Searching for Galileo

Statistical analysis techniques have been used to find and decode the L1 BOC(1,1) signal of the first prototype Galileo spacecraft, GIOVE-A. The resulting pseudorandom number (PRN) codes can be used by receiver developers to test their devices on the GIOVE-A signals. The analysis has used codeless techniques to acquire the signal and to remove its carrier and binary offset carrier (BOC) components, and it has determined the timing and chip values of the PRN codes using optimal statistical signal processing methods. The resulting codes' per-chip error probabilities are less than 10-10. The period of the pilot PRN code is 200 ms, which is twice the length published in Galileo documentation.