Extended Ephemeris without connection or server
Philip G Mattos, STMicroelectronics R&D Ltd, UK.
Piergiorgio Capozio, STMicroelectronics Srl, Italy
BIOGRAPHY
Philip G Mattos gained Bachelors and Masters degrees
in Electronic Engineering from Cambridge, followed by
Masters Degrees in Telecoms and Computer Science
from Essex in 1977. He joined INMOS in 1979.
INMOS was acquired by STMicroelectronics in 1989.
He was made a Visiting Research Fellow at Bristol
University, and awarded an external PhD on his GPS
work in 1996.
Since 1989 he has worked exclusively on GPS
implementations, and the associated RF front ends. He
is now working on system level integrations of GPS,
and on the Galileo system, while consulting on the next
generation GNSS chips, including one-chip GPS
(RF+digital), and high sensitivity GPS and Galileo for
indoor applications.
ABSTRACT
This paper covers the background reasons for assisting
the GPS receiver, ie TTFF and sensitivity. It
summarises the three different types, notably Assisted-
GPS, Extended Ephemeris, and Self-Assisted, showing
that beyond traditional extended ephemeris there is a
need to operate in without server connections.
It discusses two type of orbit modelling, with a
summary of the CPU-intensive Force based orbit
modelling method, but concentrating on the effect based
orbit modelling algorithm, which detects the trends in
Kepler orbit parameters and curve fits them over years
of data, then models the relationship between the curve
coefficients and satellite locations. The coefficients are
regenerated in the navigation device, propagated and
new Kepler parameters created. The accuracy of the
final result is discussed.
BACKGROUND, TTFF AND SENSITIVITY
GPS warm starts take 30 seconds in a benign
environment with good visibility of the satellites, due to
the rate of transmission of the ephemeris data. In a bad
environment such as moving through trees, powerpoles
on the highway, urban canyons, low satellites it can take
3 – 5 minutes.
Indoor weak signals cannot provide error free data, even
in the most sensitive receivers, meaning that without
assistance, while indoor hotstarts are viable, warmstarts
are not.
Traditional assisted GPS sends the ephemeris data over
a mobile phone link, either from the network operator
over the control channel(eg 3GPP), or from an
independent server over the internet(user-plane, eg
SUPL).
Network based assistance has been very slow to appear,
due to the need for infrastructure within the network.
User plane systems have been available for some years,
often from the GPS manufacturers, but commercial
rollout has lagged behind as network operators have not
seen a revenue path for location based services.
Additionally, the cost of communications, either as an
add on fee, or as a worry about unknown costs for data
when roaming either to another network or another
country, have deterred users from taking-up mobile
internet.
Probably the strongest reason for a method of self
assistance is that not all devices are equipped with
comms, and even if equipped, that comms is not always
available.
As the fastest growing sector for GPS is currently the
Personal Navigation device(PND), which falls into the
no-comms category, a new solution is required.
TRADITIONAL EXTENDED EPHEMERIS
The first solution offered was the extended ephemeris or
long term orbit (LTO). Ephemeris data for up to a week
is delivered by the server over the comms link in a
single operation. The comms link can be the TCP/IP
channel through a mobile phone, or a USB connection
to a domestic PC once a week.
These approaches have been offered by Nemerix[1],
Global Locate[2], Sirf[3] for example.
They are very convenient for the network-connected
device, but are still not useful for the unconnected PND.
SELF ASSISTED GPS
Without a connection to a server, the orbit modelling
calculations are performed directly on the mobile device
One or more “old” ephemeris datasets required, to give
a baseline satellite orbit and avoid the continual
accumulation of errors as the years go by.
There are two completely different methods of
performing the calculations.
The first is to model the forces due to Moon gravity,
Sun Gravity, Earth non-uniform gravity, Solar Flux, etc.
This requires precise calculation of the astronomical
position of all these bodies, the calculation of the forces
exerted by them, and thus the accelerations on the the
satellite, and finally integrating these forces numerically
over time from the last known valid data, up until the
required prediction time. This is the algorithm used on
JPL supercomputers, and in assistance servers, or
simply delivered by servers.
It has a very large computational load, as equations
cannot be analytically solved, but numerical integration
must be used in small steps around the orbit.
It is suitable for hand-held devices like PND’s only
where a high end CPU is available, with 300/400MHz
CPU’s
The second method is to model the orbit distortion from
day to day and extrapolate the trend – directly on the
Kepler parameters. This has the advantage that any
non-modelled forces are still included, as they had an
effect that is built into the satellite historic motion. It
also has the advantage that the CPU intensive numerical
integration is not required….this has already been done
by the mass of the satellite over the previous long period
(years), and our input data is years of orbit trends.
EFFECT BASED ORBIT MODELLING
This is the main focus of the study. It comprises three
levels. The first is the study of the day to day trend in
the Kepler orbit coefficients. This can be observed
short term on the mobile device, but long term analysis
is dependent on previous characterisation work done at
the next level using months/years of IGS data not
available to the mobile.
The characterisation yields a curve fit for each of the
Kepler coefficients to current satellite characteristics
such as Orbit plane (Ω0), Orbit slot (M0, ω0),
eccentricity and inclination. The generator coefficients
for these curves are then available for use in the mobile.
The mobile then extrapolates the curve to generate
Kepler params for future days, superimposing the
modelled trends onto the latest, but expired, available
ephemeris data.
The target is to provide autonomous ephemeris
prediction on the unconnected GPS, eg PND, in order to
allow the PND to startup in 5 – 10 seconds after being
off for 1 – 3 days, rather than the traditional 30 second
warmstart which is often extended to many minutes in
urban canyons, even highways with lighting poles.
However to make algorithm run on low-end GPS
chipsets used in low-cost modules, another target is to
avoid gravity models, sun and moon models, with
associated piecewise linear integration and huge CPU
requirements.
Other constraints are no access to server database or
predictions, and limited history on PND due to use
model, which says the user will power up his PND
every day or two, but not all day everyday.
Direct moon effect modelling needs 7 days ephemeris
history to be useful, which is not viable with this
anticipated use model
SOLUTION
The solution found and proposed in this paper is to
model not the absolute satellite orbit parameters, nor
even their day to day change (gradient), but to model
the second differential, ie the non-linearity in the day to
day changes. This has the advantage that slowly
changing parameters, such as a drifting satellite or the
effects of the sun’s gravity in terms of earth axis tilt and
earth/sun orbit eccentricity are removed, as they
approximate to a straight line on a day to day basis, due
to the yearly period. They can be recovered again in the
mobile by using two sets only of historical ephemeris
data, providing the higher order effects are modelled.
The higher order effects are modelled using off-line IGS
data to evaluate the second differential of each
ephemeris Kepler parameter. The 2nd differential is
insensitive to slow effects like the sun because the
second differential of sin(ωt) is –ω2sin(ωt), ie an
amplitude attenuation of ω2, which, with a period of 365
days, is over 105.
Using long term IGS data would appear vulnerable to
steps in the data, but it is made insensitive to historical
satellite manoeuvres because they appear as spikes in
the second differential that can easily be detected as
outliers by the software and excluded from the
laboratory curve fit.
In the field, the final stage of the algorithm that runs on
the mobile is of course vulnerable to manoeuvres
between the 2 ephemerides, or after them but before
use. These must be detected using RAIM techniques,
and the satellite eliminated from solution.
The laboratory generated part of the model has quasi
infinite life (years), as it simply represents the
moon/earth astronomical interactions, so as long as the
phase of the moon cycle can be delivered it maintains
absolute accuracy. Even without external update, the
moon period is known so accurately that it can be
extrapolated for the life of the equipment (or its
owner!).
With a limited history of just two previous ephemerides
for each satellite, for each time, storage is needed for
about 24 ephemerides per satellite, about 700 total.
Memory is the major resource requirement, not CPU
MIPs. The memory requirement can be halved by using
only alternate ephemerides, as they are valid for 4 the paper during the discussion on inclination
hours. modelling.

Ideally the two datasets for each satellite are yesterday

and the day before, 24 hours apart, but this is not a rigid
requirement, as the data is useful over up to a week.
Using 24hour synchronous ephemerides eliminate all
earth gravity effects, self integrating into the daily drift.
The transmitted ephemerides are adapted to sidereal
intervals to ensure this synchronicity.
MODELLING THE COEFFICIENTS
Knowing the way that the Kepler parameters behave
from the long term analysis of IGS data, we now need to
pass that information into the algorithms of the mobile,
for use in later years, with satellites that are not even
launched yet.

This is achieved by looking at the curve fit coefficients

for all the satellites, and examining the dependencies of
MODELLING these coefficients with the satellite positions themselves,
Sat 8 RootA Day 1-280 2007 as expressed in the absolute values of the Kepler
0.003
d/dt d2/dt2
5153.77
parameters in the downloaded ephemeris.
Model sqrt(a)
5153.76 R o o t A s e c o n d d iffe re n tia l a ll c o e ffic ie n ts
0.002 p ha s e 1 p ha s e 2
5153.75
30 p ha s e 3 p ha s e 4 0 .0 0 1 8
5153.74 am p1 am p2
differentials/day

0.001 am p3 am p4 0 .0 0 1 6
25
5153.73
0 .0 0 1 4

RootA
0 5153.72 20
0 .0 0 1 2
0 50 100 150 200 250 3005153.71

phase (days)
-0.001

amplitude
15 0 .0 0 1
5153.7
10 0 .0 0 0 8
-0.002 5153.69
0 .0 0 0 6
5153.68 5
-0.003 0 .0 0 0 4
5153.67
0
0 .0 0 0 2
-0.004 5153.66
-5 0
Day of year 9 31 8 27 25 16 30 28 12 5 6 3 19 17 7 2 11 21 4 24 20 22 10 18 14 26 13 23 29 1
S a te llite p rn

Modelling the Kepler orbit parameters either absolute or

first differential needs many terms:-
The plot above shows the RootA coefficients for all the
Constant, ramp, satellites, displayed on the x axis by prn number, sorted
sun1, sun2, sun3, into orbit plane and slot sequence. This plot is very
moon1, moon2, moon3, moon4 busy, so is repeated below with only the M2,M3
where for example sun3 means the third harmonic of the coefficients shown.
suns gravity.
R o o t A s e c o n d d iffe re n tia l m 2 , m 3 c o e ffic ie n ts
p ha s e 2 p ha se 3
16 0 .0 0 1 8
The absolute parameter can be seen as the dark blue line 14
am p2 am p3
0 .0 0 1 6
in the plot for the RootA parameter above, which 12 0 .0 0 1 4

represents the semi-major axis of the satellite orbit. The 10 0 .0 0 1 2

phase (days)

amplitude
8 0 .0 0 1
clearly obvious periodicity on this line is the biggest 6 0 .0 0 0 8
moon effect, normally moon2 at around 13.7 days 4 0 .0 0 0 6

period. 2 0 .0 0 0 4

0 0 .0 0 0 2
9 31 8 27 25 16 30 28 12 5 6 3 19 17 7 2 11 21 4 24 20 22 10 18 14 26 13 23 29 1
-2 0
The first differential has similar problems. The major S ate llite p rn

ramp has gone, allowing the vertical scale to be

expanded, but the purple waveform is still difficult to
model, and different from beginning to end of year.
Modelling second differential needs only moon1-4. This
is shown in the yellow trace, with the model
reproduction in the cyan trace. This is very accurate,
around 2 metres rms error. This parameter has 1E4
sensitivity in the conversion to metres. Some parameters
have 2.7E7 metres sensitivity due to the orbit radius.
It can clearly be seen in the yellow and cyan lines that
there is a strong correlation with orbit plane for the M2
parameter. For the M3 parameter, this is not so clear,
because there is a greater dependence on the orbit slot
Note especially jagged nature of plane D sats 2-24
(note 2007 prn numbers, 2 satellites have been renamed)
The Orbit plane is essentially the Omega-zero
parameter, and the orbit slot is little_omega+M-zero.

The M1-4 model is simple to compute as it is based on
the known period of the fundamental (moon = 27.3
days), leaving only the amplitude and phase of each
term to be determined. Frequently only moon2, moon3
are required, as tidal effects predominate at twice per
orbit, with some mapping into the third harmonic
caused by the eccentricity of the orbit, while the fourth
harmonic is very low in amplitude. The relative
importance of these harmonics is demonstrated later in
Not all coefficients can be modelled in such a simple
way. There is an occasional complex dependency, eg
product of 2 Kepler params, for example one of the
above with the eccentricity.
This can all be handled automatically in a curve-fitting
program or spreadsheet, and the metres of correction
contribution of each term assessed, allowing the
insignificant ones to be removed to save computation.
 Eccentricity 2nd differential amp2 coefficient modelling
The two graphs below show the results for RootA using
0.0016
just orbit plane and slot position for M2 and M3 amp2
0.0014 model
amplitude coefficients, with accuracies of 6 metres and
0.0012
7 metres rms respectively. Note that there is no satellite
0.001
3 model data as it was unhealthy on the day of

amp2 x 1000
modeling. 0.0008

0.0006

0.0004

0.0002
R o o tA s e c o n d d i ffe re n tia l a m p 2 c o e ffic i e n t m o d e llin g

0 .0 0 1 8 0
9 31 8 27 25 16 30 28 12 5 6 3 19 17 7 2 11 21 4 24 20 22 10 18 14 26 13 23 29 1
0 .0 0 1 6
-0.0002
am p2
0 .0 0 1 4 model Satellite prn

0 .0 0 1 2

0 .0 0 1
amp2

0 .0 0 0 8

0 .0 0 0 6

0 .0 0 0 4
E ccen tricity seco n d d ifferen tial am p 3 co efficien t m o d ellin g

0 .0 0 0 2
0 .0 0 3
0
9 31 8 27 25 16 30 28 12 5 6 3 19 17 7 2 11 21 4 24 20 22 10 18 14 26 13 23 29 1
S a te l l i te p r n 0 .0 0 2 5 amp3
model
0 .0 0 2

amp3 x 1000
0 .0 0 1 5
R o o tA s e c o n d d iffe re n tia l a m p 3 c o e ffic ie n t m o d e llin g

0 .0 0 1 2 0 .0 0 1

0 .0 0 1 am p3
model 0 .0 0 0 5
0 .0 0 0 8

0
amp3

0 .0 0 0 6
9 31 8 27 25 16 30 28 12 5 6 3 19 17 7 2 11 21 4 24 20 22 10 18 14 26 13 23 29 1
S a te llite p rn
0 .0 0 0 4

0 .0 0 0 2

0
9 31 8 27 25 16 30 28 12 5 6 3 19 17 7 2 11 21 4 24 20 22 10 18 14 26 13 23 29 1
S a te ll ite p r n
The eccentricity error contributions are 5 metres for the
curve fit, 5 metres for the m2 coefficient and 15 metres
Thus the combined error for the RootA parameter is the for the m3 coefficient, giving 16.5 metres overall.
rms sum of 2,6,7 metres, a little less than 10 metres.

The last parameter shown in detail (though all have

The same approach is taken for each of the orbit Kepler been modelled) is the inclination parameter. This one
parameters. Eccentricity is shown below, with the again is a clean dependency on orbit plane, as can be
yearly sinewave very obvious. (the plot is 280 days). seen visually by the groupings of about 5 satellites in
Again the magenta plot of first differential is complex, straight lines on the plot below.
but the yellow second differential is repetitive with a
moon based cycle, so we have some 10 cycles in the 16 0.018
phase2
data and can model it very precisely, as shown in the 14 phase3
0.016

amp2 0.014
cyan trace. 12
amp3
0.012
10
phase(days)

amplitude
0.01
8
0.008
0.00001 0.0103 6
d/dt 0.006

0.000008 4
d2/dt2 0.004
0.0102
0.000006 Model 2 0.002

eccentricity 0 0
0.000004 0.0101 9 31 8 27 25 16 30 28 12 5 6 3 19 17 7 2 11 21 4 24 20 22 10 18 14 26 13 23 29 1
Satellite prn
0.000002
0.01
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
-0.000002 0.0099 The coefficient modelling results for all satellites
-0.000004
0.0098
m2,m3 are shown in the two figures below., and
-0.000006
collecting all together we have a combined rms range
-0.000008 0.0097
error due to inclination of 9 metres.

Again the M2 and M3 coefficients are easily generated , Inclination 2nd differential amp3 coefficient modelling

however the dependence is complex, so the graph very 0.005

0.0045 amp3
confused visually and not shown. The resultant 0.004
0.0035
model

modelled coefficients for M2 and M3 across all

amp2 x 1000

0.003
0.0025

satellites are shown in the next two charts. 0.002

0.0015
0.001
0.0005
0
9 31 8 27 25 16 30 28 12 5 6 3 19 17 7 2 11 21 4 24 20 22 10 18 14 26 13 23 29 1
Satellite prn
 Inclination 2nd differential amp3 coefficient modelling the direction of the error being almost orthogonal to the
0.005
0.0045
range vector.
amp3
0.004 model
0.0035
Semi-major Axis, Eccentricity, affect the height of the
amp2 x 1000

0.003
0.0025
0.002 satellite, so map strongly onto range vector
0.0015
0.001 ….weighting = 1
0.0005
0

Ω0, M0, ω0, inclination errors are in the orbit shell, not
9 31 8 27 25 16 30 28 12 5 6 3 19 17 7 2 11 21 4 24 20 22 10 18 14 26 13 23 29 1
Satellite prn

height, almost perpendicular to range vector …

The contribution of each distortion effect to the error
correction can be seen in the table below, being
inclination, and displayed as satellite position error, not
range error.
Amplitude -2.46E-07
Phase days 1.392234
Periods
moon
mult 27.33508
2.70E+07 metres -6.65
It can be seen that at 336 metres, the m2 contribution is
the greatest correction, while next is the m3 term, while
m1, m4, m5 are very small. Note these are the
corrections, not the residual errors.
FUTURE KEPLER PARAMETER GENERATION
To regenerate the Kepler parameters needed by the
mobile at a future time is not a major CPU load. We do
not even need to translate x,y,z curves to Keplers, which
itself is major task for the 9 term ephemeris, and
extremely difficult for the 15 term ephemeris.
All calculations remain in the Kepler domain, with each
parameter treated independently at this stage.
weighting = 0.2
M0, ω0 are modelled as a single parameter, as together
they represent the position of the satellite in the orbit
plane measured from the equator, rather than measured
from the perigee.
1.246E-05 -3.55E-06 -5.316E-07 -6.612E-08
6.7564471 0.2496968 0.474585 0.4154013
Cxx parameters model very accurately, and are very
m/2 m/3 m/4 m/5 small anyway, so have negligible error contribution.
13.667539 9.1116923 6.8337693 5.4670154
336.44 -95.74 -14.35 -1.79
So combining the errors of the 6 major parameters,
mapped onto the range vectors, gives a result of
rms_sum(9.5,16.5,9,9,9), which is approximately
approx 25 metres.
Note that this is metres/day/day, so is clearly valid for
one day predictions. For 2 day predictions, we might
multiply by 4, and 3 day by 9, but this would assume
that the errors each day are all in exactly the same
direction, and highly correlated, which is not correct.
However neither are they totally independent, which
would allow us to multiply by sqrt(2), sqrt(3), however
these two different approaches could be considered to
be the upper and lower bounds of the 2 day and 3 day
rms error predictions.

Our long term coefficients are stored in the program CONCLUSIONS

code, valid for the life of the equipment. They need the
time/date and a recent expired ephemeris to allow Self-Assisted GPS is a step forward from server based
complete regeneration of the second differentials of all extended ephemeris, meaning that systems with no
the Kepler terms. connectivity can have the same benefits, and all systems
can keep the benefits when out of coverage of their
The mobile needs a second expired ephemeris in order wireless network.
to fully calculate a new ephemeris. This is because if
we take a parameter second differential P and integrate Those benefits are a huge reduction in warmstart TTFF
it twice, we get and availability in urban canyons, and also capability of
operation deep inside buildings.
0.5 Pt2 + C.t + D
Full gravity modelling of Moon, earth, sun can be
Where C and D are constants of integration. D is given performed on high end (300MHz) portable devices
by one historic ephemeris at the reference time when (PNDs etc)
t=0, but a second historic ephemeris is needed to yield
C. This paper has shown that the same can be achieved on
low end (33MHz) devices (simple low-cost GPS
modules) by modelling not the forces/accelerations, but
simply the effects and their trends on the Kepler
ACCURACY parameters themselves.

Different parameters have different sensitivities directly ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

on the orbit, varying up to 2.7E7 metres/radian due to
the large radius of the orbit. However others have only ST GPS products, chipsets and software, baseband and
a small effect, due either to small scale factor, or due to RF are developed by a distributed team in:-
Bristol, UK -DSP R&D, Software R&D
Milan, Italy – Silicon implementation and Verification
Naples, Italy- Software implementation and validation
Catania, Sicily, Italy – Galileo Software, RF design and
production
The full gravity modelling version of Self Assisted GPS
is running on the Cartesio[5] processor for PND’s
The trends/effects modelling version of Self Assisted
GPS is designed for the Teseo standalone GPS
chipset[6]
The contribution of all these teams to both product
ranges is gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
[1] Nemerix press release, Nemerix website 12th Feb
2007
NemeriX launches NeX Extended Ephemeris Solution
... NemeriX's Extended Ephemeris is a key component
of Assisted GPS (A-GPS)
[2] Sirf press release in GPS Review, Jan 25th 2006 .
“Now we can eliminate the long wait consumers
complain about when first turning on their navigation
systems and significantly improve the user experience,
especially in obstructed environments, by synchronizing
to SiRFInstantFix servers.” - Kanwar Chadha, founder
and vice president of marketing for SiRF Technology
[3] Sirf press release, Sirf website, Jan 2 2008
SiRF’s InstantFixII GPS Technology Eliminates PND
Start-Up Wait Mobile Navigation Devices Can Have
Start-Up Times As Low As 5 Seconds Without
Requiring Any Network Connectivity
[4]Global Locate press release on Long term orbit
prediction “Global Locate’s LTO technology”, Dr.
Frank van Diggelen, Global Locate’s VP of Technology
[5]Cartesio STA2062 Datasheet, ST Microelectronics
[6]Teseo STA2058, STA8058 Datasheets, ST
Microelectronics