Development and application of GPS signal multipath simulator

A ray tracing GPS signal multipath simulator which takes into account the signal reflection and diffraction from surrounding objects has been developed. By properly modeling the environment around an antenna and the GPS receiver's tracking loop, this simulator can assess the GPS signal multipath error. Thus, it can be used in the early design phase of an experiment to foretell hazardous environmental configurations that can cause severe multipath. It can also aid in finding the best antenna type, location, and orientation within a given environment, and provides a quantitative estimate of multipath errors on GPS measurements. The capability of the simulator is demonstrated by using the International Space Station (ISS) environment.