Global navigation satellite system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9876529-B2
Application number	US-201314411812-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2013
Priority date	Jun 27, 2012
Publication date	Jan 23, 2018
Grant date	Jan 23, 2018

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing information about an encrypted signal transmitted by a satellite in a satellite navigation system are disclosed. A data sequence of the encrypted signal as transmitted is obtained, a signal sample is extracted from the data sequence, the signal sample including a part of the data sequence having a length less than a total length of the data sequence, and the signal sample and information about when the data included in the signal sample was transmitted by the satellite are transmitted, as the encrypted signal information, to a receiver for use in the satellite navigation system. A method and apparatus for authenticating an unencrypted signal based on the encrypted signal information are also disclosed. In particular, a time offset between an internal clock of the receiver and an internal clock of the satellite is obtained based on the unencrypted signal, the encrypted signal information is received, a portion of the received encrypted signal is identified that is expected to correspond to the signal sample based on the obtained time offset, the identified portion is correlated with the signal sample, and it is determined that the received unencrypted signal is authentic if a predetermined threshold correlation is obtained.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for providing encrypted signal information about a plurality of encrypted signals transmitted by a plurality of satellites in a satellite navigation system, the method comprising:
obtaining a sequence of chips of each one of the plurality of encrypted signals as transmitted, each one of the encrypted signals being transmitted by a different satellite in the satellite navigation system;
extracting sub-sample from each one of the obtained sequences of chips, each of the extracted sub-samples including a part of the respective sequence having a length less than a total length of the sequence;
summing the plurality of sub-samples into a summed signal sample; and
transmitting, to a receiver for use in the satellite navigation system, the summed signal sample and information about when the chips included in the summed signal sample were transmitted by the satellites, as the encrypted signal information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the encrypted signal information includes information about encrypted signal chips transmitted by M satellites in the satellite navigation system, and
wherein the number of chips N included in one of the sub-samples is given by N≦M−1.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the sequence of chips is a pseudorandom number PRN sequence modulated by a data bit, and
wherein if one of the sub-samples includes a data bit transition, the length N of said sub-sample in chips is given by N≦2(M−1).

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
validating each signal sample before transmitting to the receiver, by detecting the transmitted encrypted signal, identifying a portion of the detected encrypted signal corresponding to the signal sample, correlating the identified portion of the detected encrypted signal with the signal sample, and validating the signal sample if a predetermined threshold correlation is obtained and
transmitting the signal sample if the validation is successful.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sequence of chips of the encrypted signal is obtained based on information about pseudorandom number PRN codes and data used by the satellite to generate the encrypted signal.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
validating each signal sample before transmitting to the receiver, by detecting the transmitted encrypted signal, identifying a portion of the detected encrypted signal corresponding to the signal sample, correlating the identified portion of the detected encrypted signal with the signal sample, and validating the signal sample if a predetermined threshold correlation is obtained, and
transmitting the signal sample if the validation is successful.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sequence of chips of the encrypted signal is obtained by directly detecting the encrypted signal transmitted by the satellite.

8. A method for authenticating an unencrypted signal at a receiver arranged to receive the unencrypted signal and an encrypted signal from a satellite in a satellite navigation system, the method comprising:
obtaining a time offset between an internal clock of the receiver and an internal clock of the satellite based on the unencrypted signal;
receiving encrypted signal information about the encrypted signal, the encrypted signal information including a signal sample and information about when chips included in the signal sample was transmitted by the satellite, the signal sample comprising a concatenated plurality of sub-samples each including a separate part of a sequence of chips as transmitted in the encrypted signal such that the sequence is discontinuous between consecutive ones of the plurality of sub-samples;
identifying a portion of the received encrypted signal expected to correspond to the signal sample based on the obtained time offset;
correlating the identified portion with the signal sample by performing integration across the concatenated plurality of sub-samples to obtain a single correlation result for the plurality of sub-samples; and
determining that the received unencrypted signal is authentic if the obtained single correlation result exceeds a predetermined threshold correlation.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the encrypted and unencrypted signals are received at the same frequency, and are phase-locked.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the received encrypted signal is modulated according to a Binary Offset Carrier BOC modulation scheme, the method further comprising:
applying the BOC modulation to the signal sample,
wherein correlating the identified portion with the signal sample comprises correlating the identified portion with the BOC modulated signal sample.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the received encrypted signal is modulated according to a Binary Offset Carrier BOC modulation scheme, the method further comprising:
applying the BOC modulation to the signal sample,
wherein correlating the identified portion with the signal sample comprises correlating the identified portion with the BOC modulated signal sample.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium arranged to store a computer program which, when executed, performs the method of claim 8 .

13. Apparatus for providing encrypted signal information about a plurality of encrypted signals transmitted by a plurality of satellites in a satellite navigation system, the apparatus comprising:
a first processor configured to obtain a sequence of chips of each one of the plurality of encrypted signals as transmitted, each one of the encrypted signals being transmitted by a different satellite in the satellite navigation system, extract a sub-sample from each one of the obtained sequences of chips, each of the extracted sub-samples including a part of the respective sequence having a length less than a total length of the sequence the plurality of sub-samples extracted from the obtained sequences of chips into a summed signal sample; and
a network interface for transmitting, to a receiver for use in the satellite navigation system, the summed signal sample and information about when the chips included in the summed signal sample were transmitted by the plurality of satellites, as the encrypted signal information.

14. A system comprising the apparatus of claim 13 , and a receiver arranged to receive an unencrypted signal and an encrypted signal from a satellite in a satellite navigation system, the receiver comprising:
a second processor configured to obtain a time offset between an internal clock of the receiver and an internal clock of the satellite based on the unencrypted signal; and
a network interface for receiving encrypted signal information about the encrypted signal, the encrypted signal information including a signal sample and information about when chips included in the signal sample were transmitted by the satellite, the signal sample comprising a concatenated plurality of sub-samples each including a separate part of a sequence of chips as transmitted in the encrypted signal such that the sequence is discontinuous between consecutive ones of the plurality of sub-samples
wherein the second processor is further configured to determine whether the received unencrypted signal is authentic, said second processor being arranged to identify a portion of the received encrypted signal expected to correspond to the signal sample based on the obtained time offset, correlate the identified portion with the signal sample comprising the concatenated plurality of sub-samples, and determine that the received unencrypted signal is authentic if a predetermined threshold correlation is obtained.

15. A receive

Assignees

• Airbus Defence & Space Ltd

Inventors

• Turner Michael Charles

Classifications

• H04B7/18523

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