| The ever-increasing public demand for location and positioning services has generated a demand for higher performance Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The Galileo L1F signal, part of the European contribution to future GNSS, was designed to respond to the above demand in terms of measurement accuracy, tracking robustness and tracking sensitivity. Since the Galileo L1F public signal structure is almost fully specified, this thesis proposes novel tracking loop designs to increase code and phase measurements performance for potential implementation in future receivers.; Using detailed modeling of each error that affects phase tracking, the Galileo L1F signal is shown to result in increased phase tracking robustness under dynamics, providing at least a 5-dB higher sensitivity and delivering more accurate measurements than the GPS C/A signal thanks to the availability of a dataless channel. Further phase measurement accuracy can be achieved through two proposed techniques that combine pilot channel phase tracking with the less robust data channel tracking. These techniques still maintain the same high resistance level towards dynamics as pilot channel-only phase tracking, thus proving to be highly beneficial for precise positioning applications.; A thorough analysis of each critical parameter for Delay Lock Loop (DLL) design shows the advantages of the Binary Offset Carrier (BOC) modulation used by Galileo L1F in terms of intrinsic loop robustness, and thermal noise and multipath mitigation as compared to GPS C/A code tracking. A new proposed tracking concept offers further multipath mitigation improvement by taking advantage of the potential higher correlation gain offered by the dataless channel, thus improving the measurement accuracy in degraded environments.; Although shown to be extremely beneficial for general code tracking, the BOC modulation is unfortunately also susceptible to yielding biased code measurements that would reduce its attractiveness as a ranging signal. To remove this threat, an innovative acquisition and tracking technique specific to the Galileo L1F signal, referred to as A&barbelow;utocorrelation S&barbelow;ide- Peak C&barbelow;orrelation T&barbelow;echnique (ASPeCT), that provides fully reliable and unbiased code measurements with noise and multipath mitigation equivalent to traditional BOC tracking, is developed and tested. It is consequently an excellent candidate for implementation in future Galileo receivers, especially when measurement reliability is a concern. |
