High-Sensitivity GPS L1 Signal Analysis for Indoor Channel Modelling

New applications of indoor positioning and navigation demand GPS-level performance but in environments where GPS suffers performance degradation and failures. Development of GPS technologies to function indoors requires means to validate receiver performance without the time, complexity, and cost required to field test each development. Propagation models that can accurately predict signal behaviour indoors could potentially be used in signal simulators to test hardware in the laboratory with repeatable results. A limited understanding of indoor GPS signal behaviour has prevented the creation of adequate propagation models to date. Existing models do not account for both fading and ranging errors that degrade GPS indoor performance. In this thesis, high-bandwidth raw GPS data are analyzed with high-sensitivity techniques to characterize fading and multipath characteristics in a pair of indoor environments. The measured behaviour suggests characteristics required for a novel channel model, and provides an estimate of the possible performance improvement gained in using these models as opposed to existing channel models.