{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]],"date-time":"2026-02-19T01:59:39Z","timestamp":1771466379142,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,3,9]],"date-time":"2016-03-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1457481600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) were originally introduced to provide positioning and timing services for terrestrial Earth users. However, space users increasingly rely on GNSS for spacecraft navigation and other science applications at several different altitudes from the Earth surface, in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), and feasibility studies have proved that GNSS signals can even be tracked at Moon altitude. Despite this, space remains a challenging operational environment, particularly on the way from the Earth to the Moon, characterized by weaker signals with wider gain variability, larger dynamic ranges resulting in higher Doppler and Doppler rates and critically low satellite signal availability. Following our previous studies, this paper describes the proof of concept \u201cWeakHEO\u201d receiver; a GPS L1 C\/A receiver we developed in our laboratory specifically for lunar missions. The paper also assesses the performance of the receiver in two representative portions of an Earth Moon Transfer Orbit (MTO). The receiver was connected to our GNSS Spirent simulator in order to collect real-time hardware-in-the-loop observations, and then processed by the navigation module. This demonstrates the feasibility, using current technology, of effectively exploiting GNSS signals for navigation in a MTO.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s16030347","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,3,9]],"date-time":"2016-03-09T10:38:02Z","timestamp":1457519882000},"page":"347","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":31,"title":["Standalone GPS L1 C\/A Receiver for Lunar Missions"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Vincenzo","family":"Capuano","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"\u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL), Electronics and Signal Processing Laboratory (ESPLAB), Rue de la Maladi\u00e8re 71b, CH-2002 Neuch\u00e2tel 2, Switzerland"}]},{"given":"Paul","family":"Blunt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"\u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL), Electronics and Signal Processing Laboratory (ESPLAB), Rue de la Maladi\u00e8re 71b, CH-2002 Neuch\u00e2tel 2, Switzerland"}]},{"given":"Cyril","family":"Botteron","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"\u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL), Electronics and Signal Processing Laboratory (ESPLAB), Rue de la Maladi\u00e8re 71b, CH-2002 Neuch\u00e2tel 2, Switzerland"}]},{"given":"Jia","family":"Tian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"\u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL), Electronics and Signal Processing Laboratory (ESPLAB), Rue de la Maladi\u00e8re 71b, CH-2002 Neuch\u00e2tel 2, Switzerland"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7203-8161","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"J\u00e9r\u00f4me","family":"Lecl\u00e8re","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"\u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL), Electronics and Signal Processing Laboratory (ESPLAB), Rue de la Maladi\u00e8re 71b, CH-2002 Neuch\u00e2tel 2, Switzerland"}]},{"given":"Yanguang","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"\u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL), Electronics and Signal Processing Laboratory (ESPLAB), Rue de la Maladi\u00e8re 71b, CH-2002 Neuch\u00e2tel 2, Switzerland"}]},{"given":"Francesco","family":"Basile","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"\u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL), Electronics and Signal Processing Laboratory (ESPLAB), Rue de la Maladi\u00e8re 71b, CH-2002 Neuch\u00e2tel 2, Switzerland"}]},{"given":"Pierre-Andr\u00e9","family":"Farine","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"\u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL), Electronics and Signal Processing Laboratory (ESPLAB), Rue de la Maladi\u00e8re 71b, CH-2002 Neuch\u00e2tel 2, Switzerland"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,3,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Miller, J. (2011, January 5\u20139). Enabling a fully interoperable GNSS space service volume. Proceedings of the 6th International Committee on GNSS (ICG), Tokyo, Japan."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Marmet, F., Bondu, E., Calaprice, M., Maureau, J., Laurichesse, D., Grelier, T., and Ries, L. (2013, January 5\u20136). GPS\/Galileo navigation beyond low earth orbit. Proceedings of the 6th European Workshop on GNSS Signals and Signal Processing, Neubiberg, Germany."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Capuano, V., Botteron, C., Wang, Y., Tian, J., Lecl\u00e8re, J., and Farine, P.A. (October, January 29). GNSS to Reach the Moon. Proceedings of the 65th International Astronautical Congress, Toronto, ON, Canada."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Braasch, M.S., and de Haag, M.U. (February, January 31). GNSS for LEO, GEO, HEO and beyond. Proceedings of the Advances in the Astronautical Sciences, Rocky Mountain Guidance and Control Conference, Breckenridge, CO, USA."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Silva, P.F., Lopes, H.D., Peres, T.R., Silva, J.S., Ospina, J., Cichocki, F., Dovis, F., Musumeci, L., Serant, D., and Calmettes, T. (2013, January 16\u201320). Weak GNSS signal navigation to the moon. Proceedings of the ION GNSS+, Nashville, TN, USA."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"467","DOI":"10.1016\/j.actaastro.2008.07.022","article-title":"En route to the moon using GNSS signals","volume":"64","author":"Palmerini","year":"2009","journal-title":"Acta Astronaut."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Palmerini, G. (2014, January 29\u201330). GNSS software receiver as a navigation sensor in very high orbits. Proceedings of the IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Aerospace, Benevento, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/MetroAeroSpace.2014.6865890"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Manzano-Jurado, M., Alegre-Rubio, J., Pellacani, A., Seco-Granados, G., Lopez-Salcedo, J., Guerrero, E., and Garcia-Rodriguez, A. (2014, January 3\u20135). Use of weak GNSS signals in a mission to the moon. Proceedings of the 7th ESA Workshop on Satellite Navigation Technologies and European Workshop on GNSS Signals and Signal Processing (NAVITEC), Noordwijk, The Netherlands.","DOI":"10.1109\/NAVITEC.2014.7045151"},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"Bamford, W.A., Heckel, G.W., Holt, G.N., and Moreau, M. (2008, January 28\u201330). A GPS receiver fot lunar missions. Proceedings of the ION NTM 2008, San Diego, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Bamford, W., Naasz, B., and Moreaus, M. (2006, January 4\u20138). Navigation performance in high earth orbits using navigator GPS receiver. Proceedings of the American Astronautical Society Guidance and Control Conference, Breckenridge, CO, USA."},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"Winternitz, L., Moreau, M., Boegner, G., and Sirotzky, S. (2004, January 21\u201324). Navigator GPS receiver for fast acquisition and weak signal space applications. Proceedings of the ION GNSS Conference, Long Beach, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"Moreau, M.C., Axelrad, P., Garrison, J.L., Wennersten, M., and Long, A. (2001, January 11\u201314). Test results of the PiVot receiver in high earth orbits using a GSS GPS simulator. Proceedings of the ION, Salt Lake City, UT, USA."},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"Capuano, V., Botteron, C., and Farine, P.-A. (2013, January 23\u201327). GNSS performances for MEO, GEO and HEO. Proceedings of the 64th International Astronautical Congress, Beijing, China."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Unwin, M., van Steenwijk, R.D.V., Blunt, P., Hashida, Y., Kowaltschek, S., and Nowak, L. (2013, January 16\u201320). Navigating above the GPS constellation\u2014Preliminary results from the SGR-GEO on GIOVE-A. Proceedings of the 26th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of the Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS+ 2013), Nashville, TN, USA."},{"key":"ref_15","unstructured":"Balbach, O., Eissfeller, B., Hein, G., Enderle, W., Schmidhuber, M., and Lemke, N. (1998, January 20\u201323). Tracking GPS above GPS satellite altitude: First results of the GPS experiment on the HEO mission Equator-S. Proceedings of the IEEE Position Location and Navigation Symposium, Palm Springs, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"Moreau, M., Davis, E.P., Carpenter, J.R., and Kelbel, G.D.P.A.D. (2002, January 24\u201327). Results from the GPS flight experiment on the high earth orbit AMSAT OSCAR-40 spacecraft. Proceedings of the ION GPS Conference, Tampa, FL, USA."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Davis, G., Moreau, M., Carpenter, R., and Bauer, F. (2003, January 5\u20138). GPS-based navigation and orbit determination for the AMSAT AO-40 satellite. Proceedings of the AIAA, Monterey, CA, USA.","DOI":"10.2514\/6.2002-5004"},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"Ruegamer, A., Foerster, F., Stahl, M., and Rohmer, G. (2012, January 17\u201321). A flexible and portable multiband GNSS front-end system. Proceedings of the ION ITM, Nashville, TN, USA."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Sheridan, K., Wells, D., Botteron, C., Lecl\u00e8re, J., Dominici, F., and Defina, A. (2010, January 8\u201311). An assisted-GNSS solution for demanding road applications using the EGNOS Data Access System (EDAS). Proceeedings of the Toulouse Space Show, Toulouse, Franch."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"AGI. Available online: http:\/\/www.agi.com\/products\/stk\/."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"(2011). ICD-GPS-200F Navstar GPS Space Segment\/User Segment Interfaces."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Spirent (2015). SimGen Software User Manual."},{"key":"ref_23","unstructured":"Kaplan, E.D., and Hegarty, C.J. (2006). Understanding GPS: Principles and Applications, Artech House."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"186","DOI":"10.1016\/j.actaastro.2015.06.007","article-title":"Feasibility study of GNSS as navigation system to reach the Moon","volume":"116","author":"Capuano","year":"2015","journal-title":"Acta Astronaut."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Capuano, V., Basile, F., Botteron, C., and Farine, P.-A. (2015). Gnss Based Orbital Filter for Earth Moon Transfer Orbits. J. Navig.","DOI":"10.1017\/S0373463315000843"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Capuano, V., Blunt, P., Botteron, C., and Farine, P.-A. (2016, January 25\u201328). Orbital filter aiding of a high sensitivity GPS receiver for lunar missions. Proceedings of the International Technical Meeting of the Institute of Navigation, Monterey, CA, USA.","DOI":"10.33012\/2016.13422"},{"key":"ref_27","unstructured":"Van Diggelen, F. (2009). A-GPS: Assisted GPS, GNSS and SBAS, Artech House."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1497","DOI":"10.1109\/TAES.2013.6558001","article-title":"Comparison framework of FPGA-based GNSS signals acquisition architectures","volume":"49","author":"Botteron","year":"2013","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst."},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Ziedan, N.I. (2006). GNSS Receivers for Weak Signals, Artech House."},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"Duffett-Smith, P.J.A.R.P. (2007, January 25\u201328). Reconstruction of the satellite ephemeris from time-spaced snippets. Proceedings of the ION GNSS 2007, Fort Worth, TX, USA."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"Musumeci, L., Dovis, F., Silva, P.F., Lopes, H.D., and Silva, J. (2014, January 5\u20138). Design of a very high sensitivity acquisition. Proceedings of the Position, Location and Navigation Symposium\u2014PLANS 2014, Monterey, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"Groves, P.D. (2013). Principles of GNSS, Inertial, and Multisensor Integrated Navigation Systems, Artech House."},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"Ziedan, N.I., and Garrison, J. (2004, January 21\u201324). Extended Kalman filter-based tracking of weak GPS signals under high dynamic conditions. Proceedings of the ION GNSS 17th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division, Long Beach, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_34","unstructured":"Psiaki, M.L., and Jung, H. (2002, January 24\u201326). Extended Kalman filter methods for tracking weak gps signals. Proceedings of the ION GNSS, Albuquerque, NM, USA."},{"key":"ref_35","unstructured":"Jee, G., Kim, H., Lee, Y., and Park, C. (2002, January 24\u201327). A GPS C\/A code tracking loop based on extended Kalman filter with multipath mitigation. Proceedings of the ION GPS 2002, Portland, OR, USA."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"197","DOI":"10.1007\/s10291-011-0222-z","article-title":"Methodology for comparing two carrier phase tracking techniques","volume":"Volume 16","author":"Salem","year":"2012","journal-title":"GPS Solutions"},{"key":"ref_37","unstructured":"Petovello, M., O\u2019Driscoll, C., and Lachapelle, G. (2008, January 28\u201330). Carrier phase tracking of weak signals using different receiver architectures. Proceedings of the ION NTM 2008, San Diego, CA, USA."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"199","DOI":"10.1504\/IJSPACESE.2015.073216","article-title":"GPS based orbital filter to reach the moon","volume":"3","author":"Basile","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. J. Space Sci. Eng."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/16\/3\/347\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T19:20:24Z","timestamp":1760210424000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/16\/3\/347"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2016,3,9]]},"references-count":38,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,3]]}},"alternative-id":["s16030347"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s16030347","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2016,3,9]]}}}