The Need

Modern navigation systems increasingly rely on signals of opportunity such as 5G and LEO satellite downlinks, but these signals often lack public reference‑signal specifications, may be dynamic or on‑demand, and can suffer from severe Doppler effects. Conventional receivers cannot reliably acquire or exploit such unknown, bandwidth‑rich signals, resulting in degraded accuracy or complete navigation failure. A robust method is needed to autonomously detect, extract, and track previously unknown reference signals to enable high‑accuracy navigation in challenging terrestrial and space environments.

The Technology

OSU engineers have developed a cognitive receiver architecture that autonomously discovers, estimates, and tracks unknown reference signals from terrestrial 5G networks and broadband LEO satellite systems such as Starlink. By leveraging periodicity and correlation characteristics, the system identifies frame structure, extracts reference signals, and performs Doppler‑aware acquisition and tracking using adaptive matched‑subspace detection and specialized tracking loops. The receiver then generates precise navigation observables without requiring prior knowledge of the signal format or network participation.

Commercial Applications

• High‑accuracy navigation and localization for UAVs, UGVs, and autonomous vehicles.
• Precision positioning in GNSS‑challenged or denied environments for defense, transportation, and critical infrastructure.
• Network‑independent device geolocation using 5G, private‑network, or LEO satellite downlinks.

Benefits/Advantages

• Exploits unknown and on‑demand signals
• Full‑bandwidth utilization
• Robust in high‑dynamics environments
• Adaptive cognitive architecture