Sonobuoy Position Location using

the Military P(Y) Code

2005 Joint Undersea Warfare Technology
Spring Conference
March 30, 2005

Dr. Alison Brown Jim Lackemacher

NAVSYS Corporation Sparton Electronics
Phone: 719-481-4877 Phone: (386) 740-5315
email: abrown@navsys.com email: jlackemacher@sparton.com
www.navsys.com www.sparton.com 1
 What is the Problem
• Sonobuoys could benefit from precise GPS location to improve
operations
– Improve accuracy and reduce aircraft vulnerability
– Allows networked sonobuoy positioning and stand-off operation
• OSD policy requires use of secure P(Y) code for GPS military
applications
– C/A code GPS can be easily spoofed or denied in a tactical environment
– Current military GPS UE (SAASM) are too expensive for sonobuoy
operation
• Conventional GPS solutions do not operate well in the challenging
sonobuoy environment
– High degree of masking due to antenna’s low elevation above the sea surface
– Long Time-To-First-Fix when coming out of storage. TTFF is also
aggravated by high sea-states and/or high winds (up to hours!)
– RF interference from 1 watt of power adjacent to antenna
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 Alternative GPS Architecture
OEM GPS Receiver

RF Telemetry &
RF/IF Correlators CPU
multiplexer

TCXO LAT, LON

Almanac and (Pseudorange)
last position is
stored in non-
volatile
memory
TIDGET Sensor

Digital Data RF Telemetry &

RF/IF
Buffer multiplexer

TIDGET
TCXO DATA
PACKET

TIDGET allows use of commercial GPS chips on buoy with

secure P(Y) code signal processing performed in aircraft
Client/Server architecture facilitates operation in high sea-
states and challenging sonobouy environment 3
P(Y) TIDGET Sonobuoy System
Architecture
RF Chip DSP TIDGET Data
RF Input from
Data aircraft GPS
RF Input from antenna
Storage
aircraft DIFAR
GPS Sonobuoy Sensor antenna GPS
TIDGET Processing Receiver
Station (existing)

Channel select
GPS and geolocation
Sonobuoy data I/O
Sensor

k DIFAR Processing
lin
Up Station (existing)
K
FS Aircraft Equipment

4
Desired GPS Sonobuoy Performance
• Position accuracy of DIFAR SSQ-53-F Buoy
< 100 meters
Weight : 18.9 lb.

• Position refresh rate of Length: 36.0 “

C.G. From Bottom: 14.8”

< 3 minutes per buoy

• Uplink data link rate of
1200 bps

NAWC-AD funded an SBIR to build and

test 5 prototype GPS DIFAR sonobuoys 5
 P(Y) TIDGET Sonobuoy Design
• Sparton DIFAR Sonobuoy and Acoustic Processor.
– Integrated P(Y) TIDGET sensor
– Modified with GPS uplink data.
– Design is backwards compatible with the existing DIFAR aircraft
acoustic processor.
• TIDGET P(Y) Code Sensor mounted in the buoy float bag
– Power supply regulation and switching
– Low-cost P(Y) compatible RF front-end with integrated GPS patch
antenna.
– TIDGET data buffer and state-control functions
– Sparton-designed GFSK (Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying)
modulation circuit, outputting the modulation signal to the buoy
electronics.

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TIDGET assembly uses all
Commercial Components

• TIDGET circuit board

mounted in surface unit
• Includes GFSK
modulation circuit
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 Q-53F Buoy with TIDGET Card
• The weight and .25 inch GPS/antenna

overall form factor of PCB spacing shown

the Q-53F buoy with

added GPS capability
remain unchanged.
• The bare buoy weighs
18.6 lbs and the buoy
with sonobuoy launch
container (SLC)
weighs 23.6 lbs.

8
 DIFAR Composite Spectrum
Freq pilot Phase pilot

dB( composite ( flognlog) )

Omni Difar
GPS modulation
hydrophone hydrophone

1 .10 1.5 .10 2 .10 2.5 .10 3 .10 3.5 .10 4 .10 4.5 .10
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
0 5000
n
flognlog ,
Nbins⋅ T
GPS Modulation added as a 4800 Baud GFSK Pseudo-Random Bit Stream
Does not affect existing Sono Data demodulation as above current channel pass-band
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 Telemetry Sequence
State 3
State 2 .. RF State 1
State 1 .... RF telemetry telemetry .... RF telemetry
.... RF telemetry ON OFF OFF ON
State 4.... RF telemetry ON .... GPS OFF
.... GPS OFF .... GPS ON
.... GPS OFF ….SRAM idle
….SRAM idle .... SRAM idle ....
.... SRAM read .... Preamble
.... Preamble .... Program Infineon GPS ON
.... Transmit GPS data transmit
transmit registers .SRAM
…Reset Address ….Reset Address snapshot ….Reset Address
32 bit period
pointer pointer fill 6.6688mSec pointer
262144 bit period
NCorrBuff 64 bit period
NbuoyI2C 13.33mSec (32768 bytes)
280 bit period 54.63081secs
58.352mSec

64 bit period NbuoyGPSin

13.3376mSec NbuoyGPSTx
Nbuoyresync

24 bit
C00C33C3FF03CFCC TELEMETRY RF OFF 33333333 Snapshot GPS data transmission periods C00C33C3FF03CFCC

• Data rate = 40000000/8336 =4798.4644913 bps

• Snapshot = 6.55 mSecs
• Frame Length = 262608 bit period = 54.7275seconds
Telemetry uplink briefly gated off during GPS
snapshot collection to avoid interference 10
 Aircraft Processing Unit
Sonobuoy Software Defined Radio
Processing uses 3 Waveforms
• GPS Waveform
– GPS L1 P(Y) Code
– Includes PPS-SM Security Processor
– Provides GPS reference data
• Sonobuoy Telemetry Waveform
– Data Processing for GFSK
demodulation
– Acquisition, Tracking, Data Sonobuoy Test-Bed used a Compact
demodulation and Frame Sync
PCI Software Defined Radio (SDR)
• TIDGET Processing Waveform
– P(Y) Correlation on TIDGET data 1 ½ ATR Aviation SDR has now
– Computes Sonobuoy navigation been purchased by NAVAIR
solution

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 Software Defined Radio
DIFAR/GPS Digital Front-End
(60-80) MHz 40 MHz
DIFAR (155-175) MHz
HI A/D
BPF
Converter
T
BW=20MHz
O
(60-80) MHz 40 MHz
DIFAR
LO (135-155) MHz A/D V
BPF I
Converter
F
BW=20MHz

B
O
(1563.42-1587.42)MHz A
GPS (58-82) MHz 40 MHz
L1 R
• Receives both GPS and BPF BPF
A/D
Converter
D
S

DIFAR uplinked signals CF=1575.42 MHz

1505.5 MHz
BW=24MHz

• DIFAR Channel selectable

through software control
12
 TIDGET Waveform Processing
• TIDGET data provided SGPS STIDGET

by Telemetry GPS Satellite

Track
TIDGET
Correlation
Buoy
Navigation
lla_out

Waveform
• TIDGET Correlation Ephem P(Y)
GCF

generates pseudo-ranges
• Buoy Navigation • P(Y)-code (10.23Mbps)
computed using Kalman recorded by GPS
Filter Waveform
• Ephemeris data provided
by GPS Waveform
13
 TIDGET Waveform Results
• C/A and P(Y) Correlations are
computed for all visible satellites
• P(Y)+C/A correlation peaks
used to detect which satellites
can be tracked
• Sonobuoy mask angle and wave
motion will cut-off some
satellites

C/N0 (dB-Hz) for Channels 0 through 7

C/A 23.4448 17.3604 38.4201 41.7175 35.2154 15.8219 18.9964 44.1526
P(Y) 32.2919 30.8377 35.5640 39.2597 35.3738 32.2720 32.0136 41.4152
P(Y)+C/A 27.8612 25.9788 40.2327 43.6369 38.0287 28.8691 29.0887 45.9957

14
Channels where SV Signal Detected

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Lab Test - Sonobuoy Navigation Data

16
 Sea Trial at New Smyrna Beach, FL

• Five Buoys were deployed between 10:25 am to 5 pm on October 26, 2004

• The sea state through the trial was 4-5 with a 6-8 foot swell
• After each buoy deployment the boat was allowed to drift several hundred
meters downwind before being motored back into the buoy field.
17
Satellites Tracked during Sea Trials

Satellites below 30 degrees in elevation were rarely tracked

(Predicted mask angle was 18.5 degrees). The additional
masking may be due to wave obscuration or the buoy may be
sitting lower in the water than was assumed 18
 Boat Tracks and Buoy Tracks
(units in meters)

Test successfully demonstrated Client/Server P(Y) code

Sonobuoy operation in Sea State 4-5 using a Software Defined
Radio for the GPS signal processing
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 GPS Sensor Trade Study Summary
Sensor Type C/A GPS Engine SAASM Engine P(Y) TIDGET
Provides PPS solution No Yes Yes
Does not require Buoy No (Initialization No (Both keying and Yes
Initialization pre-launch needed to reduce initialization needed)
TTFF in high sea
state)
Data-Link bandwidth Low Low Medium (4800 bps)
requirements
Security requirements Not compliant Security device is on None – all security
with GPS Security Buoy - Must be devices on aircraft
policy for combat zeroized prior to
support mission end
Estimated Cost <$150 (including $2800 (+ telemetry <$180 (with telemetry
telemetry uplink) uplink) uplink and in large
volume production)
Modifications to Buoy initialization Buoy initialization Software Defined
aircraft device required device required Radio required (could
use JTRS on aircraft)
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 Conclusion
• P(Y) TIDGET provides low cost, secure solution for sonobuoy
positioning using GPS
• SBIR project resulted in a design for embedding GPS sensor
into existing DIFAR sonobuoys
• Software Defined Radio was used to perform DIFAR
Telemetry, GPS and TIDGET processing
• Sea Trials have demonstrated capability to provide secure P(Y)
code GPS positioning capability for sonobuoys in sea-state 4-5
• Parts for additional sonobuoys have been purchased to allow for
further sea-trials and operational evaluation
– NAWC-AD POC: Rich Sensenig, Pax River

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