Fundamentals of Satellite‐Based Navigation and Timing

Passive radio frequency trilateration has become the dominant satellite‐based navigation and timing (satnav) technique, and is the focus of this chapter. The chapter introduces satnav basics – the measurements; calculations of position, velocity, and time; and the overall structure of a satnav system. It describes different parts of a satnav system: the space segment, navigation signals, the ground segment, and the user segment respectively. The chapter also describes the basics of a satnav satellite, followed by a discussion of satnav constellations. Satnav signals enable a receiver to produce the observables are described. An increasingly important part of satnav is its augmentation systems of various types, which is also discussed. The chapter discusses the key to satnav performance that is understanding, characterizing, and mitigating various sources of errors.