Measuring GALILEO's Multipath Channel

Abstract

One leading point in the choice of the signal format for the Galileo System is the multipath transmission channel. Studies concerning the signal structure (e.g. ESA Signal Design Study) [1] had clearly shown that the synchronisation performance of a specific signal strongly depends on the reflections in the environment. Especially, short delayed reflections significantly decrease the performance of the receiver. The positioning error becomes even worse if these reflections are strong and slowly varying over time, which is predominant in pedestrian applications. Although narrowband channels like GSM (COST 207) [2] or UMTS have been measured in the past, it became necessary to analyse the wideband navigation channel to minimize multipath effects in future highly accurate receivers. For these reasons we measured the channel from the satellite to a receiver in critical urban and suburban scenarios. This paper will present first preliminary statements and conclusions for typical applications.