Selective accuracy and multiresolution capabilities are intrinsic features of multicarrier waveforms for GNSS

In this paper, multicarrier (MC) waveforms are investigated in terms of their selective accuracy and multiresolution characteristics when estimating the time-of-arrival for ranging purposes. Selective accuracy is achieved by assuming a 'layered' knowledge of the ranging code of different user classes. Knowledge of the full code matrix ensures the optimum achievable accuracy, whilst partial knowledge of the code degrades the accuracy that can be attained. The Modified Ziv-Zakai Bound (MZZB) and Modified Cramèr-Rao Bound (MCRB) are the analytical tools to evaluate the performance of suchschemes. Taking into account the multiresolution capability of MC signals, a non classical acquisition/tracking algorithm is investigated and compared to a standard serial search. Performance is reported in terms of processing time and wrong acquisition/tracking probability. © 2012 IEEE.