GPS Antenna Characterization Experiment (ACE): Receiver Design and Initial Results

The GPS Antenna Characterization Experiment (ACE) is a research collaboration between Aerospace and NASA Goddard to characterize the gain patterns of the GPS L1 transmit antennas. High altitude GPS observations are collected at a ground station through a transponder-based or "bent-pipe" architecture where the GPS L1 RF spectrum is received at a platform in geosynchronous orbit and relayed to the ground for processing. The focus of this paper is the unique receiver algorithm design and implementation. The high-sensitivity GPS C/A-code receiver uses high fidelity code and carrier estimates and externally supplied GPS message bit data in a batch algorithm with settings for a 0 dB-Hz threshold. The resulting carrier-to-noise measurements are used in a GPS L1 transmit antenna pattern reconstruction. This paper shows initial transmit gain patterns averaged over each block of GPS satellites, including comparisons to available pre-flight gain measurements from the GPS vehicle contractors. These results provide never-before-seen assessments of the full, in-flight transmit gain patterns.