Practical Use of Starlink Downlink Tones for Positioning.

Area of Science:

• Satellite engineering
• Navigation systems
• Signal processing

Background:

• Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites offer new opportunities beyond their primary functions.
• Starlink's extensive constellation presents potential for passive positioning applications.
• Traditional satellite positioning relies on dedicated receivers, often impractical for small vehicles.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the feasibility of using Starlink downlink signals for opportunistic positioning.
• To assess signal quality and tracking capabilities without a parabolic reflector.
• To evaluate positioning performance using multi-epoch measurements from LEO satellite signals.

Main Methods:

• Tracking Starlink downlink tones using an inexpensive universal low-noise block down-converter (LNB).
• Aggregating tone measurements to manage tracking interruptions and recover Doppler shift models.
• Defining and analyzing multi-epoch positioning using aggregated measurements.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the feasibility of tracking Starlink signals without a parabolic reflector.
• Identified signal and frequency measurement quality metrics.
• Showcased promising positioning results, with potential for enhancement via better LNBs.

Conclusions:

• Opportunistic positioning using Starlink signals is feasible in practical scenarios.
• The quality of the LNB significantly impacts positioning accuracy.
• Further research can optimize LNB selection for enhanced small vehicle navigation.