A Novel Method for GNSS Meaconer Localization Based on a Space–Time Double-Difference Model

Abstract

In this article, we propose a space-time double difference observation model in order to locate the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) meaconer. At present, there are a few studies on the localization of the GNSS spoofer. Most of the methods require multiple receivers with known positions and synchronized clocks, which can be implemented by tracking authentic GNSS signals or other approaches. Furthermore, the positioning accuracy depends on the geometry of the receivers and the spoofer. In this article, we discuss the feasibility of locating the meaconer based on a single receiver and analyze its limiting conditions. In addition, we propose a new method to locate the meaconer by one receiver without knowing its position and without synchronizing its clock. The receiver here can be either stationary or mobile during the accumulation of observations, and the position dilution of precision is independent of the receiver location. Furthermore, the method only needs observations of spoofing signals to locate the meaconer. Therefore, even when authentic signals cannot be tracked by the receiver, the method still works. After spoofing signals are identified, we can locate the meaconer by the satellite transmit time and ephemeris of the tracked spoofing signals when the meaconer replays GNSS signals of more than one satellite with different or the same replay delays. Experiments verify that when the meaconer replays GNSS signals of four satellites, the estimate accuracy with the proposed method can be 200, 50, and 25 m for 2, 5, and 10 min of observations, respectively.