Roll Angle Estimation of a Rotating Vehicle in a Weak GPS Signal Environment Using Signal Merging Algorithm

This paper proposes a signal merging algorithm to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a GPS correlator output to estimate the roll angle of a rotating vehicle in a weak GPS signal environment. Rotation Locked Loop (RLL) algorithm is used to estimate a roll angle using the characteristics that the power of the GPS signal measured at the receiver of a rotating vehicle varies periodically. First, delay times are calculated to synchronize GPS signals using satellites' and receiver's positions and the rotation frequency of a vehicle, and then correlator outputs are delayed in time and merged with each other, resulting in the increase of an SNR in a correlator output. Finally, simulations are conducted and the performance of the proposed algorithm is validated.