Abstract:

A modified pseudo-noise (PN) code regeneration method is proposed to improve the clock tracking accuracy without impairing the code acquisition time performance. Thus, the method can meet the requirement of high accuracy ranging measurements in short time periods demanded by radio-science missions. The tracking error variance is derived by linear analysis. For some existing PN codes, which can be acquired rapidly, the tracking error variance performance of the proposed method is about 2.6 dB better than that of the JPL scheme (originally proposed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory), and about 1.5 dB better than that of the traditional double loop scheme.