Enhanced Loran System Demodulation for Complex Receive Environments: A Novel Matched Correlation Method Integrating Notch Filtering and Pattern Modulation

Demodulation is a key technology for the enhanced Loran (eLoran) system to achieve positioning and timing, and it affects the final performance of the system. Based on the traditional matched correlation algorithm, this paper proposes a new matched correlation demodulation method with notch processing. Furthermore, by combining it with the pattern modulation of the eLoran system, the matched correlation integrate notch demodulation method is further modified to improve demodulation performance. Firstly, the data link of the eLoran system is introduced in detail, including the encoding and modulation processes, the influencing factors of received signals, and the evaluation methods in the demodulation process. Secondly, on the basis of the principle of the matched correlation (MC) demodulation algorithm, a matched correlation demodulation algorithm integrating notch processing (MC-NF) and a demodulation correlation algorithm combined with modulation patterns (PMC-NF) are proposed. And, an analysis of the key factors affecting demodulation performance is given. Next, the demodulation performance of the mentioned algorithms under the conditions of random noise, skywave, and in-band continuous wave interference is calculated in detail. A large number of experimental results show that notch processing performs excellently in suppressing random noise and in-band continuous wave interference, and it can greatly improve the demodulation performance of the traditional matched correlation algorithm. Moreover, PMC-NF is superior to MC-NF; approximately 2.8 dB at decoding the critical point.