GPS L1 C/A Signal Acquisition Analysis

This report presents a performance analysis of a representative technique for GPS L1 C/A signal acquisition. The purpose of this report is to analyze the signal acquisition technique for L1 C/A legacy aviation GPS receivers to determine C/N₀ values where acquisition can occur while satisfying given acquisition scenario constraints. The representative signal acquisition technique is analyzed since receiver manufacturers build to a performance specification and not to a specific acquisition algorithm. The results are based on an acquisition scenario where a position fix must occur within five minuets. Additional conditions for the acquisition are discussed in the report. Results show that acquisition can occur at 28.7 dB-Hz C/N₀ at the input to the correlators or 31.7 dB-Hz at the output of the antenna when 1 dB Doppler and code offset losses and 2 dB other implementation losses are included.