International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.

33 (2015)
Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

BOC Variants for Navigation System A Spectral Analysis

Approach
N.Julie1, S.Arunvinthan2, S.Nadaraja Pillai3, G.Anitha4
1, 2, 3

Department of Aeronautical Engineering, J.J.College of Engg & Tech, Ammapettai, Trichy

4
Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai.

Abstract: Recent advancements in the Navigation system demands advancement in the modulation
of the signals to make it Noise prone and Energy Efficient Low loss Signal. With so many
researches, the concept of Binary Offset Carrier (BOC) modulation comes out. The irony of BOC
modulation is that it comes with two different variants Sine BOC modulation and Cosine BOC
modulation. As each of them has varied uniqueness this paper aims to specify the differences
between these two variants of BOC modulation by analyzing them over their spectral
characteristics for different orders of BOC modulated signals which are traditionally used in the
Civil Navigation and are still in use in many navigation systems. All the BOC variants taken here
are the actual ones used in navigation systems all over the World.
Keywords- BPSK C/A, BOC, Variants of BOC, Modulation for A/C Navigation System

Introduction:
A number of satellite systems are in news today like GPS of USA, GLONASS of Russia,
IRNSS of India, and GALILEO of Europe etc as they all are going towards the next generation
of satellite navigation to provide more and better services to the civil users on coarse and
acquisition (C/A) band. In 1995, GPS was launched with full functionality as the very first
system for global navigation. Also Russia was in competition with their GLONASS but that was
deployed in the mid of 2000s. In 2005, European Union and European Space Agency decided to
design their navigation system known as Galileo Navigation System named after Galileo Galilie,
an Italian astronomer and came out with Binary Offset Carrier (BOC) modulation. The BOC
modulation was presented as a tradeoff between the different selection criteria for the selection
of a new modulation scheme. Though BOC modulation was initially presented for military
global positioning services but now it is also used for C/A codes as well so that civil users can be
benefitted with better positioning and navigation services. Today we are using Binary Offset
Carrier (BOC) modulation techniques in contrast to conventional BPSK [1][2][3], though BPSK
is still in use in various navigation services at various bands as well. The major reason to select
this modulation scheme is primarily due to the following reasons [4][5]:
- Loss of satellite signals should be minimum
- Energy efficiency should be maximum
- Interference with the transmission systems already present should be minimum
- Performance of the receiver should be optimized
BOC modulation is considered as an extension of BPSK. BOC modulated signals are
advantageous over typical BPSK signals used for GPS C/A codes as they possess the property of
split spectrum and the primary lobes are away from the center frequency unlike BPSK and
results in better capacity and signal interference rejection. The property of split spectrum makes
the BOC signal as a combination of two BPSK signals at +fsc and fsc, where fsc is the sub

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carrier frequency. BOC signal consists of a square sub carrier, spreading sequence, carrier signal
and data [6][7][8]. The sub carrier used here is square wave which results in a null value at the
center of the spectrum which is the primary advantage of the BOC modulation [4] [5]. In this
paper, we will start with explaining the concept of BOC modulation and its variants and then the
analysis of its variants of different order of BOC signals will be done. Mathematically, the BOC
modulation can be defined as:

Where s(t) is the spreaded BPSK signal and fsc is the sub carrier frequency. The above equation
is showing the expression for sine modulated BOC signal, however with the change in the carrier
used, instead of sine, the expression of BOC modulate signal is [9][10]:

The signal generated from equation (1) and equation (2) can be plotted as in the figure 1
and figure 2 respectively.

Fig 1. Sine Modulated BOC Signal

Fig 2. Cosine Modulated BOC Signal

POWER SPECTRUM:
Power Spectrum of any signal can be defined as the way the power of that signal
is distributed at each frequency. The power spectral density of BOC sin (fsc, fc) signal can be
represented as [3][4][5] :

And the power spectral density for BOC cos (fsc, fc) can be expressed as [10][11]:

By changing the values of fsc and fc, BOC signals of different order can be generated and
analyzed [12][13]. In the next section various orders of BOC modulated signals are simulated
and studied in order to present an inference on the differences between the both. Also we know

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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.33 (2015)
Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

that power spectral density and autocorrelation function forms Fourier pair but we wont include
auto correlation function under our analysis.
SPECTRAL ANALYSIS:
The different spectral densities of different order BOC signals are analyzed with the help
of MATLAB simulation. The different signals under consideration are those which are actually
in use by different international space organizations.

Fig 3. BOC cos (1, 1) Spectrum

Fig 4. BOC sin (1, 1) Spectrum

Figure 3 and Figure 4 are showing the spectral densities of BOC (1, 1) for Sine and
Cosine subcarrier as it is used by Japans QZSS navigation system in the L1 band. We can see
that in the BOC signals of lower order, the power content is more in the primary and secondary
lobes of the cosine BOC signal than the primary and secondary lobes of the sine BOC signal.

Fig 5. BOC cos (10, 5) Spectrum

Fig 6. BOC sin (10, 5) Spectrum

Figure 5 and Figure 6 are showing the spectral outputs for BOC (10, 5). BOC (10, 5) is in
use by USAs GPS in their L1 and L2 bands for M codes and in E6 band by Europes Galileo
System for E6 PRS service. Here we can observe that with the increase in the order of the BOC
signals, the power levels as observed in the previous case are same, the primary lobes of Sine

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Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

BOC signal carries lower power than Cosine modulated BOC signals. However sine modulated
signals carries more power towards the center frequency.

Fig 7. BOC cos (15, 2.5) Spectrum

Fig 8. BOC sin (15, 2.5) Spectrum

In the figure 7 and 8, the spectrums are compared for BOC (15, 2.5) which is in
use by Europes Galileo System in their E1 band. Figure 9 and 10 shows the BOC spectrum for
Indias IRNSS using BOC (5, 2). Also table 1 is showing the different BOC variants used by
different navigation systems all across the world.

Fig 9. BOC cos (5, 2) Spectrum

Fig 10. BOC sin (5, 2) Spectrum

TABLE 1
NAVIGATION SYSTEMS AND BOC VARIANTS
NAVIGATION SYSTEM

Sine BOC (fS,fC)

Cosine BOC (fS,fC)

GPS

BOCsin (10, 5)

NA

IRNSS

BOCsin (5, 2)

NA

QZSS

BOCsin (1, 1)

NA

GALILEO

NA

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BOC cos (15, 2.5);

BOC cos (10, 5)

International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.33 (2015)
Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

RESULT AND ANALYSIS

The choice of the phase of the subcarrier affects the spectral shape of the signal. This can
be noticed in the secondary lobes of the BOC transmitted signal. Cosine BOC signal posses more
energy into the secondary lobes which is not the case with sine BOC signals. Cosine BOC should
be used when the BOC signal required high rate or high frequency sub carrier because it
minimizes the spectral overlap which gives zero interference within the transmitted signal. If we
compare the graphical outputs of figure 3 and figure 4, we can see that at the lower fc, the more
power is pushed in the primary lobes in case of cosine but if we compare the combine graphs of
figure 3 and figure 4 with that of figure 5 and figure 6, we realized that as the value of fc
increases, the power in the primary lobes of cosine signal gets reduced and in sine signal, it gets
increases. But if look at the component fsc, as the value of fsc increases, the power in the
secondary lobes increases and fsc keeps the secondary lobes away from the center which is the
primary advantage of BOC modulation signal over BPSK signal. Same is in the case of other
outputs as well. The summary of the main observation is presented in Table 2 where the 3
regions of observations are present from the analysis of the graphical outputs obtained.
TABLE 2
OBSERVATIONS FOR SINE AND COSINE BOC SIGNALS
REGION
Primary Lobe

Between Primary Lobe and

Centre Frequency

Away from Centre Frequency

and Primary Lobe both

Sine BOC (fsc,fc)

Carries less power in primary
lobe which is it drawback w.r.t
Cosine BOC signals

Cos BOC (fsc,fc)

Carries more power in primary
lobe as an advantage over the
Sine BOC signals

More power is present in the

secondary lobes which are
present in between the primary
lobes and the center frequency
which will affect the tracking.

Less power is present in the

secondary lobes which are
present in between the
primary lobe and the center
frequency with the decreasing
amplitude reaching null at the
center frequency

Less power is present in the

secondary lobes away from the
center frequency
which can come handy while
dealing with lower order of BOC
Modulation

More power in secondary lobes

away from the center frequency.

CONCLUSION:
With the above study we realize for a navigation system to be designed on the lower set
of sub carrier and carrier frequency, sine modulated BOC signals gives better results than cosine
modulated BOC signals as the lower power is concentrated in the secondary lobes. But with the
increase in the order of the modulation, the spectral outputs of cosine BOC are better than their
counterpart. This inference is drawn because of the power distribution on frequencies close to the
center frequency in cosine BOC reduces towards the center frequency which minimizes the
spectral overlap and will results in better tracking.

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