CEAS EuroGNC 2026
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GNSS-Flex Evaluation of GNSS-SDR Receiver Prototype Using High-Dynamic Target Drones
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| Iván Fernández |
Escribano Mechanical and Engineering (EM&E Group), Madrid, Spain. | | Marc Majoral |
Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC/CERCA), Barcelona, Spain. | | Xavier Guerrero |
Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC/CERCA), Barcelona, Spain. | | Roberto Jiménez |
Escribano Mechanical and Engineering (EM&E Group), Madrid, Spain. | | Mariano Madrid |
Escribano Mechanical and Engineering (EM&E Group), Madrid, Spain. | | Javier Arribas |
Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC/CERCA), Barcelona, Spain. | | Carles Fernández-Prades |
Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC/CERCA), Barcelona, Spain. | | Oscar Lozano Rosales |
Escribano Mechanical and Engineering (EM&E Group), Madrid, Spain. | | Miguel Gómez-López |
Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA), Madrid, Spain. |
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| Abstract:
This paper presents results from the GNSS-Flex project, which evaluates software-defined GNSS receiver prototypes under demanding airborne conditions using SCRAB II target drones. These turbine-powered platforms, typically used as expendable targets, were adapted to host experimental receiver bays for testing advanced SDR architectures. Real flight data are analyzed, including receiver comparison, radar cross-check, and line-of-sight (LOS) dynamic assessment. The SDR receivers achieved horizontal positioning accuracies within 10 m (95th percentile) for SDR #1 and 12 m for SDR #2, with velocity errors below 1 meter per second, maintaining robustness during aggressive maneuvers. Comparison with commercial reference units confirmed a high correlation of pseudorange, carrier-phase, and SNR observables. These results validate the feasibility of SDR-based GNSS architectures for resilient navigation in high-dynamic environments and show the suitability of target drones as testbeds. LOS-based PLL analysis reveals that the 10 Hz loop remains within stability limits, while the 5 Hz loop frequently exceeds them, leading to a predicted unlock rate of 14.4 %. These findings confirm that performance limitations under high dynamics are driven primarily by loop tuning rather than the SDR architecture itself.
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| Keywords: GNSS; SDR receiver; high-dynamic flight test; resilient PNT; target drone |
 View PDF CEAS-GNC-2026-102 doi: 10.82124/CEAS-GNC-2026-102 |
| Iván Fernández, Marc Majoral, Xavier Guerrero, Roberto Jiménez, Mariano Madrid, Javier Arribas, Carles Fernández-Prades, Oscar Lozano Rosales, Miguel Gómez-López: GNSS-Flex Evaluation of GNSS-SDR Receiver Prototype Using High-Dynamic Target Drones. Proceedings of the 2026 CEAS EuroGNC conference. Madrid, Spain. May 2026. doi: 10.82124/CEAS-GNC-2026-102.
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| BibTeX entry (UTF-8):
@Incollection{CEAS-GNC-2026-102,
author = {Fernández, Iván and Majoral, Marc and Guerrero, Xavier and Jiménez, Roberto and Madrid, Mariano and Arribas, Javier and Fernández-Prades, Carles and Lozano Rosales, Oscar and Gómez-López, Miguel},
title = {GNSS-Flex Evaluation of GNSS-SDR Receiver Prototype Using High-Dynamic Target Drones},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2026 {CEAS EuroGNC} conference},
address = {Madrid, Spain},
month = may,
year = {2026},
doi = {10.82124/CEAS-GNC-2026-102}
}
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