Design and performance evaluation of a novel ranging signal based on an LEO satellite communication constellation

Driven by improvements in satellite internet and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) navigation augmentation, the integration of communication and navigation has become increasingly common, and further improving navigation capabilities based on communication constellations has become a significant challenge. In the context of the existing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication systems, this paper proposes a new ranging signal design method based on an LEO satellite communication constellation. The LEO Satellite Communication Constellation Block-type Pilot (LSCC-BPR) signal is superimposed on the communication signal in a block-type form and occupies some of the subcarriers of the OFDM signal for transmission, thus ensuring the continuity of the ranging pilot signal in the time and frequency domains. Joint estimation in the time and frequency domains is performed to obtain the relevant distance value, and the ranging accuracy and communication resource utilization rate are determined. To characterize the ranging performance, the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) is selected as an evaluation criterion. Simulations show that when the number of pilots is 2048 and the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) is 0 dB, the ranging accuracy can reach 0.8 m, and the pilot occupies only 50% of the communication subcarriers, thus improving the utilization of communication resources and meeting the public demand for communication and location services.