The proliferation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations, driven by the NewSpace economy and reduced launch costs, has opened new opportunities for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) applications. Compared to traditional GNSS systems operating in Medium Earth Orbit, LEO satellites offer several advantages: higher received signal power, better satellite geometry and visibility in urban environments, and greater Doppler dynamics—enabling approaches such as single-satellite and Doppler-based positioning. Although dedicated LEO-PNT constellations are still under development, existing commercial LEO satellites can already be leveraged for experimental positioning applications. This paper presents a portable, multi-constellation testbed built using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software-defined radio (SDR) technologies. The platform enables the synchronous acquisition and processing of LEO signals from Orbcomm, Iridium, and Starlink, allowing for the extraction of key positioning observables. A comprehensive measurement campaign is conducted across both indoor and outdoor environments to evaluate signal visibility and Doppler tracking performance. Results highlight the potential of opportunistic LEO-based positioning, particularly in challenging scenarios such as indoor environments where traditional GNSS solutions are unreliable.
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Experimental Testbed and Measurement Campaign for Multi-Constellation LEO Positioning
Published:
24 September 2025
by MDPI
in European Navigation Conference 2025
topic PNT Resilience and Robustness
Abstract:
Keywords: satellite LEO; PNT; Orbcomm; Iridium; Starlink; signal processing; software defined radio; SDR; Doppler
