements required to develop navigation solution. In order to improve the positioning availability and GNSS positioning performance in urban environment through the exploitation of 5G signals, both systems, GNSS and 5G communication systems, must be optimally combined. In fact, in order to achieve this optimal combination, both types of signals must be optimally processed, and the mathematical model of their generated pseudo range measurements must be accurately characterized. The second main objective of the Ph.D. aims thus at realistically characterizing GNSS and 5G pseudo range measurement mathematical models and at developing hybrid navigation modules exploiting/adapted to the derived pseudo range measurements mathematical models. In order to validate, the mathematical models developed in the Ph.D., a simulator is designed. The pseudo range measurements mathematical models are derived from a realistic simulator which integrates a typical GNSS receiver processing module and a typical 5G signal processing module proposition; moreover, in order to achieve a realistic characterization, the simulator implements highly realistic propagation channels for GNSS, SCHUN [16], and for 5G, QuaDRiGa [17] is developed. The hybrid navigation modules to be implemented and compared in this work are an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and an Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF). The performances of these hybrid navigation modules are then studied to quantify the improvements bringing by 5G TOA measurements.
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