Investigation of Accuracy of TOA and SNR of Radio Pulsar Signals for Vehicles Navigation

It is known that X-ray and gamma-ray pulsars can only be observed by spacecraft because signals from these pulsars are impossible to be detected on the Earth’s surface due to their strong absorption by the Earth’s atmosphere. The article is devoted to the theoretical aspects regarding the development of an autonomous radio navigation system for transport with a small receiving antenna, using radio signals from pulsars, similar to navigation systems for space navigation. Like GNSS systems (X-ray and radio), they use signals from four suitable pulsars to position the object. These radio pulsars (out of 50) are not uniformly distributed but are grouped in certain directions (at least 6 clusters can be determined). When using small antennas (with an area of up to tens of square meters) for pulsar navigation, the energy of the pulsar signals received within a few minutes is extremely insufficient to obtain the required level of SNR at the output of the receiver to form TOA estimation, ensuring positioning accuracy up to tens of kilometers. This is one of the scientific tasks that is solved in the paper by studying the relationship between the SNR of the receiver output, which depends on the size of the antenna, the type of signal processing, and the magnitude of the TOA accuracy estimate. The second scientific task that is solved in the paper is the adaptation of all the possible approaches and algorithms suggested in the statistical theory of radars in the suggested signal algorithm for antenna processing and to evaluate the parameters of the TOA and DS pulsar signals, in order to increase the SNR ratio at the receiver output, while preserving the dimensions of the antenna. In this paper, the functional structure of signal processing in a pulsar transport navigation system is proposed, and the choice of the observed second and millisecond pulsars for obtaining a more accurate TOA estimate is discussed. The proposed estimates of positioning accuracy (TOA only, no phase) in an autonomous pulsar vehicle navigation system would only be suitable for the navigation of large vehicles (sea, air, or land) that do not require accurate navigation at sea, air, or desert. Large-sized antennas with an area of tens of square meters to hundreds of square meters can be installed in such vehicles.