Study of IRNSS signal and separating out

desired information for further application

A Mini Project-II Report

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of

BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY

IN

ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING

By
Shreejita Chaudhuri
16BEC045
Shreya Adhikari
16BEC047

Under the Guidance of

Dr. Manisha Upadhyay

Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering

Institute of Technology, Nirma University
Ahmedabad-382481
May 2018
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the Mini Project-II Report entitled “Study of IRNSS signal and
separating out desired information for further application” submitted by Shreejita
Chaudhuri (16BEC045) and Shreya Adhikari(16BEC047) as the partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Technology in Electronics &
Communication Engineering, Institute of Technology, Nirma University is the record of
work carried out by him/her under my supervision and guidance. The work submitted in
our opinion has reached a level required for being accepted for the examination.

Date:

Dr. Manisha Upadhyay

Project Guide

Prof. (Dr.) D. K. Kothari

HOD (EC)
 ABSTRACT

India launched its own navigation satellite system IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite
System). To utilize the satellite system to its full potential we need to have a thorough knowledge of the
received data structure and frame format as well as various signal processing softwares like RTKLIB
and OPUS (currently working for GPS and GNSS data) which make data interpretation much easier.
Taking cue from these softwares the implementation of some of the data processing features is possible
using python which make data interpretation for IRNSS data much easier.
 Index

Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 7

1.1) MOTIVATION ............................................................................................................................ 7
1.2) OBJECTIVE ................................................................................................................................ 7
Chapter 2: IRNSS ....................................................................................................................................... 8
2.1) SPECIFICATIONS ..................................................................................................................... 8
2.2) DATA FRAME STRUCTURE ................................................................................................... 8
2.3) IRNSS NAVIGATION DATA ................................................................................................. 10
CHAPTER 3: SIGNAL PROCESSING SOFTWARES .......................................................................... 11
3.1) RTKLIB ..................................................................................................................................... 11
3.2) OPUS ......................................................................................................................................... 16
3.3) TEQC ......................................................................................................................................... 18
CHAPTER 4: PYHTON PROCESSING ................................................................................................. 20
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 22
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................... 23
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Data Frame (Subframe) .............................................................................................................. 8
Figure 2:RTKLAUNCH window and launcher icons .............................................................................. 12
Figure 3: Dataflow of RTKNAVI ............................................................................................................ 12
Figure 4: Ground Trek.............................................................................................................................. 14
Figure 5:Position ...................................................................................................................................... 14
Figure 6: Velocity..................................................................................................................................... 14
Figure 7: OPUS window on completion of file upload ............................................................................ 17
Figure 8: OPUS file result ........................................................................................................................ 17
Figure 9: Command prompt window with TEQC commands ................................................................. 18
Figure 10: C/NO v/s Time(s) ................................................................................................................... 20
Figure 11: DOP v/s time(s) ...................................................................................................................... 20
Figure 12: Variation in received co-ordinates .......................................................................................... 21
Figure 13: Location plotting on map ........................................................................................................ 21
 NOMENCLATURE

Abbreviations
IRNSS Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System
GPS Geo Positioning System
GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System
SPS Standard Positioning Service
TOWC Time Of Week Count
Chapter 1: Introduction
IRNSS stands for Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. It is India’s own navigation satellite
system consisting of 7 satellites. The first satellite was launched by ISRO on 1 July 2014 and the last
launch took place on 12 April 2018. It is an autonomous regional satellite navigation system that
provides accurate real-time positioning and timing services. It covers India and a region extending
1,500 km (930 mi) around it, with plans for further extension. An Extended Service Area lies between
the primary service area and a rectangle area enclosed by the 30th parallel south to the 50th parallel
north and the 30th meridian east to the 130th meridian east, 1,500–6,000 km beyond borders[1]. The
system at present consists of a constellation of seven satellites, with two additional satellites on ground
as stand-by.

1.1) MOTIVATION
The driving force behind this project is to explore more about India’s own navigation satellite
system and the interesting concepts of antenna and satellite communication.

1.2) OBJECTIVE
 To develop a better understanding of the signal frame format of IRNSS signal.
 Study the softwares which are currently available to process the raw GNSS and GPS
data.
 Perform the analysis of IRNSS data.
Chapter 2: IRNSS
2.1) SPECIFICATIONS
 Resolution:

 IRNSS: 20 Meters[2].
 GPS: Almost same, 20 Meters. (10 meters with hand held device)
 Conclusion: Resolution for both the system is almost same. So, both seems to be
better in this context.

 Coverage:

 IRNSS: is an Regional System i.e. in intended to cover only South Asia. It will
cover roughly 1500KM beyond India's political boundaries.
 GPS: Global System. It covers almost the entire World.
 Conclusion: American GPS is better.

 Constellation Type:

 IRNSS: IRNSS is GEO/GSO constellation.

 GPS: GPS is Medium Earth Orbit satellite constellation.
 Conclusion: Both have different challenges.

 No of Satellites:

 IRNSS: 7 satellite system, namely IRNSS-1A, IRNSS-1B, IRNSS-1C, IRNSS-1D,

IRNSS-1E, IRNSS-1F, IRNSS-1G.
 GPS: 31(24+7) satellite system.
 Conclusion: This makes GPS much more powerful & thus enabling it to have much
wider reach as compared to IRNSS[2].

2.2) DATA FRAME STRUCTURE

Figure 1: Data Frame (Subframe)[2]

Each Subframe is 292 bits long (without FEC encoding and Sync Word). The start of each
subframe is with TLM word of 8 bits. Each subframe ends with 24 bit CRC followed by 6 tail
bits.
 TLM : The 8 bits of TLM word are reserved for future.
 Time Of Week Count (TOWC) : Following the TLM word is 17 bits of Time Of Week
Count (TOWC). The value of TOWC is multiplied with 12 to obtain the time in seconds
corresponding to the start of the next subframe.
 Alert Flag : Bit 26 is allotted to the Alert Flag. The Alert flag signifies to users that the
utilization of navigation data from that particular satellite shall be at the users‘ own risk.
 Auto Nav : Bit 27 is allotted to the Autonav. Satellites store 7 days ephemeris and clock
parameter sets as AutoNav data sets. Satellite can support broadcast of primary navigation
parameters from AutoNav data sets with no uplink from ground for maximum of 7 days.
During AutoNav mode, the AutoNav flag is set to 1[1].
 Subframe ID : Each subframe in the master frame can be identified by the 2 bit subframe ID
allotted in bit number 28 and 29. The mapping between 2-bit subframe identifier and
subframe number is provided in Table 10.
SUNFRAME ID SUBFRAME
00 1
01 2
10 3
11 4

 Spare Bit : Bit 30 is identified as spare bit for future use.

 Message ID : Each message in the subframe 3 and 4 has a 6 bit message identifier that
uniquely identifies the message type in the subframe. The lists of messages are defined in
section 6.1.3. The bits allocated for the message identifier are Bit 31 to Bit 36.
 PRN ID : Each message in the subframe 3 and 4 has a 6 bit PRN identifier that uniquely
identifies the spacecraft transmitting the corresponding message. The PRN IDs for IRNSS
spacecrafts are defined in Table 7. The PRN ID is allocated Bit 257 - Bit 262 of subframe 3
& subframe 4.
2.3) IRNSS NAVIGATION DATA
The navigation data (NAV data) includes IRNSS satellite ephemeris, IRNSS time, satellite clock
correction parameters, status messages and other secondary information etc. Navigation data
modulated on top of the ranging codes can be identified as primary and secondary navigation
parameters.
 Primary Data
 Satellite Ephemeris
 Satellite Clock Correction Parameters
 Total group delay
 Secondary Data
 Ionospheric Delays
 Ionospheric delays correction coefficients
 IRNSS time offset
 DOP
CHAPTER 3: SIGNAL PROCESSING SOFTWARES
3.1) RTKLIB
Processing of the (raw) GPS data will be done with the RTKLIB package. RTKLIB is an

open source program package for GNSS positioning written by T. Takasu in Japan. It

supports many different modes of positioning. It can run under Windows, with a Graphical

User Interface (GUI). We will use only epoch-by-epoch single point positioning, and

kinematic relative positioning, all in post-processing (the data have been collected already,
and are available to you in RINEX format). We used RTKLIB’s RTKPOST, and also

RTKPLOT for visualizing the results. The RTKLIB software package has an enormous

amount of capability and flexibility. Between all of the different applications, the

configuration parameters and input options, it is very powerful. RTKLIB consists of a

portable program library and several APs (application programs) utilizing the library. The
features of RTKLIB are:

 It supports standard and precise positioning algorithms with:

GPS , GLONASS, Galileo , BeiDou and SBAS

 It supports various positioning modes with GNSS for both real time and post processing:
Single, DGPS/DGNSS, Kinematic, Static, Moving Baseline, Fixed, PPP Kinematic,

PPP Static and PPP Fixed[3].

 AP LAUNCHER:

It the basic GUI of ease of operation of all other provided applications.

Figure 2:RTKLAUNCH window and launcher icons[3]

 RTKNAVI

An real time positioning AP RTKNAVI inputs raw observation data of GPS/GNSS receivers and
execute navigation processing in real time. By setting the positioning mode to Kinematic and

configuring the rover and the base station receiver data inputs, RTK GPS/GNSS is enabled with

OTF (on the fly) integer ambiguity resolution.

Figure 3: Dataflow of RTKNAVI[3]

 STR2SVR
To facilitate easy setup of these communication links, RTKLIB provides a communication
server utility AP STRSVR, with which user can configure input and output data stream via these
communication links.[4]

 RTKPOST

RTKPOST is a post-processing application. . RTKPOST inputs the standard RINEX 2.10, 2.11,
2.12, 3.00, 3.01, 3.02 (draft) observation data and navigation message files (GPS, GLONASS,
Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou and SBAS) and computes positioning solutions by various modes
including single-point, DGNSS, kinematic, static and PPP(Precise Point Positioning )[3].
Figure 4: Ground Trek

Figure 5:Position

Figure 6: Velocity
 RTKPLOT

RTKPLOT can be used to assess the quality of RINEX observation data and to assist in planning
the ideal time to undertake a GNSS occupation.

RTKLIB’s post processing program RTKPOST inputs standard RINEX (version 2.10, 2.11,
2.12, 3.00, 3.01, 3.02) GNSS observation data and navigation message files (GPS, GLONASS,
Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou and SBAS), and computes positioning solutions using various
positioning modes, including single point pseudo-range (single), differential pseudo-range
(DGPS/DGNSS), relative carrier phase with and without ambiguity resolution (kinematic, static,
moving base), and precise point positioning (PPP) solutions.

RTKLIB’s post processing program RTKPOST inputs standard RINEX (version 2.10, 2.11,
2.12, 3.00, 3.01, 3.02) GNSS observation data and navigation message files (GPS, GLONASS,
Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou and SBAS), and computes positioning solutions using various
positioning modes, including single point pseudo-range (single), differential pseudo-range
(DGPS/DGNSS), relative carrier phase with and without ambiguity resolution (kinematic, static,
moving base), and precise point positioning (PPP) solutions.

The Quality flags Q are:

1. Fixed: Ambiguity fixed relative solution
2. Float: Ambiguity float relative
3. SBAS: solution with SBAS corrections
4. DGPS: DGPS/DGNSS solution
5. Single: single point solution
6. PPP: Precise Point Positioning solution

Visual Analysis Includes:

• Satellite Availability
• Dilution of Precision (DOP)
• Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)
• Multipath
3.2) OPUS
The National Geodetic Survey operates the On-line Positioning User Service (OPUS) as a means
to provide GPS users easier access to the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS). OPUS
allows users to submit their GPS data files to NGS, where the data will be processed to
determine a position using NGS computers and software. Each data file that is submitted will be
processed with respect to 3 CORS sites. The sites selected may not be the nearest to your site but
are selected by distance, # of obs, site stability, etc. The position for your data will be reported
back to you via email in both ITRF and NAD83 coordinates as well as UTM, USNG and State
Plane Coordinates (SPC) northing and easting. OPUS is completely automatic and requires only
a minimal amount of information from the user[5]:
 The email address where you want the results sent
 The data file that you want to process (which you may select using the browse feature)
 The antenna type used to collect this data file (selected from a list of calibrated GPS
antennas)
 The height of the Antenna Reference Point (ARP) above the monument or mark that you
are positioning
 As an option, you may also enter the state plane coordinate code if you want SPC
northing and easting.

 As an option, you may select up to 3 base stations to be used in determining your

solution.
OPUS will use either a static or rapid-static process, depending on the duration of your data file.
Static: Files are processed using PAGES static software. Your coordinates are averaged from
three independent, single-baseline solutions, each computed by double-differenced, carrier-
phase measurements from one of three nearby CORS[2].
Rapid-static: Files are processed using RSGPS rapid-static software. Rapid-static processing
employs more aggressive algorithms to resolve carrier phase ambiguities, but has more stringent
data continuity and geometry requirements; therefore there are some remote areas of the country
in which it will not work[6].
Figure 7: OPUS window on completion of file upload

Figure 8: OPUS file result

3.3) TEQC
Teqc is a comprehensive toolkit for solving many problems when preprocessing GNSS data:
translation: read GNSS native receiver files and translate the data to other formats
editing: metadata extraction, editing, and/or correction of RINEX header metadata or BINEX
metadata records; as well as cutting/splicing of RINEX files or BINEX files
quality checking of GPS and/or GLONASS data (native binary, BINEX, or RINEX observation
files, with or without navigation files with ephemerides)
The three functions from which teqc gets its name, translation, editing, and quality checking, can
be performed separately, in pairs, or all together in a single run.
Commands to perform various tasks in teqc are as follows:[7]

 To see metadata in an input file, either RINEX or a raw native receiver file:
&teqc +meta inputfile
someline metadata summary about the input file. This teqc command works for
either RINEX files or for native receiver output files, automatically recognized by teqc

 To get a summary of how many observations are in a RINEX file:

& teqc -O.sum . inputfile
which shows which SVs are tracked, the types of observations (such as L1 and L2), and a co
unt of the observables for each type for each SV. Be sure to include the single “ . ” period.

 To do quality checking (qc) of a RINEX observation inputfile, output the qc results to the
screen, and to write the "qc plot" files and the "qc report" file:
& teqc +qc inputfile
inputfile is a RINEX obs file. Teqc will also find and use any RINEX nav files
corresponding to the input obs file which are in the same directory as the
inputfile. This creates output to screen, and a
new file, with new file extension ending in S, such as inputfile.10S
CHAPTER 4: PYHTON PROCESSING
Taking the above discussed softwares as a reference for processing of the GNSS data we developed
some Python codes for various parameters
 C/No
This is the graphical representation of the carrier to noise ratio v/s time in seconds in different
frequency bands.
Blue: L5 band; Red : L1 band; Green : S1 band

Figure 10: C/NO v/s Time(s)

 Dilution Of Precision
This graph represents the content of the various parameters which contribute to the Dilution of
Precision as a whole.
Red: GDOP; Blue: PDOP; Green: HDOP; Pink: VDOP; Orange: TDOP

Figure 11: DOP v/s time(s)

 Variation in the co-ordinates of a single position
This is the 3-D representation of the variation in values of the received co-ordinates for the same
position. As we can observe the variation is very minute . X axis is the Latitudes in degrees, Y
axis is the Longitudes in degrees and Z axis is the altitude in meters.

Figure 12: Variation in received co-ordinates

 Plotting of the received co-ordinates on the map

This is the snapshot of the result where we plotted the co-ordinates received on the map of
Nirma University.

Figure 13: Location plotting on map

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
After the successful launch of all the IRNSS satellites, the need for the hour is proper processing tools
to extract the received data and convert them to useful applications. Both mean-time processing and
post-processing techniques and algorithms need to be developed and embedded in chips for future use.
After the study of some existing applications we draw the following conclusions:
1) RTKLIB
The RTKLIB software package has an enormous amount of capability and flexibility. Between all of the
different applications, the configuration parameters, and input options, it is very powerful. RTKLIB
does not support the processing of data from IRNSS satellite but by viewing the source-codes, an effort
can be made to develop similar software for the data processing of IRNSS data.
2)OPUS
It is a quick and easy online software wherein no particular setup is required. All data needs to be
provided online which is processed on a server and accurate results are mailed back. Such websites can
be developed for IRNSS as well wherein anyone with an internet connection and required input source
files can easily access their location.
3) TEQC
software such as these need to developed for solving problems related to pre-processing

The study of these tools helped us develop our own post-processing tool using python giving accurate
graphical representations of C/No, Dilution of precision and also position plotting implemented on data
obtained from IRNSS.
REFERENCES
[1] A. Software, “IRNSS / GPS / SBAS receiver : User manual,” 2017.
[2] S. In, S. Icd, and S. P. Service, “SIGNAL IN SPACE ICD FOR STANDARD POSITIONING
SERVICE,” 2017.
[3] U. Requirements, “RTKLIB ver. 2.4.2 Manual,” no. C, 2013.
[4] T. Receiver and I. Exchange, “International GNSS Service ( IGS ), RINEX Working Group and
Radio Technical Commission for Maritime,” vol. 104, 2017.
[5] P. C. C. R, M. Ramesh, and S. Raghavan, “Dual-Band RHCP Stacked Microstrip Antenna for
IRNSS Receiver,” vol. 118, no. 17, pp. 47–59, 2018.
[6] O. F. Transportation, “TRAINING MANUAL Online Positioning User Service ( OPUS ) Design
Division,” 2007.
[7] T. Use and T. Products, “Teqc Tutorial Basics of Teqc Use and Teqc Products,” 2014.