Multisatellite tracking GNSS receivers in multipath environments

In global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) multipath propagation potentially leads to performance degradation and a reduced robustness of the receivers. Existing algorithms aiming at reducing the impact of multipath have an increased computational complexity as they typically require at least additional correlators. On the other hand multisatellite tracking algorithms provide a high robustness in fading environments. But their behavior in multipath is not documented yet. Therefore this paper aims at comparing three different signal tracking approaches in a simulated realistic multipath environment: state-of-the-art scalar tracking loops, vector delay locked loops and joint tracking loops. The performance results show the benefit of the carrier usage in the tracking. In both, the scalar tracking loops and the multisatellite tracking loops. Thus the joint tracking receivers prove to be a robust and yet precise tool for standalone position estimation with GNSS signals.