Swept GNSS jamming mitigation through pulse blanking

Abstract

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) jammers generally broadcast frequency modulated signals which are instantaneously narrow band and can sweep several tens of MHz in few microseconds. The frequency band swept by a jamming signal can be significantly larger than the input bandwidth of the victim receiver. In this way, the jamming signal is significantly filtered and periodically enters and exits the receiver bandwidth. As a result, the jamming signal is perceived by the GNSS receiver as a form of pulsed interference. In this paper, Pulse Blanking (PB) is proposed as an effective tool for mitigating the impact of jamming on narrow band GNSS receivers. Several experiments involving real jamming signals have been conducted and the benefits of PB are empirically investigated. Finally, a real-time demonstration of PB in the presence of jamming is provided: PB is a low-complexity technique which can significantly improve the performance of a GNSS receiver even in the presence of strong jamming signals.