US-12618984-B2 - Transmitting secure navigation signals via applying encryption

Abstract

A satellite is operable to generate a navigation message. Encrypted navigation message data is generated from the navigation message by applying an encryption scheme to the navigation message. An encrypted ranging signal is generated by applying the encryption scheme to a spreading code of the satellite. A secure navigation signal is generated based on modulating the encrypted navigation message data upon the encrypted ranging signal. The secure navigation signal is broadcast for receipt by at least one client device. The secure navigation signal facilitates the at least one client device to determine state data of the at least one client device by utilizing key data associated with the encryption scheme.

Inventors

• Andrew Michael Neish
• Robert Martin Grayson
• Joshua Earl McGhee

Assignees

• Xona Space Systems Inc.

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20231222

Claims (17)

1. 1 . A satellite comprising: at least one processor configured to execute operational instructions that cause the at least one processor to perform operations that include: generating a navigation message; generating encrypted navigation message data from the navigation message by applying an encryption scheme to the navigation message; generating an encrypted ranging signal by applying the encryption scheme to a spreading code of the satellite; generating a secure navigation signal based on modulating the encrypted navigation message data upon the encrypted ranging signal, wherein the generating the secure navigation signal includes: generating an encrypted low band data stream and an encrypted high band data stream based on the encrypted navigation message data; generating a secure low band navigation signal from the encrypted low band data stream in accordance with a bandwidth-efficient modulation scheme; and generating a secure high band navigation signal from the encrypted high band data stream in accordance with the bandwidth-efficient modulation scheme, wherein the secure navigation signal includes the secure low band navigation signal and the secure high band navigation signal; and a navigation signal transmitter configured to broadcast the secure navigation signal for receipt by at least one client device, the secure navigation signal facilitating the at least one client device to determine state data of the at least one client device by utilizing key data associated with the encryption scheme.
2. 2 . The satellite of claim 1 , wherein the encryption scheme is a block cipher encryption scheme.
3. 3 . The satellite of claim 2 , wherein the navigation message has a first fixed-length, wherein each of a plurality of blocks generated via the block cipher encryption scheme have a second fixed-length that is smaller than the first fixed-length, and wherein generating the encrypted navigation message data includes dividing the navigation message into a plurality of sub-messages with the second fixed-length and performing an exclusive-OR operation upon each of the plurality of sub-messages with a corresponding one of the plurality of blocks.
4. 4 . The satellite of claim 3 , wherein a final one of the plurality of sub-messages has a length that is smaller than the second fixed-length, and wherein the exclusive-OR operation is performed upon the final one the plurality of sub-messages and a truncated one of the plurality of blocks.
5. 5 . The satellite of claim 1 , wherein generating the encrypted ranging signal includes utilizing the key data and further includes utilizing a first initialization vector; and wherein generating the encrypted navigation message data includes utilizing the key data and further includes utilizing a second initialization vector that is different from the first initialization vector.
6. 6 . The satellite of claim 5 , wherein the first initialization vector and the second initialization vector are based on the spreading code.
7. 7 . The satellite of claim 6 , wherein the first initialization vector is based on concatenating a value of the spreading code with a first counter value of a first incrementing counter, and wherein the second initialization vector is based on concatenating the value of the spreading code with a second counter value of a second incrementing counter that is different from the first incrementing counter.
8. 8 . The satellite of claim 1 , wherein the at least one client device determines the state data based on: applying the key data to the spreading code to generate an internal encrypted ranging signal; and determining ranging data based on correlating the internal encrypted ranging signal with the secure navigation signal, wherein the state data is determined based on the ranging data.
9. 9 . The satellite of claim 1 , wherein the at least one client device determines the state data based on: determining the navigation message by decrypting the encrypted navigation message data utilizing the key data, wherein determining the state data is further based on processing the navigation message.
10. 10 . The satellite of claim 1 , wherein the navigation signal transmitter is implemented via: a low band antenna array, having a dual-ring topology, that is configured to radiate the secure low band navigation signal; and a high band antenna array, nested within the low band antenna array and having a center and ring topology, that is configured to radiate the secure high band navigation signal.
11. 11 . The satellite of claim 1 , wherein at least one of: the encrypted ranging signal is non-periodic based on the encryption scheme; or the at least one client device determines the state data based on the secure navigation signal having low cross-correlation properties and high auto-correlation properties, and wherein the low cross-correlation properties and the high auto-correlation properties are based on the encryption scheme.
12. 12 . A client device comprising: at least one first receiver configured to receive a secure navigation signal transmitted by a satellite, wherein the secure navigation signal includes encrypted navigation message data modulated with an encrypted ranging signal; at least one second receiver configured to receive key data corresponding to the secure navigation signal; and at least one processor configured to execute operational instructions that cause the at least one processor to perform operations that include: generating an internal encrypted ranging signal by applying the key data to a spreading code of the satellite in accordance with an encryption scheme, wherein the encryption scheme is a block cipher encryption scheme; generating ranging data based on correlating the internal encrypted ranging signal with the secure navigation signal; determining a navigation message by utilizing the key data to decrypt the encrypted navigation message data, wherein determining the navigation message includes: generating each of a plurality of blocks having a first fixed-length via the block cipher encryption scheme; dividing the encrypted navigation message data into a plurality of sub-messages having the first fixed-length; and performing an exclusive-OR operation upon each of the plurality of sub-messages and a corresponding one of the plurality of blocks; and determining state data for the client device based on the ranging data and the navigation message.
13. 13 . The client device of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of blocks are generated in parallel via a set of parallelized processing resources of the at least one processor.
14. 14 . The client device of claim 13 , wherein generating the encrypted ranging signal includes utilizing the key data and further includes utilizing a first initialization vector; and wherein decrypting the encrypted navigation message data utilizing the key data and further includes utilizing a second initialization vector that is different from the first initialization vector.
15. 15 . The client device of claim 14 , wherein the first initialization vector and the second initialization vector are based on the spreading code.
16. 16 . The client device of claim 15 , wherein the first initialization vector is based on concatenating a value of the spreading code with a first counter value of a first incrementing counter, and wherein the second initialization vector is based on concatenating the value of the spreading code with a second counter value of a second incrementing counter that is different from the first incrementing counter.
17. 17 . A method comprising: generating a navigation message; generating encrypted navigation message data from the navigation message by applying an encryption scheme to the navigation message; generating an encrypted ranging signal by applying the encryption scheme to a spreading code; and generating a secure navigation signal based on modulating the encrypted navigation message data upon the encrypted ranging signal; and broadcasting the secure navigation signal for receipt by at least one client device, the secure navigation signal facilitating the at least one client device to determine state data of the at least one client device by utilizing key data associated with the encryption scheme, wherein the at least one client device determines the state data based on: applying the key data to the spreading code to generate an internal encrypted ranging signal; and determining ranging data based on correlating the internal encrypted ranging signal with the secure navigation signal, wherein the state data is determined based on the ranging data.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present U.S. Utility Patent Application claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 120 as a continuation of U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 17/364,060, entitled “GENERATION AND TRANSMISSION OF NAVIGATION SIGNALS”, filed Jun. 30, 2021, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and made part of the present U.S. Utility Patent Application for all purposes. STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT Not applicable. INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC Not applicable. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Technical Field of the Invention This disclosure relates generally to satellite systems and more particularly to global navigation satellite systems and radio occultation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a satellite constellation system in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating various communication links utilized by a satellite constellation system in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 3A is a schematic block diagram of a satellite in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 3B is a schematic block diagram of a navigation processing system in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 3C is a pictorial diagram of a satellite in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 3D is a pictorial diagram of a satellite in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a satellite constellation system utilized to perform radio occultation in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 5A is a flowchart diagram illustrating an example of a state estimator flow performed by a navigation processing system in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 5B is a flowchart diagram illustrating an example of a navigation message generation flow performed by a navigation processing system in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 5C is a flowchart diagram illustrating an example of a broadcast flow performed by a navigation processing system in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 6 is an illustration depicting the process of self-monitoring by a navigation processing system in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 7A is a schematic block diagram of satellites utilized to perform neighborhood monitoring in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 7B is an illustration of orbital planes in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 7C is a schematic block diagram of satellites utilized to perform neighborhood monitoring in accordance with various embodiments; FIGS. 8A-8F are schematic block diagrams illustrating utilization of satellite constellation system by various client devices in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 9A is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example client device in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 9B is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example client device in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 9C is a flowchart diagram illustrating an example of a method in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 9D is a flowchart diagram illustrating an example of a method in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 10 is a logic diagram of an example of a method of performing self-monitoring in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 11 is a logic diagram of an example of a method of performing neighborhood-monitoring in accordance with various embodiments. FIG. 12A is a logic diagram of an example of a method of performing state estimation in accordance with various embodiments; FIGS. 12B-12F are schematic block diagrams of a navigation processing system in accordance with various embodiments; FIGS. 12G-12H are schematic block diagrams of a client device in accordance with various embodiments; FIGS. 12I-12L illustrate the transmission and receipt of signals overtime in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 12M is a logic diagram of an example of a method of generating a navigation signal estimation in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 12N is a logic diagram of an example of a method of generating precision timing data in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 13A is an illustration of various satellite constellations and antenna beamwidth adjustments in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 13B is an illustration of various antenna beam steering adjustments in accordance with various embodiments; FIG. 14 is an illustration of GPS reflectometry in accordance with various embodiments; FIGS. 15A-15D are schematic block diagrams of a navigation processing system that implements a modulation module in accordance with various embodiments; FIGS. 15E-15G illustrate embodiments of a modulation module in accordance with various embodiments; FIGS. 15H-15I are schematic block diagrams of a navigation processing system that implements am low band modulation module and a high band modulation module in