Pseudorange Measurements with LTE Physical Channels

The long-term evolution (LTE) reference signals, such as the primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS) and cell-specific reference signal (CRS), have been studied for navigation. The signal structure including its influence on signal tracking has been previously discussed. However, there are non-reference signals such as the physical broadcast channel (PBCH), physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), physical hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indicator channel (PHICH) and physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) that can also be used for navigation. To the authors’ knowledge, pseudorange estimates with LTE physical channels have been almost not considered in the literature. This paper makes two contributions. First, the LTE physical channels properties which are relevant for signal tracking are discussed. Second, the expected tracking performance with LTE physical channels used in a standalone fashion are evaluated.